[Stylo]

Originally Posted by JayCT

It had to do with the size of the harbor. Southport and Black Rock are both very small and could not handle larger ships like New Haven and Bridgeport. Remember too that Bridgeport was a very active harbor as well but the old time harbor facilities were replaced over the years by factories particularly as transportation moved away from the water to trains. Steel Point had a large electricity generating facility that has since been removed but before that it was a port facility. Jay

Yeah, but I'm fascinated by why Portland's old port area survived and Bridgeport/New Haven's didn't. They were probably equally as busy/large. It's obvious why, they became more industrial cities due to their location - plus the freeway/urban renewal phase.

[smackfu]

Here's some more background on Long Wharf in New Haven: http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/CityPl...ng%20Wharf.pdf

I hadn't realized the modern Long Wharf (IKEA, Long Wharf Theater, I-95) was all reclaimed land.

It also seems like they were still trying to make a viable port in the 50's and 60's, so I imagine there wasn't much resistance to tearing down the historical wharves that did exist.

[andthentherewere3]

I was reading about a massive hurricane and flooding that destroyed much of the coastal port area of Derby/Seymour in the 1950's, bridges lost, I wonder if ports along the sound were also destroyed by hurricanes over the years? It would not be surprising.

[B3Fan]

Thanks to Jaydez & Smakfu for their insightful attachments. You can get quite a mental picture from these papers, I enjoyed them very much. I wish I could see photos of the old Oak Street and Railroad areas of NH. The books I have present nothing of these fascinating areas.