Tag Archives: National Register of Historic Places

Bridge Street Historic District: Homes, School, Span Connected A Community

Posted on November 8, 2026 | 11 comments

Werner Liepolt is a longtime resident of Bridge Street, and a former Westport teacher. He writes:

As Westporters prepare for Thursday’s state Department of Transportation meeting about the Cribari Bridge (November 12, 7 p.m., Town Hall auditorium),
a look at the Bridge Street National Register Historic District can help clarify what’s at stake.

The National Register nomination shows how the bridge, houses, stone walls and a former school tell the story of a neighborhood that grew around the river
crossing.

That history can help residents assess CTDOT’s presentation, ask specific questions, and submit informed comments by November 27.

The original Bridge Street School. It later became Saugatuck Elementary; it is now The Saugatuck co-op housing.

Westport residents and the Representative Town Meetings’s Cribari Bridge Subcommittee still need clear information from CTDOT and the Federal Highway Administration about how the preferred alternative and other
feasible options could adversely affect the historic district.

The agencies should:

  • Identify the 10 properties and 1 dock that CTDOT indicated last April could be affected by right-of-way acquisition, including possible use of eminent domain.
  • Provide studies assessing potential changes in truck traffic, noise, vibration and diesel pollution.
  • Clarify whether the Area of Potential Effects has been revised to include the entire Bridge Street National Register Historic District.
  • Provide updated visual assessments that show views when trees are bare, and from higher ground.

With this information, residents and consulting parties could propose specific measures to avoid, minimize or mitigate adverse effects.

The Frederick Hotchkiss House dates to 1876.

Bridge Street tells a story larger than the history of its houses. Its winding roadway, low stone walls, former school and iron swing bridge record how Westport grew from separate settlements into a connected community.

Together, these features form a historic landscape whose significance rests on the relationships among its parts.

The Bridge Street Historic District nomination, prepared by architectural historians at the Public Archaeology Laboratory, describes approximately 22.46 acres extending from the western bank of the Saugatuck River east to Compo Road South, with a branch along southern Imperial Avenue.

It identifies 28 contributing buildings and 3 contributing structures, including the bridge. Its period of significance stretches from 1809 through 1945.

The district’s oldest building, the Delancy Allen House at 192 Compo Road South, predates Bridge Street itself. Built in 1809, it recalls a time when much of the land between Compo Road and the river belonged to the Allen family.

Delancy Allen House, Bridge Street

Before a local crossing existed, residents on the east side faced an inconvenient journey to reach Saugatuck’s businesses and railroad station. The
river connected Westport to maritime commerce, while also dividing its neighborhoods.

The nomination traces the neighborhood’s development to the Allen family’s donation of land for Bridge Street in 1869, and the establishment of a river crossing.

Those changes opened land for subdivision and residential construction. The present swing bridge followed in 1884, replacing the earlier crossing.

Bridge and neighborhood consequently developed as parts of the same story: the crossing made the residential district possible, and the district preserves evidence of the community that grew around it.

The Bridge Street Bridge once carried trolleys.

Today’s William F. Cribari Memorial Bridge remains the district’s most recognizable structure.

Its iron trusses frame the river crossing. and mark the transition between Saugatuck and Bridge Street. The nomination explains that substantial rehabilitation in the early 1990s changed the bridge’s structural system, leaving the historic trusses supporting their own weight above a newer platform.

Nevertheless, it identifies the bridge as a contributing resource and an integral
part of the neighborhood’s development. The bridge had already been individually listed in the National Register in 1987.

East of the crossing, the houses reveal successive generations of residential architecture.

The 1884 Rufus Wakeman House. 

Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and other styles give the district variety within a generally consistent domestic scale. Porches, projecting bays, decorative shingles, wood clapboards and traditional windows distinguish individual buildings.

Setbacks, vegetation, fences and retaining walls connect them into a recognizable streetscape.

The inventory also includes more modest 20th century residences.

The Anna E. Dolan House at 12 Bridge Street, built in 1932, contributes to the district alongside its 19-century neighbors. This range matters: the neighborhood records and preserves continuing development across generations.

The Anna Dolan House was built in 1932.

Some of its most significant features stand close to the ground. The nomination identifies the Bridge Street System of Stone Walls as a contributing structure in its own right.

Portions may date to the roadway’s layout around 1869; others reflect later replacement and repair.

Sections appearing original are identified in front of 12 and 20–24 Bridge Street, and along the south side of 192 Compo Road South. These walls help define the roadway’s historic edges. and the relationship between public passage and private property.

The former Saugatuck Elementary School at 35 Bridge Street adds another dimension. Its 1931 building represents the neighborhood’s educational and civic life, while its later conversion to Westport’s affordable housing illustrates continued use of a substantial community landmark.

Former Saugatuck Elementary School, now co-op housing. 

The nomination’s photographs also document the adjoining athletic fields open to the public, placing the school within its broader setting.

The historians found that the district retained integrity of location, design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and association.

Their assessment recognizes a coherent neighborhood whose historic character survives through both buildings and surroundings.

For Westport residents, that provides a practical way to understand what deserves attention when major infrastructure changes are proposed: the bridge, homes, walls, roadway, and setting belong to an interconnected place.

1886 Orlando Allen House.

Residents can use this nomination and its property inventory to support specific Section 106 comments by November 27, the extended deadline communicated by RTM subcommittee chair Melissa Levy.

In your comment, identify the historic feature, explain how the project could affect it, and request a specific measure to avoid, minimize or mitigate that effect — for example, protecting stone walls, monitoring construction vibration, or evaluating traffic-related changes to the district’s setting.

Ask that agreed protections be incorporated into the project’s Memorandum
of Agreement, with responsibility, timing, and follow-through clearly stated.

Email: James.Barrows@ct.gov; Copy: Mandy.Ranslow@ct.gov
Subject: Project 0158-0214 – Section 106 Mitigation Request – [your address]
Mail: ATTN: James Barrows, Connecticut Department of Transportation
2800 Berlin Turnpike, P.O. Box 317546, Newington, CT 06131-7546

Project documents and updates: https://portal.ct.gov/Cribari-Bridge

(“06880” has covered the Cribari Bridge controversy since we began in 2009. We’ll continue to do so — with reader support. Please click here to donate to your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)

11 Comments

Posted in History, Local business, Real estate, Transportation

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[OPINIONS] 2 Views On Cribari Future

Posted on March 18, 2026 | 12 comments

Werner Liepolt and Robbie Guimond live a few hundred yards apart. They are separated by the Saugatuck River — and by what to do about the Cribari Bridge, which links their 2 neighborhoods.

Today, both offer their views on the future of the 143-year-old span.

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Werner Liepolt lives in the Bridge Street Historic District. He writes:

I have worked with the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) on the Cribari Bridge project since 2016.

Not against them — with them.

So have several other Westport residents. Many of us served on the Project Advisory Committee as consulting parties recognized by the Federal Highway Administration, representing different groups in town.

I live in the Bridge Street National Register Historic District, which the Westport Historic District Commission and the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office nominated for National Register status in 2017.

1884 Rufus Wakeman House, in the Bridge Street Historic District.

I am not sorry that we worked with CTDOT.

But I am sorry that CTDOT has not worked more closely with the community on one central concern: truck traffic.

Throughout the PAC meetings, consulting parties repeatedly asked a simple question: If the Cribari Bridge is rebuilt or altered, how will the project prevent the residential neighborhoods of Bridge Street, Imperial Avenue, Greens Farms Road, South Compo Road, and Saugatuck Ave nue from becoming a bypass route for trucks avoiding I-95 congestion?

To date, none of the project alternatives presented by CTDOT address that question.

The 143-year-old Cribari Bridge is not wide or high enough to handle large trucks. (Photo/Patricia McMahon)

The Environmental Assessment prepared for the project runs more than 160 pages, with hundreds more pages of appendices. Yet the analysis largely assumes that changes in bridge height, width, and weight capacity will not significantly alter traffic patterns.

Many residents believe that assumption deserves closer examination, and that CTDOT needs a No Trucks option.

The Cribari Bridge sits within a federally recognized historic district. Under federal law, projects affecting historic districts must consider not only direct impacts to structures, but also long-term, indirect and cumulative effects on the district’s setting and circulation patterns.

Changes that could alter traffic composition — including the potential for heavier vehicles — are part of that evaluation.

In my petition, now signed by over 1,400 people, I asked for something simple: open hearings before decisions are made, and federal oversight to ensure that the protections applied to historic districts are properly followed.

That request still stands.

The upcoming CTDOT meeting on March 19 (6 p.m., Town Hall auditorium) is an opportunity for residents to ask the questions that have not yet been fully addressed.

One of those questions is straightforward: Should Bridge Street and the surrounding historic district become a route for heavy truck traffic — or should Westport insist on solutions that prevent it?

Whatever one’s answer, the question deserves to be asked — and answered — before decisions about the bridge are finalized.

(Click here to submit comments on the Cribari Bridge to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.)

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Robbie Guimond lives on Riverside Avenue, where he owns a marina. He writes:

After 4 decades at the marina, it’s obvious I value public access to the Saugatuck River, The potential loss of the Cribari Bridge weighs heavily on me.

Over the last 10 years I’ve been  deeply involved with this process. It has highlighted various perspectives that deserve investigation.

More traffic analysis is one. I believe the Connecticut Department of Transportation has approached these options from as neutral a perspective as possible.

Even with their past “adaptive reuse” and the less than perfect results, I feel they are looking for the best outcome for the town.

One view underneath the Cribari Bridge (Pier 2) …

After reviewing the Environmental Assessment and literally hundreds of public blog comments, it is clear that losing the historic bridge is unpalatable to the many who are vocal.

 

However, it is also evident that CTDOT intends to take action.

From my perspective, there are 2 paths forward:

1. No Build. This means the repair of pier 2, along with minor repairs to the truss and other needed areas.

Yes, the electric box will go, but the different heights of the horizontal truss members might have a posted height of around 13′ 4″.

I believe one is sagging to 13′ 7″-ish, thus preventing tall tractor trailer trucks while still allowing our Fire Departments ladder trucks. This option also avoids a temporary span in The Bridge restaurant’s lot, and extends the span’s life by approximately 15 to 25 years with minimal disruption beyond some channel closures.

2. Full Replacement: If CTDOT deems the first option out of the question, a full replacement is the only other reasonable alternative. The current bridge has already undergone many modifications, and further aggressive changes will only diminish what remains of its character and lead to a 13′ 6″ marked height.

… and another (the pedestal the span swings on). (Photos/Robbie Guimond)

While the pros and cons of a full replacement are debatable, one point is non-negotiable: The town administration, with its Representative Town Meeting- suggested Bridge Committee must maintain strict control over every detail of the design — including location, height, air gap, crosswalk improvements at Wilton Road, and Compo Road South’s desperately needed left turn signal — as this new structure will likely stand for the next century.

I am hopeful that either option can lead to a successful outcome,  I guess time will tell.

(“06880″‘s Opinion pages are open to all. Email 06880blog@gmail.com with submissions. To donate to this hyper-local blog, please click here. Thank you!)

12 Comments

Posted in Local politics, Transportation

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9 Stone Bridges

Posted on January 8, 2018 | 23 comments

Alert  — and history-minded — “06880” reader Wendy Crowther writes:

It’s hard for us to imagine today the difficult problem that rivers, streams and brooks posed for Westport’s early settlers and travelers.

At first, traversing even small tributaries required getting wet. Later, rudimentary crossings were built so that carriages and wagons could manage the steep approaches, rocky bottoms, and wetland mud without tipping over, snapping axles, or becoming mired.

These overpasses became more problematic in the early 20th century, when the automobile came into fashion. Smoother transitions across Westport’s many brooks — most notably Willow, Muddy and Deadman’s — were needed.

Which brings us to Westport’s early stone bridges.

Around 1920, a series of 19 Craftsman-style stone bridges were built throughout town. Nearly a century later, 9 remain.

That’s a remarkable number considering they’ve seen nearly 100 years of use. They’ve survived hurricanes and “100-year storms,” and endured the collisions of decades of distracted drivers.

One of Westport’s 9 stone bridges, this carries Greens Farms Road traffic over Muddy Brook (Photo/Wendy Crowther)

Today we pass over these bridges daily. Yet few of us notice their rustic presence. Their stone walls (“parapets,” in bridge lingo) were designed to convey the sense of a park-like setting — an aesthetic popular at the time.

Most blend seamlessly into the roadside landscape, often appearing to be mere continuations of Westport’s many fieldstone walls. They are simple, folkloric, and historically important.

And they are at risk.

The Cross Highway bridge. (Photo/Wendy Crowther)

One of them in particular — on Kings Highway North — has a target on its back.  The town has hired a firm to design its replacement.

This concerns me and my fellow Westport Preservation Alliance colleagues Morley Boyd and Helen Garten. We are pushing back against the replacement plan favored by the town’s Public Works Department.

We’ve also made a pitch to the town to collectively nominate all 9 bridges for listing on the National Register.

While we would love to see all 9 bridges thematically nominated, we’re especially worried about the Kings Highway North Bridge over Willow Brook.

It matches the style of the other 8 bridges. More importantly, we believe it may have been built atop even older stone abutments. It’s possible that its enormous foundation stones may date back to the original King’s Highway, built in 1673 to carry mail from New York to Boston. Losing this bridge to a modern replacement would be tragic, especially if portions date back to pre-Revolutionary times.

Large stones in the abutments beneath the Kings Highway North Bridge may be remnants of a much earlier bridge. (Photo/Wendy Crowther)

We’re also concerned that the other 8 bridges will confront a similar replacement plan “down the road.” That’s why we’ve suggested the town pursue a National Register designation.  This will help protect the bridges — and may also make them eligible for rehabilitation grants.

To become eligible for a National Register listing, the history of these structures would be fully researched. State Historic Preservation Grants are available to conduct this work.

We feel that these very special bridges possess the integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship to qualify for this distinguished honor.

On a more visceral level, the preservation of these bridges will allow us to appreciate the human craftsmanship that went into building them.  By picturing the crew of local men who lifted each stone by hand and mortared them in place, we’ll not just notice these bridges — we will feel them.

Evergreen Avenue (Photo/Wendy Crowther)

The locations of 4 of the 9 bridges have been identified above.  Do “06880” readers know where the other 5 are? See if you can find them as you drive around town (or, for the expats, as you travel down Memory Lane).

Tomorrow (Tuesday, January 9, 7 p.m., Town Hall Room 309), our request that the Town pursue a National Register listing for these nine early 20th Century bridges will be heard by Westport’s Historic District Commission at its public hearing.

We hope they are willing to cross that bridge when they come to it.

23 Comments

Posted in History, Looking back, Organizations, People, Places

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Deadly Trees Merit Removal

Posted on January 18, 2013 | 14 comments

First, the beautiful canopy of trees helped land the Merritt Parkway on the National Register of Historic Places.

Merritt Parkway

Then, those same trees turned the winding, hilly highway into a death trap.

Now, the Merritt looks worse than a clear-cut Amazon jungle. Or — to be a bit more Fairfield County-esque — worse than a poodle just after its summer shave.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation has embarked on a comprehensive program to rid the roadside — and median — of diseased and/or dangerous trees.

The woodsmen have spared very few.

14 Comments

Posted in Organizations, Places

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