
The Rippowam River is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. ...
and Westchester County, New York (United States). It drains a catchment area of and flows for from
Ridgefield to
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...
, which it enters in
Stamford's harbor.
Streamflow in the Rippowam River is controlled by several small
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...
s. The
Turn-of-River Bridge, which is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
, crosses it.
The river has been dammed to form both the North Stamford Reservoir in North Stamford, and the Laurel Reservoir on the Stamford/New Canaan border.
The lower eight miles of Rippowam River, from the
North Stamford Reservoir to
Harbor Point (Stamford), are known as Mill River according to the Trust for Public Land, although U.S. Geological Survey maps and documents based on them don't reflect this information. The upper part of the river, in Westchester County, is also called Mill River, as shown in USGS maps Variant names for the Rippowam River include Mill River, Collins Brook, Mud Pond Brook, Rippowan River, Scotts Corner Brook, Stamford Mill River, Stoneford Mill River, Tomok River, and Turn River, according to the US Board on Geographic Names.
Architect
Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...
built his
Glass House on the eastern slope of the Rippowam River valley in
New Canaan in the late 1940s to take advantage of the view of the valley formed by the river.
Gallery
Image:PostcardStamfordCTMillRiverSceneNearRRSta1901TO1907.jpg, The river just south of the railroad bridge in the South End of Stamford, about 1905
File:PostcardOnTheRippowamStamfordCt1905.jpg, Rippowam River, about 1905
File:PostcardStamfordCTRippowamRiverBridgeHouses1906.jpg, River scene from a postcard mailed in 1906
See also
*
List of rivers in Connecticut
*
Byram River
*
Mianus River
The Mianus River is a river in Westchester County, New York, and Fairfield County, Connecticut, in the United States. It begins in the town of North Castle, New York (east of Armonk) in a series of ponds at about altitude. Flowing northeas ...
*
Norwalk River
The Norwalk River is a river in southwestern Connecticut, United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 The word "Norwalk" comes from ...
References
Rivers of Fairfield County, Connecticut
Geography of Stamford, Connecticut
Rivers of Connecticut
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