Reprinted from The Spectrum, 2004
Hill and Plain School: From groundbreaking to venerable facility
In conjunction with preparations for New Milford's Tricentennial celebration in 2007, The Greater New Milford Spectrum will run "Then and Now" photographs that illustrate significant changes in the community during its nearly 300-year history. The photograph at the top, made available by Al Fox, was taken in mid-October of 1966, when a groundbreaking ceremony for Hill and Plain School was held on property along Old Town Park Road in the southern part of town. In the photo, the children putting the ceremonial shovels in the ground are, from left to right, Deborah Engels, Deborah Rossignol and David Lynch. The adults looking on are, from left to right, First Selectman Russell V. Carlson, project manager Robert Roth, architect George Lechner, School Building Committee member William Cuddy, contractor Paul Morganti and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Morris J. Rudner. The photo above - taken by The Spectrum's Norm Cummings, who was a senior at New Milford High School in 1966 - shows the product of the efforts begun during that long-ago groundbreaking.
