Ridgefield, Connecticut

Ridgefield began in 1708 under Connecticut’s 1639 Fundamental Orders, when settlers able to support a minister established a community, built a Congregational Church, and farmed the land. On September 30, 1708, inhabitants from Norwalk and Milford purchased Caudatowa, or “high land,” from the resident Ramapo tribe for one hundred pounds, and with additional acreage acquired from the tribe formed the town they named Ridgefield. The original 24 proprietors received 7 ½-acre home lots, with a 25th reserved for the minister, laid out along Main Street from a Common where a Meeting House was built. Small, close knit, and agrarian, the town lived under Congregational minister Thomas Hauley, who also served as schoolmaster and town clerk. During the American Revolution, Ridgefield was the site of Connecticut’s largest land engagement with the British Army, when on April 27, 1777, American patriots under General Benedict Arnold fought British forces retreating to Long Island Sound after sacking Danbury and burning Continental Army supplies stored there. In the early 1800's, commerce grew with mills and the work of hatters, tailors, carpenters, weavers, silversmiths, and shoemakers, while the 19th century also brought industry through the Resseguie and Olmstead carriage manufactory known as the Big Shop on Main Street and other manufacturers producing candlesticks, furniture, and shirts. As prosperity increased, owners enlarged old homes or built new ones, Main Street changed, and the town common was divided among adjoining property owners. After the Civil War, prominent New Yorkers built large summer residences on South Main Street and on East and High Ridge, and by the end of the century the town had very large estates reached from the depot by arrivals on trains from Branchville-Danbury and then by chauffeur to country homes. At this time many Italian immigrants came to work on these estates, and most of these families remained through the 20th century, making a significant cultural and economic impact on the community. Today the railroad line, the town common, and the original Congregational Church are gone, but the Big Shop and many of the large homes along Main Street remain, and in 1966 much of the area first settled in 1708 became a state and local Historic District, followed by designation as a National Historic District in 1984.

Branchville, Connecticut · United States