Tag Archives: Westport trolley

Tracking The Trolley

Posted on June 12, 2019 | 15 comments

Last night, alert “06880” reader/EMS deputy director Marc Hartog was working another job: traffic agent.

He assisted a construction crew installing water service to a building at the corner of Route 1 and Riverside Avenue.

Digging for the main, they uncovered old trolley tracks in the middle of Post Road West.

(Photo/Marc Hartog)

Treating them like dinosaur relics, the crew worked around the tracks, rather than removing them.

When the service is connected to the main, they’ll back fill and cover them with asphalt.

Once again, an important bit of Westport history will lie forgotten and undisturbed — until another 21st-century project digs deep, again.

(NOTE: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, trolleys rolled up and down the Post Road, connecting towns and cities all along the coast. A spur took riders to Compo Beach. Tracks remained through the 1950s, though service had been discontinued.)

15 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Looking back, Transportation

Tagged ,

Friday Flashback #86

Posted on April 13, 2018 | 5 comments

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.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Ehrismann)

5 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Transportation

Tagged , , , ,

Off The Rails?

Posted on October 10, 2015 | 1 comment

Alert “06880” reader JP Vellotti admires the large mural hanging inside TD Bank downtown. It’s filled with historic images of horses, buggies and a street car.

Trolley - TD bank mural

But, he says, on close inspection it seem like the trolley is off its track. (Click or hover over the photo to enlarge.)  That might explain the onlookers and crowd next to it, he says.

The caption for the photo does not give any details.

He adds: “Given the number of cars being driven into shops at several places around town recently, the timing seems right to investigate.”

1 Comment

Posted in Local business, Looking back, Transportation

Tagged ,