Wethersfield Village Improvement Association

In the period following the Civil War, village improvement associations were started all over America. In 1883, Stephen F. Willard, of Comstock Ferre Company and other civic-minded residents, started a village improvement association in Wethersfield. The improvements Willard had in mind were major. The WVIA's first order of business which was to install not only sidewalks but also street lamps.

Early in the twentieth century, the WVIA, under the leadership of John Willard, was instrumental in saving the historic Webb House, in the center of Old Wethersfield. The Webb House was the site where General George Washington met with the French Count de Rochambeau. There they planned the battle that culminated at Yorktown and which successfully ended the American Revolution. (The Webb House is now part of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, attracting visitors to Wethersfield from all over the world.)

In 1916, Lyman Hewitt, a Wethersfield citizen and supporter of the WVIA, set up a trust fund to support the association's goal - to make the town a more pleasant place to live by improving its physical appearance. Hewitt's gift, more than 85 years later, continues to fund most of the WVIA's activities.

You can see the results of WVIA projects throughout Wethersfield:

Every Arbor Day for the past 50 years, the WVIA has planted a tree in town with the participation of the town's fourth grade school children.

In 1995, under the leadership of Corinne Willard, W. Thayer chase, John Lepper and others, the WVIA helped sponsor legislation that resulted in the creation of a "Wethersfield Shade Tree Commission" to oversee the care of publicly owned trees in Wethersfield.

In one of its most ambitious efforts in recent years, the WVIA spearheaded the restoration of the charming "Hubbard House" street signs that adorn many intersections in the old village section of town.

Two years ago the WVIA paid for a tree landscaping plan around the Wethersfield Community Center. It then raised donations from townspeople and, coupled with additional WVIA funds, selected and planted 53 trees on the Community Center Grounds.

Back...