Watertown - Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

The Taft School, Watertown

Watertown is located in Litchfield County in the Central Naugatuck Valley. In 1738 the First Ecclesiastical Society of Westbury formed, and in 1780 the town separated from Waterbury and incorporated as Watertown. Although rural in nature, the town saw growth in light manufacture, including a spooled silk thread factory in the mid-1800s, a cutting tools factory, and, in the 20th century, the Watertown Manufacturing Company, which produced plastic shatterproof dinnerware, and the Princeton Knitting Mills that produced the first high-nap imitation fur. John Trumbull, Revolutionary War poet, lawyer, and judge, was born in town in 1750. Today, Watertown’s landscape is a rural and suburban mix and is considered a suburb of Waterbury.

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Websites

Watertown Historical Society. “Watertown Digital History Archive,” 2016. Link.

Places

Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. “Black Rock State Park,” 2016. Link.

Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. “Mattatuck State Forest,” 2017. Link.

“Watertown Historical Society,” 2016. Link.

Documents

Watertown Historical Society. “Digitized Historic Newspapers - Various Titles & Dates,” 2016. Link.

“Map - South Part of Litchfield Co., Connecticut from Page 214 & 215 of Town and City Atlas of the State of Connecticut.” Real Property. Boston, MA: D.H. Hurd & Co., 1893. University of Connecticut Libraries, Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC. Link.

Woodford, E. M. “Map of the Town of Watertown, Litchfield County, Conn. from Actual Surveys by E.M. Woodford.” Real Property. Philadelphia, PA: Richard Clark, 1853. Connecticut History Illustrated, Connecticut Historical Society. Link.

Bailey, O.H. “Map: View of Watertown, Conn. 1918.” Bird’s-eye. Boston, MA: Hughes & Bailey, 1918. University of Connecticut Libraries, Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC. Link.

Connecticut State Library Digital Collections. “Watertown - WPA Architectural Survey,” 2016. Link.

“Watertown Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.

Books

J.W. Lewis & Company. History of Litchfield County, Connecticut, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of the Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia, PA: J.W. Lewis & Company, 1881. Link.

Bronson, Henry. The History of Waterbury, Connecticut the Original Township Embracing Present Watertown and Plymouth, and Parts of Oxford, Wolcott, Middlebury, Prospect and Naugatuck. Waterbury, CT: Bronson Brothers, 1858. Link.

Crowell, Florence. Watertown. Charleston,  SC: Arcadia, 2002.