Editing Wolcott, Connecticut (section)

==History==

The early towns of [[Waterbury, Connecticut|Waterbury]] and [[Farmington, Connecticut|Farmington]] occupied a great deal of west-central Connecticut in the [[Naugatuck River Valley]] and [[Farmington River]] Valley at the end of the 17th century. At that time, the borderlands between these two towns were known as Farmingbury, a term derived from the two town names.

People were living within the Farmingbury territory as early as the 1730s, but they possessed no official identity apart from the parent towns of either Waterbury or Farmington.  By 1770, the residents of Farmingbury successfully petitioned the [[Connecticut General Assembly]] to create the First Ecclesiastical Society of Farmingbury.  Having established an independent [[parish]], Farmingbury gained some religious, legal, and financial independence from Waterbury and Farmington. However, the political boundaries of the region remained unchanged for more than two decades afterward. During that time, the Farmingbury parish was largely self-sufficient, as it was in a fairly remote location. It was still officially considered to be part of the towns of Waterbury in the west and Farmington in the east. Thus, the parish society had to deal with several matters that would ordinarily have been municipal duties, such as managing taxes and local education.

Farmingbury petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly in 1796, requesting that it be incorporated as an independent town, distinct from Waterbury and Farmington. Assembly votes were tied, with half in favor and half against the proposal. After the tie-breaking vote in favor of Farmingbury was cast by Lieutenant Governor [[Oliver Wolcott]], the lands of Farmingbury were officially ceded by Waterbury and Farmington to the new town. In honor of the Lieutenant Governor's deciding vote, the residents of Farmingbury renamed their newly incorporated town as "Wolcott".<ref name="orcutt1874" />  The [[1800 United States census]] was the first census conducted after Wolcott's incorporation; it counted 948 individuals living within the town.<ref name="1800uscensus">United States of America. ''Return of the Whole Number of Persons Within the Several Districts of the United States''. Printed by order of the House of Representatives, 1801.<http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1800-return-whole-number-of-persons.pdf>.</ref>

===1962 tornado===
On May&nbsp;24, 1962, the town was heavily damaged by a [[Tornado outbreak sequence of May 14–June 1, 1962#Bunker Hill–Fairmount–Waterville–Wolcott–Southington, Connecticut|high-end F3&nbsp;tornado]]. Numerous buildings, homes, businesses, and vehicles were damaged or destroyed, trees were blown down, and a refrigeration truck was thrown into a utility pole, cutting power to the area. Overall, the storm left one dead and 50&nbsp;injured.<ref name="StormData">{{cite web |title=Storm Data Publication {{!}} IPS {{!}} National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) |url=https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/sd/sd.html |website=www.ncdc.noaa.gov |access-date=August 24, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Hillcrest1">{{cite web |title=Connecticut F3 |url=http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/19620524.9.1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124072605/http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/19620524.9.1 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=January 24, 2011 |website=Tornado History Project |publisher=Storm Prediction Center |access-date=September 23, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Hillcrest2">{{cite report |title=Connecticut Event Report: F3 Tornado |url=https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=9986192 |website=National Weather Service |publisher=National Center for Environmental Information |access-date=September 23, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Hillcrest3">{{cite report |title=Connecticut Event Report: F3 Tornado |url=https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=9986193 |website=National Weather Service |publisher=National Center for Environmental Information |access-date=September 23, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Hillcrest4">{{cite news |last1=American |first1=Republican |title=The Day of the Tornado {{!}} Republican American Archives |url=https://archives.rep-am.com/2012/05/20/the-day-of-the-tornado/ |access-date=September 23, 2020}}</ref>