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In the 1700s, Mill River village was a small
hamlet of a few houses and a wharf at the mouth of Fairfield's
Mill River. By 1831 the village had changed its name to
Southport and was a bustling commercial area with warehouses,
churches, schools, stores and elegant houses. Southport became a
leading coastal port on Long Island Sound, its ships carrying
produce and goods back and forth to New York City. A measure of
its success is the fact that throughout the 1800s it possessed
the only two banks in town. However, competition from steamboats
and the railroad took its toll on prosperity. Resourceful
shippers teamed with local farmers and businessmen to keep the
port going; the Southport onion, a high quality onion was
developed and grown on Fairfield's hills and shipped in
Southport market boats, keeping the harbor profitable until the
end of the century. Today, much of the old village area is part
of an historic district, where buildings from three centuries
are protected for future generations. |
