Omar William Platt, 1874-1957

by Joseph B. Barnes

 

Omar William Platt is another of Milford's home grown heroes who earned his place on the hall of fame by serving his community all his life not venturing out into the world to make his name. Omar Platt was listed by the local paper, the Milford Citizen, as the most influential person in Milford Politics in the first half of the 20th Century. A unique distinction well earned.

 

It is hard to find a political post he did not hold. He was Town Prosecutor; Judge of Probate; 40 year member of the Board of Education, chairman for 35 of those years;

Chairman of the Taylor Library Board: Chairman of the Republican Town Committee: Delegate to the Republican National Convention during the Roaring Twenties to Nominate President Calvin Coolidge; Member of the State Republican Central Committee; Chairman of the WWI Memorial Committee; Chairman of the 300th Anniversary, Tercentenary, Committee in 1939; and presided over the Milford Historical Society as its Chair for 30 years.

 

That is not to say he was just a political animal her also distinguished himself in business serving as president of the Milford Trust Company (bank), and Milford Hospital.

 

Early in his career he distinguished himself as a legislator.  According to Taylor's Legislative History of the State of Connecticut:  "Omar William Platt, of Milford, has had the honor of representing his native town in the Legislature for two consecutive terms, 1901 and 1903. Mr. Platt is an influential Republican and has been prosecuting attorney of Milford since 1901. He is intensely interested in the welfare and prosperity of his town. He is a highly esteemed member of the Congregational Church, and is a Knight Templar. He gained an enviable reputation in the House of Representatives, serving as a member of the Committees on Judiciary and Judicial Nominations, and as chairman of the Committee on New Towns and Probate Districts. He took a prominent part in the debates and won the respect and admiration of all for his prompt, earnest, eloquent and determined manner. He richly deserves continued honors from the hands of his townsmen."

 

Omar Platt was a direct descendant of the town founders. He is the son of William Platt (b. 11/17/1823) and Almira A. (Hand) Platt of Watertown, CT, born January 30, 1874. Almira was the second wife of William Platt, (his first wife Sarah Oviatt, sometimes thought to be Omar's Mother, died December 14, 1866).

 

He attended Hopkins Grammar then Yale College, class of 1899, and Yale Law School, class of 1903. He was admitted to the New Haven County Bar in June, 1903. He married Charlotte Baldwin (another descendant of the founders) on 17 November 1904 but had no children. He died in Milford on 22 November 1957

 

Two anecdotes help define  "Judge" Platt.  The first, related by Russell Clarke, was that, on one occasion when Omar double parked his car in front of Issie's Newsroom on River Street, (a common practice well into the 1970s), a rookie cop ticketed his car. Omar emerged from the store, took the ticket from his windshield, tore it in half and threw it into the street. He, of course, got away with it. He was, Mr. Clark said, "the King of Milford."

 

When the old Town Hall burned in 1915, Omar directed one of the firemen to play his hose through a window onto the Town Clerk s vault and, not matter what anyone else told him, to keep his hose on the vault. The town records were at least partially saved though many Milford ladies took the opportunity to reduce their ages as many birth records had to be recreated. An act they would come to regret as retirement benefits started in the 1930s.