Cos Cob is a neighborhood and census-designated place in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut. It is located on the Connecticut shoreline in southern Fairfield County. It had a population of 6,770 at the 2010 census. Cos Cob is located on the western side of the mouth of the Mianus River. The

American Impressionist American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose b ...

Cos Cob Art Colony flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An offshoot of the group, the Greenwich Art Society, continues to support local artists in town. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct sections or neighborhoods, such as Banksville, Byram, Cos Cob, Glenville, Mianus, Old Greenwich, Riverside and Greenwich (sometimes referred to as central, or downtown, Greenwich). Of these neighborhoods, three (Cos Cob, Old Greenwich, and Riverside) have separate postal names and ZIP codes. From 1883 to 1885, the official post office name of Cos Cob was Bayport. In 2015, Forbes ranked Cos Cob the 287th wealthiest place in the US with a median house sale price of $1,329,107.

Community facilities

*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 Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

design and is set in a pocket park landscaped by local volunteers. *The neighborhood's zip code is 06807. It has one post office. *There are two public schools in Cos Cob: Cos Cob Elementary School, 390 pupils, and Central Middle School, 710 pupils (both as of 2010),Web page titled "Greenwich Public School

on the web site of the

Greenwich Public Schools Greenwich Public Schools is a school district located in Fairfield County, in Greenwich, Connecticut. The district has boundaries that are coterminous with those of the town. Approximately 8,840 students, grades K–12, attend the Greenwich Publ ...

. Accessed 7 September 2010. though school boundaries cut across zip code boundaries and many students who live in Cos Cob attend other public schools in town. *Cos Cob has a fire department staffed by both full-time salaried firefighters and volunteers. * Cos Cob station is served by the New Haven Line of the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

, a commuter rail service that runs between New Haven, Connecticut and New York City.

History

The community is situated on Cos Cob Harbor, a sheltered area on the north side of

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

. Cos Cob's role as a commercial shipping port, supplying potatoes and apples to New York City, disappeared with the appearance of the railroad and damming of the Mianus River. The river is now one source of the town's drinking water. From 1883 to 1885, the official post office name of Cos Cob was Bayport.

Cos Cob gets a train for Christmas

The Cos Cob train station and the Mianus River Railroad Bridge are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. :"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."Web page titled "Murals: Scenes from Yesteryea

on the web site of the Stamford Historical Society. Accessed 25 August 2006. 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." Edgar Hoyt, editor of the ''Stamford Advocate'', wrote: "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."

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 Historic Mechanical 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 Ernest Thompson Seton (born Ernest Evan Thompson August 14, 1860 – October 23, 1946) was an English-born Canadian-American author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians in 1902 (renamed Woodcraft League of America), and one of ...

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 elevated portion of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

(the

Mianus River Bridge The Mianus River Bridge is a span that carries Interstate 95 (Connecticut Turnpike) over the Mianus River, between Cos Cob and Riverside, Connecticut. It is the second bridge on the site. The original bridge collapsed in 1983, killing three mot ...

) collapsed, killing and injuring several motorists. Interstate 95 is the principal highway between Maine and Florida, and one of the most heavily traveled roads in the country. 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 La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, proposed adding additional capacity of 40 megawatts to the current 60 megawatt plant to supplement

Connecticut Light and Power Eversource Energy is a publicly traded, Fortune 500 energy company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, with several regulated subsidiaries offering retail electricity, natural gas service and water service to appro ...

during peak periods in southwestern Fairfield County. Two additional jet turbines would be added to the existing plant in 2008.

Notable people

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatri ...

, brother of John Wilkes Booth and a famous actor of his day *

Orestes H. Caldwell Orestes Hampton Caldwell (March 8, 1888 – August 27, 1967) was one of the first five members of the Federal Radio Commission. He may have been the first person to coin the term electronics. Biography He was born on March 8, 1888 in Lexington, ...

, one of the first members of the Federal Radio Commission * Gary Dell'Abate, producer for '' The Howard Stern Show'' * Jim Himes, Democratic congressman from Connecticut's 4th congressional district. *

Finn Murphy Finn Murphy (born May 22, 1958) is an American long haul trucker and author of ''The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road,'' published by W.W. Norton & Company. He was born in Greenwich, Connecticut the fifth child of illustrator and ...

, author of ''The Long Haul'' * Barbara O'Neil, actress * Anya Seton, author of historical romances * Barbara Tuchman, historian * Jerry Springer, TV Show Host, '' The Jerry Springer Show'' * Frederick M. Warburg, investment banker

Places of interest

* Bush-Holley House, the only National Historic Landmark in Greenwich; built in about 1730; listed in 1988 *

House In addition to the Bush-Holley House, these sites in Cos Cob are listed by the National Register of Historic Places: *

Mianus River Railroad Bridge The Mianus River Railroad Bridge, also known as the Cos Cob Bridge, is a bascule drawbridge built in 1904 over the Mianus River, in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The bridge carries the ...

, built: 1904; listed: 1987 * Cos Cob Railroad Station, built: c. 1890; listed: 1989 *

Strickland Road Historic District The Strickland Road Historic District of Greenwich, Connecticut is a historic district that was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The district extends along Strickland Road in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, be ...

, Strickland Road; built: c. 1730-1938; listed: 1990 * Cos Cob Power Station, Sound Shore Drive; built: 1907; listed: 1990; demolished, 2000

In popular culture

* In Season 5 of AMC's TV series '' Mad Men'', Cos Cob became the home to character

Pete Campbell Peter Dyckman Campbell (born February 28, 1934) is a fictional character on AMC's television series ''Mad Men''. He is portrayed by Vincent Kartheiser. Kartheiser has won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble ...

and his family.''Mad Men'' ep. 5x05 "Signal 30" * Hollywood Golden Age film star Gene Marshall, a doll designed by artist Mel Odom, spent her formative years in Cos Cob

Library

Gallery

Image:PostcardCosCobStricklandsPond1911postmark.jpg, Stricklands Pond, ca. 1911 Image:StricklandsPondCosCobCT1910.jpg, Strickland's Pond, ca. 1910

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Greenwich Historical SocietyGreenwich Art SocietyCos Cob Library
{{authority control Greenwich, Connecticut Neighborhoods in Connecticut Connecticut placenames of Native American origin Census-designated places in Fairfield County, Connecticut Census-designated places in Connecticut Populated coastal places in Connecticut