Saugatuck was Westport’s first commercial and residential center.
In the 1830s, when we broke away from Norwalk, Weston and Fairfield it was a thriving place, with wharves, businesses, factories, churches, schools and farms.
So why did our town fathers choose the name “Westport,” instead of “Saugatuck”?
The story I always heard is that a state representative did not like being called “the legislator from Succotash” in Hartford.
Other reasons: it was a simple description of a port west of Fairfield; it was an acknowledgment that the new town was more than just Saugatuck, and that a new name symbolized a fresh start.
A section of Robert Lambdin’s “Saugatuck in the 19th Century” mural. It hung for many years in the Saugatuck branch of Westport Bank & Trust, on the corner of Charles and Franklin Streets.
And that, I thought, was that.
But Jeff Van Gelder — a native Westporter, and Staples High School graduate — recently unearthed a New York Times story from December 2, 1923.
“Leading citizens,” the paper says, launched a “Back to Saugatuck” movement, to restore the original, distinctive name.
There was only one other Saugatuck in the world, they argued (in Michigan — named by a former resident of our town). However, there were 18 other Westports in the US, and 22 around the world.
That caused “onfusion of the mails and the long-distance telephone calls intended for the different Westports,” the Times reported.
The Connecticut Westport — population nearly 5,000 — claimed “the largest and most noted art colony in the United States.” It boasted “a dozen different industrial plants.” And it recently completed a Young Men’s Christian Association, thanks to a $300,000 gift from E.T. Bedford.
Westport’s brand-new YMCA.
“Saugatuck,” the Times said, came from an Indian word “Sauki-tuk,” which meant “outlet from a tidal river.”
The “agitation for the restoration of the town’s old name” was led by John Adams Thayer. It was supported by Professor Harry M. Ayres, who was a member of the Connecticut Legislature, “and many othe prominent citizens who believe the community will benefit by such a change.”
But that seems to be the high water mark for the proposal. The Times did not report on it again.
We had been Westport for 88 years.
Now — 101 years later — we still are.
A detail from Lambdin’s mural shows the Bridge Street (now Cribari) Bridge.
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