Recent Friday Flashback aerial photos have inspired photographers to send in their own bird’s-eye shots.
This one comes from Carmine Picarello, from — he believes — the 1960s.
(Photo/Carmine Picarello)
Looking west (top), it shows what we now call the William F. Cribari Bridge (then it was “the Bridge Street Bridge”) at the bottom left, with a great view of old Saugatuck.
The Gault oil tanks are at the far left, in the middle of the frame.
What do you see that strikes you as different — or the same? Click “Comments” below.
(If you enjoy the “06880” Friday Flashbacks, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
First Selectwoman Jen Tooker delivers her first Thanksgiving message to Westport:
“I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving, as well as a Happy Hanukkah for those celebrating.
“Westport has much to be thankful for. As we emerge from a global pandemic, we are grateful for our first responders, our town employees and staff, our teachers, colleagues and friends, and the numerous volunteers who gave unselfishly of their time, talents and resources. Most importantly, we are grateful for each other, and how we came together as a community to lift up, to help and to inspire during challenging times. Westporters are truly resilient!
“We are also keenly aware that there are those among us who need additional care and concern, especially during holidays. Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘Let us remember that, as much has been given, much will be expected…and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips and shows itself in deeds.’”
“And so, at this Thanksgiving and for the days to come, I ask that we both reflect and act; to give of ourselves in word and deed; to express our appreciation for all that we do have, and to make simple acts of kindness the norm, not the trend.
“On a personal note, my sincerest hope is that you enjoy your Thanksgiving and upcoming Holidays with friends and families, and that you have the opportunity to be thankful for the simple blessings we all share. Thank you.”
Jen Tooker is thankful to celebrate Thanksgiving with her husband Mo and her father, Bob “Pops” Salmon.
Just in time for Black Friday, “Finding Westport”‘s Jillian Elder has found local stores offering sales, customer appreciation days and more this weekend.
Click here for her list. If you prefer to shop from home, keep it local! Scroll down on her website for a list of Westport-based Etsy shops.
JL Rocks is one of many local businesses you can find on “Finding Westport.”
Yesterday morning, the Westport Fire Department helped the Westport Downtown Association put up a Christmas tree at Parker Harding Plaza, across from Starbucks.
Check out the fire extinguisher “present” — and the firefighter’s hat on top!
Al’s Angels’ annual Cribari Bridge lighting ceremony is tomorrow night (Friday, November 26, 4 to 6:30 p.m., Saugatuck Rowing Club).
There’s Santa, cocoa (kids’ and spiked), hot dogs and popcorn. It’s a ticketed event ($20 adults, $10 children — plus an unwrapped toy), with all toys and funds going to (of course) Al’s Angels.
For over 20 years they’ve brought joy to children with life-threatening illnesses (and their families). And for 20 years they’ve kept the Cribari Bridge lit.
Click here for tickets. You can pay at the door too,
Tomorrow’s Cribari Bridge lighting rings in the holiday season. (Photo/January Stewart)
There’s one more parking space today on Myrtle Avenue.
“Hank the Tank” — the Mercedes sedan that, since summer, sat in front of Town Hall since summer — was trucked away yesterday. He’s been donated to the Fire Department, for use as a training vehicle.
Hank has quite a back story. If you missed it earlier this month on “06880,” click here.
College girls — friends of the owner — say goodbye, moments before Hank the Tank is trucked away. (Photo/Frank Rosen)
Speaking of cars: Traffic has been terrible lately. It’s the holidays. And a paving project on Riverside Avenue by the Cribari Bridge has funneled traffic onto already jammed streets.
Today, Westporters give thanks for many things. These “Westport … Naturally” featured creatures give thanks that they’re hanging out on Colony Road, not on someone’s carving board.
And finally … I’m old enough to remember that, for my first couple of years at Burr Farms Elementary School right here in Westport, we opened the day by reciting the Lord’s Prayer (!).
In music class, we also sang “We Gather Together” every Thanksgiving — even after the Supreme Court ruled (8 to 1) that prayer and Bible reading were unconstitutional in public schools.
The things you learn when you’re young stay with you forever. I’ve always associated that hymn with Thanksgiving — and I still know all the words.
In fact, it’s one of only two Thanksgiving songs I know. Last year, I featured Arlo Guthrie. This year … well, let us give thanks, and pray.
As part of the “redevelopment of Saugatuck” — which you may or may not realize is being discussed — a 9-month process guided by the Saugatuck Transit Oriented Design Master Plan Steering Committee will “engage community members and a team of planners, engineers, economic planners and historic preservation experts to establish design standards and a master plan to enhance this important gateway for the Town of Westport.”
They’ve hired consultants.
And that firm — Barton & Partners — has created a survey.
The committee wants to make sure that every Westporter’s voice is heard. You can weigh in (and rank) your priorities, in areas like shopping, dining, neighborhood charm, waterfront access, historic significance, green space, transportation and walkability.
So here’s your chance. Click here to take the survey.
And click here for more information on the master plan process.
Westport artist Robert Lambdin’s “Saugatuck in the 19th Century” (1969) prominently featured the swing bridge. What’s next for the neighborhood?
A group of Westporters — working hard to designate a 1.2-mile stretch of Route 136 as a scenic highway — is highlighting the history of the 19th-century Saugatuck River swing bridge.
To do so, they’ve added a 21st-century element: a website.
Launched a few days ago, the site — www.PreserveWestport.com — includes a treasure trove of images and information about the structure. There are links to its long history and innovative architecture, along with media stories, rare source documents, and related bridge sites.
A classic shot of the Bridge Street (Cribari) bridge, from the Preserve Westport website. Click on or hover over this photo, and those below, to enlarge.
As the state Department of Transportation and town officials discuss renovations — and possible replacement — of the Bridge Street (aka Cribari) bridge, PreserveWestport.com provides important background on the span, its role in the Saugatuck community on one side of the river, and the residential neighborhood on the other.
The website comes at at a key time. Within the next 2 weeks, the DOT Scenic Highway Advisory Committee is expected to announce a recommendation regarding what would be Westport’s 1st scenic highway.
Hand-cranking the Bridge Street bridge.
At a public forum here last month, Colleen Kissane — chair of DOT’s advisory committee — said that such a designation would provide further safeguards for both the bridge and Route 136.
“It’s another level of approval,” she noted. “Environmental Protection would have to weigh in on it….Tourism would weigh in on it, where normally they would not.”
Westporters — private citizens and town officials alike — will weigh in too, in the months ahead. To see what everyone is talking about, visit the bridge and Route 136.
The recent flurry of posts about the Bridge Street (William Cribari) Bridge prompted Kathie Motes Bennewitz to check in.
The town arts curator writes:
The recent Westport Historical Society exhibit, “Saugatuck@ Work,” addressed the Saugatuck bridge. This original drawing of the bridge (July, 1884) is from the WHS archives:
The WHS exhibit included this information:
The Saugatuck River Bridge carries Route 136 over the Saugatuck River in Westport today. The bridge, built in 1884 and designed by the Union Bridge Company of Buffalo, is the oldest surviving movable bridge in Connecticut and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The movable bridge allows waterborne traffic to easily pass, which was crucial to the area’s maritime economy at the time it was built.
The bridge consists of a 144-foot-long fixed approach span on the eastern side, and a hand-cranked movable span. Both spans are pin-connected Pratt through truss designs made of wrought iron.
In the mid-1980s there was a successful 2-year battle to save and restore this Westport landmark. The battle began when Federal and state officials determined that the 100-year-old structure had rotting floor beams, and steel decking, trusses and girders had fallen into disrepair. Their plan was to build a new bridge, 3 lanes wide and with a higher vertical clearance, with no posted weight restrictions.
The Bridge Street Bridge. (Photo/Library of Congress)
This bridge was never without political controversy. The bridge’s present location was the historic crossing point, as established in 1746 when the Disbrow ferry was established to carry traffic over the Saugatuck River.
However, local merchants and financiers, such as the Jesup family and Horace Staples, built a substantial infrastructure of maritime, financial and commercial facilities upriver at Westport center, and blocked this bridge’s realization for decades. They wanted to force the flow of traffic from Fairfield, Greens Farms and Compo uptown, crossing the river there to reach the depot and wharves to the west.
Yet in the early 1880s, when the needs of overland transport demanded a new bridge in Saugatuck Village, there was little question but that the bridge would have to be built to accommodate the passage of vessels destined not only for Saugatuck itself, but also for the larger port upstream at Westport center.
A detail of the Bridge Street Bridge, from Robert Lambdin’s Saugatuck mural.
Horace Staples admitted late in life that it was the mistake of his life in having the bridge built where it was now [downtown] instead of at Ferry Lane, where the road builders that proposed and where the ferry had been established.
Ironically, the onion trade declined drastically soon after the bridge was opened, rendering moot the reason for erecting the swing bridge rather than a cheaper and less troublesome fixed crossing.
(Kathie adds: The Library of Congress has Historic American Buildings Survey, Engineering Record, Landscapes Survey photographs online. Click here to view.)
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