Opening Ceremonies
Although
the Connecticut weather forecast for Wednesday, June 29, 1938 suggested cloudy
and possibly rainy skies, the day turned out quite nicely, with sunshine and
moderate temperatures.
This was good news for the hundreds of spectators who planned to watch the
opening ceremonies for the first 17.5 miles of the Merritt Parkway. Members of
the Merritt Parkway Commission had planned the ceremonies, which were to begin
in Norwalk, and invitations had been sent to those participating in the event.
Amid excitement and anticipation, the Merritt
Parkway officially opened at about 2:45 in the afternoon. Governor
Wilbur L. Cross, assisted by Norwalk’s mayor, Frank T. Stack, used a pair of
golden scissors to cut a white ribbon over a portion of the Parkway. In a speech
accompanying the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Cross remarked “This is the beginning
of a great parkway system in our State and where it will end no one can predict,
but I feel certain that eventually it will cover the entire state.”
Among the hundreds
of local, state, and federal officials who attended the opening
ceremonies were former Congressman
Schuyler
Merritt, after whom the Parkway was named, Attorney General
Homer S. Cummings, Public Works Commissioner
Robert A. Hurley, State Highway
Commissioner William J. Cox, and former State Highway Commissioner
John A.
MacDonald. The US Representative for Fairfield County, Alfred N.
Phillips Jr., was greatly insulted that MacDonald had been invited,
and in a
telegram to Governor Cross, he heatedly declined to attend
the event.
After the ceremony
in Norwalk, nearly 100 cars lined up to drive onto the
Merritt Parkway. Governor Cross, who rode in the first automobile
with Schuyler Merritt, Robert A. Hurley, John A. MacDonald, William
J. Cox, and Executive Secretary Phillip Hewes, led the procession.
Following in separate cars were members of the Governor’s staff,
members of the Merritt Parkway Commission, Schuyler Merritt’s
family, members of the Fairfield County Planning Association, and
numerous local, state, and federal officials. The ribbon-cutting
ceremonies were repeated at the town lines of New Canaan, Stamford,
Greenwich, and the New York state line, where the party was met by
representatives from New York. The following day, an article in the
Stamford Advocate applauded the “Simple, Impressive
ceremonies,” and announced that the first section of the much
anticipated Merritt Parkway was now open!
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