Our Town
…as told by Westbrook People
In this section, we invite people of Westbrook to submit stories about the history of our town.
You can send articles by email to westbrookhistoricalsocietyct@gmail.com.
Article #3
Date: December 15, 2024
Title: Westbrook’s Singing Bridge Started 100 Years Ago
Author: Claire Smith
About the author:
Claire Smith is a Westbrook resident and member of the Westbrook Historical Society.
Westbrook’s Singing Bridge Started 100 Years Ago
In March 1924, an article in the New London Day newspaper reported that the state had awarded a contract for the construction of a new bridge in the town of Westbrook. The contract, awarded to Westbrook’s Holbrook Company, was for a “steel superstructure and concrete dock over the Patchogue River.”
This was the start of Westbrook’s iconic Singing Bridge, the then 117-foot bridge with a steel grid deck located on Route 1. Today it is referred to by many as the bridge near Bill’s Seafood Restaurant, where outside diners enjoy the “music.”
The bridge opened in 1925. The Day reported in January of that year that the traffic crossing the Patchogue River should use the “old bridge” while the new bridge was under construction. By fall, the new bridge was open for traffic. By the 1930s, the new bridge was colloquially called “The Singing Bridge,” named for the varied music-like tones it made as different vehicles crossed it at different speeds. The name stuck, and “The Singing Bridge” would later be identified on maps of Westbrook and with the state-sanctioned official brown sign.
In 1951 the bridge was overhauled. In 1993 it was due for repairs again. This time the State Department of Transportation wanted to replace the musical steel grid with a silent, concrete span. But a 450-signature petition, a protest song, and hundreds of residents crowding into the planning meetings became a successful save-the-bridge effort by townspeople. The state agreed to rehabilitate The Singing Bridge rather than replace it. The target date to begin construction was 1996.
In 1999 the state said it had tried for many years to find cost-efficient ways to rehabilitate the existing bridge but decided instead to build a new one – one that would have a wider span and a pedestrian walkway, and one that would “sing.” The Department of Transportation recorded the sounds of the old bridge for their historical inventory.
The new 250-foot Singing Bridge opened in May 2002. It still sings today.
The sources for this article are:
- New London Day, March 25, 1924. www.newspapers.com
- Hartford Courant, October 20, 1993; June 3, 1999; March 5, 2002; May 24, 2002. www.newspapers.com
- Steve (no last name given). September 26, 2022. The Singing Bridge. https://ctmq.org/the-singing-bridge/
Article #2
Date: November 6, 2024
Title: “Virtue Names” in Our Town’s Past
Author: Claire Smith
About the author:
Claire Smith is a Westbrook resident and member of the Westbrook Historical Society.
“Virtue Names” in Our Town’s Past
Take a walk among the gravestones in Westbrook’s oldest cemeteries, or peruse old records of Westbrook, and you may pause at some surprising first names – names that are unusual for us in 2024, but not so unusual for early American families of the 1700 and 1800s.
“Virtue Names” –names that parents chose for a child based on the virtues they hoped the child would have — was a Puritan influenced baby-naming trend in early America. Girls were more likely to get Virtue Names than boys. Names like GRACE, FAITH and HOPE were part of this trend and are still making the top baby name lists today.
But other Virtue Names found in Westbrook records of over two hundred years ago did not remain popular. Here are some names found in our town’s historical records. (The last name is an example of just one Westbrook family who chose the name.)
CONTENTMENT Stevens
DELIVERANCE Brooker
DESIRE Spencer
MERCY Stannard
MINDWELL Post
PRUDENCE Wright
SUBMIT Avery
TEMPERANCE Bushnell
THANKFUL Norris
WEALTHY Kelsey
As time went on, the names fell out of fashion.
Take a look at this light poem that was written by Westbrook resident Euna Elizabeth Lay [1828-1903]:
Old Fashioned Names
By Euna Elizabeth Lay, 1828-1903
In the good old times a party of names,
Mostly Puritan men and dames
Met for counsel, debate and dance
And to find their mates by choice or chance.
Sybil and Seraph together sat
With Merit and Earnest engaged in chat.
Then Wit and Wisdom came up and drew
A chair for Patience and Prudence too.
Converse, with Silence by his side
Saluted Humble and Hope his bride.
Bigot to old Experience bowed
Preserved elected Relief from the crowd.
Supply with Charity was allied
Prosper on Wealthy glanced with pride
Pardon his heart to Forgiveness bared.
Liberty all with Temperance shared.
Constant and Freelove were hand in hand
Godlove his Mercy could command.
Victor and Victory marched along
With Thankful and Harmony for a song.
Hopestill with fair Deliverance smiled
Valorous chose Submit – the child.
Worthy to Weighty had much to tell
Friend instructed the young Mindwell.
Freedom and Honor were partners dear
And youthful Loyal with gray Revere.
Remember fell in love with Desire.
Joy did to young Delight aspire.
Royal was charmed with lovely Grace.
Return looked Remembrance in the face.
Welcome his loved Concurrence sought
Sincere bright Talitha-cumi brought.
Bilious to Weighty was friend in Truth
Christian protected unhappy Ruth.
While Secretary, unbarred, unbanned
Wrote his name with Lily White hand.
Waitstill listened to Edify.
With Pleasure and Presence standing by.
Trustworthy to his Saint was kind
Comfort found Content to his mind.
Lament and Tryal were fitly mated
Illustrious was with Love elated
Forth led Obedience round in state
Christian made Faith his chosen mate.
Increase and Unity the maiden came
With Ivory and Amity his dame
Handel Nott rang a warning peel
When Freeborn was offered to Dinah Steele.
Constance and Joyful were sister and brother
Faithful and Suretrust wedded each other.
(The names used in these rhymes have all been names of real men and women. There were various versions of this poem. This is a compilation of them.)
The sources for this article are:
- Cemetery Inscriptions. 715-2. Westbrook Lower Cemetery, Copied by Walter Cox. Dec 4, 1934.
- Congregational Church Records of Westbrook, Connecticut. 1725-1899. Copyright 1979 by Joan Rumsey.
- Photos are from cemetery photography collection at Westbrook Historical Society, compiled by Sandra Forest, Westbrook Historical Society Archivist.
- Poem from Westbrook Historical Society.
Article #1
Date: October 13, 2024
Title: The History of Railroads in Westbrook
Author: Maclean Sarr
About the author:
Maclean Sarr is a Westbrook resident who graduated from Westbrook High School in 2018 and is about to graduate from Southern Connecticut State University with a BA in history. He has used the Shoreline East daily between Westbrook and New Haven to attend SCSU classes. His capstone paper in 2024 was on the history of the railroad in Connecticut. He has written this article to tell us about our town’s railroad history.
The History of Railroads in Westbrook
Westbrook has a long history with the railroad that goes back over a century. Today, the Northeast corridor, Amtrak’s busiest, runs through the center of Westbrook with trains roaring at speeds over 100 MPH carrying over 12.1 million people between Washington and Boston yearly (Abrams). Locally Westbrook is served by the Shore Line East which has run between New Haven and New London since 1990. Westbrook has a long history with the railroad from its inception in the 1850s, to a second station at Grove Beach, to nearly becoming the terminus for the Connecticut Valley Railroad. Westbrook’s history with the railroad runs deeper than meets the eye.
In 1850 construction started on the New Haven and New London railroad and two years later in July,1852, the first train came through Westbrook (Karr, 84). That same year the station was built and opened in Westbrook. The original Westbrook station is actually still standing. It has been moved back from the track and is now the site of The Highliner Restaurant. They did build a second building at the station in 1906 but it has long been destroyed, possibly a victim of the 1938 hurricane (Stations: W-WE [Westbrook]). Westbrook station has a deep history but, it was not the only station in the town.
There was a second station established within the borders of Westbrook on the western edge of town at Grove Beach by 1873. In 1884 a reporter remarked that he was impressed by, “a large excursion of twelve carloads… from New London.” In 1899 the station did get a new building similar to the one at the main Westbrook station. Over time the Grove Beach ridership numbers declined and the station became only a flag stop. Eventually in 1938 the Grove Beach stop was removed as an official stop on the line (Stations: G [Grove Beach]). Even though the Grove Beach station was eventually closed, it showed the importance Westbrook had for the railroad and led to Westbrook almost playing the important role in another critical railroad line for the state.
In the late 1860s a group of Hartford businessmen and the state were looking to put a railroad line from Hartford to The Shoreline that went through the Connecticut Valley. The company they would form was called the Connecticut Valley Railroad (Miller, 2-3). Westbrook and Old Saybrook were the two options for the terminus of the railroad on the shoreline. Ultimately, it was decided that Old Saybrook would be the shoreline terminus for the CVRR (Connecticut Valley Railroad). Old Saybrook was chosen over Westbrook because Old Saybrook already had the docks to accept the freight from the boats, and because Westbrook’s breakwater would make it a challenge to build the docks needed (Miller,4). Even though Westbrook did not end up as the terminus for the CVRR, being a final option showed how important the town was to the railroad.
Westbrook has a rich town history, but one lesser-known part is the railroad even though it cuts through the center of the town. From the stations, to a near miss with CVRR, to being part of Amtrak’s busiest rail line today, it is certainly clear that Westbrook’s history also extends to the history of the railroad. Hopefully, the railroad continues to be a part of Westbrook well into the future.
Bibliography
Abrams, Jason. “FY23 Year End Ridership.” Amtrak Media, 15 July 2024, media.amtrak.com/2023/11/fy23-year-end-ridership/.
Karr, Ronald Dale. The Rail Lines of Southern New England: A Handbook of Railroad History. Branch Line Press, 1995.
Miller, Max R. Along the Valley Line: The History of the Connecticut Valley Railroad. Wesleyan University Press, 2017.
“Stations: G (Grove Beach).” TylerCityStation, www.tylercitystation.info/stations-g.html. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
“Stations: W-WE (Westbrook).” TylerCityStation, www.tylercitystation.info/stations-w-we.html. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
