Cos Cob, Connecticut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cos Cob is a neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut, population 6,321. It is located in Fairfield County, in the Bridgeport-Stamford metropolitan area. Cos Cob is on the Mianus River. The community name is of uncertain origin and meaning according to the local historical society as quoted in the September 22, 2002, New York Times. Cos Cob is an affluent suburb of New York City.
The American Impressionist Cos Cob Art Colony flourished in the late 1800s and early 1900s. An offshoot of the group, the Art Society of Greenwich continues to support local artists in town.
The Cos Cob Library is a cultural center and community hub providing art gallery space, concert and lecture series, and free WiFi access. Although of recent construction, the building evokes Richardsonian Romanesque design and is set in a pocket park landscaped by local volunteers.
There are two public schools in Cos Cob: Cos Cob Elementary School, 640 pupils, and Central Middle School, 740 pupils, though school boundaries cut across zip code boundaries and many students attend other public schools in town.
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[edit] History
Situated on Cos Cob Harbor on Long Island Sound, the community's role as a commercial shipping port, supplying potatoes and apples to New York City disappeared with the railroad and damming of the Mianus River to provide water to it.
The latitude of Cos Cob is 41.033N. The longitude is -73.6W. The neighborhood has only one zip code, 06807 and one delivery post office.
[edit] Cos Cob gets a train for Christmas
Cos Cob station is served by the New Haven Line of the Metro-North Railroad. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as is the Mianus River Railroad Bridge.
"On Christmas Day, 1848, the last rails were laid over the Cos Cob Bridge, thereby supplying the last link needed to complete the railroad from New Haven to New York," according to the Stamford Historical Society Web site. "The first trial run was made on that day."[1]
Editors of two Stamford newspapers reported on the event. William H. Holly, Esq., founder of the Stamford Sentinel and a guest on the first trial run, wrote: "The train had to remain at Cos Cob Bridge some three hours for the last rails to be laid over it and the delay gave ample opportunity to the people to come and witness the wonderful feat. The general impression among them seemed to be, that the first train that attempted to cross this pass would also be the last."[1]
Edgar Hoyt, editor of the Stamford Advocate: "The citizens of the village as well as the horses, cattle, etc., were nearly frightened out of their propriety ... by such a horrible scream as was never heard to issue from any other than a metallic throat. Animals of every description went careening round the fields, snuffling the air in their terror."[1]
[edit] Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries
The coal-fired steam turbine Cos Cob Power Plant built by Westinghouse in 1907 was a Mission Style structure. It was designated a National Historic Engineering Landmark in 1982 by the ASME and the IEEE. Despite being listed on the National Register of Historic Places and local and national debate, the plant was decommissioned in 1987 and demolished in 2001.
Ernest Thompson Seton lived in Cos Cob on an estate which is now a town park. Over 75 years ago what would eventually become the Boy Scouts of America was in part founded by him here.
On June 28, 1983, a 100 foot elevated portion I-95 (the Mianus River Bridge), collapsed, killing and injuring several motorists. Interstate 95 is the principal highway between Maine and Florida, and one of the most heavily travelled roads in the USA. Because the road was not fully reopened for six months, it created a bottleneck which affected the New York to Boston transportation corridor.
In 2006 NRG Energy Inc. of La Jolla, California proposed adding additional capacity of 40-megawatts to the current 60-megawatt plant to supplement Connecticut Light and Power during peak periods in south-western Fairfield County, Connecticut. Two additional jet turbines would be added to the existing plant in 2008.[2]
[edit] Places of Interest
[edit] See also
- The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore by Susan G. Larkin, Yale, 2001
- The Cos Cob Power Plant, New York Times March 5, 1989 A12
- Nguyen, H. Cos Cob power plant scheduled for upgrade Greenwich Time Jun 22, 2006 A1
- [2] "A Quiet Villagelike Section of Greenwich," by Eleanor Charles, The New York Times, Real Estate section September 22, 2002
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c [1]Web page titled "Murals: Scenes from Yesteryear" at the Stamford Historical Society Web site, accessed August 25, 2006
- ^ "Firm unveils plan to boost electric capacity: Proposal includes upgrades in Norwalk, Greenwich," by Kenneth R. Gosselin for The Hartford Courant, appeared June 22, 2006 in The Advocate of Stamford, page A6
