The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998. Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.

Pictures

Image:NorwalkCTSteppingStonesMuseum4Chldrn09052007.JPG|Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

Image:NorwalkCTLockwoodMansionSoSide09032007.JPG|Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

 Museum, south side
Image:Norwalk1955flooda.jpg|At Main and Wall streets after the October 1955 storm

1955 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 15, 1955, and lasted until November 15, 1955. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. The 1955 season was active, with twelve tropical storms forming.Three...

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
Borough (Connecticut)

Borough (Connecticut)

In the U.S. state of Connecticut, a borough is an incorporated section of a town. Borough governments are not autonomous and are subordinate to the government of the town to which they belong...

until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998.Stelloh, Tim, "West Ave. plan wins final OK: Some business owners promise to fight", news article, The Advocate

The Advocate (Stamford)

The Advocate is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The paper shares a publisher and editor with the Greenwich Time; both are owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues.The Advocate circulates...

 of Stamford, Norwalk edition, March 14, 2007, pp. 1, A4 Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.Breslow, Matt, "CL&P grant to help 'spruce up' Freese Park", article in The Advocate

The Advocate (Stamford)

The Advocate is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The paper shares a publisher and editor with the Greenwich Time; both are owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues.The Advocate circulates...

 of Stamford, Norwalk edition, March 6, 2007, pp All, A12

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.Stelloh, Tim, "Development threatens 300-year-old cemetery: Commission wants Pine Island on list of historic places", article in The Advocate

The Advocate (Stamford)

The Advocate is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The paper shares a publisher and editor with the Greenwich Time; both are owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues.The Advocate circulates...

 of Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...

, pp A9-A10, Norwalk edition

Pictures

Image:NorwalkCTSteppingStonesMuseum4Chldrn09052007.JPG|Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

Image:NorwalkCTLockwoodMansionSoSide09032007.JPG|Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

 Museum, south side
Image:Norwalk1955flooda.jpg|At Main and Wall streets after the October 1955 storm

1955 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 15, 1955, and lasted until November 15, 1955. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. The 1955 season was active, with twelve tropical storms forming.Three...

The Central or Midtown section of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...

 is an urbanized area in roughly the geographic center of the city, north of the South Norwalk neighborhood and the Connecticut Turnpike

Connecticut Turnpike

The Connecticut Turnpike, known now as the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike, is a freeway in Connecticut that runs from Greenwich to Killingly. It is signed as Interstate 95 from the New York state line at Greenwich to East Lyme, and then as Interstate 395 from East Lyme to Plainfield...

. Wall Street, West Avenue and Belden Avenue are the main thoroughfares. It has also been called "Downtown Norwalk".

Midtown is the location of a state courthouse, the Norwalk post office, the Norwalk YMCA, Norwalk Library and the River View Mall. On the north side of the intersection of West Avenue and Interstate 95, Mathews Park is the location of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

, the building which formerly housed the Norwalk police headquarters and Pine Island Cemetery. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, a Gothic revival building with a very tall steeple, is a local landmark.

In the summer of 2006 local merchants began the Main and Wall Street Festival with the involvement of 15 businesses, and they expanded the festival with 70 businesses involved in the second year (when it was held on August 2, 2007). At the 2007 festival, developers showed off their plans for the neighborhood.

History

This portion of Norwalk was the Borough of Norwalk from 1836
Borough (Connecticut)

Borough (Connecticut)

In the U.S. state of Connecticut, a borough is an incorporated section of a town. Borough governments are not autonomous and are subordinate to the government of the town to which they belong...

until incorporation as the first City of Norwalk in 1893. In 1913 the separate cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk, as well as the unincorporated portions of the Town of Norwalk consolidated to form the City of Norwalk that exists to this day. Central Norwalk is now the First taxing district

Special-purpose district

Special-purpose districts or special district governments in the United States are independent governmental units that exist separately from, and with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from, general purpose local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. As...

 of the City of Norwalk. Located within the neighborhood is the "Norwalk Green Historic District" which has been on the National register of Historic Places since 1987. The historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 is bound by Smith Street, Park Street, the Boston Post Road

Boston Post Road

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York...

 (Cross Street), East Avenue, and Morgan Avenue. It includes the Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park

Mill Hill Historic Park in Norwalk, Connecticut is a living history museum composed of three buildings: the circa 1740 Governor Thomas Fitch IV "law office", the circa 1826 Downtown District Schoolhouse, and the 1835 Norwalk Town Hall; as well as a historic cemetery...

 (that contains the 1835 Norwalk Town House) as well as the Norwalk Green

Village green

A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 bound by East Avenue, Park Street, and St. Paul's Place.

Proposed redevelopment projects

The neighborhood has been the focus of several real estate redevelopment projects and proposals.

River View Plaza

AvalonBay Communities is preparing to construct a 312-apartment complex at the site of the River View Plaza, which is expected to be demolished by the end of 2007.

West Avenue

In March 2007, the Norwalk Common Council approved plans by Stanley M. Seligson Properties to redevelop a large area along West Avenue. The Council's approval came with conditions including the review of potentially historic buildings (for possible preservation), future approval of a landscaping design consistent with the Reed-Putnam redevelopment area to the south and Council approval on a case-by-case basis of any seizures of land by eminent domain if additional land-purchase negotiations fail. The redevelopment plan extends from Butler Street to Chapel Street along West Avenue and includes 350 homes and more than 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of office and retail space. Seligson had first proposed redeveloping the area in 1998.Stelloh, Tim, "West Ave. plan wins final OK: Some business owners promise to fight", news article, The Advocate

The Advocate (Stamford)

The Advocate is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The paper shares a publisher and editor with the Greenwich Time; both are owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues.The Advocate circulates...

 of Stamford, Norwalk edition, March 14, 2007, pp. 1, A4 Other developers are working on redevelopment farther north on West Avenue and to the east on Wall Street.

Wall Street

On Jun 15, 2005 the city of Norwalk granted the Poko development company rights to a 6.3 acres (25,495.2 m²) site in Central Norwalk. The Poko company has unveiled plans to build condominiums and townhomes near the intersections of Wall Street, Belden Avenue, West Avenue, and Isaacs Street; with the development to be called "Wall Street Place" with initial occupancy expected in 2009.

Freese Park

Central's parks include Freese Park, which was created at the intersection of Main and Wall Streets in the mid-1960s as part of reconstruction work following the flood of 1955. On the west side of the park a fenced parapet overlooks the walled-in Norwalk River

Norwalk River

The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, approximately long. The word "Norwalk" comes from the Algonquian word "noyank" meaning "point of land".-Description:...

. Park benches shaded by trees also overlook the river. The park contains a monument to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, placed there by a Hungarian association in the city, and a plaque commemorating the embarkation of Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...

 from Norwalk Harbor in mid-September 1776 on his fatal spying mission.

"As Wall Street suffered from recent economic and structural deterioration, so did the park facility which also lacked a defined user group," according to a Norwalk city capital projects report. "A goal identified in the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan is the restoration of Wall Street as a traditional center for the Norwalk community which included the development of a downtown residential population. To achieve this goal the Plan outlined a strategy for revitalization of parks and open spaces along the Norwalk River, Freese Park specifically identified as one of these assets."

In 2007 the Connecticut Light and Power Company utility helped finance $25,000 of the improvements to the park, including new lighting and landscaping, improved pathways, a new railing along the edge of the river and an irrigation system.Breslow, Matt, "CL&P grant to help 'spruce up' Freese Park", article in The Advocate

The Advocate (Stamford)

The Advocate is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The paper shares a publisher and editor with the Greenwich Time; both are owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues.The Advocate circulates...

of Stamford, Norwalk edition, March 6, 2007, pp All, A12

Pine Island Cemetery

The Pine Island Cemetery, located behind Mathews Park (around the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum), dates to 1708 and has about 1,000 graves. The oldest identified grave belongs to Elizabeth Bartlet, wife of one of the city's founders, who died in 1723 at the age of 38. One burial in the cemetery was as late as 2000. As of the summer of 2007, the Norwalk Historical Commission, concerned that the West Avenue and Reed Putnam redevelopment projects might harm the cemetery, was attempting to get the cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a program run by the National Park Service. Widening nearby Crescent Street, for instance, would mean six graves would have to be moved. The cemetery had been the burial site of pillars of the community, with expensive, elegant gravestones, but by the mid-twentieth century it had become a gravesite for paupers.Stelloh, Tim, "Development threatens 300-year-old cemetery: Commission wants Pine Island on list of historic places", article in The Advocate

The Advocate (Stamford)

The Advocate is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The paper shares a publisher and editor with the Greenwich Time; both are owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues.The Advocate circulates...

of Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...

, pp A9-A10, Norwalk edition

Pictures

Image:NorwalkCTSteppingStonesMuseum4Chldrn09052007.JPG|Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is a hands-on children's museum for ages 10 and under located at 303 West Avenue, in the Central section of Norwalk, Connecticut....

Image:NorwalkCTLockwoodMansionSoSide09032007.JPG|Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house, now a museum, in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows....

 Museum, south side
Image:Norwalk1955flooda.jpg|At Main and Wall streets after the October 1955 storm

1955 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 15, 1955, and lasted until November 15, 1955. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. The 1955 season was active, with twelve tropical storms forming.Three...

There were three major storms in that affected Norwalk in 1955: Hurricane Connie

Hurricane Connie

Hurricane Connie was the first in a series of hurricanes to strike North Carolina during the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season. Connie struck as a Category 1, causing major flooding and inflicting extensive damage to the Outer Banks and inland to Raleigh....

, Hurricane Diane

Hurricane Diane

Hurricane Diane was one of three hurricanes to hit North Carolina during the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season, striking an area that had been hit by Hurricane Connie five days earlier...

, and an unnamed storm in October. See
Image:NorwalkCTCtr4ContempPrintmkg09032007.JPG|Center for Contemporary Printmaking

Center for Contemporary Printmaking

The Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a nonprofit multimedia studio and gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut, dedicated to the art of the print, including traditional and innovative printmaking, papermaking, book arts, digital processes, and related disciplines...

Image:NorwalkCtPineIsCemetery09032007.JPG|Examples of the many damaged gravestones at Pine Island Cemetery
Image:NorwalkCTFormerPoliceHQ09032007.JPG|Former police headquarters, Mathews Park
Image:NorwalkCTCourthouse09092007.JPG|Norwalk Courthouse, Belden Avenue
Image:PostcardNorwalkCTWallStreetUndivBackCA1901to1907.jpg|Wall Street, about 1905
Image:PostcardNorwalkCTUnionPark1913.jpg|Union Park, about 1913

External links

• Lockwood Mathews Mansion
• Stepping Stones Museum for Children
• Center for Contemporary Printmaking
• Norwalk YMCA

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.