Monthly Archives: June 2010

H. Leland Magill – Architect, Builder & Manager of Milton Gardens

Transcribed from the “National Builder” volume 66 (2) p. 13, published February, 1923.

Click all thumbnail pictures to enlarge.

There is a group of houses in Rye NY that automobile parties go out of their way to see – one of those local attractions to be shown wee-end visitors, as proof that “we live in the finest suburb of New York City.” Rye is a suburban city at the extreme eastern tip of Westchester County, on Long Island Sound. It is the last stop on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in New York State. Through this little city runs the famous old Boston Post Road, known to everyone in the New York district who owns an automobile. The houses that attract so much attention are near the Boston Post Road – probably the most traveled automobile tourist road in the United States. The landscape is rugged and rocky, quite heavily wooded, thus lending itself very readily to the character of the development.

Two brothers are responsible for most of the remarkably pretty houses which are ideally located on the rugged, rocky, wooded slopes. They are H. Leland Magill and Urwin J. Magill. Some of the work of H. Leland Magill is shown herewith…

H. Leland Magill is the younger of the two brothers. He attended Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY, and studied both craftsmanship and architecture. With that fundamental training he soon found a opportunity to exercise his initiative. A very few years ago, with capital of about $6000 – just about enough to finance one house – he began designing and building homes.

Mr. Magill had not only a fundamental education in carpentry and house architecture and native initiative, but he had an idea. He realized that there are in every big city a great many salaried men who accumulate families and get tired of apartment house or city flat life; yet who, for one good reason or another, do not want to buy suburban homes. … however much they may be sold on suburban living.

Mr. Magill then set himself to the problem of supplying homes to this class of home believers. By purchasing land in large plots and developing the plots as a whole he was able to buy real estate to advantage, and he was able to develop his property in large units and not merely as individual narrow building lots. For example, building a group of houses forming a hollow square made it possible to develop the interior of the square as a community park or playground, and thus add many attractive advantages over the usual “backyard” with fences and ash cans.

The houses nestle into the landscape as if they were a part of it. They show originality of design, inside and out. They are designed to be real “homey homes.” They have to sell themselves although they can’t be bought.

Builds, Leases, and Operates

Mr. Magill has no building organization of his own, but buys all of the material and equipment. He sublets the work like masonry, plastering, electric wiring, plumbing, etc., in separate contracts. Continue reading →

Random Shots of Milton Gardens

From left to right:
1. View of the house on the corner of Oakland Beach and Dearfield from inside the hollow center rented then owned in the 1920s by the St. Claires. House to the right of the St. Calaires was rented for two years by the Leavitts. House to the left of the St. Claires is on lot 4.
2. Winter scene at the entrance to the hollow center showing the St. Claire’s house and the Leavitt’s house in the back and the back of the Magill’s house (525 Milton Road) to the right of the entrance off Milton Road.
3. The kids of Milton Gardens around 1931 or 32 with June Magill (face partially hidden), Jean St. Claire, and Tommy (Betty) St. Claire in the back row (left to right). Nancy Adamson is in the middle row between and in front of June and Jean. The Leavitt’s house in in the background.
Click to enlarge.

June Magill – First Child of Milton Gardens

Quintessential Rowayton Mom of the 1950s

June’s formal name was Helen Harwood Magill. “June” was a nick name for “Junior”. She was born at Brooklyn Hospital on September 28th, 1919. Funny thing but we have always celebrated her birthday on the 27th. It was a little bit weird discovering this a few months ago.
Left to right
1. Leland with Helen Tousley at Coney Island with Pratt Institute friends in 1915 (furthest to right); Leland and Helen married in 1918.
2. June at about six-months; picture developed in April 1920.
3. June in either Dec 1930 or Jan 1931 at the age 11 with sisters Kate (age 6) and Mary Lois (about 6 months).

4. Milton Garden kids around 1931: June Magill’s face is partially hidden in back; to the right of June are Jean and Tommy (Betty) St. Claire who lived in the house on lot 5/6; Nancy Adamson (Foster), who lived next to June in the house on lot 17/18, is between June and Jean slightly in front.
5. June, Lois, and Kate sitting on the front step of the Magill house on lot 19/20 in about 1931 or 32.
6. June at about 15 or 16 around the time the Magills left Milton Gardens.

June’s father, Leland Magill, was from Massachusetts and had received an architectural degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. This is where Leland met June’s mother, Helen Tousley from Saranac Lake NY (next to Leland on far right). With baby June, they moved to Rye NY around 1919-1920 where Leland had gone into business designing and building nice houses, mostly in the Milton Gardens section of Rye. This is where June and sister Kate, and later sister Lois, lived until around 1935 and where they met Nancy Adamson (Foster), eventually our neighbor in Rowayton CT.

Milton Gardens is also where the Magills met the Leavitt family that had moved to this country in 1927 from Istambul/Constantinople Turkey and had rented one of Leland’s homes (on Lot 7). The Leavitts brought four kids into the neighborhood – eldest Peter (eldest), Ruth, John, and youngest Ann.

1. Peter, Ruth, Anne, and John (clockwise); picture probably taken in fall of 1927 or spring of 1928 when Peter was 14 or 15.
2. June (back right) almost flirting with John with Kate standing in front of John; June always spoke about having a crush on John. This large tree is in the hollow area between houses on lot 19/20 (Magills) and lot 7 (Leavitts).
3. Leavitt family after leaving Milton Gardens in the 1930s: Peter, dad Aurthur, mother Elsie, John, Ruth and Anne.

Peter was a big kid, seven years older than June, so June played with Ruth, John and Ann. Then, the Great Depression slowly broke up this neighborhood during the early-mid 1930s. Continue reading →

Grampa Arthur Howland Leavitt

Early Travels of Arthur Howland Leavitt – 1884 to 1913 – Part I of a Two Part Odyssey

This is based upon type-written notes from my Grampa, Arthur Leavitt, put together in 1979 and further based upon notes from my Uncle John Leavitt transcribed by his daughter, Gillian Mueller.

My paternal grandfather, Arthur Howland Leavitt who we called “Grampa,” was born in Spencer, Massachusetts, on December 13th, 1884. Grampa’s mother, Myra Howland Leavitt, died of consumption in 1895 when he was 10 years old, leaving Arthur and three siblings Chester, Edna, and Marion in the hands of Esther Davis, housekeeper and nursemaid. Two years later father Charles married Esther Davis, who subsequently had three children, Alice, Helen, and Gertrude. Gertrude eventually married a Mr. Bowen who founded Bowen’s Garage in Eastford down the road from Woodstock CT, now one of the oldest Ford car dealerships in the country. Grampa would visit Gertrude in Eastford in later years of his life.

Grampa attended grade school in Spencer MA and then graduated from David Prouty High School in June of 1902. He took an extra year of language courses the following year at father Charles’ wishes before entering college. Charles operated the town grocery store in Spencer.

In September 1903 Grampa entered Dartmouth College, and graduated in June of 1907 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. The following September he began graduate studies majoring in language and worked toward a Masters of Arts degree in June 1909 which he was unable to complete. As a part of his graduate training he took a “Consular course” at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Grampa told my Uncle John that he never worked particularly hard and never did brilliantly, but his grades were always respectable and he was an easy learner. During the last five of his six years at Dartmouth, Grampa worked in the college library and during the last two years he was in charge of the Reference Department. Continue reading →

Another Account of Arthur Leavitt’s Life from “Geni”

Leavitt Family Descends from the Mayflower Pilgrims

I am 44% Brit, 31% Western European (possibly Norman or Dutch), and 11% Irish with hints of five more places.

June Magill’s Artistry

Left to right:
1. Queen Ann’s Lace.
2. Butterfly Weeds on Cape Code.
3. Yellow Roses with Purple Background.
4. Scene of sons John, Peter, and David (descending in age), and daughter Phoebe in small skiff launch in pond in the back yard in Rowayton CT.
Click each to enlarge.

Leland and Helen Magill in McLean VA – 1940s and 50s

Leland and Helen bought Elmwood on Old Dominion Drive in Mclean VA in 1939. This is where they lived until Leland’s retirement from the Veterans Administration, and where they raised their youngest daughter Mary Lois who was 5 years old when they left Milton Gardens.
Left to right:
1. Leland the late 40s with Shandy and Chang (smaller dog) in front of Elmwood.
2. Leland with me on his Tennessee Walker and holding Blue Jean around 1950-51.
3. Leland and Helen in the early 1950s.
Click to enlarge.

The scenes below show my Grandfather Leland preparing to take me (eldest grandchild Crick Leavitt) and my cousin Suzy Cornbrooks (eldest Granddaughter) for a surrey ride on dirt roads in the late 1940s in McLean. We trotted down Grandfather’s long dirt driveway to Old Dominion Drive and then did a sharp right onto Balls Hill Road, a dirt road then which headed toward Seven Corners. I found the intersection of Balls Hill and Old Dominion on Google Maps and if you go to the satellite image, you can see my Grandfather’s long driveway winding up to the house, McLean House, on the west side of Old Dominion where Balls Hill angles off of Old Dominion. It’s all still there. Continue reading →

Milton Gardens Kids that Remained Life-Long Friends

From left to right:
1. June Magill furthest right with St. Claire girls Tommy (standing 2nd from left) and Jean (standing next to June) at Virginia Beach in 1939.
2. Three Magill sisters Lois, June, and Kate with their children and three husbands Rex Gatten (Lois), Peter Leavitt (June) and Charlie Cornbrooks (Kate) standing behind at Christmas in 1952. All sisters and families ended up living in Rowayton CT. June is in the center with four of five children Phoebe, Peter, David, and me standing. Kate is with one of two daughters, Susie, and Lois is with one of three children, Meg.
3. June with Tommy St. Claire Hardy in the 1980s. The Hardys ended up living in New Canaan near Rowayton CT.
4. June and cousin Barbara with Nancy Adamson Foster and sister Kate bundled up at Saranac Lake in the late 1980s. Nancy and family became June’s neighbors in Rowayton CT.
5. June with the Leavitt siblings and their father Arthur at Christmas in 1970. John’s wife Lilias and the Leavitt daughters Anne and Ruth are in front with June (left to right) and husbands Joe Blandin (Ruth), Peter Leavitt (June), John Leavitt (Lilias) and Roger Wilson (Anne) in the back. The Leavitt family lived at Milton Gardens for two years from 1927 to 1929 in the house on lot 7/8 on Dearborn. The Leavitts and the Magills were also neighbors on Old Dominion Drive in Mclean VA in the 1940s and 50s.

June Leavitt’s ‘Indian Lady Slipper Caper’

Told by Her Son Andy

I spent my high school years on the Cape with Mom. It was festive in the summer but it was very isolated during the ‘off-season’. Mom was so creative and talented during this time. She had her gardening of course but she also was painting a great deal and taking courses at night at the school. She learned silver-smithing and then she got a kiln and began cranking out ceramics as well.

She made jams from the harvest in the garden and also wine. The wine was in little 8oz Coke bottles and when she opened the first bottle during dinner one night we both had a small glass of it. As we took a first small sip both our eyes began to water and she began to laugh. The stuff was like white lightning moonshine. I told her we could make a fortune with this stuff but she declined.

Her gardens around the house were really great. My friends and our neighbors wondered why we never mowed our grass. It was a secret garden. She had a pathway that went all over the property and below the protective tall grasses were beautiful wildflowers.

One summer Jan Foster came to stay with me and care for the house while Mom was away for the whole summer. The summer was very hot and dry and Jan’s ‘Cape Escape’ deteriorated into a never ending struggle to keep Mom’s wildflowers from drying up.

I recall all of this to tell my favorite Mom Story.

One day my mother showed me a particularly beautiful plant that she had “saved”. The plant was an ‘Indian Lady Slipper’. She said that they were endangered and were actually protected by the EPA or some such thing. She showed me a number of them that we had in our small forest. I was so pleased to tell her that she needn’t worry that I had seen many of them on the wooded path that came out behind the liquor store on the way into town.

Well this was big news to…Mom the Protector of Plants, “WE MUST SAVE THEM!” she said. So this began a curious event. She got on her rescuing endangered plants gardening outfit complete with her gardening hat. I didn’t have a rescuing endangered plants outfit but she did give me a pair of gloves saying ‘here you’ll need these’. We would protect our hands and leave no fingerprints in the woods at the same time…brilliant. Then we got a number of trowels, shovels and of course pots to put our haul in. We climbed in our Carolina Blue VW Rabbit and sped toward the mark.

She pulled the car in fast behind the liquor store. She contemplated buying something in the store as a cover but then thought better of it realizing she had a basement full of moonshine. Continue reading →

Peter Pulman Leavitt – Literary Man and Artist, Jan 1913 – Dec 2010

Peter Leavitt, a 35-year resident of Woodstock CT, was born on January 22, 1913 in Constantinople, Turkey. He was the son of Arthur Howland Leavitt of Spencer MA and Englishwoman Elsie Baker. The Baker family members were prominent textile merchants in Constantinople and Arthur, who spoke many languages fluently, was in the Foreign Service stationed at the US embassy as a courier and translator. Peter is shown below at the age of five or six with sister, Ruth, younger brother John, and mother Elsie. In the second picture, a slightly older Peter is sitting on a launch at a dock on the Bosphorus between European and Asian Turkey in the early 1920s.

Because of the turbulent times in Europe with the outbreak of WWI (Turkey was on the other side), Peter was sent to England to live with the Bakers at the age of one and a half. When the USA entered WWI in March 1917, the Leavitt family had to leave Constantinople, allowing Peter to be reunited with his parents near London and then during their stay near Paris. In 1919 Peter and the family returned to now Istanbul on a boat that crossed the Mediterranean from Gibraltar. Peter’s childhood in Turkey ended around the age of eleven and a half in the summer of 1924 when he returned to England to attend Heathfield Boys School through 1926 at age 13. During these later years he would visit his Auntie Dolly Baker who worked at the girls’ school attached to Downe House (Darwin’s House) about 16 miles from the center of London. No doubt, his young life in England separated from his parents was very difficult for Peter.

In early 1927 the Leavitt family took a boat to Providence RI from Portugal and settled in Spencer MA, Authur’s home town. After about six months, the family moved to Westchester County NY and rented a house from Leland Magill at Milton Gardens in Rye NY. Leland was the father of Peter’s future wife, June. Eventually Peter was enrolled at Blair Academy in northern New Jersey where he finished high school. He enrolled at Amherst College in the early 1930s at the depth of the Great Depression, but left college after completing one full year and a few months. The picture on the left (above) was likely taken at Milton Gardens in 1928 when Peter was about 15 years old; the picture on the right was taken in northern Washington DC, in the mid-1930s after Arthur had taken a position with the National Archives. Continue reading →

Chronicles of Cricky – First Grandchild of the Magills and Leavitts – September 1943 to August 1966

Leave a reply

Nursery School – Riding Sparta in McLean – My Backyard on Bryan Road – Magill sisters populate Rowayton – 2^nd Grade – the Yankees – Camp Mohawk – Squirrels – Struggles in School – 1955 Party – Freckles – Natural History Museum – Delivering the Paper and Mail – Hopalong Cassidy – Sailing School – Sailfish Racing – 8^th Grade – Tennis at Bayley Beach – School Bus Antics – Jackie Robinson – Voyaging to Nearby Planets – Senior Year in High School – Running Cross Country – Letters to Grampa – High School Tennis – Wilson Point Beach – Hickory Bluff – Bayley Beach Stand – Jerry Beatty – Paul Tebo – Dick Willmott – Bethany College – Spring of 1963 – Kennedy Assassination – Getting into Grad School – Stefan and Marion Schnabul – Summer of 1966 in Europe – Seeds for the Future

I was born John Christopher Leavitt on September 8, 1943. Where did the name “Cricky” come from? This all started in 1945 when I was almost two years old. My parents and I shared a house with the Frasers on Leroy Avenue in Darien. Alan and Scud Fraser’s daughter, Gail, was my age but couldn’t say “Christopher” which is what my mother called me. Instead she said “Cricky” which unfortunately stuck. But she got the worst of it because I called her “Wudgie” 🙂 .

Growing Up in Rowayton

Our Packard

This was our car in 1946 – a dark red convertible Packard and one of the earliest images I recall. That’s my mother in the driver’s seat. We lived on Harstrom Place in Rowayton CT at the time.

Nursery School in 1948

The picture below shows Caroline Hoyt (second from left) and Margo Baumgarten (center) and me (furthest to the right) at Thomas Nursery School on Highland Ave across from the Beattys.

Times with Grandfather in McLean Virginia – Howdy Pardner

This is when I rode with the James Gang. Just Kidding 😉 .

Actually in the late 1940s and early 50s my preference was Hopalong Cassidy while Paul was Gene Autry. I liked Hoppy because of his two-gun belt … and I had the same hat and blue shirt as Hoppy. I guess the hat blew off while I was galloping around the fields before this picture was taken. Note the spurs and cowboy boots

I believe this picture was taken around 1951-52. In the late spring my sister Phoebe got very contagious scarlet fever. So I was taken out of Rowayton School for a month and put on a train to Washington. My grandfather and grandmother picked me up at Union Station and drove me to their ‘farm’ in McLean VA. At that time McLean was rural with many dirt roads.

Grandfather had two horses, Sparta (a male Tennessee Walker shown above) and a filly Blue Jean. Grandfather would send me out to the front pasture on Sparta leaving Blue Jean who was fairly wild in the barn. On one ride, when I was out in the front pasture, I heard Blue Jean whinny way back at the barn. So did Sparta because his head and ears perked up. Then Sparta took off in a gallop back to the barn. I held on for dear life. As I was speeding toward the barn, I saw grandfather running from the house waving his arms to get my attention. He yelled “Duck your head when you go into the barn!” Sparta and I circled the barn to get to the front and I nonchalantly ducked my head as we entered the barn.

What a ride. It was like Hoppy chasing after bandits with guns a blazing. Phewy!

My Backyard in 1953

This is Patty Dawson, Steve Miller and Paul Tebo sitting on a rock in my backyard at 28 Bryan Road. Jane Smith’s (not shown) backyard is over the stonewall to the left and Patty’s house is across the road from Jane Smith’s house.

The Magill Sisters Populate Rowayton

The picture below was taken around Christmas in 1952 at my grandparents house in McLean Virginia. We moved to Harstrom Place in Rowayton (from Darien) in 1946. Before this picture was taken my mother’s two sisters Kate Cornbrooks (far right) and Lois Gatten (far left) and their families moved to Rowayton. In the back (left to right) are Rex Gatten, my father Peter Leavitt, and Charlie Cornbrooks. Rex and I managed a Little League team in the late 50s. Charlie was an osteopathic physician and skilled sailor/boatsman. The Gattens lived on Wilson Avenue three or four houses up from the landmark cannon that memorializes Rowayton men who died in the wars. The Cornbrooks lived on Bell Island. That’s Meg Gatten at the far left. That’s Suzie Cornbrooks on the far right next to Kate. I’m standing in the middle center next to mother and Phoebe, Peter, and David (on mother’s lap) are there.

Remembering Matty Scott

Perhaps this is a sad commentary of CT life in the late 40s and early 50s. I cherished Matty Scott who was our ‘Help’. In the late 1940s and early/mid 1950s Matty took the bus from Stamford to Rowayton several days a week to our house on Harstrum Place and then on Bryan Road.

Bro Peter said, “I only remember her smile and kindness in this picture you can see also how dignified she was. I’m sure some of my compassion for others has a bit to do with Matty’s influence.”

I had good teacher Ms. Frank in 3rd grade. Mrs. Tebo sometimes was a substitute in this class. I received first kisses from from Connie Henry in her backyard on Bryan Road after walking home together for lunch break. Connie Henry’s mother Anne called my mother to give her the good news. Matty met me at the door with a big smile on her face. David was born on Nov 8th.

Remembering My Historic Victory in the Arthur J. Ladrigan Swim Race circa 1950

It was a beautiful day in early September when somehow I, Cricky Leavitt, found myself standing on the float tied to the west end of the Bayley Beach waterfront with a gaggle of other kids my age – about 5 to 6 years old. I had never been in this situation before so I sort of stood at the outside of the float being the anti-social kid I was. Little was I aware that this character flaw would pave the way for one of the greatest accomplishments of my long life. Clearly I was the underdog and you could cut the tension with a knife so to speak.

I was going to swim in the annual Art Ladrigan swim race for five and six year olds although the race was not called that at the time … and why would you name a race after a curmudgeon anyway. My fifteen or so competitors and I were told to calm down and form a line at the edge of the float to get ready because the race was about to start. I moved up into position and found myself on the outside in the deepest water. There was a bang and all of us instinctively dove or jumped into the water to head toward the finish line that seemed in retrospect to be about 25 feet away. It was like being in a running diswasher with water splashing everywhere. Being on the outside I managed to swim forward without being drowned by flailing arms. I thought at least these noisey kids had stopped shouting to avoid swallowing water. After what seemed like an eternity I made it to the finish line and found that I was first … numero uno.

I had won the only swim race I would ever enter and I retired undefeated to the cheers of Rowayton mothers. I remember having a medal that I kept in a box with all of my other things that glittered but I have not seen that medal in decades. I did have one more moment of swimming glory though. In the summer of 1952, I was banished to Camp Mohawk for two terrifying weeks where I rose to the rank of Flying Fish because I was able to swim to the center of a small lake and back. I’m pretty sure I got a medal for that too but haven’t seen it in decades either. Woe is me.

Continue reading →

My Life with Becki – 1986 to the present

Becki and I Get Together

This picture of me and Becki was taken at a Pauling Institute party at the Stanford Court on Nob Hill San Francisco in November 1986.

Our 1987 Golden Gate Bridge Walk

One of our favorite activities in San Francisco was, and still is, walking the Golden Gate Bridge. Whenever my kids who lived in Odessa TX would visit, we would make a point of spending a day in San Francisco and having a date with the Bridge.

In May of 1987, I noticed that the 50th anniversary of the bridge was going to be celebrated in the evening with a spectacular fireworks display and a concert at Chrissy Field (near the Presidio) with the bridge lit up in full view for the occasion. So Becki and I reserved a room at the Stanford Court on Nob Hill (our favorite hotel in SF) for the nights before and after the event. Six months earlier we had spent 5 days at the Court as the guest of Ryoichi Sasakawa, a billionaire Japanese industrialist who was visiting Linus Pauling. Continue reading →

Marriottsville Years – 1974 Through 1999

In the summer of 1974 after Jean and I bought 5.6 acres of secluded land in Marriottsville Maryland, I took a loan from Maryland National Bank for $7700 and installed the pool shown below. Why start this story with this picture? Because there was no house or electricity – just a pool in the middle of nowhere, just an inground pool in the wilderness with no neighbors for miles around. My mindset was if we were going to live through the humid/hot summers in the Baltimore area, we needed a pool.

In February of 1971, Jean and I moved from Pittsburgh to the Brookview Apartments at the northwestern edge of Baltimore City, not far from the Pimilco Race Track where the Preakness was held. It was there that we purchased our first color TV and I watched the World Series between the Oakland As and the Cincinatti Reds in 1972.

I had earned my Ph.D. in Biochemistry and had taken a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to work under Paul Ts’o in the Department of Biochemistry at the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. My building in the medical center was located on the eastern side of downtown Baltimore on Wolfe Street across from the back door of Hopkins Hospital and next to the Medical School. This section of Baltimore had not shown much evidence of recovering from the riots of 1968 when most of this side of Baltimore was burned down. Hopkins was sort of an oasis where intense medical research was conducted. As evidence of this, in 1977 Dan Nathans and Hamilton Smith at the Medical School received the Nobel Prize for their discovery and application of restriction enzymes for splicing genes into replicating DNA vectors – the beginning of recombinant DNA research. A few years earlier I had been invited to give a seminar to Nathans and Smith’s labs.

In late 1973 or early 1974, friends who had also moved to the Baltimore area from Pittsburgh, Becky and Frank Lindburgh, found some 5 acre lots for sale in a remote undeveloped section of northern Howard County due west of Baltimore a couple of miles north of Route 70 that headed due west to Grand Junction Colorado. Later on, I discovered that it took me about 35 minutes to commute to work from Marriottsville and it took Jean about 25 minutes to get to the University of Maryland Medical Center on the west side of downtown Baltimore where she worked as a nurse. Continue reading →