Picture South Windsor - Then And Now

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — Today's first foray of the new year into South Windsor's past brings us back to a wonderful picture book called Images of America: South Windsor, compiled in 2017 by Claire Lobdell for the Wood Memorial Library & Museum. The book, containing 128 pages of fascinating photos from the town's history, is available for purchase at the library's museum store here.

The north end of Main Street, in the area of South Windsor known as East Windsor Hill, occurs just after the intersections with Sullivan Avenue and Ferry Lane. Prior to the construction of Route 5 in the early 1940s, Main Street continued as shown, crossing over the Scantic River and meeting up with the road which is now known as Route 5.

This undated photo shows a trolley car crossing the bridge over the Scantic River, indicating it was taken well before 1932, when trolley service ended between Springfield and Hartford.

Incidentally, this point of the Scantic River is the 40-mile mark since its origination point in Hampden, Mass. The river flows southwest for 40.6 miles through Hampden, Somers, Enfield and East Windsor before joining the Connecticut River just west of this location.

Here are two contemporary views of the north end of Main Street, both from Google Maps.

Do you have a photo of an old South Windsor business which no longer exists, to which you own the rights and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

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