Hattertown is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

Newtown, Connecticut Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 cens ...

, that is 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 ...

as the Hattertown Historic District and includes a smaller local historic district.

History

Hattertown takes its name from the

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

-manufacturing trade around which the village grew in the early 19th century. "Hatting" was a major economic activity in western Connecticut in the 19th century, having started in

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

in about 1780. Hats were made from

felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...

formed from animal

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

. As hat production increased, the manufacturing activity spread from Danbury to surrounding areas where the supply of fur-bearing animals such as

muskrat The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habita ...

, fox, and

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

had not yet been depleted. A small village existed at the site of Hattertown before 1821, when the Taylor and Benedict families arrived there and began hat production. Hattertown was later to become one of the few places in the region where an entire village was directly involved in the hat trade. Hatting in the village was a

cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...

in which hat producers made rough-formed hats for sale to

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. I ...

rs in Danbury or "front shops" in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where they would be finished. Hatting continued in Hattertown until at least 1856, but it was in decline by the 1840s as fur processing and hat forming were becoming increasingly mechanized and the local supply of fur-bearing animals was largely depleted.

Historic district

The Hattertown Historic District is centered on the Hattertown Green, which dates from the late 19th century and is bound by Hattertown Road, Hi Barlow Road, Gregory Lane, and the intersections of Castle Meadow Road and Aunt Park Lane. The

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...

is listed on the

and includes a local historic district subject to requirements administered by the Hattertown Historic District Commission. Eleven historic residences are

contributing properties 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 distr ...

of the National Register historic district, ranging in age from c.1750 (Levi Taylor House) to c.1850 (52 Aunt Park Lane). There are also several secondary structures from the same time period, such as barns, sheds, and privies that contribute to the architectural significance of the area. A schoolhouse from c.1780, now the Gregory Orchard's District School, was originally on the

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

(corner of Aunt Park Lane and Hattertown Road) and was moved in 1975 to its present location adjacent to the Morgan House.

References

External links

Hattertown Historic District Commission
{{authority control Newtown, Connecticut Neighborhoods in Connecticut Federal architecture in Connecticut Historic districts in Fairfield County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut Villages in Fairfield County, Connecticut

History

Historic district

See also

References

External links