Editing Winsted, Connecticut (section)

==History==
[[Image:South View of Winsted, Winchester.jpg|thumb|left|Winsted in 1836, a [[woodblock print]] drawn by [[John Warner Barber]]]]
Settled in 1750,<ref name="EB1911"/> the city of Winsted was formed at the junction of the Mad River and Still River and was one of the first [[mill town]]s in Connecticut. Manufactured products started with [[scythe]]s at the Winsted Manufacturing Company in 1792. The city is within the town of Winchester, and its name derives from the fact that it is the business center for the towns of Winchester and [[Barkhamsted, Connecticut|Barkhamsted]].

Winsted, along with [[New Haven, Connecticut]], was a center for the production of [[clock#History of time-measuring devices|mechanical clocks]] in the 1900s. The [[Gilbert Clock Factory|Gilbert Clock Company]], located along the Still River north of town, was founded in 1871 by William L. Gilbert (1806–1890) and became one of the largest clock companies in the world around the start of the 20th century.

[[File:Bird's eye view of Winsted, Connecticut 1908. LOC 75693170.jpg|thumb|[[Panoramic map]] of Winsted with building images inset and sights listed (1908)]]
The Winsted post office contains an oil on canvas [[mural]], ''Lincoln's Arbiter Settles the Winsted Post Office Controversy'', painted by muralist [[Amy Jones (artist)|Amy Jones]] in 1938. Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the [[Section of Painting and Sculpture]], later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Arnesen |first=Eric |date=2007 |title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |page=1540 |isbn=9780415968263}}</ref>

The [[Gilbert School]], originally endowed with more than $600,000 by William L. Gilbert,<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Winsted|volume=28|pages=733–734}}</ref> is a private secondary school that serves as the public high school for the town of Winchester.

In 1955, [[Hurricane Connie]] and [[Hurricane Diane]] passed over Connecticut within one week, [[1955 Connecticut floods|flooding]] the Mad River and Still River through downtown. The Mad River, which parallels Main Street, caused flooding up to {{convert|10|ft}} deep through the center of town. This damaged the buildings between Main Street and the river such that all buildings on that side of Main Street through the center of town were subsequently removed and Main Street widened to four lanes. The buildings on the north side of Main Street for the most part survived and were repaired. Further downstream, the Still River flowed between the buildings of the Gilbert Clock Company. The flooding caused extensive damage to their buildings, and this was the final blow to a company which was already in poor financial condition.

[[Northwestern Connecticut Community College]] was founded in 1965 by Winsted residents, including [[Ralph Nader]]'s older brother, [[Shafeek Nader|Shafeek]]. It occupies the original Gilbert School building. NCCC was one of the first four [[community college]]s in Connecticut, and is accredited by both the Connecticut Board of Governors for Higher Education and by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The Northwestern Community College Foundation was incorporated in 1981 to support the mission of Northwestern Connecticut Community College. NCCF generates private funds for the purpose of benefiting the students attending NCCC and the community of Winsted.

In 2013, Henry Centrella, the former city finance director, was served a complaint which stated that over $2.2 million was misappropriated during his 30-year tenure.<ref>{{cite web|title=State of Connecticut Complaint|url= https://www.scribd.com/doc/153013458/Centrella-Complaint|work=Web page|publisher=State of Connecticut|access-date=August 7, 2013}}</ref>

[[Ralph Nader]] opened the [[American Museum of Tort Law]] in 2015, inside the former Winsted Savings Bank building at 654 Main Street.<ref>https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/to-teach-tort-law-ralph-nader-builds-a-museum PBS NewsHour: Inside Ralph Nader’s American Museum of Tort Law</ref>