Originally part of the Five Miles bought by Hartford from the Indians in 1682, Manchester was first settled about 1673, chartered by the General Assembly as Orford Parish in 1772, and incorporated as the town of Manchester in 1823. It became an early center of small industry, with mills producing powder for the American army during the Revolution, paper on which the Connecticut Courant printed news of the battle of Lexington, and army blankets for the War of 1812. Later, the Cheney Mills made Manchester the silk capital of the nation. Christopher Spencer developed the first successful magazine repeating rifle here, and the second community college in Connecticut was established here under town auspices. The site served as a civic and religious center for two centuries. Nearby stood the remodeled dwelling that served as the first church in the Five Miles. Here the Ecclesiastical Society of Orford Parish, now the Center Congregational Church, began its first church building in 1774, and to the east a Methodist Church was erected in 1822. For many years town meetings were held in these churches. The second Center Church, purchased by the town in 1879, became Manchester's first town hall. Just to the south the first Episcopal Church was built in 1846, and the Center Academy, an early secondary school, stood nearby.