It’s been 10 years since the Westport Weston Family Y left downtown, for their new building by the Merritt Parkway.
Nearly a decade’s worth of newcomers live in Westport with no knowledge of what that area of downtown was like, from 1923 to 2013.
If you don’t know: the Y’s original Bedford building is now Anthropologie. It looks pretty much the same.
But Church Lane looked very different. The original main firehouse …
… was replaced in the 1970s by an expanded Y that managed to be as cramped and difficult to navigate as it was ugly.
David Waldman’s Bedford Square project took a couple of years to complete. The first step was moving the Kemper-Gunn House across Elm Street, to its present location (as Serena & Lily).
Kemper-Gunn House, at 35 Church Lane …
… and in mid-move. (Photo/Wendy Crowther)
Then came a couple of years of construction.
Church Lane, near the corner of Elm Street. The large structure is the old YMCA.
A fence hid much of the construction from sight. It was decorated by artists, with Westporters as models.
Here’s a view from a construction vehicle:
A construction crane hovered over downtown. Onlookers were fascinated by its many moves, and its length and height.
At Christmas, a tree dangled at the top.
36 Elm Street was the site of several restaurants. The last was Villa del Sol. It was demolished (photo below), and replaced by parking in front of and adjacent to Bedford Square. In return, new stores were built across the street, next to Brooks Corner.
(Photo/Jen Berniker)
Anyone who has moved to Westport since 2015 thinks that Church Lane always looked the way it does now.
Anyone who lived here before remembers a very different scene.
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50 years ago today:
After a snowfall of over 7 inches of snow the night before, Elisabeth F.S. Solomon petitioned the town to build a new school for the disabled on 47 Long Lots Road, adjacent to Hall-Brooke Foundation.
She had taken over the former “sanitarium” — founded in 1898 — in 1964, as its director. A stern leader, she posted guards and guard dogs at the entry to the Long Lots Road property.
The facility had endured scrutiny after one patient fatally strangled another, another set fire to the Compo Inn, and numerous lawsuits were fired for malfeasance.
The establishment eventually fell into disrepair. Under severe government regulation, it was sold to St. Vincent’s Hospital in 2008.
Part of the Hall-Brooke Hospital property.
(“06880” covers Westport from yesterday to today, and on to tomorrow. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Does anyone recall if it was also Elizabeth Solomon who staged a coup at Hallbrook a few years later?
Indeed, Ms. Solomon attempted to take control of the now non-profit foundation in 1980, despite the protests of many state legislators, medical director and employees. She took out TV and newspaper ads announcing she was “taking back” her control as Executor Director. Her efforts failed.
The old Y may have been homely–but it had a quirky personality, lots of wonderful areas, and I for one LOVED IT.
The biggest mistake Westport made was moving the Y out of the center of town.
I am with Rosemary on the Y staying downtown. And I want to take issue with the pejoratives in commentary/opinion from 06880’s inestimable historian that firehouse “… was replaced in the 1970s by an expanded Y that managed to be as cramped and difficult to navigate as it was ugly.”
Another frequent user’s perspective would be “In the 1970’s a dedicated town serving organization brilliantly continued fulfilling the YMCA mission with an expansion that delivered sufficiently excellent facilities serving the complete demographic of this growing community.”
Later the move of Y from its downtown home to a distant inaccessible remote location, that also destroyed Mahackeno’s historically important open space, is not really debatable, old news, but the notion that the Y was anything less than a magnificent asset to the community, kind of misses the positivity that so many of us experienced there in the old Bedford building that grew into a complete community center.
Just my 2 cents.
An interesting perspective on the historical nature of the YMCA structure but it missed the essence of the facility being downtown. It was the hub for most of the youth who enjoyed the facilities after school each day, dances on Friday nights and the center of activity and fun. Men played pool on weekends on the second floor. On Saturdays, it was mecca for a movie and then a ping pong game or swim. Further, downtown flourished with this attraction. Developers’ redevelopment of the downtown may look pristine, but it has lost its soul. Progress is inevitable but total transformation is not always for the best.