The substantial waterfront summer cottage at 20 Nibang Avenue in the Borough of Fenwick in Old Saybrook was built on a lot acquired in 1928 by Frances Dunham Westbrook and her husband, Stillman Westbrook, Sr. (1888-1943), a senior vice-president at the Aetna Life Insurance Company who oversaw the construction of the Aetna Building on Farmington Avenue in Hartford. He was also the first chairman of the Hartford Housing Authority and Westbrook Village, a housing project that is currently being redeveloped, was named in his honor. In 1948, the cottage was acquired and remodeled by E. Clayton Gengras (1908-1983), who also acquired the Riversea Inn and other properties in the borough. Gengras founded Gengras Motor Cars, which he developed into one of the largest car dealerships in the nation. In recent years, the house has had new owners. You can read more about the cottage in Marion Hepburn Grant’s The Fenwick Story (Connecticut Historical Society, 1974), pages 58-61.
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