Historical Milestones: TORRINGTON
The land we now recognize as Torrington was once the site of a tall pine forest and marsh area. The forest pines, once discovered, were prized for the main masts of the ships of the British Royal Navy. Connecticut entrepreneurs were more than happy to oblige sending the cut timber by oxen, then sluiced downstream using the Naugatuck River, to the sound.
This area was part of the western lands given to the citizens of Hartford and Windsor by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1686. The area included “all lands north of Mattituck and Woodbury” running to the Massachusetts border, and “west of Simsbury to the Housatonic” later surveyed by Lieut. Roger Newberry and his men who mapped out the areas in rectangular plots ½ mile long beginning at the southern borders. Within five years these lands were divided, giving Windsor the areas comprised of what is now Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Torrington and Western Harwinton. Windsor established three companies representing those towns. Torrington Company consisted of 136 taxpayers, awarded one acre of land for each pound sterling paid in taxes to Windsor in 1732; the smallest plot being 3 acres and the largest 180 acres as drawn by lot.
In 1737 Ebenezer Lyman Jr., owning ½ of his father’s three acre plot, was the first to settle in the southwest hills of Torrington, with his wife and young daughter, near what was the home of George Klug. Jonathan Coe who had been working his plot earlier moved there with his wife before winter. Able Beach bought land jointly and moved in with his bride in 1738. By 1739, nine families had purchased and worked lands in the southwest corner, though several headed back to homes in Windsor on the weekends. Residents petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly for recognition as a township and ecclesiastical society, which was granted in October 1740. Deacon Lyman was chosen the first moderator. Nathaniel Roberts was selected as the first Minister, who continued to serve until his death in 1776. Land north of Goshen Road was deeded to the Ecclesiastical Society as a cemetery the following year.
In October 1744, the town built a fort for protection from the threat of Iroquois and Mohawk Indians, 75 by 100 feet with an eight foot palisade on Lyman Place. In 1745 a school was established and in 1746 the first meeting house was approved, just north of Lyman place. The Mast Swamp separated the sub divisions on the Eastern portion of Torrington. The fort was not readily accessible, nor was the school or the proposed meeting house. Since those living on the eastern plots would not benefit from these facilities, they refused to pay taxes. Mediators were called in from Hartford, resulting in a signed agreement that “settlers” on the east side should relinquish all rights in the building of the church. This resulted not only in the separation of ‘church and state’ but also in the establishment of a second community: Torringford. As Torrington continued to grow additional communities were added, becoming independent sectors: The Green , Newfield and Wolcottville, community centers growing with the onset of industrialization. Not until 1881 do all these communities merge to become the Torrington we know.
Ref: Bailey, Bess and Merrill, The Formative Years, Torrington-1737-1852; Torrington Historical Society, 1975
