Sunday, September 16, 2012

From 1937: Seicheprey Name For Middletown Bridge Proposed

The following is an excerpt of an article from about 75 years ago today, published on September 13, 1937 in the Hartford Courant. For more information on the previous attempt to name the bridge after a figure from "The World War", see HERE.
Seicheprey is a small village in the northeast of France, near Germany. The battle of Seicheprey occurred on April 18, 1918, between the U.S. Infantry 26th Division (nicknamed the Yankee Division), and the German Army.

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It was revealed at a state meeting of the Yankee Division Veterans Association here Sunday that a movement is under way to have the bridge being built over the Connecticut River between Middletown and Portland named the Seicheprey Bridge.

The YDVA meeting voted to cooperate with the Connecticut Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in a movement to have the name of the battle in the World War in which many Connecticut soldiers fought accepted for the span.

A proposal that the bridge be named after the late Clarence R. Edwards, who commanded the Yankee Division in the war, was made by veterans several months ago. A bill providing that the bridge be so named was reported unfavorably by the Roads, Bridges and Rivers Committee of the General Assembly at the recent session. At a hearing held by the committee the Middlesex County Historical Society proposed that the bridge be called the Mattabeseck Bridge after the name which the Indians called the area where the span is located.
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The Bridge was built between 1936 and 1938. It would remain without an honorific name for many years before it was finally named after a state legislator who promoted its construction, Charles Arrigoni.

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