As the west side of the Saugatuck River is redeveloped — with new office building, and the recently opened Bankside House — and plans for a redesign of Parker Harding Plaza behind Main Street muddle along, I found this illustration from the 1960s.
I don’t know the artist, though it sure looks like Stevan Dohanos’ style.
It shows the Famous Artists School — of which he was a founding member — and the adjacent Famous Writers School.
Across the river are the backs of Main Street stores. Parker Harding — built on landfill a decade earlier — is barely visible.
To the left is the Victorian house that stood on Gorham Island. It has since been replaced by a large green and gold office building.
In the distance is Bedford Elementary School (now Town Hall) and the spire of Christ & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
What stands out to you? Click “Comments” below.
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50 Years Ago This Week:
A Westport News editorial urged the town of Westport to buy a 9.1-acre parcel at the corner of Greens Farms Road and the Sherwood Island Connector.
Among the reasons: “…by purchasing the property, Westport will then have ample time to change the zoning so as to accommodate a new and smaller corporate headquarters…”
It is unclear whether that land is now the town’s transfer station (with part of the property belonging to private Sherwood Farms Lane), or the parcel across the Connector that is the I-95 Exit 18 commuter park-and-ride lot.
The “smaller headquarters” refers to Westport’s first corporate headquarters: Stauffer Chemical (now Bridgewater Associates) at Nyala Farm, a few yards south on the Connector.
The transfer station and park-and-ride, on both sides of the Sherwood Island Connector.
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