Stamford Joins the Jane’s Walk Tradition

Local groups to host historic downtown Stamford walking tour

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Stamford — April 23, 2025 — Stamford native, local historian and historic preservation specialist Wes Haynes will be joined by Stamford resident Dave Avery in leading Stamford’s first-ever Jane’s Walk on May 3, 2025 at 10:00 am. The tour will begin at Emerson Hall (Unitarian Universalist Congregation). The walk will explore downtown Stamford’s vibrant historic blocks, the chain of downtown public parks, including the splendid Mill River Park, and other open spaces and historic districts in between. Avery is President of the Strawberry Hill Neighborhood Association.

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The talk will examine these elements through the lens of Urbanist Jane Jacob’s ideas on how local economies, innovation and the gradual infusion of money for development shape desirable places to live, work and play.

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Today’s downtown is a dynamic, multi-layered urban core that evolved over more than 375 years and remains a work in progress. Changes to the city’s plan in the second half of the 20th century urban, when urban renewal prioritized the automobile over public transportation and pedestrians, replacing blocks of small-scale housing and retail with the mall and large-scale office buildings. Since then, planners have strived to invite pedestrians back by preserving, enhancing, or re-creating a walkable city.

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The acclaimed Jane’s Walk program is hosted in Stamford by Historic Neighborhood Preservation, the Strawberry Hill Neighborhood Association, and Emerson Hall at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The two-hour tour will begin and end at Emerson Hall (Unitarian-Universalist Church) at 20 Forest Street in Stamford, one of downtown’s most important historic buildings. Before the walk begins there will be a brief orientation at the Church. We suggest parking in the Bedford Street public garage/parking lot (small fee) between Broad and Forest Streets.

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