Serene downtown scene (Photo/Susan Leone)
When Fred Cantor graduated from Yale University in May of 1975, his parents gave him a 35mm Nikkormat camera. He’d always enjoyed taking photos, with an inexpensive Kodak.
In December he returned to Westport for break, from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
There was a beautiful snowfall. On Christmas Day, Fred knew that downtown would be empty. He’d always enjoyed the “Norman Rockwell-esque” feeling there. He hoped to capture it, without interference.
After 45 years — to the day — parts of downtown look very different. Parts look much the same.
After 45 years too, the photos have faded.
But the memories have not.
Gorham Island. The Victorian house has been replaced by a large office building.
Main Street, without any holiday decorations. Gene Hallowell’s Mobil station is now the site of Vineyard Vines.
The Remarkable Book Shop. For over a decade, it’s been the “vacant Talbots store.”
Westport Bank & Trust is now Patagonia.
Ice on the Saugatuck River still looks the same.
Fairfield Furniture has been transformed into National Hall — the original name for the 1800s building.
The Corner Spirit Shop at the Post Road West/Wilton Road intersection is now the rebuilt home to an architectural firm.
Serene Saugatuck River scene, taken from the Parker Harding footbridge near Rye Ridge deli (Photo/Lucy Zeko)
Posted in Downtown, Pic of the Day
Tagged Gorham Island, Parker Harding footbridge, Saugatuck River
View from Duck Haven (Kings Highway North) to Gorham Island (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)
Posted in Downtown, Environment, Pic of the Day
July 4th marked the 56th anniversary of one of the most famous events on Gorham Island.
Around 2 a.m. that morning in 1961 Brendan McLaughlin — a former Marine working as a New York advertising executive — shot and killed his father during a family argument.
The murder took place in the McLaughlins’ old Victorian house on Gorham Island. The house was originally built on Main Street, then moved to the island.
The Victorian house on Gorham Island in 1971. (Photo/Peter Barlow)
McLaughlin fled. An hour before dawn he burst into the police station on Jesup Road. He pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and fired at 2 policemen behind the front desk, wounding Donald Bennette.
Officers chased him into the parking lot, where he shot officer Andrew Chapo. A shootout ensued; McLaughlin was wounded.
Chapo and Bennette recovered. McLaughlin died several weeks later.
The other famous Gorham Island event was when that handsome — if haunted — home was demolished, over a decade later. Another structure nearby was also razed.
Today a 40,000-square foot green-and-gold-glass office building fills Gorham Island.
Which no one except those who remember the old house calls it anymore.
Close-up of the Gorham Island house, 1973. (Photo/Peter Barlow)
Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Police
Tagged Andrew Chapo, Gorham Island, Westport July 4th police shootout
As Bedford Square nears completion — and an Elm Street/Baldwin parking lot land swap is back in the news — it’s a great time for a bird’s-eye view of downtown Westport, 1965-style.
Click on or hover over to enlarge.
It’s tough to see the old Y (new Bedford Square), or any part of Elm Street, thanks to the trees. But this photo — by R.P. Lentini, courtesy of alert “06880” reader Matt Murray — intrigues me for several reasons. Among them:
What stands out for you? Click “Comments” below.
A photo with this morning’s post about the upcoming demolition of 15 Belden Place — the charming red house on the Saugatuck River, in the midst of downtown — did not show that storied property in the best light.
I took it yesterday, from the dirt parking lot leading down from Main Street.
From that vantage point, many Westporters would not recognize the house that for years has been home to artists, teachers and other less-than-McMansion-type tenants.
But anyone who ever stood at the edge of Gorham Island, and gazed at the soothing marshland just a few feet from Parker Harding Plaza, will recognize this view from 2000, by Andrea Fine:
And this one:
(Westport Historic Resources Inventory, courtesy of Wendy Crowther)
Here’s a more distant shot, by Jaime Bairaktaris:
Now you know what the loss of this house will mean to Westport, right?
(Hat tip: Morley Boyd)
Posted in Downtown, People, Real estate
Tagged 15 Belden Place, Andrea Fine, Gorham Island, Jaime Bairaktaris, Parker Harding Plaza
Today — dwarfed by a 40,000-square-foot office building — it’s hard to imagine that Gorham Island even is an island.
But the spit of land now joined to Parker Harding Plaza was once home to a gorgeous Victorian home. (Though — like many other structures in Westport — it apparently was built elsewhere, then moved.)
In addition to being a favorite subject for artists, the Gorham Island home was known for something else.
Early on July 4th morning of 1961, Brendan McLaughlin — a former Marine working as a New York advertising executive — shot and killed his father during a family argument inside the house.
McLaughlin fled. An hour before dawn he burst into the police station on Jesup Road. He pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and fired at 2 policemen behind the front desk, wounding Donald Bennette.
Officers chased him into the parking lot, where he shot officer Andrew Chapo. A shootout ensued; McLaughlin was wounded.
Chapo and Bennette recovered. McLaughlin died several weeks later.
Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Looking back, Police
Tagged Andrew Chapo, Donald Bennette, Gorham Island
Westport has more tunnels than anyone realizes.
Some are well-known. Others are obscure. A few are hidden in plain sight.
Among the last group is the Saugatuck River passage at the back of Parker Harding Plaza. It’s on the right (east) side of Gorham Island as you paddle upriver. (It’s not always navigable. Check the tides!)
Richard Stein was the only “06880” reader to nail last week’s photo challenge. He’s good!
Incorrect guesses for Seth Schachter’s image included the nearby Ruth Steinkraus Cohen bridge (where the flags fly); Post Road West to Nash’s Pond; Sherwood Mill Pond to Sherwood Island; Sasco Creek to Southport Beach, and 2 pedestrian tunnels (some readers thought the water came from floods); Main Street to Parker Harding Plaza (transformed last year by Miggs Burroughs’ lenticular photos), and the Saugatuck train station. To see last week’s photo and all the guesses, click here.
It’s on to this week’s challenge. As always, click “Comments” if you think you know where in Westport you’d see this:
Wednesday’s “06880” story on the death of Sidney Kramer included a few lines about his founding of Save Westport Now. The impetus for Westport’s 3rd political party was the construction of a 40,000-square foot glass office building on Gorham Island, diagonally across Parker Harding Plaza from Kramer’s Remarkable Book Shop.
Reader Kathleen Burke was reminded of a beautiful watercolor postcard. Artist Walter Dubois Richards created it, as part of the campaign to save the Victorian house that sat on Gorham Island.
Whether all you know of that spot is the bile-green office — or if you fondly remember the old home there — you’ll appreciate Richards’ painting:
Here’s another view, of unknown origin:
Noted artist Al Willmott painted this view of Gorham Island and downtown:
As did famed “Little Toot” artist Hardie Gramatky:
Here’s the view today:
We can’t get that house back. But it wasn’t because Sidney Kramer didn’t try.
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