HARTFORD, Conn. — The last dry town in Connecticut is considering whether to give up on Prohibition.
Bridgewater, an affluent bedroom community of 1,700 people tucked into the hills of western Connecticut, might have more at stake in a referendum than bragging rights: The town’s average age has risen above 50, and the state is threatening to close the only school.
First Selectman Curtis Read said restaurants that serve alcohol could provide a much-needed boost.
“It would tend to enliven the town,” Read said.
Repeal has become the hottest issue in Bridgewater, with dozens attending a November town meeting on the issue. Read said it was clear people were reluctant to “show their cards” and a referendum was chosen in part for privacy, so that voters do not have to reveal opinions to neighbors.
The timing of the vote, originally scheduled for Tuesday, now remains to be determined after it was postponed to make sure it complies with decades-old blue laws.
Cynthia Bennett, whose grandmother led an effort to keep Bridgewater dry after Prohibition ended in 1933, said she thinks many fellow longtime residents will join her in voting against alcohol sales.
“I feel people moved here because Bridgewater is the way it is, and I’d like to keep it that way,” said Bennett, 55. “I’m not saying you don’t, say, have a game of horseshoes and have a beer. There’s plenty of it in Bridgewater.”
Bridgewater has taken up the issue for the first time since the 1930s because two developers proposed opening restaurants, as long as they could serve alcohol. Some residents have bars in their garages, but the town, which is home to actress Mia Farrow and a large weekend population of people from New York City, does not have a restaurant aside from a village store with a delicatessen.
Today, the town 60 miles north of New York has a median household income of about $100,000, but it has a glut of homes on the market, and the last census showed the median age is 51.
A plan for a consolidated regional elementary school, subject to a vote in April, could lead to the closing of the town’s only grade school.
“The town definitely needs a boost,” said Read, who said the restaurants could provide employment and a place to socialize.
One of the restaurant proposals came from Peter and Leni May, part-time residents from New York City who own a century-old building in downtown Bridgewater that hosts the village store. They suggested opening a pub-style restaurant in an adjacent space. Their local agent, Greg Bollard, said he was disappointed by the referendum’s postponement.
“We all want to see some positive growth for the town,” Bollard said.
