Dairy Barn, University of Connecticut, Storrs

Dairy Barn, University of Connecticut, Storrs – Michael J. Barnes

On Tolland County’s eastern edge, Mansfield contains the community of Storrs.  Called Ponde Place by settlers who purchased land from the Monhegan and once part of Windham, Mansfield incorporated in 1702. By the 1800s, town industries produced such goods as gunpowder, organ pipes, and bronze cannons. The country’s first silk mill opened here in 1810, transforming the local economy. Mulberry trees proliferated and most households worked in silk production. The heyday of Mansfield silk ended by the mid-1800s, but the founding of Storrs Agricultural School in 1881 led to a new industry: education. The school, now called the University of Connecticut, still has its main campus in town.

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