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 The Victorian house has been replaced by a large office building.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.
Olivia de Havilland — who died Saturday at 104 — is best known for her many film roles (including “Gone With the Wind”).
But in 1946 — 5 years before her Broadway debut in “Romeo and Juliet” — the already legendary actress appeared in the Westport Country Playhouse production of “What Every Woman Knows.”
As noted on “06880” last year, on the same day she was set to open the show, she married novelist and journalist Marcus Goodrich. The 12:30 p.m. wedding ceremony took place at the Weston home of Armina and Lawrence Langner, Playhouse founders.
For some reason, the poster that week clarified that the star of the show would appear “in person.” (Hat tip: Joey Kaempfer)
Every year, the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects runs a “Connecticut Treasures” contest. Each county is represented by one building; the public votes on its favorite.
This year’s theme is banks — either still functioning or repurposed.
The Fairfield County representative is the former Westport Bank & Trust, smack (and handsome) in the middle of downtown. Today we know it as Patagonia.
The flatiron-type Charles Cutler building dates to 1924. In 2005 it was restored as mixed-use retail space. David Adam Realty saved and refurbished the original exterior, terrazzo flooring, murals, and 4 of the 5 bank vaults.
To see this and the other 7 county entrants (and vote for your favorite), click here. (Hat tip: Jack Franzen)
Patagonia — formerly Westport Bank & Trust.
And finally … we missed Mick Jagger’s 77th birthday yesterday. So here’s belated best wishes. Fun fact: Olivia de Havilland was old enough to be his mother.
Two weeks ago, our Friday Flashback showed the unchanging nature of an important downtown crossroads.
A time traveler from decades ago would have no difficulty today recognizing the Westport Bank & Trust building (though some of the fashions at the present tenant, Patagonia, might surprise her).
Across Church Lane, the transformation of the Westport Weston YMCA into Bedford Square has altered — but not radically changed — the streetscape.
Of course, it did not always look that way.
Here’s a view of Main Street, at what was then called “The Square” (note the horse watering trough in the middle). The building on the right was replaced by the Westport Hotel — which itself was replaced in 1923 by E.T. Bedford’s gift to the town, the YMCA.
(Photo courtesy of Westport Historical Society)
Another view — looking west up the Post Road, toward the Saugatuck River — shows the building on the Main Street corner (on the right) from another angle.
(Photo courtesy of Westport Historical Society)
Check out the trolley. It provided great local transportation, with branches running from downtown to Saugatuck and Compo Beach.
And where was the trolley barn?
Somewhere on Church Lane. So — despite its current unchanging look — that area was indeed different, back in the day.
Last weekend, this section of the Post Road was the site of a large rally protesting gun violence.
In years past, big crowds have gathered here for other events: A 1936 campaign speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. An anti-war demonstration in 1969. Welcoming home the Little League World Series heroes of 2013.
Most days though, it’s just the Post Road near Main Street.
(Photo courtesy of Paul Ehrismann)
Besides the cars, traffic light, lampposts on the far right — and the fact that Westport Bank & Trust is now Patagonia — little has changed in the 70 or so years since this photo was taken.
The grand old bank sat at the junction of Church Lane and the Post Road — right between the equally magnificent Tudor-style Westport YMCA , and the very popular Fine Arts Theater.
Today, the Y’s Bedford building is Anthropologie. The Fine Arts is Restoration Hardware.
And Westport Bank & Trust — after crawling through a few incarnations with names like Lafayette and Hudson Banks — has emerged as Patagonia.
(Pink Sumo occupies the lower level, where the safe deposit boxes once stood.)
I even remember many stories about Westport Bank & Trust — including the lengths to which president Einar Andersen would go, making sure that service veterans and other worthy citizens got personal and business loans.
I remember the bank’s tagline: “A hometown bank in a town of homes.”
You can see it (in a slightly briefer version) in Ann Runyon’s photo:
But what I don’t remember is what the image above shows. Apparently, this was a piggy bank.
If you’ve got any Westport Bank & Trust memories, click “Comments” below.
Sometimes the photo challenge is hidden in plain sight.
Last week’s photo showed a Corinthian pilaster with acanthus leaves, and a brick building — but it wasn’t the original library building. It wasn’t the old Y. It wasn’t one of our first schools, like Bedford Elementary (now Town Hall), Saugatuck Elementary (now elderly housing) or Bedford Junior High (now Saugatuck El).
No. It was the longtime Westport Bank & Trust — now repurposed as Patagonia.
Many of us pass by it, probably every day. But only Nina Skaya, Shirlee Gordon, Sarah Neilly, Ann Friedenberg and Linda Parker (who provided the architectural description I stole above) guessed correctly.
For Lynn U. Miller’s great photo — and all the guesses, right and wrong — click here.
This week’s challenge comes courtesy of Seth Schachter:
(Photo/Seth Schachter)
Here’s a hint: It’s not downtown.
That’s all we’re saying. If you think you know where this waterfall is, click “Comments” below.
In 1852, Horace Staples — owner of a lumber and hardware business, silk and axe factories, shipping vessels and a thriving pier — founded the Saugatuck Bank.
Two years later he moved it to National Hall — his new building a couple of miles upriver, just across the bridge from a small downtown area overshadowed by the far more dynamic Saugatuck section of Westport.
Eventually, Saugatuck Bank became Westport Bank & Trust. It outgrew National Hall — which turned into Fairfield Furniture — and relocated to a pie-slice-shaped building nearby, where Church Lane feeds into the Post Road.
In 1965 the bank — whose motto was “A Hometown Bank in a Town of Homes” — commissioned Westport artist Robert Lambdin to paint a pair of murals. “Shipping on the Saugatuck” and “Hotel Square” were hung with great fanfare in the impressive, high-ceilinged room. (They’re still there, though the bank morphed a while ago into Patagonia.)
Robert Lambdin’s old-time murals lend a touch of Westport history to modern-day Patagonia.
In 1970 — to celebrate the opening of a new branch in Saugatuck, just down Charles Street from the Arrow restaurant — Westport Bank & Trust hired Lambdin to create a 3rd mural.
The artist incorporated more than 2 centuries of Saugatuck history into his new work. He painted Disbrow’s ferry, from 1745; the iron swing bridge, built in 1884; oxcarts, farms, churches, wharves, warehouses, factories and ships.
Standing prominently in the center is Captain Sereno Gould Allen, one of Westport’s last market boat captains.
The mural is framed — somewhat incongruously — by the I-95 bridge. It looks almost elegant. But when the “Connecticut Turnpike” was built in the 1950s, it destroyed the heart of that pulsing neighborhood.
Robert Lambdin’s magnificent mural.
Westport Bank & Trust went the way of most local banks. It was swallowed up by bigger ones: Lafayette, Hudson. In 2013, TD Bank shut the Saugatuck branch for good.
Fortunately, the mural survives. In fact, it thrives.
TD Bank donated the work to the town. After restoration by Joseph Matteis, it’s the centerpiece of a wonderful new Westport Historical Society exhibit.
Called “Saugatuck @ Work: Haven of Community, Industry, Innovation,” the show includes photos and memorabilia — old maps, patents by Saugatuck inventors, costumes, and ship and railroad logs — from Saugatuck’s long history. (Did you know that before Italians came to work on the railroad, Irish did the same?)
Speaking of trains, there’s fascinating information on the role of transportation in the development of Saugatuck. The area is blessed with a river, Long Island Sound, rail lines — and of course, the highway.
Construction in 1957 of the Connecticut Turnpike bridge in Saugatuck. The highway ripped through that neighborhood.
The show includes photos of Saugatuck today, during its dramatic rebirth. Larry Untermeyer’s photos show new restaurants and shops, replacing some of Lambdin’s scenes.
A companion exhibit (“Framing Saugatuck: History Under the Highway”) shows the harsh impact of construction. The new interstate destroyed homes, businesses, even the Methodist Church.
The turnpike’s route was a political decision. The exhibit shows alternate possibilities. It could have cut the heart out of Green’s Farms — or even been double-decked over the Post Road, right through downtown.
The WHS exhibit runs through May 30. Lambdin’s Saugatuck mural then moves across the street to Town Hall, becoming part of Westport’s public — and very impressive — permanent art collection.
Westport has a poor batting average for saving old homes.
But when it comes to preserving murals, it’s all grand slams.
Restored murals by John Steuart Curry and other noted artists hang in our public schools, fire station and Town Hall.
The Westport Art Rescue Committee — led by the late Mollie Donovan, her sister Eve Potts, Judy Gault Sterling and Ann Sheffer, among others — saved Robert Lambdin’s WPA-era “Pageant of Juvenile Literature” when Saugatuck Elementary School was converted to senior housing. It’s now on display at the Westport Library, admired by hundreds of people every day.
Lambdin also painted the grand “Saugatuck in the 19th Century” — actually 3 works. Two — dating to 1964-65 — were installed in the handsome main lobby of Westport Bank & Trust Company, which commissioned the work.
They remained there as the local bank was swallowed up in a series of takeovers by now-forgotten, bigger ones. The building — in the heart of downtown — is now Patagonia. The cool, functional clothing store has lovingly preserved Lambdin’s murals.
Robert Lambdin’s old-time murals lend a touch of Westport history to modern-day Patagonia.
The other “Saugatuck in the 19th Century” painting was hung at Westport Bank & Trust’s Charles Street branch — in the heart of Saugatuck. It was painted around 1969, when the branch opened.
That large mural depicts a lively Saugatuck. It shows agriculture, stables, the railroad and river trade; businesses like Elonzo Wheeler’s button factory; the Bridge Street bridge, and the Saugatuck Bank (Westport Bank & Trust’s forerunner), whose founding partners included Horace Staples.
Though the view was composed with artistic license, Lambdin conducted painstaking research. Town residents modeled for him, including (at the center) Captain Serano Allen.
Robert Lambdin’s Saugatuck mural. Hover over or click to enlarge.
The Saugatuck mural was a point of pride in the neighborhood, even as the branch lost its local roots. Eventually it became a TD Bank.
When TD (whatever those initials stand for) closed the branch last November, the mural’s future was unknown.
The building is being sold. The mural is headed for storage.
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