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Broad Street Park

At this point, having crossed the bridge onto the west side of Seymour onto Broad Street, you may want to stop (parking available to left in church and school parking lots). Before we talk about what we see today it is important that at this point we talk briefly about the destruction and devastation caused by the flood in August of 1955.

Seymour was hit hard but especially in the area of Broad Street, Pine Street and Derby Avenue ‑ the area that you are now surrounded by. The Naugatuck River flowed gently over the natural Falls and in a narrow path wound its way toward Ansonia. A narrow iron and steel girder bridge with arched superstructure spanned the water. The land, extending much further into what is today water, held large neighborhood homes with what would be considered "mom and pop" businesses, a historic stagecoach stop, then a restaurant, called the Dutch Door Inn.

After the flood this area was changed forever. Many of the original buildings were lost and the landscape forever altered. Today the area has recovered. The falls, at times become angry and noisy but now are always under control. The river has a wider bed to flow in and even a canoe launch area for those who want to experience her banks for a short distance. Broad Street Park now lies on the upper bank. Here is a place to sit and enjoy the river and the falls, learn about the river and the research being done on it, and read the town’s historic marker or visit the monument to Seymour's Korean and Vietnam veterans to pay your respects.

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