The Downtown Norwich Historic District is a historic district representing the core of the downtown area of the city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

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 capita ...

in the

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 located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1985. It includes 115

contributing building In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

s and one other contributing structure over a area. Several buildings in the historic district are also individually listed on the National Register, including the Norwich Town Hall, the Telephone Exchange Building and the Carroll Building. With Norwich was settled by English colonists in the 17th century, and its first wharf was built in 1684. It developed rapidly as a shipping port, with economic activity focused near the waterfront at the confluence of the Shetucket, Yantic, and

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

s. The downtown developed as a linear area just north of the main port area, Main Street forming an east–west axis. The oldest surviving commercial building dates to 1742, and the oldest house to 1745. A major fire in the downtown in 1793 encouraged a shift to brick construction, but growth was squelched by the economic blockades associated with the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. The downtown's architecture is consequently dominated by Greek Revival andlate 19th and early 20th century architecture, which was built when the city was an important point for the transshipment of goods by either rail or ship. By this time, the city's economy had diversified to include banking, textiles, and other water-powered industry. The downtown area includes many intact 18th and 19th-century buildings centered on the now-picturesque harbor.Neighborhoods
, Norwich Community Development Corporation website, accessed December 11, 2009

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Historic districts in New London County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut Norwich, Connecticut Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut

See also

References