Route 108 in the U.S. state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, locally called Nichols Avenue and Huntington Turnpike, is a two-lane state highway that runs northerly from

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...

, Boston Post Road in Stratford, through Trumbull, to

Route 110 Route 110 or Highway 110 can refer to multiple roads: Australia * Nepean Highway * Bellarine Highway Bangladesh * Brazil * BR-110 Canada * Manitoba Highway 110 * New Brunswick Route 110 * Prince Edward Island Route 110 China * China ...

in downtown

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire * Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire * Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bed ...

. Originally called the Farm Highway, it was laid out to the south side of Mischa Hill in Trumbull on December 7, 1696 and is considered to be the third oldest documented highway in Connecticut after the Mohegan Road ( Route 32) in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

(1670) and the Boston Post Road or US 1 (1673). The section of Nichols Avenue from the Stratford-Trumbull town line to Huntington Turnpike in Trumbull is known as the Trooper Ernest Morse Memorial Highway, named in honor of a state trooper who was killed by gunfire on February 13, 1953, while trying to apprehend a suspect in a car theft.

Route description

Route 108 begins at Barnum Avenue or US Route 1 in Stratford and proceeds north out of Stratford center intersecting with North Avenue and Second Hill Lane. It continues northward over Third Hill and intersects with Silver Lane, Hawley Lane and Route 8 in Trumbull. It then goes up and over Mischa Hill and into the center of the village of

Nichols Nichols may refer to: People *Nichols (surname) *Nichol, a surname Places Canada * Nichols Islands, Nunavut United States * Nichols, California, an unincorporated community * Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, California * Nichols, Connecticut * Nich ...

. It crosses over the Merritt Parkway and then defines the western boundary of the historic Nichols green and intersects with old cross highway Unity Road. Past Nichols center, it continues northward and intersects with Isinglass Road as it makes its way into the village of Huntington in Shelton. It bisects the historic Huntington green separating the common from the old St. Paul's Episcopal Church and old burial groun

Route 108 makes a turn eastward past the Huntington green on its way to its terminus at

in downtown Shelton at the western side of the Housatonic River. Route 108 is a two lane road that widens to four lanes with turning lanes and traffic lights at the intersections with Route 8 and Route 15 (

Merritt Parkway The Merritt Parkway (also known locally as "The Merritt") is a limited-access parkway in Fairfield County, Connecticut, with a small section at the northern end in New Haven County. Designed for Connecticut's Gold Coast, the parkway is known ...

) in Trumbull.

History

*Originally called the Farm Highway, the portion of Route 108 in Trumbull, called Nichols Avenue, was laid out and designated as a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

on December 7, 1696 by the Stratford selectmen. The selectmen recorded into the land records that ''there is a highway presently running out of the north end of the town, called the farm highway, running northerly into the woods being laid out by the town as far as the brook that runs on the south end of Mischa Hill'', the present day intersection of Route 108 and the Merritt Parkway in Trumbull. At the time, the highway was a full 12 rods, or wide ''at the south side of Mischa Hill, at Zachariah Curtiss, his land, and at Captain's Farm''. *The Stratford selectmen designed and built a rural highway system of main north–south highways one mile (1.6 km) apart and cross highways one mile (1.6 km) apart. The original north–south highways were Broadbridge Road, Nichols Avenue (now Route 108), Main Street (now Route 113) Huntington Road, Bear Swamp Road or present day Cutspring Road/East Main Street, and River Road (now

). The cross highways were North Avenue, Second Hill Lane, Hawley and Silver Lanes, and Unity Road. On May 18, 1724, the Stratford selectmen voted to extend the highways six miles (10 km) north into the woods or ten miles (16 km) distant from the meeting house. They also voted to build cross highways at mile intervals creating a network of interconnecting highways and dividing the entire north end of the township.Reverend Samuel Orcutt, ''The History of the Old Town of Stratford, Connecticut'', (Fairfield Historical Society, 1886) *In October 1725, the General Assembly of the Connecticut Colony referred to the Farm Highway, in their approval of the new Parish of Unity, as Nichol's Farm's Road.Charles Hoadly, ''The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut 1636 to 1776'', (Lockwood & Brainard, 1872) *The northern portion of current Route 108 was part of the Huntington Turnpike, a toll road built by the Huntington Turnpike Company, which was chartered in May 1828.F.J. Wood, ''The Turnpikes of New England'', (Marshall Jones Co., Boston, 1919) The Huntington Turnpike went from

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

, through the old town centers of

and Huntington (now known as Shelton), to the west bank of the Housatonic River opposite Derby Landing (the current downtown area of Shelton). The company was dissolved in March 1886. The southern end of the Huntington Turnpike that did not become part of Route 108 is now an unsigned state road (SR) with designations SR 730 (East Main Street to Route 8) in Bridgeport and SR 711 (Route 8 to Route 108) in Trumbull. *The modern Route 108 was designated in the 1932 state highway renumbering, but only between downtown Shelton (the current northern end) and the Huntington green with a length of about . The designation was extended another in 1951 along the Huntington Turnpike to the village of Nichols, ending at then Route 113. It was again extended another as a result of the 1962 Route Reclassification Act along Nichols Avenue (former Route 113) to its current southern end at US 1 in Stratford. In 1999, a slight realignment was done in downtown Shelton, gaining an additional .Connecticut Routes, Route 108
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Major intersections

On the National Register of Historic Places

*The Peet Fountain, is a water fountain donated by the Peet family and dedicated in 1895 for use by human, horse and other four-legged friends, is located on Route 108 at the intersection of Unity Road in the Nichols Farms Historic District. In 1995, during a renovation, the fountain was significantly altered from its original configuration when rabbits and cattails were added to its top basin. *The Curtiss Memorial Fountain, another historic water fountain from the 1800s, was donated by the Curtiss family for public use is located on Route 108 at the northeast end of the historic Huntington green in the Huntington Center Historic District.

References

External links