As there is intermittent talk about reviving ferry services between Stamford and Manhattan (Stamford Ferry Study Web Site) as well as across Long Island Sound (New York Times Archive), we thought it might be nice to take a look back to when ferries did ply their trade from Stamford … way way back!
As the chapter Marine Commerce and Yachting from Picturesque Stamford (1892) shows, “steam communication by water with the metropolis was organized on a permanent basis, though for more than a score of years prior to that time steamers were running here more or less regularly, in connection with calls at other Sound ports.”
The most enduring and beloved boat seems to have been the steamboat/side-wheeler “Shady Side,” of which our archives have several images. It was called “one of the handsomest passenger-boats on Long Island Sound,” and it provided ferry service to Manhattan beginning in 1886. It burned apparently in 1931; we have a photograph of the wreck.
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Artist's Impression of Christmas Eve on Atlantic Street
Artist's View of Stamford Yacht Club from Pier
Stamford Urban Renewal, 1960s
Stamford Urban Renewal, 1960s