The Lebanese & Syrian immigrant experience in Danbury

Summer gathering circa 1926 - Back row: Nick Jaber, Massoud George, Chick Mathews, Abe Lewis, Bill Najam, Charlie Asmar, ?, Mr. Murad Kneeling: Joe Zarour, Front row: Fred Farris, ?, ?, ?, Joe Buzaid, John Shakra, Eddie Mamary, Frank Kaidy, Chicory Buzaid. Welcome to the inaugural publishing of the Lebanese Community News (LCN) section of the Tribuna. We thank the Staff of the Tribuna for their generosity in providing this forum to reach out to the community in Danbury and Western Connecticut.

We founded LCN to provide information and articles, in English and Arabic, concerning Lebanese cultural events, activities, celebrations, and cuisine in the Danbury area.

We are grateful to have the support of the Lebanon American Club of Danbury, its Ladies Auxiliary and the three “Sister” parishes - St. Anthony, St. Ann and St George, whose parishioners comprise the majority of the Lebanese and Syrian community in our area.

Today we present part I of a four part series on the history of Lebanese & Syrian immigration to Danbury. We extend special thanks to Brigid Guertin, Director of the Danbury Museum & Historical Society, Lila Shaker, James Jowdy, Sr. and Raymond Asmar for their assistance with our research, and our Arabic translator Nabil Takla.

Part I: Who We Are - The First Immigrants

The first wave of Lebanese and Syrian immigrants came in to the United States in 1870’s settling in urban and rural areas throughout the country. It is not until 1890 that local records show the first Lebanese immigrants arriving in Danbury – they were John Hannan, David Charles, Fahed Buzaid and William Buzaid.

Over the next twenty years these men were followed by hundreds more and despite coming from the mountains of Lebanon and Syria these initial immigrants were often referred to as Turks since Lebanon and Syria were under the rule of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. These immigrants were overwhelmingly Christians of the Ma- ronite, Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic denominations along with a small number of Druze.

By 1910, approximately thirty Lebanese & Syrian families lived in Danbury predominately working in Danbury’s fur shops and hat factories. With conditions under Ottoman rule worsening more Lebanese and Syrian Christians fled the oppression, poverty and starvation they faced in the Middle East. As their numbers in Danbury steadily grew many Lebanese and Syrian families settled near the shops and factories where they worked in what was then called “Little Lebanon” in the neighborhoods around Rose, Beaver, River (now Kennedy Avenue), Elm and Spring Streets. By WWI the Lebanese and Syrian immigrants had established themselves as a hardworking and patriotic community. In fact the first name on the WWI Memorial plaque at the Danbury War Memorial is a Lebanese immigrant, Toby Asmar, killed on the Western Front in 1917.

While many worked in the shops and factories others opened small markets, or peddled goods like Louis Charles and Louis Owen, Sr. who went from door to door at homes and factory selling wares and food.

These immigrant labors usually worked between 10 – 12 hours a day struggling to save money to make a better life for their families while their wives tended to the children and needs at home baking bread, preparing foods often made with home grown vegetables and spices. Even today there are houses in Danbury’s downtown neighborhoods with mint, parsley, and even grapevines growing wild, a legacy of those first immigrant families. (to be continued)

We hope you enjoyed part I of our series and please look for parts II, III and IV in the next three editions of the Tribuna. You may contact us via email at: LCNdanbury@aol.com.