Durham

Durham, formerly called Coginchaug or “Long Swamp,” was purchased from the Indians in 1673. A town plot was laid out in 1699, and five years later it was named Durham under a patent from King Charles II, then confirmed by the General Assembly in 1708. Its original bounds were Middletown on the north, Haddam on the east, Guilford and Killingworth on the south, and Wallingford on the west. A meeting house was built in 1710. One of the first lending libraries in the colonies was formed there in 1733, and the Durham Aqueduct Company, founded in 1798, remains one of the oldest public water supplies still operating in the United States. Two oxen were driven from Durham to Valley Forge to help feed General Washington’s army. Native son Moses Austin was responsible for the first legal American settlements in Texas. Farming was originally the chief livelihood, later joined by mills, tanneries, quarries, and metal toy and box factories. The annual Durham Agricultural Fair was founded in 1916 and still retains its agricultural character.

Durham, Connecticut · United States