1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Willimantic

WILLIMANTIC, a city of Windham county, Connecticut, U.S.A., in the township of Windham, at the junction of the Willimantic and Natchaug rivers to form the Shetucket, in the E. part of the state, about 16 m. N.W. of Norwich. Pop. (1890) 8648; (1900) 8937, of whom 2491 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 11,230. It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford and the Central Vermont railways, and by electric lines to Baltic, Norwich and New London, and to South Coventry. It is the seat of a State Normal Training School, and has a public library and Dunham Hall Library (1878). The Willimantic river provides good water-power, and there are various manufactures. The total value of the factory product in 1905 was $4,902,447. The township of Windham was incorporated in 1692. Willimantic was settled in 1822, incorporated as a borough in 1833, and chartered as a city in 1893. The name is from an Indian word meaning “good look-out” or “good cedar swamps.”