1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wethersfield

WETHERSFIELD, a township of Hartford county, Connecticut, U.S.A., on the Connecticut river, adjoining on the N. the city of Hartford, of which it is a residential suburb. Pop. (1890) 2271; (1900) 2637 (489 foreign-born); (1910) 3148. Area, about 12 sq. m. It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway and by electric lines to Hartford. Among its old buildings are the house in which in 1781 George Washington and Count Rochambeau met to plan the Yorktown campaign; the First Church of Christ (Congregational), erected in 1761 and remodelled in 1838 and 1882; and the old academy building, which was built in 1802, is now used as a town hall, and houses a public library. There is a giant elm here, 26½ ft. in girth. The Connecticut state prison is in Wethersfield. In the township tobacco, vegetables and garden seeds are raised and dairy interests are of considerable importance; the principal manufactures are small tools and mattresses. Wethersfield is the oldest permanently inhabited township in the state; it was first settled in the winter of 1634-1635 by colonists from Watertown, Massachusetts, and received its present name in 1637. With Hartford and Windsor in 1639 it framed the Fundamental Orders of the Colony of Connecticut. Before 1660 its inhabitants aided in the founding of Stamford and Milford, Connecticut, and of Hadley, Massachusetts.

See H. R. Stiles, History of Ancient Wethersfield (New York, 1900).