Norwalk's
downtown area near the Public
Library and the Post Office
has three bridges close together:
the Cross Street bridge to
the north, then the Burnell
Boulevard bridge and the Wall
Street bridge. An 1847 map
of Norwalk labeled today's
Cross Street as the "Ancient
Crossing Place" and showed
the crossing as a ford, not
a bridge.
In
the old days, this part of
the river was called the "Falls",
not due to an actual waterfall
but on account of the long
series of riffles that prevented
boat traffic from coming above
the "flat" part of the river,
which extended up to the southern
side of the Wall Street bridge.
That happens to be the point
where Betts
Pond Brook enters the
Norwalk River from the east.
Bridge over the Norwalk River
at Cross Street.
The old hat factory is now
a seafood restaurant.
The Cross Street Bridge during
the 1955 flood.
Looking north from Wall Street
towards the modern
Burnell Boulevard bridge over
the Norwalk River.
Bridge over the Norwalk River
at Wall Street.
This bridge survived the great
flood of 1955.
