 |
Route 115 is an urban street in Derby, Ansonia and Seymour, on the east side of the Naugatuck River.
It does not intersect a freeway, but it is marked on a "Big Green Sign" on Route 34; see Google Street View.
In the 1920s, State Highway 115 followed today's Route 185.
Portions of the modern Route 115 were state-maintained in 1925 or earlier, but without a posted route number:
By 1930, this road had a number: State Highway 200.
In 1932, SH 200 became Route 115, and it was slightly shorter than today: 5.35 miles instead of 5.66. Its north end was at Bank Street in Seymour, which was first Route 8, and then in 1936, Route 8A.
In 1962, Route 8A was deleted, and Route 115 was extended along Main Street to Route 67.
Route 115, Main Street, makes a curve to the west at the Ansonia Shopping Center. Originally, Main Street was the straight spine of about 12 small city blocks. In 1955, amid catastrophic statewide flooding, the Naugatuck River overflowed and devastated the area. The buildings were razed as part of a downtown renewal project in the 1960s, and several city streets like Canal, Powe, and Cheever no longer exist.
In Spring 1970, a few years later than scheduled, an enclosed shopping mall opened there, along with a relocated Route 115.
In the 1990s, the mall deteriorated as tenants left, and it was replaced with a conventional shopping plaza in 1997.