Harwinton History
The Connecticut General Assembly assigned its western lands, “lands north of Woodbury and Mattatuck, to the Massachusetts border, west of Farmington and Simsbury to the Housatonick or Stratford River” to its Hartford and Windsor plantations, on January 26, 1686, thereby claiming them as part of the Connecticut Colony. The Assembly established this claim to prevent Sir Edmond Andros from claiming that territory for New York. The Assembly had hoped to leave the land in trust to the two plantations. However, those plantations considered those lands to be a grant: A grant that gave them title. Thirty three years later both the Hartford and Windsor plantations began to parcel and sell off these lands. The General Assembly reasserted its claim that this land still belonged to the Colony. The controversy persisted until 1726 when the Assembly resolved that these lands be divided between the Colony and the two plantations. The area east of Litchfield, Goshen and Norfolk was given to the plantations. Litchfield had already established a trail to Farmington. In 1730, Daniel Messenger of Hartford, was the first to settle in Harwinton, near the Bristol (later Burlington) town line. In 1732, he purchased his parcel for 16 pounds from Hartford which laid claim to the eastern portion. Windsor had claimed the western portion. Both came together in agreement, using the first syllable; Har-Win and town to make their claim for incorporation, which was granted in 1737 by the General Assembly. Harwinton’s population had reached 160, yet, they were still lacking a ‘settled minister’ and a House of Assembly and Worship.
Intervention from the General Assembly was requested to provide a suitable location for a House of Assembly, debated, settled, then protested again, with a refusal to pay taxes, until Dec. 1739; even then the building was haggled over and construction dragged out over 8 years. In 1806, Harwinton voted for a new Assembly House, just north of the old. It was constructed in 1807. It wasn’t until after the Revolution in 1795 that churches of any other denominations were built.
After the Revolution Harwinton had established a detailed curriculum, criteria to evaluate both teachers and students alike and a system of supervision of their school districts, setting school hours from 9-4, including a morning and afternoon recess and a one hour lunch break, though the school year evolved around the agrarian lifestyle of its peoples, beginning after September, and ending some 5 months later.
Harwinton’s business and industries originated along the Litchfield-Farmington turnpike (Rte 118 out of Litchfield through Rte 4 into Farmington). Blacksmiths, wagon shops and tanneries sprang up facilitating travelers. Mills sprang up along the Poland and Naugatuck Rivers, on the east and west sides and Lead Mine Brook in the north central part of town. Later, the Naugatuck-Litchfield rail line facilitated the growth of the Campville area, shipping both building materials from the millworks and farm products.
Bentley, Raymond George; History of Harwinton :Dowd Printing Company, Winsted, CT (1970).
