Peter P. Cornen was the only millionaire among the founders, directors and first officers of the Ridgefield Savings Bank, now Fairfield County Bank. Mr. Cornen made his fortune in Pennsylvania oil and New York City real estate. He devoted part of it to the beautification of Ridgefield, which he called home for more than 40 years. The maple trees which he planted along Danbury Road, sometimes called Cornen Avenue years ago, still line parts of the highway, through present day commercialization, featuring gas stations, has diminished the air of tranquility which they provided for the northern entrance to the town. At Mr. Cornen's death in 1893, The Ridgefield Press said: "Cornen Avenue, passing his residence, with its well-laid walls and graceful shade trees, in the future years will be a fitting memorial to the public-spirited citizen." Born in New York City on March 13, 1815, Mr. Cornen lived to the age of 78, "a sterling citizen," said The Press. As a boy he attended public schools in New York City and then learned the shipbuilding trade. At age 33, he joined the gold rush to California, making the trip, according to The Press, "round the Horn to San Francisco." For three years he "engaged in mercantile pursuits, his energy, perseverance and keen business foresight adding greatly to his accumulations, so that he ranked with the moneyed men of those days." Henry I. Beers, Mr. Cornen's brother-in-law, was also a '49er. They were later partners in the Pennsylvania oil fields. After returning East, Mr. Cornen began his real estate activities in New York City. Known as a shrewd buyer, he acquired 16 lots on which Grand Central Terminal now stands. He sold them in 1872 for $65,000, a big sum in those days. It was during the Civil War that Mr. Cornen became a petroleum producer in McClintockville, Pa. Soon he was a millionaire. He and Mr. Beers bought the Smith Farm in Cherry Run, Pa., for $2,500 and later rejected an offer of $4-million for it. By 1864, the 50-acre farm was dotted with oil wells, each of which produced from 24 to 250 barrels a day for two years. The financial panic of 1873 when the savings bank was only two years old, "swallowed a great share of his large fortune," said Mr. Cornen's obituary in The Press. "Thereafter he engaged in enterprises on a smaller scale, including real estate here and there, but was a wealthy man at his death. His Ridgefield property consisted of his home of Spanish design, which he had built in 1854, on the corner of Danbury and Farmingville Roads, and about 1,000 acres of land surrounding it. Because of an inordinate fear of fire, Mr. Cornen had the walls of his house studded with brick for better protection. The house became part the Outpost Nurseries property in the 1930's and, having fallen into disuse, was torn down about 1942." (The house-wreckers had no idea the walls were brick-filled when they started dismantling the building, a project that consequently took longer than expected. In 1976, the Ridgefield Savings Bank – which Cornen helped establish and which is now called Fairfield County Bank – purchased the site of this house on the north corner of Farmingville and Danbury Roads and some years later, built its headquarters there.) A Democrat, he was a state senator in 1867 and in 1871 he served in the House of Representatives. That fall he was elected first selectman and served one year. He was one of the original directors of the Ridgefield and New York Railroad Company. He was a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and the Odd Fellows Lodge. At his death The Press said: "Mr. Cornen, in business, through often indulging in transactions involving millions, was governed by none but the most honorable motives. His judgment was considered sound and his opinion once given was seldom erroneous." —Karl S. Nash, The Ridgefield Press, 1971, (Many thanks to Jack Sanders for the biography)