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Whittemore Memorial Bridge,
Bridge No. 4214
• Maple Avenue over Naugatuck River
• Naugatuck
• Concrete arch
• Length: 3 spans, 180' overall, 66' maximum span length
• Built in 1912
• Henry Bacon, designer
The citizens of Naugatuck built this handsome bridge to honor John H. Whittemore, who died in 1910. Whittemore was the head of one of the city's largest industries, the Naugatuck Malleable Iron Company, and he used his great wealth to benefit the community. Among his gifts were two schools and a library, all elegant buildings designed by New York architects McKim, Mead and White. A bridge was chosen as his memorial because it would combine the attributes of practicality and beauty associated with Whittemore's philanthropy.
The plans for the bridge were drawn by Henry Bacon, a nationally prominent architect best known today for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. (1922). Bacon's design was applauded as "a monument to the memory of Naugatuck's most public spirited benefactor . . . a fitting tribute to him who has made our abiding place 'a city beautiful.'"
