Category Archives: Essex

Essex Savings Bank Announces New Name, Prepares to Celebrate 175th Anniversary

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The new logo for the former Essex Savings Bank reflects the simplicity of its new name.

ESSEX–The Essex Savings Bank is shortening its name. 

The institution, which has a branch in Old Lyme, announced it will be known as Essex Bank as of Oct. 1. Its new logo is shown at left.

President and CEO Diane Arnold in a press release said the new name better reflects the bank’s expanding services, including trust and wealth management services. 

“As we prepare to celebrate our 175th anniversary, we have been listening closely,” Arnold said. “Again and again, our customers tell us, ‘You are so much more than a savings bank.’ And they are right.”

The bank was founded by a group of local shipmasters, businessmen, and entrepreneurs in 1851. The bank said the founders’ tenets of highly personal service hold today, with team members answering each customer phone call, and the Bank’s Community Investment Program – which it said is the first of its kind in the state of Connecticut — supporting hundreds of local nonprofit organizations each year.

Essex Savings Bank is an FDIC-insured, state-chartered, mutual savings bank established in 1851. The Bank serves the Connecticut River Valley and shoreline with six offices in the area. Apart from the Old Lyme one, the remaining offices are in Essex (2), Chester,  Madison, and Old Saybrook.

Together the offices provide a full complement of personal and business banking. In addition, the bank has been instituting more modern technologies, digital platforms, and lifestyle features.

Along with the October name change, Essex Bank will also launch a new website with expanded resources for customers to understand their banking options. 

SECWAC Hosts Talk in Essex on ‘The Militarization of U.S. Foreign Policy’

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Monica Duffy Toft

On Wednesday, May 7, at 5 p.m., the Southeast Connecticut World Affairs Council (SECWAC) hosts acclaimed scholar of international politics Monica Duffy Toft at the Essex Yacht Club for a talk titled “Dying by the Sword: The Militarization of U.S. Foreign Policy.”

Toft is Academic Dean and Professor of International Politics and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. 

Her areas of research include international security, ethnic and religious violence, civil wars, and demography.

Before joining Fletcher, Toft taught at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. While at Harvard, she directed the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs and was the assistant director of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies. 

Toft was educated at the University of Chicago, where she received her master’s and doctoral degrees in political science, and at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she graduated summa cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in political science and Slavic languages and literature. 

Before attending college, she spent four years in the United States Army as a Russian linguist. 

Registration is free to members or $20 for non-members. Register at this link.

A reception will begin at 4:30.

State Crews to Monitor Site of 50-Acre Brush Fire in Lyme

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About 38 firefighters, including 15 from Lyme Fire Company, worked Wednesday to put down a roughly 50-acre brush fire in town. Photo courtesy of Lyme Fire Company.

LYME – A roughly 50-acre brush fire that threatened two homes in the woods between Becket Hill Road and Grassy Hill Road yesterday is contained and will be monitored. 

Lyme Fire Company Deputy Chief Sam Adams in a phone call this morning said the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection was set to return to the area to assess the situation. He said he did not see signs of fire when he drove by early in the day. 

He said the fire, which was called in around 1:54 p.m. Wednesday, was largely extinguished when local crews were sent home around 6:20 p.m.

The state agency kept a crew on scene overnight to monitor hot spots. 

There were no injuries or damage to property, according to Adams.

About 38 firefighters from multiple jurisdictions arrived Wednesday afternoon to find flames moving up the ridgeline toward a house at the top of Becket Hill, Adams said. 

He counted 15 firefighters from the Lyme Fire Company. 

The fire was located in the woods between Becket Hill Road and Grassy Hill Road. Photo courtesy of Lyme Fire Company.

He said the DEEP was brought in when crews sent into the woods saw the fire spreading toward another house. 

Also responding were East Haddam Fire Department, Salem Volunteer Fire Company, Old Saybrook Fire Department, Old Lyme Fire Department, Montville Fire Co #1, Essex Fire Engine Co. #1, Niantic Fire Department, Flanders Fire Department and Lyme Ambulance Association. 

Crews of two or three firefighters each were sent out in compact, maneuverable utility vehicles affixed with water tanks, according to Adams. Some used rakes and leaf blowers to create a fire line about six to eight feet wide in front of the flames.

“The hope is that when the fire reaches that point, there’s no more material for it to actually burn,” he said. 

Calm winds prevented embers from “jumping the fire line” and helped prevent flames from spreading past the barrier created by the firefighters, according to Adams. 

Lyme Fire Company in a social media post credited Essex Fire Marshal John Planas for bringing in a drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera. The drone, which flew for the duration of the incident, allowed for more refined tactics and a rapid reduction in the size of the fire.

“That was a very, very big help as far as getting eyes on top of the fire and kind of seeing what direction it was headed,” Adams said.

The deputy chief expected to hear from the DEEP with an assessment of conditions in the afternoon. 

Essex Winter Series Presents Free, Family-Friendly ‘Carnival of the Animals,’ April 27

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The Essex Winter Series has announced this family-friendly favorite as a humorous musical suite that mimics a variety of animals through 14 short movements.

ESSEX – The Essex Winter Series welcomes Orchestra New England on Sunday, April 27, for a performance of “The Carnival of Animals.”

The 2 p.m. performance will be held in the Valley Regional High School auditorium, 256 Kelsey Hill Road, Deep River. Outer doors open at 1:30 pm; Auditorium doors open at 1:45 pm. 

The organization in a press release described the family-friendly favorite as a humorous musical suite by Camille Saint-Saëns, which – through 14 short movements – mimics a variety of animals.

Jacqueline Hubbard, executive director of the Ivoryton Playhouse, will narrate witty verses by Ogden Nash. 

Tickets for this free concert are available at essexwinterseries.com or by calling 860.272.4572.

Families are asked to reserve tickets for young children even if it is anticipated that they will sit on an adult’s lap. Advanced reservations are highly recommended due to limited seating. 

Accessible parking, entry and seating is available.

Essex Savings Bank Awarded Three Gold Medals in Commercial Record’s Annual ‘CR’s Best’ Reader’s Poll

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ESSEX/OLD LYME —Essex Savings Bank has been awarded three gold medals in the Commercial Record’s 17th annual “CR’s Best” readers’ poll. The awards are in these categories: Best Commercial Lending in Banking, Best Community Bank in Banking, and Best Financing in Commercial Real Estate.

One of Essex Savings Bank’s six offices is located in Old Lyme.

The survey,  which includes dozens of Connecticut institutions related to banking and real estate, focuses on loyalty and satisfaction. The organizer of the contest, The Commercial Record, has provided Connecticut real estate and financial news since its founding in 1882. 

Essex Savings Bank President and CEO Diane Arnold notes that the bank is humbled and honored to receive such high praise from its community. She adds, “We’re tremendously proud to receive this recognition from  our customers. The Commercial Record is a well-respected publication in the Connecticut financial and real estate industry, and we thank them for organizing this contest. We look forward to continuing to provide exceptional service in 2025.”  

Essex Savings Bank is an FDIC-insured, state-chartered, mutual savings bank established in 1851. The Bank serves the Connecticut River Valley and shoreline with six offices in the area. The remaining offices, excluding the Old Lyme one, are in Essex (2), Chester,  Madison, and Old Saybrook. Together the offices provide a full complement of personal and business banking. 

Financial, estate, insurance, and retirement planning are offered throughout the state by the Bank’s Trust Division, Essex Trust, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Essex Financial Services, Inc., a Registered  Investment Advisor.

Editor’s Note: This article is based on a press release issued Dec. 30, 2024 by Essex Savings Bank.