First settled in 1664, this area was one of four Congregational parishes in Simsbury. The Turkey Hills Ecclesiastical Society in 1786 became a section of Granby, and in 1858 was incorporated as the Town of East Granby. A basalt ridge dividing the town lengthwise had considerable influence on its character. On the western side of this Talcott Range stood the first incorporated copper mine in America, which later became New Gate Prison, a Revolutionary War jail and the first prison in the United States in 1790. Farming has always been the town’s mainstay, and in the early twentieth century local farmers specialized in dairy products and tobacco. Although the number of operating farms declined as the population grew from 838 in 1858 to 4600 in 1979, East Granby retained its rural character. Among local citizens who left their mark on the nation’s history were John Griffin, the first settler and first military officer in the area; Samuel Higley, a doctor and artist who minted the first copper coins in America and pioneered steel manufacture; Captain John Viets, the first keeper of New Gate Prison; Whitfield Cowles, an entrepreneur, minister, and farmer who founded one of the first companies to silverplate spoons in 1843; Eunice Griswold Pinney, a well-known watercolor artist; Walter Forward, a lawyer and Secretary of the Treasury under President Tyler; Lemuel Cicero Holcomb, who conducted a boys’ school specializing in Greek and Latin; and Albert Carlos Bates, a farmer, librarian, author, and historian.
