In 1923, Edward T. Bedford built the YMCA, in downtown Westport.
As a boy decades earlier, he’d watched from outside as men played pool in the Westport Hotel — the social (and, in a way, geographic) center of town, at the intersection of State Street and Main Street.
The Y served anchored that spot — and provided healthy, community activities for boys and men (and later, girls and women) — for the next 90 years.
It expanded north, on Church Lane. It weathered all the changes that 9 decades bring (including the renaming of State Street to the Post Road). Through it all, a large concrete logo announced what it was, to all.
In 2013, the Y — now called the Westport Weston Family YMCA — moved to land it owned off Wilton Road, next to its Mahackeno Outdoor Center.
Anthropologie — the new tenant of the original Bedford building — kept the old logo.
It’s not very prominent. It’s propped up against a wall, inside.
But it’s still there. It was the subject of last week’s Photo Challenge (click here to see).
And Cat Malkin, Andrew Colabella, S. Jonas, Jonathan McClure, Seth Schachter, Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Tom Feeley, Sal Liccione, Katie Carmody, Richard Hyman and Matthew McGrath all knew exactly where it sits.
We’d give you a prize — like a free membership to the Y. Except:
We don’t give anything to Photo Challenge winners (beyond recognition), and
The Y is so popular, they’ve had to cap membership and start a wait list.
So instead, our winners — and everyone else — can turn their attention to this week’s Photo Challenge. (It’s more difficult.)
If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Ed Simek)
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
