Old Greenwich, Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut in the 1990s

Work

Commuters and professionals

The place is shaped by travel: 28 miles from New York City¹ and tied to it by Metro-North, I-95, U.S. 1, and the Merritt Parkway¹. In townwide figures, most workers held private corporate or professional, technical, and administrative jobs¹.

Money

High prices, tight rents

Greenwich’s 1990 median single-family owner-occupied value was $499,900¹, far above ordinary national prices. Rent was also under pressure: median contract rent rose from $344 to $975¹ during the 1980s, and 32.5 percent of renters¹ were cost-burdened in 1990.

Home & table

Single-family dominance

The town’s housing stock was mostly detached and expensive: 67.9 percent single-family¹ in 1990. Yet near the station, Old Greenwich Gables⁴ was adding 167 condominium homes, aimed in part at professional couples.

Law & power

Local government is large

Civic power runs through town boards, not a city hall machine: Greenwich had a three-member Board of Selectmen, 12-member finance board, and 230-member RTM⁸. Much of the decade’s searchable RTM record is thin online because the archive begins in September 1998⁹.

In the air

Housing was the argument

The central public question was who could afford to remain: in 1994 there were 638 people on public-housing waiting lists¹. During the decade, Greenwich blocked a Housing Authority elderly-housing proposal⁷ and then lost in court.

Who lived here

Affluent, but changing

The town was still overwhelmingly White in 1990, with 94.8 percent of households reported White¹. But it was changing: the minority population grew 54.4 percent¹ between 1980 and 1990, including sharp Hispanic and Asian increases.

Faith

Old Congregational roots

Old Greenwich still had a long Protestant institutional memory: First Congregational Church of Greenwich in Old Greenwich¹⁰ belonged to the United Church of Christ and marked its 325th anniversary history for 1965–1990.

Roads & news

Daily and weekly papers

News arrived by local papers as well as New York media: Greenwich News was a weekly until February 1996⁶, while Greenwich Time was a daily⁶ through the decade.

Year by year

1. 1990The census counted Greenwich at 58,441 people, slightly below its 1980 population. here¹
2. 1990Median contract rent in Greenwich reached $975, after rising from $344 in 1980. here¹
3. 1991Old Greenwich Gables was being marketed as a 167-home condominium community near the station. here⁴
4. 1991The Gulf War dominated national news and would have been discussed in commuter trains, offices, schools, and homes. the country
5. 1992Bill Clinton defeated President George H. W. Bush, making recession, taxes, and suburban politics part of everyday conversation. the country
6. 1994Greenwich reported 638 people waiting for public housing. here¹
7. 1995The internet and World Wide Web began moving from offices and universities into ordinary American homes and businesses. the world
8. 1996Greenwich News ended publication in February, leaving Greenwich Time as the continuing daily local paper. here⁶

What the sources say

• Old Greenwich was one village within the Town of Greenwich, described in 1995 as a roughly 48-square-mile coastal town in southern Fairfield County bordered by Long Island Sound, Westchester County, and Stamford. from the sources¹
• Greenwich was 28 miles from New York City and was served in the 1990s by Metro-North, I-95, U.S. 1, and the Merritt Parkway. from the sources¹
• The Town of Greenwich had 58,441 people in the 1990 Census, down 1.9 percent from 59,578 in 1980. from the sources¹
• Greenwich Point, locally still called Tod’s Point, is the peninsula and beach area associated with Old Greenwich, and the town had bought the 148-acre Tod estate in 1945. inferred⁵
• The historic community now called Old Greenwich had been called Sound Beach after trains began stopping there in 1872, and it reverted to Old Greenwich in 1931. from the sources²
• Old Greenwich station was originally built in 1872 as Sound Beach station and was renamed Old Greenwich in 1931. from the sources³
• Old Greenwich Gables was a 167-home condominium community under development near the station in 1991–1992, with one-story units marketed to professional couples aged about 35 to 45. from the sources⁴
• Greenwich’s 1990 median household income was $65,072, and its median family income was $80,558. from the sources¹
• The 1990 median value of a single-family, owner-occupied home in Greenwich was $499,900, up from $165,800 in 1980. from the sources¹
• Between 1980 and 1990, Greenwich’s median contract rent rose from $344 to $975. from the sources¹
• In 1990, Greenwich had 23,515 housing units, of which 67.9 percent were single-family and 30.3 percent were multifamily. from the sources¹
• In 1990, 32.5 percent of Greenwich renters paid more than 30 percent of annual household income for rent. from the sources¹
• Greenwich town government uses a three-member Board of Selectmen, a 12-member Board of Estimate and Taxation, and a 230-member Representative Town Meeting. from the sources⁸
• The Representative Town Meeting archive begins online in September 1998, so detailed searchable RTM minutes for much of the decade are not readily available there. from the sources⁹
• Greenwich News was a weekly paper published from November 3, 1983, to February 15, 1996, and Greenwich Time was a daily paper continuing through the 1990s. from the sources⁶
• In 1990, Greenwich’s household racial and ethnic breakdown was reported as 94.8 percent White, 2.3 percent Hispanic, and 1.9 percent Black. from the sources¹
• Between 1980 and 1990, Greenwich’s minority population grew 54.4 percent, including a 52.2 percent increase in Hispanic residents and a 106.4 percent increase in Asian residents. from the sources¹
• The 1990 unemployment rate in Greenwich was 3.8 percent, with most workers employed in private corporations or businesses, often in professional, technical, and administrative positions. from the sources¹
• In the 1990s, Greenwich blocked a Housing Authority proposal for elderly affordable housing, then lost after the Housing Authority appealed, including at the Connecticut Supreme Court. from the sources⁷
• Greenwich had 687 publicly assisted housing units owned and managed by the Housing Authority in 1994, and 638 people were on public-housing waiting lists. from the sources¹
• First Congregational Church of Greenwich in Old Greenwich was affiliated with the United Church of Christ by 1960 and marked a 325th anniversary history for 1965–1990. inferred¹⁰
• As across coastal Fairfield County, ordinary local fears in the 1990s included traffic, school crowding, housing cost, property taxes, Lyme disease, AIDS, and recession-era job insecurity. inferred
• No detailed, open online description of ordinary Old Greenwich interiors, grocery prices, or block-by-block work routines in the 1990s was found in this quick search. not known

Sources

1. Greenwich Consolidated Plan for 1995 Executive Summary. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Archives, 1995
2. Greenwich Historic Communities. Greenwich Historical Society
3. Old Greenwich station. Wikipedia
4. Old Greenwich condos yield $6M in recent sales surge. Real Estate Weekly via The Free Library, 1992
5. History of Greenwich Point. Friends of Greenwich Point
6. Connecticut Newspapers: A List of the Newspapers Published Since 1755. Connecticut State Library
7. How restrictive zoning shut the middle class out of Greenwich, Conn.. Brookings Institution, 2019
8. Government & Administration. Town of Greenwich
9. Representative Town Meeting Archive. Town of Greenwich
10. A Brief History of Our Church. First Congregational Church of Greenwich

Nearby, about the same time