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–Not graded
History · Westbrook Center

28% of Westbrook Center’s homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: maps from 1893 on.

1on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
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Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 4.0

What stands out about Westbrook Center’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Westbrook Center are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18934 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1970. Watch Westbrook Center change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Westbrook Center’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Westbrook Center’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Westbrook Center on the map, 1893 to 1970

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Westbrook Center. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Westbrook Center on the 1893 USGS mapWestbrook Center on the 1944 USGS mapWestbrook Center on the 1958 USGS mapWestbrook Center on the 1970 USGS map1893Saybrook sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Westbrook Center.

The story so far

Westbrook Center, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Westbrook Center yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Westbrook Center is a census-designated place (CDP) comprising the primary village and adjacent residential land in the town of Westbrook, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. It is in the southern part of the town, along U.S. Route 1 and bordered to the south by Long Island Sound. To the east it is bordered by the town of Old Saybrook, and the western and northwestern borders of the CDP are the Patchogue River. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 2,220, out of 6,769 in the entire town of Westbrook. The Westbrook Town Center Historic District occupies 178 acres (0.72 km2) at the center of the community.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,413 to 2,220 (-8%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the National Register

1 historic place in Westbrook Center

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
179
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Westbrook Center

Nobody well known was born in Westbrook Center itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Gretchen MolAmerican actress and former model · b. 1972
Abraham BaldwinUnited States politician · b. 1754
Brad AndersonAmerican film director · b. 1964
Morrison WaiteAmerican jurist (1816–1888); Chief Justice of t… · b. 1816
Tom DanielsonRoad bicycle racer · b. 1978
William ScrantonGovernor of Pennsylvania · b. 1917
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Saybrook ManorIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWestbrook3 historic placesAOld Saybrook21 historic placesA

Questions about Westbrook Center’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.