Editing Fairfield County, Connecticut (section)

==History==
Fairfield County was the home of many [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes prior to the [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans']] arrival. People of the [[Schaghticoke people|Schaghticoke tribe]] lived in the area of present-day [[New Fairfield, Connecticut|New Fairfield]] and [[Sherman, Connecticut|Sherman]].<ref name=Simon>{{cite book|last1=Simon|first1=Irving B.|title=Our Town: The History of New Fairfield|date=1975|publisher=New Fairfield Bicentennial Commission|location=New Fairfield, Connecticut|page=5}}</ref> From east to west the [[Wappinger]] [[sachem]]ships included the [[Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation|Paugussetts]], Tankiteke, and the [[Siwanoy]]. There were also Paquioque and [[Potatuck]] inhabitants of Fairfield County.

The Dutch explorer [[Adriaen Block]] explored coastal Connecticut in the Spring and early Summer of 1614 in the North America-built vessel ''[[Onrust]]''. The first European settlers of the county, however, were [[Puritan]]s and [[Congregationalists]] from [[England]]. [[Roger Ludlow]] (1590–1664), one of the founders of the [[Colony of Connecticut]], helped to purchase and charter the towns of Fairfield (1639) and Norwalk (purchased 1640, chartered as a town in 1651).<ref name="Somerset-Ward2005">{{cite book|author=Richard Somerset-Ward|title=An American theatre: the story of Westport Country Playhouse, 1931–2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wbvVZvDjrYC&pg=PA24|access-date=November 21, 2011|date=June 11, 2005|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-10648-0|page=24}}</ref> Ludlow is credited as having chosen the name [[Fairfield, Connecticut|Fairfield]]. Fairfield is a descriptive name referring to the beauty of its fields.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA123 | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=123}}</ref> The town of [[Stratford, Connecticut|Stratford]] was settled in 1639 as well by [[Adam Blakeman]] (1596–1665). [[William Beardsley (settler)|William Beardsley]] (1605–1661) was also one of the first settlers of Stratford in 1639.

Fairfield County was established by an act of the Connecticut General Court in Hartford along with [[Hartford County, Connecticut|Hartford County]], [[New Haven County, Connecticut|New Haven County]], and [[New London County, Connecticut|New London County]]; which were the first four Connecticut counties, on May 10, 1666. From transcriptions of the Connecticut Colonial Records for that day:
:This Court orders that from the east bounds of Stratford
:to y<sup>e</sup> bounds of Rye shalbe for future one County w<sup>ch</sup>
:shalbe called the County of Fairfield. And it is ordered
:that the County Court shalbe held at Fairfield on the second
:Tuesday in March and the first Tuesday of November
:yearely. {{sic}}<ref name="ccr">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/publicrecords02conn#page/35 |title=The public records of the colony of Connecticut, from 1665 to 1678 |year=1850 |volume=02 |page=35 |access-date=July 22, 2013}}</ref>

The original Fairfield County consisted of the towns of [[Rye (town), New York|Rye]], Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, [[Fairfield, Connecticut|Fairfield]], and [[Stratford, Connecticut|Stratford]]. In 1673, the town of [[Woodbury, Connecticut|Woodbury]] was incorporated and added to Fairfield County. In 1683, New York and Connecticut reached a final agreement regarding their common border. This resulted in the cession of the town of Rye and all claims to [[the Oblong]] to New York. From the late 17th to early 18th centuries, several new towns were incorporated in western Connecticut and added to Fairfield County, namely Danbury (1687), Ridgefield (1709), Newtown (1711), and New Fairfield (1740). In 1751, [[Litchfield County, Connecticut|Litchfield County]] was constituted, taking over the town of Woodbury. The final boundary adjustment to Fairfield County occurred in 1788 when the town of Brookfield was incorporated from parts of Newtown, Danbury, and [[New Milford, Connecticut|New Milford]], with Fairfield County gaining territory from Litchfield County.

Other early county inhabitants include:
*[[Joseph Hawley (Captain)|Joseph Hawley]] (born 1603 in England; died 1690), who had emigrated to America in 1629 and then settled in Stratford in 1650, later becoming Stratford's first town clerk. Joseph Hawley's son Ephraim built the [[Ephraim Hawley House]] in 1683 in [[Trumbull, Connecticut|Trumbull]] that is still standing and serves as a private residence.
*[[Thomas Fitch (governor)|Thomas Fitch]] ({{circa}} 1700–1774), from Norwalk, was a governor of the Colony of Connecticut.
*[[Gold Selleck Silliman]] (1732–1790) of the town of Fairfield fought for the Americans during the [[American Revolutionary War]] and rose to the rank of [[brigadier general]] by 1776. He fought in the [[New York and New Jersey campaign|New York campaign]] that year.

[[Image:Uss G-3 1915.jpg|thumb|right|Preparing to re-launch the {{USS|G-3}} with [[sponson]]s from the [[Lake Torpedo Boat]] Company in Bridgeport, December 9, 1915]]
During the Revolutionary War, Connecticut's prodigious agricultural output led to it being known informally as "the Provisions State".<ref name="SOTS">{{cite web |url=http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?A=3188&QUESTION_ID=392608 |title=SOTS: Sites, Seals & Symbols |publisher=State of Connecticut Secretary of the State |access-date=June 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080731053844/http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?A=3188&QUESTION_ID=392608 |archive-date=July 31, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the spring of 1777, the British [[Commander-in-Chief, North America]] [[General William Howe]], in New York City, ordered [[William Tryon]] to interrupt the flow of supplies from Connecticut that were reaching the [[Continental Army]]. Tryon and [[Henry Duncan (Royal Navy officer, 1735-1814)|Henry Duncan]] led a fleet of 26 ships carrying 2,000 men to Westport's Compo Beach to raid Continental Army supply depots in Danbury on April 22, 1777. American [[Major General]] [[David Wooster]] (1710–1777), who was born in Stratford, was in charge of the stores at Danbury and defended them with a force of only 700 troops. Two years later during a British raid on Greenwich on February 26, 1779 [[General]] [[Israel Putnam]], who had stayed at [[Putnam's cottage|Knapp's Tavern]] the previous night, rode away on his horse to warn the people of Stamford. Putnam was shot at by the British raiders but was able to escape. The [[Tricorne|hat]] he was wearing with a [[musket ball]] hole in it is on display at Knapp's Tavern in Greenwich (which is commonly, albeit somewhat erroneously, called [[Putnam's cottage]]).<ref name="greenwich_rootsweb">{{cite web |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctfairfi/pages/greenwich/greenwich_hstry.htm |title=Greenwich Connecticut History |access-date=June 15, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080628054601/http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctfairfi/pages/greenwich/greenwich_hstry.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = June 28, 2008}}</ref> In the summer of 1779, General William Tryon sought to punish Americans by attacking civilian targets in coastal Connecticut with a force of about 2,600 British troops. New Haven was raided on July 5, Fairfield was raided on the 7th and burned. Norwalk was raided on July 10 and burned on the 11th. Norwalk militia leader Captain Stephen Betts put up resistance to the invaders, but was overwhelmed by the powerful British raiders and was forced to retreat.

[[Image:Sikorsky S42 (crop).jpg|thumb|A 1930s [[Sikorsky S-42]] constructed in Stratford|alt=|left]]
[[David Sherman Boardman]] (1786–1864) was a prominent early lawyer and judge in this and neighboring Litchfield County.

On October 7, 1801, Neheemiah Dodge and other members of the Danbury Baptist Association wrote a letter to then-president [[Thomas Jefferson]] expressing their concern that as Baptists they may not be able to express full religious liberty in the state of Connecticut whose "ancient charter" was adopted before the establishment of a [[Baptist]] church in the state. Jefferson replied in a letter to Dodge and the other members of the Danbury church on January 1, 1802, in which he stated that the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]] provided "a [[Separation of church and state in the United States|wall of separation between church and State]]" that protected them.<ref>[[Wikisource:Jefferson letter to Neremiah Dodge and others|Letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT]], January 1, 1802</ref>

An agricultural region, the first railroad was the [[Housatonic Railroad]], construction started 1836 and ended 1840, extending from [[Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport]] to [[New Milford, Connecticut|New Milford]] originally, connecting [[Litchfield County, Connecticut|Litchfield County]] crops to the port in Bridgeport, by passing New York City.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Housatonic Railroad |url=http://www.housatonicrr.com/history.html |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=www.housatonicrr.com}}</ref> The New York and New Haven railroad along the county's coast was constructed in the late 1840s, which started in New York City and ended in New Haven, connecting Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk and all the towns on the coast.<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web |title=Stamford {{!}} Connecticut, United States {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Stamford-Connecticut |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 1851, the county seat of Fairfield County was moved from the town of Fairfield to the newly founded neighboring city of [[Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport]]. This was due to its growing population and industry as the old courthouse erected 1794 was no longer adequate.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fairfieldct.org/content/10724/12146/default.aspx | title=Highlights of Fairfield's History - Town of Fairfield, Connecticut }}</ref> The first hospital in the county, and the 3rd hospital in Connecticut behind [[Hartford Hospital|Hartford]] and [[Yale New Haven Hospital|New Haven Hospitals]], [[Bridgeport Hospital]] was founded in 1884 along with Fairfield County's first nursing school. It would be soon followed by [[Danbury Hospital]] (1885), [[Norwalk Hospital]] (1893),<ref>[https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/OHS/ohca/HospitalStudy/Norwalkpdf.pdf?la=en Hospital Study]</ref> [[Stamford Hospital]] (1896) <ref>{{Cite web |title=Stamford Health System |url=http://www.stamfordhospital.org/tsh/tsh_about_history.html |access-date=January 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526232304/http://www.stamfordhospital.org/tsh/tsh_about_history.html |archive-date=May 26, 2006 }}</ref> Greenwich Hospital (1903),<ref>{{Cite web |title=History & Milestones |url=https://www.greenwichhospital.org/about/hospital-overview/history-milestones |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=greenwichhospital.org}}</ref>[[St. Vincent's Medical Center (Bridgeport)|St. Vincent's Hospital]] in Bridgeport (1903), and Park City Hospital in Bridgeport (1926), which closed in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ctdigitalarchive.org/islandora/object/110002%3A20982|title=Connecticut Digital Archive &#124; Connect. Preserve. Share}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History {{!}} St. Vincent's Medical Center {{!}} Bridgeport, CT {{!}}|url=https://stvincents.org/about-us/our-history |access-date=January 20, 2023 |publisher=St Vincents Medical Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History Milestones |url=https://www.bridgeporthospital.org/about/hospital-overview/history-milestones |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=bridgeporthospital.org}}</ref>

By 1900, the largest cities in the county were [[Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport]], [[Norwalk, Connecticut|Norwalk]], [[Danbury, Connecticut|Danbury]], [[Stamford, Connecticut|Stamford]]  and [[Greenwich, Connecticut|Greenwich]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Population 1900-1960 |url=https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Register-Manual/Section-VII/Population-1900-1960 |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=CT.gov - Connecticut's Official State Website |language=en}}</ref> By 1905, Bridgeport had become the principle manufacturing center in the state, and one of the major manufacturers in the New England region behind [[Boston]], [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], and [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]], with $44,586,519 total worth of products manufactured without adjusting to today's money.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Bridgeport | volume= 4 | page = 532 |short= 1}}</ref> Stamford and Greenwich had become popular resort towns for New York City's wealthy.<ref>Nova, Susan, "Shingle-style masterpiece: Greenwich home carries price tag of $8.65 million", Real Estate section of The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, and Greenwich Time, both on September 26, 2008</ref>

Connecticut in 1905 was 11th in the United States terms of industrial goods produced, and Fairfield County contained the city with the most total worth of products made, Bridgeport. One-fifth of Connecticut's population was employed in manufacturing, the state's largest industry which generated most of its wealth. Bridgeport in 1905 produced 20% of America's corsets. The 2nd largest city in Connecticut behind New Haven by 1910, Bridgeport's population grew by 50,000 people during the first 20 months of US involvement during the First World War, producing 50% of Allied [[ammunition]] during that time.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 19, 2015 |title=Housing Factory Workers in World War I |url=https://www.ctexplored.org/housing-factory-workers-in-world-war-i/ |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=Connecticut Explored |language=en-US}}</ref> Bridgeport by 1920 had a population of 143,555 people, then the 44th largest US city. [[Danbury, Connecticut|Danbury]], in northern Fairfield County, was known as the "Hat City", producing 20% of America's hats, until the industry began to decline in the 1920s. Stamford (population 40,067 in 1920), was known as the "Lock City", as the home of the [[Yale (company)|Yale and Towne Lock Manufacturing Company]].<ref name="britannica.com"/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://hatcitypools.com/the-history-of-hat-city | title=The History of Hat City }}</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1922 |wstitle= United States, The |volume = 32 |pages = 851&ndash;901  |short= 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Connecticut | volume= 6 | pages = 951&ndash;958 |short= 1}}</ref>  Bridgeport, nicknamed "Park City" had in 1930 over 500 [[Factory|factories]] within its borders. [[Bridgeport Machines, Inc.]], a milling machine manufacturer, was founded in Bridgeport in 1938, as well as [[Hubbell Incorporated]] in the 1890s, these are two examples, various companies were headquartered in Bridgeport, such as [[Warnaco Group|Warnerco]], [[Acme United Corporation|ACME Shear]], [[Westinghouse Electric Corporation|Westinghouse]] subsidiary [[Bryant Electric Company|Bryant Electric]] among others, and others such as [[Remington Arms]], [[General Electric]], [[Singer Corporation|Singer Sewing Machines]], [[Sikorsky Aircraft]], [[Carpenter Technology Corporation|Carpenter Steel]], and countless others, had large scale manufacturing complexes there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bridgeport History Center - Companies |url=https://www.bridgeporthistory.org/News.aspx |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=www.bridgeporthistory.org}}</ref>

Most of the county remained agricultural. [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]] in the 1920s was a bohemian summer artist colony, and was home to famous artists, writers, and painters, such as [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], who spent a summer in town. The [[Cos Cob art colony]] flourished from the late 1800s to the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lefkowitz |first=Melanie |title=Westport: Connecticut Town With Arts History |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578587584131977950.html |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cos Cob Art Colony |url=https://greenwichhistory.org/cos-cob-art-colony/ |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=Greenwich Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref>

At the height of its influence in the 1920s, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] had a distinct presence in the county and county politics. The group was most active in [[Darien, Connecticut|Darien]], but had small chapters in Norwalk, Stamford, and Bridgeport.<ref name="DiGiovanni">DiGiovanni, the Rev. (now Monsignor) Stephen M., ''The Catholic Church in Fairfield County: 1666-1961,'' 1987, William Mulvey Inc., New Canaan, Chapter II: The New Catholic Immigrants, 1880-1930; subchapter: "The True American: White, Protestant, Non-Alcoholic," pp. 81–82; DiGiovanni, in turn, cites (Footnote 209, page 258) Jackson, Kenneth T., ''The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930'' (New York, 1981), p. 239</ref> The Klan has since disappeared from the county.

The county's first institution of higher learning was Western Connecticut State University, founded in Danbury in 1903 (known by its acronym, WCSU),<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 19, 2021 |title=Western Connecticut State University |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/western-connecticut-state-university |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=Times Higher Education (THE) |language=en}}</ref> followed by the [[University of Bridgeport]] in 1927, [[Fairfield University]] in neighboring Fairfield in 1947 and Sacred Heart University.<ref name="History of Bridgeport, Connecticut">{{cite web | url=https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2304.html | title=History of Bridgeport, Connecticut }}</ref>

Nearly one-third of Fairfield County's population lived within Bridgeport's city limits in 1950, 31.5%. The city began to decline in population as families moved into nearby suburbs, such as [[Fairfield, Connecticut|Fairfield]], leading to widespread residential development. Bridgeport slowly began to loose jobs and large corporations moved into southern states or outside the country. The city gained a reputation for having an aging industrial image, what New York Times articles described as a smokestack filled, aging view of the city from the highway.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Joseph B. Treaster Special to The New York |date=October 19, 1970 |title=Bridgeport Lack of Beauty More Than Skin Deep |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/19/archives/bridgeport-lack-of-beauty-more-than-skin-deep.html |access-date=January 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>[https://www.fairfieldhistory.org/library-collections/learn-more/ Library collections]</ref> The [[Connecticut Turnpike]] (Interstate 95) was built in the mid-1950s along the coast, joining the scenic [[Merritt Parkway|Merrit Parkway]], built in the late 1930s to alleviate traffic on the [[Boston Post Road|Post Road]], and built further inland away from population centers.<ref>[https://www.merrittparkway.org/copy-of-about-the-parkway-1 Merritt Parkway]</ref> Towns such as [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]], Darien, New Caanan, Stamford, and Greenwich became New York City suburbs, forming the [[Gold Coast (Connecticut)|Connecticut Gold Coast]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Town History & Symbols {{!}} Westport, CT |url=https://www.westportct.gov/about/town-hall/town-history-symbols |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=www.westportct.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to the Town of Darien, Connecticut - Darien, A Brief History |url=http://www.darienct.gov/about-darien-ct |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=www.darienct.gov}}</ref>
Fairfield County, along with all other Connecticut counties, was abolished as a governmental agency in accord with state legislation that took effect October 1, 1960.<ref name="ct_sots">{{cite web |url=http://www.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?a=3188&q=392376 |title=SOTS: Section VI – Counties – Table of Contents |publisher=State of Connecticut, Secretary of the State |access-date=June 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127033757/http://www.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?a=3188&q=392376 |archive-date=November 27, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The first enclosed shopping malls in Fairfield County were [[Westfield Trumbull|Trumbull Shopping Park]] (1963), in the bedroom community of [[Trumbull, Connecticut|Trumbull]] just outside Bridgeport, the now gone Lafayette Shopping Park (1965) in Bridgeport,<ref name="nytimes.com"/> replaced downtown blocks that were demolished as part of the city's urban renewal, [[Danbury Fair (shopping mall)|Danbury Fair Mall]] (1968) on the former fairgrounds of the annual [[Danbury Fair]],<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite news |date=May 14, 1975 |title=Stamford Moves Ahead With Urban Renewall |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/14/archives/stamford-moves-ahead-with-urban-renewal.html |access-date=January 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Hawley Lane Mall]]in Trumbull (1971) and the [[Stamford Town Center]] (1982) as part of the urban renewal project in downtown Stamford.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barmash |first=Isadore |date=February 14, 1982 |title=SHOPPING CENTER PLANS OPENING MINUS 132 STORES |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/14/nyregion/shopping-center-plans-opening-minus-132-stores.html |access-date=January 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Stamford, Connecticut, is an example of [[edge city]]urbanization. Stamford in the 1960s was a residential suburb of New York City, with a few industries and research laboratories, but of Stamford's downtown was razed and rebuilt it with modern skyscrapers, and several major corporations moved their headquarters to Stamford, creating one of the largest corporate concentrations in the United States.<ref name="britannica.com"/> Originally a more moderate plan, entire downtown blocks and streets were demolished in slow phases and replaced with office towers, residential towers and the [[Stamford Town Center]] shopping mall courtesy of the F.D. Rich Company, which was hired by the city to redevelop what was described as the aging, deteriorating downtown, throughout the 60s, 70s and early 80s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 15, 2014 |title=Urban Renewal |url=https://stamfordhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/history-of-stamford/urban-renewal/ |access-date=January 20, 2023 |website=Stamford Historical Society |language=en}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA"/> Stamford's population grew from 92,713 in 1960 to 135,470
people in 2020, making it the 2nd largest city in Connecticut in 2022 (behind [[Bridgeport, Connecticut|Bridgeport]]), surpassing [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]].<ref>[https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/stamfordcityconnecticut Census data]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/2020-Census-Stamford-snags-silver-as-CT-s-16383759.php | title=2020 Census: Stamford snags silver as CT's second biggest city: 'A model for ... The 21st century' | date=August 12, 2021 }}</ref>