Now & Then: Main and Cherry Streets
The photographer here was C.E. Hilgert, looking north on Main Street ca. 1947. The stone wall is the one that now frames the parking lot.
The Birdsall House used to sit on what is now the Morse Court parking lot in the center of New Canaan, bounded by Main Street, Cherry Street and South Avenue. Around 1872, the house was bought by Gilbert Birdsall who had developed the Third Avenue Railway in New York City. He operated the house as a hotel, tavern, and livery stable for many years before it was demolished in the 1950s.
“New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society.