Danbury, CT Summary

Like many New England locales, this city of about 65,600 shares its name with a city in England.

Settled by eight families in 1684, it is located in an agricultural area of southwestern Connecticut. It was a military supply center during the Revolutionary War, and in 1777 British troops burned much of the town. It was incorporated as a city in 1889 and expanded west to the New York state line and north to manmade Lake Candlewood.

From 1780 to 1956 it was a major hat manufacturing center, but it is now a diversified business and manufacturing hub. Today its economy includes manufacturers of machinery, textiles, chemicals, electronics, and plastics, as well as publishers and developers of energy and aerospace products. Union Carbide Corporation and First Brands Corporation are two prominent Danbury companies.

The city is the site of Western Connecticut State University. The 39-acre Charles Ives Center for the arts, named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer born here in 1874, offers live performances in summer. The Danbury Museum and Historical Society operates the restored John and Mary Rider House (1785), a one-room schoolhouse, and the Dodd Hat Shop (1790).

Danbury can be reached by car via I-84 in Connecticut, and via I-684 from New York City. There are rail connections to New York City’s Grand Central Terminal.