Norwalk's downtown area near the Public Library and the Post Office has three bridges close together: the Cross Street bridge to the north, then the Burnell Boulevard bridge and the Wall Street bridge. An 1847 map of Norwalk labeled today's Cross Street as the "Ancient Crossing Place" and showed the crossing as a ford, not a bridge.

In the old days, this part of the river was called the "Falls", not due to an actual waterfall but on account of the long series of riffles that prevented boat traffic from coming above the "flat" part of the river, which extended up to the southern side of the Wall Street bridge. That happens to be the point where Betts Pond Brook enters the Norwalk River from the east.



Bridge over the Norwalk River at Cross Street.
The old hat factory is now a seafood restaurant.




The Cross Street Bridge during the 1955 flood.




Looking north from Wall Street towards the modern
Burnell Boulevard bridge over the Norwalk River.




Bridge over the Norwalk River at Wall Street.
This bridge survived the great flood of 1955.


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