Settlement of the area later called Canton, originally part of Simsbury, began in 1737 with the erection of the Richard Case II home on East Hill. The earliest homes were constructed along Cherry’s Brook and at Suffrage, the present center of Canton, where the first post office was established in 1798. In 1750 West Simsbury was recognized as a parish, distinct and separate from Simsbury, and the first meeting house was built in 1763 at the present Canton Center. Incorporation was granted in 1806. In South Canton, Samuel and David Collins began the manufacture of axes in 1826. The growing prosperity of Collins and Company caused the rerouting of the Albany Turnpike through South Canton, necessitating a post office, and the name of the industrial area was changed to Collinsville in honor of Collins. In 1850 Samuel Collins persuaded the Canal Line Railroad to build a branch to Collinsville, and by 1859 The Collins Company was established as the world’s largest manufacturer of axes and edged tools.