Lakeville is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in

Litchfield County Litchfield County is in northwestern Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 185,186. The county was named after Lichfield, in England. Litchfield County has the lowest population density of any county in Connecticut and is the ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, United States, close to

Dutchess County, New York Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

. It is within the town of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, but has its own ZIP Code (06039). As of the 2010 census, the population of Lakeville was 928, out of 3,741 in the entire town of Salisbury. The

Hotchkiss School The Hotchkiss School is a coeducational University-preparatory school#North America, preparatory school in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States. Hotchkiss is a member of the Eight Schools Association and Ten Schools Admissions Organization. It i ...

is located in Lakeville, and the

Indian Mountain School Indian Mountain School is an independent coeducational boarding and day school for children grades pre-K through 9, located on two campuses in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States. The school consists of Lower and Upper campus, with Lower Cam ...

is nearby.

Geography

Lakeville is in the southwest part of the town of Salisbury, on

U.S. Route 44 U.S. Route 44 (US 44) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that runs for through four states in the Northeastern United States. The western terminus is at US 209 and New York State Route 55 (NY 55) in Kerhonkson, ...

southwest of the Salisbury town center. US 44 leads northeast to Canaan village and west to

Millerton, New York Millerton is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States with a population of 958 at the 2010 census. The village was named after Sidney Miller, a rail contractor who helped bring the railroad to that area. Millerton is part of the Pou ...

. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the Lakeville CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 14.8%, are water. Most of the water area is part of

Lake Wononscopomuc Lake Wononscopomuc is a lake located in the Lakeville section of Salisbury, Connecticut, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily loca ...

, the deepest natural lake in the state.

History

Until 1846, Lakeville was called "Furnace Village", due to the location there of one of the early blast furnaces of the historic Salisbury

iron industry Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

(one of which was established in the 1760s by future Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen.

Benjamin B. Hotchkiss Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss (October 1, 1826 – February 14, 1885) was one of the leading American ordnance engineers of his day. American career Hotchkiss was born in Watertown, Connecticut, and moved to Sharon, Connecticut in childhood; ...

, inventor of the Hotchkiss gun was born in nearby

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

. A boarding school in his name, the

, was founded by his widow Maria Bissell Hotchkiss in Lakeville in 1891. It later became

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

. The

, a boarding school for students Pre-K through 9th, is south of the Lakeville CDP. It was founded in 1922. Lakeville was the original home to what would eventually relocate and become the Mansfield Training School, an institution for mentally challenged residents of Connecticut from 1860 to 1993.

Other notable events

Lakeville is the site of Connecticut's oldest

cold case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...

. Camp Sloane camper Connie Smith left the camp on Indian Mountain Road on the morning of July 16, 1952. She was ten years old and was from Sundance, Wyoming; she was the granddaughter of former Wyoming Governor

Nels H. Smith Nels Hansen Smith (August 27, 1884July 5, 1976) was an American politician who served as the List of Governors of Wyoming, 18th Governor of Wyoming from 1939 until 1943. He was a Republican Party (United States), Republican. Biography He was bor ...

. Several people observed her walking and hitchhiking toward the center of Lakeville. She was last seen walking along Route 44 near the intersection of Belgo Road. Her disappearance sparked one of the largest searches ever conducted by the Connecticut State Police. Despite a nationwide search, she was never found, and foul play is suspected. Her case remains open and still has a detective assigned to it.

Local institutions

New England's oldest

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

congregation is in Lakeville.

Lime Rock Park Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously op ...

, southeast of Lakeville, is a motorsport race track that hosts sports car and stock car races. YMCA Camp Sloane is located in Connecticut, between Indian Mountain Road and Lake Wononpakook, and has operated there since 1928.

Notable people

Jill Clayburgh Jill Clayburgh (April 30, 1944 – November 5, 2010) was an American actress known for her work in theater, television, and cinema. She received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Ac ...

, actress *

Wanda Landowska Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in ...

, musician *

Wassily Leontief Wassily Wassilyevich Leontief (russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Лео́нтьев; August 5, 1905 – February 5, 1999), was a Soviet-American economist known for his research on input–output analysis and how changes in one ec ...

, Nobel Economics laureate *

William A. Prendergast William Ambrose Prendergast (May 25, 1867 – June 20, 1954) was an American businessman and politician from New York. Life Prendergast was born on May 25, 1867, in the East Side of New York City, New York, the son of Irish immigrants Lawr ...

(1867–1954), businessman and politician *

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

, bandleader *

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

, author. The town forms the background for his novel ''La Mort de Belle'' (''The Death of Belle''), later adapted to film as ''

The End of Belle ''The Passion of Slow Fire'' (french: La Mort de Belle) is a 1961 French crime drama film directed by Édouard Molinaro and based on the novel ''La mort de Belle'' by Georges Simenon. Cast * Jean Desailly - Stéphane Blanchon * Alexandra Stewart ...

'' * Rip Torn, actor *

MacKenzie Scott MacKenzie Scott (''née'' Tuttle, formerly Bezos; April 7, 1970) is an American novelist and philanthropist. As of September 2022, she has a net worth of US$33.4 billion, owing to a 4% stake in Amazon, the company founded by her ex-husband Je ...

, philanthropist *

Lily Rabe Lily Rabe (born June 29, 1982) is an American actress. She is best known for her multiple roles on the FX anthology horror series ''American Horror Story'' (2011–2021). For her performance as Portia in the Broadway production of ''The Merchant ...

, actress

References

External links

* {{authority control Salisbury, Connecticut Villages in Litchfield County, Connecticut Census-designated places in Connecticut