West Side of Stamford facts for kids

The West Side of Stamford, Connecticut, also known as Richmond Hill, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the state of Connecticut. It is located north of the South End neighborhood, west of Downtown and east of Greenwich, Connecticut at Old Greenwich. The different sections of the West Side including Vidal Court, Fairfield Court (demolished), Spruce Street(The Renaissance building, the Trinity, & MLK Building), Connecticut Avenue, Friendship Building and Southwood Square (formally known as Southfield Village).

The West Side of Stamford is the area immediately west of Downtown Stamford, covering the area north of Interstate 95 between the Greenwich town line and the Rippowam River. The northern boundary is commonly taken as West Broad Street and Palmers Hill Road. Another version of the boundaries of the West Side has it located between Stillwater Avenue, Broad Street, West Main Street and West Avenue up to Exit 6 Interstate 95.

Ethnic groups

"Stamford had ranked as one of the country's safest cities three years running. Breaking-and-entering rates were low, and violent stats were negligible, except for the West Side, which had always been a sinkhole as far as O'Shea was concerned. That's where the gangs went at each other over drug turf. Semiautomatics floated around those parts. You saw a few drive-bys. But as long as they were killing only each other, the city's feathers didn't get ruffled. The department knew the precise coordinates of where that mess began and ended. Stillwater, Main, West Broad, and West Avenue. The rectangle of refuse and at the center was Vidal Court. They kept it contained. Officers got calls to go in there, they kept their hands on their holsters and knew they might see blood."

Jennifer Vanderbes, Strangers at the Feast (2010)

Many Italian-Americans in the neighborhood in the Twentieth century immigrated from Minturno, Italy and communities near it. The Minturnese Social Club, founded in 1939 and only made up of members whose families hailed from Minturno, had 120 members in 2007. A Minturnese tradition, the Festa de la Regna ("Festival of Wheat") celebration of harvest day and honoring the Madonna delle Grazie, is still honored with an annual procession. On July 8, 2007 the procession was held on Stephen Street after a Mass said in Italian at the Sacred Heart Church. The procession included women in traditional black and white dresses, a float with miniature palm treas, a stuffed rooster, sheaves of wheat and an Italian flag, a marching band, a woman in red, white and green traditional dress with a sheaf of wheat and men carrying a yellow throne with a portrait of the Madonna delle Grazie.

Spruce Street also houses many ethnic groups. There is regular Spruce St, Haitian Spruce St, and Jamaican Spruce St. All separated by main streets.

Local institutions

Stamford Hospital with a campus of more than 10 acres (40,000 m²), is the largest institution in the neighborhood, the Yerwood Community Center is located in West Stamford, as is Lione Park, and the Westover Elementary School. The public E. Gaynor Brennan Golf Course is to the north

The New Covenant House soup kitchen, established in 1978, is in the neighborhood and is the only soup kitchen set up to help people in Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan and Darien. Run by Catholic Charities of Fairfield County, the soup kitchen provides daily hot meals and extreme nourishment to the homeless.

Pellicci's Italian restaurant has been located at the same address on Stillwater Avenue since 1947. The family-owned restaurant is known for unpretentious, old-fashioned Italian cooking. Joe DiMaggio, Nancy Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Walter Cronkite have all dined there. The eatery sells more than 1,000 pounds of baked chicken a week.