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The Pequonnock River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed 2011-04-01.
waterway in eastern
Fairfield County, Connecticut Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. A ...
. Its watershed is located in five communities, with the majority of it located within Monroe, Trumbull, and
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...
. The river has a penchant for flooding, particularly in spring since the removal of a retention dam in Trumbull in the 1950s. There seems to be a sharp difference of opinion among historians as to just what the Indian word ''Pequonnock'' signifies. Some insist it meant ''cleared field'' or ''open ground''; others are sure it meant ''broken ground''; while a third group is certain it meant ''place of slaughter'' or ''place of destruction''.


Geography

The eastern branch river flows southerly from Monroe through Trumbull past the Old Mine Park Archeological Site and continues to
Beardsley Park Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is the only AZA-accredited zoo in the state of Connecticut. It includes one of the few carousels in the state. History The Park In 1878, James W. Beardsley, a wealthy farmer, ...
in
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...
, merging at the mouth of
Bridgeport Harbor Bridgeport Harbor is an inlet on the north side of Long Island Sound in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was carved by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. Bridgeport Harbor is a federal shipping port and ...
with
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 ...
at the
Bridgeport Harbor Light The Bridgeport Harbor Light, later the Bridgeport Harbor Lighthouse, was a lighthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. It is located on the west side of the Bridgeport Harbor entrance and the north side of Long Island Sound. Original ...
. The river is dammed in Bridgeport by the Bunnell's Pond Dam () near Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo. The western branch of the river flows southeasterly in a wide "S" pattern from near the Monroe border with
Newtown, Connecticut Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 censu ...
. The two branches link in Monroe east of the intersection of Route 25 and Purdy Hill Road (). Less than a mile south of that point in Trumbull, a tributary called North Farrars Brook joins the Pequonnock. Hedgehog Creek and Belden Brook in Trumbull flow into the river southwest of the intersection of Route 25 and Daniels Farm Road. The fourth tributary is Booth Hill Brook, also in Trumbull. It merges northeast of the Route 25 interchange with Route 15 (). The fifth and final tributary is Island Brook, which joins the river in Bridgeport south of Bunnell Pond and north of the River Street Bridge (). Island Brook is dammed in Bridgeport by the Forest Lake Dam. ()


Crossings and navigation

There was only a single bridge crossing the river (near the home of Noah Plumb) until after the Revolutionary War. A bridge opened in 1798 and led to the foundation of Bridgeport. Bridgeport * The southernmost mile of the river is navigable from
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 ...
by most vessels. * The
Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge The Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge is a railroad drawbridge (movable bridge) over the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Owned by the State of Connecticut and maintained and operated by both Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad, it is als ...
was constructed in 1902 and is a notable crossing in Bridgeport. It was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1987. * Bridgeport has multiple drawbridge crossings including the Stratford Avenue Bridge, the
railroad bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
, the Congress Street Bridge, the East Washington Avenue bridge and the Grand Street bridge. The Congress Street bridge is impassable (since 1997) due to being frozen in the open position. The movable leaves of Congress Street Bridge were taken out in May 2010. The Grand street bridge was demolished in 2011. Trumbull * A wooden walking bridge is located at Old Mine Park Archeological Site. * The Twin Brooks Bridge carries Brock Street over the river, connecting Twin Brooks Park to Route 127. It is the only
covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...
on the river.


History


Pequonnock village

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Pequonnock Indians of the
Paugussett The Golden Hill Paugussett is a state-recognized Native American tribe in Connecticut. Granted reservations in a number of towns in the 17th century, their land base was whittled away until they were forced to reacquire a small amount of territor ...
nation lived on the banks of the river. One village on the west bank of the Pequonnock consisted of about five or six hundred inhabitants in approximately 150 lodgings. The first
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
settlement on the west bank of the mouth of the Pequonnock was made in about 1665 and was called Pequonnock. This village was renamed Newfield sometime before 1777. During the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, Newfield was a center of privateering. In 1800, Newfield village was chartered as the borough of Bridgeport, forming the center for the city of Bridgeport.


Mills

In January 1722, Gideon and Ephraim Hawley agreed to build or rebuild a mill or mills on the stream of the Pequonnock River at the narrows by White Plain just west of
White Plains Road White Plains Road is a major north-south thoroughfare which runs the length of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It runs from Castle Hill and Clason Point in the south to Wakefield in the north, where it crosses the city line and becomes ...
. In the mid-18th century, Daniel Hawley built a mill "at the spring on the Pequonnock River" along White Plains Road just north of Daniels Farm Road in Trumbull Center. Daniel, who resided just northeast of the present bridge, was a grand nephew of Gideon and Ephraim Hawley and great grandson of Ephraim Hawley. Reuben Fairchild and his brothers, Daniel and Eben built the Fairchild Paper Mill in 1826 at a place commonly called since 1674 as the "Falls" of the Pequonnock River. They were guided in their endeavors by Andrew Tait, who had learned the art of paper making in Scotland. Fairchild Paper Mill was the first mill to make white note paper. The company also ran a boarding house for its female employees. The mill stood to the west of
White Plains Road White Plains Road is a major north-south thoroughfare which runs the length of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It runs from Castle Hill and Clason Point in the south to Wakefield in the north, where it crosses the city line and becomes ...
near what is today the entrance to Fairchild Memorial Park.


Housatonic Railroad

From 1840 to 1931, a segment of the
Housatonic Railroad The Housatonic Railroad ( ) is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and ...
ran along much of the river with stations at Bridgeport, North Bridgeport (Lyons), Trumbull, Long Hill, Stepney, Pepper (Pepper Crossing) & Botsford, finally terminating in
New Milford, Connecticut New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is in western Connecticut, north of Danbury, on the banks of the Housatonic River, and it shares its border with the northeastern shore of Candlewood Lake. It is t ...
. The Railroad also maintained the Parlor Rock Amusement Park. The railroad was ripped up and replaced with
Connecticut Route 8 Route 8 is a state highway in Connecticut that runs north–south from Bridgeport, through Waterbury, all the way to the Massachusetts state line where it continues as Massachusetts Route 8. Most of the highway is a four-lane freeway but t ...
up to Trumbull, north of which became Pequonnock River Valley State Park.


Historic events

* 1836: Andrew Tait built a paper and strawboard mill in Trumbull. * 30 July 1905: A major flood caused 52 people to be drowned and devastation as houses were swept downriver. The schooner '' Hope Haynes'' hit a bridge, causing a fire which led to a massive gas line explosion in Bridgeport. * 16 September 1933: the body of notorious Bridgeport gang boss Patsy Santoro was found in the river. * 1964: Dredging of Bridgeport Harbor by the Army Corps of Engineers. * 29 December 1989: for $9,275,000 the Pequonnock River Valley State Park was founded. * 18 July 2007: The dismembered corpse of Charles Gerber was found floating in a barrel near the Stratford Avenue Bridge. * 11 January 2010: a man was killed when his car fell into the river.


Recreational activities

* (Mountain) Biking & Hiking: There are several bicycle and hiking trails in Pequonnock River Valley State Park. * Fishing: The Connecticut DEP stocks the river with a variety of fish before the spring fishing season. * Hunting: Bird hunting is legal in Pequonnock River Valley State Park from October 20 to December 22 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.


Watershed

The Pequonnock River watershed is approximately , located at the head of the river in Monroe where it feeds the
Easton Reservoir Easton may refer to: Places Canada * Easton, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Easton, Bristol * Easton, Cambridgeshire * Easton, Dorset *Great Easton, Essex and Little Easton, Essex * Easton, Hampshire **Crux Easton, Hampshire * Easton, Isle of Wight ...
.Newtown, Connecticut Water Supply Resources
. Hvceo.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-15.


Water quality

The river was measured for '' E. coli'' on ten separate dates from May through September 2009. Results concluded that the river is to be considered class B (on the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection rating system) from the watershed through Trumbull and to the entry of Bunnell Pond in Bridgeport. Areas further south on the river such as the Washington Street Bridge and into
Bridgeport Harbor Bridgeport Harbor is an inlet on the north side of Long Island Sound in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was carved by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. Bridgeport Harbor is a federal shipping port and ...
have considerably higher levels of e.coli and are correspondingly more polluted.


Other uses of the word Pequonnock

*Pequonnock Iron Works Inc. - A metal fabrication company in Bridgeport. *Pequonnock National Bank - A bank in Bridgeport in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. *
Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge The Pequonnock River Railroad Bridge is a railroad drawbridge (movable bridge) over the Pequonnock River in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Owned by the State of Connecticut and maintained and operated by both Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad, it is als ...
*Pequonnock Road, in Trumbull. *Pequonnock Yacht Club


See also

*
History of Bridgeport, Connecticut The history of Bridgeport, Connecticut was, in the late 17th and most of the 18th century, one of land acquisitions from the native inhabitants, farming and fishing. From the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century, Bridgeport's history was one ...
* History of Trumbull, Connecticut * List of rivers of Connecticut


Notes


References

* * * * {{authority control Geography of Bridgeport, Connecticut Monroe, Connecticut Trumbull, Connecticut Rivers of Fairfield County, Connecticut Long Island Sound Rivers of Connecticut