Westport Historical Society Presents A New Exhibit Where Saugatuck’s Past Comes Alive
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sun, 11/23/2014
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Robert L. Lambdin’s meticulously researched mural depicting Saugatuck as a center of manufacturing and river commerce in 19th century Westport will anchor the exhibition “Saugatuck @ Work – Haven of Community, Commerce and Innovation,” with an opening reception on Sunday, November 23, at the Westport Historical Society from Noon to 2 pm.
The late Westport artist’s large wall painting, “Saugatuck in the 19th Century,” was created for the Westport Bank & Trust Company’s Saugatuck branch when it opened in 1970. It measures 6 by 10 feet and shows the various types of vessels that plied the river over the course of the century, as well as such long-gone landmarks as the Saugatuck Bank, precursor of Westport Bank & Trust, and the Methodist Church, and those that still survive: Saugatuck original firehouse and the village’s historic swing bridge and train depot. Though I-95 did not come into being until the mid 20th century, its bridge over the river appears as a huge arc framing the riverfront scene. After the show at the Historical Society the mural will become part of the permanent art collection at Town Hall.
“The mural’s depiction of the genesis of our town is a great teaching tool for our students and hopefully will stimulate dialogue and further exploration,” said Westport’s Town Curator, Kathleen Motes Bennewitz, who curated the exhibit. “And with Saugatuck’s present-day renewed economic and social vitality,” she added, “comes a unique opportunity to build a new awareness and appreciation of its rich historical, economic and cultural significance as the first town center, not simply ‘a neighborhood of Westport.’ ”
The exhibition will also display historic photographs of workers and workplaces of the village, antique maps of Saugatuck harbor, vintage tools made there, patents by Saugatuck inventors, costumes, and ship and railroad logs.
In addition, the Society and partner organizations will offer an array of education programs to WHS members and to adult, youth and family audiences in Westport and the towns with which it shares a common heritage. They will include book and film discussions, community conversations, exhibitions, performances and more.
A companion exhibit devoted to the life of those immigrants, “Saugatuck: History Under the Highway,” will run in the WHS’s Mollie Donovan Gallery concurrently with “Saugatuck @ Work.”
“History Under the Highway” will include a large interactive “Memory Map” on which residents can mark where a family lived or where an early, or Italian-owned, business once stood. Visitors will also be able to share some of their own memories of Saugatuck.
The exhibit will run through May 30, 2015.
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