Haddam is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Middlesex County, Connecticut Middlesex County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 164,245. The county was created in May 1785 from portions of Hartford County and New London County. Middlese ...

, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 8,452 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the only town in Connecticut that the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

runs through the middle of instead of at the town's border edge. The town was also home to the now-decommissioned

Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant (CY) was a nuclear power plant located in Haddam Neck, Connecticut. The power plant was on Connecticut River near the East Haddam Swing Bridge. The plant was commissioned in 1968, ceased electricity produc ...

History

Haddam, in Middlesex County, is located in south-central Connecticut in the lower Connecticut River Valley. It is also home to Cockaponset State Forest. It was incorporated in October 1668 as Hadham, but unusually for the many New England towns ending in -ham, the spelling eventually came to reflect the phonetic pronunciation. Haddam is the only town in Connecticut divided by the Connecticut River, and only one of three divided towns along the entire Connecticut River, the other two being

Northfield, Massachusetts Northfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Northfield was first settled in 1673. The population was 2,866 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Connectic ...

, and

Pittsburg, New Hampshire Pittsburg is the largest town by area in New England, located in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 800 at the 2020 census. It is the northernmost town in New Hampshire. U.S. Route 3 is the only major highway in the t ...

. Haddam contains five villages: Hidden Lake, Higganum, Shailerville, and Tylerville on the west side of the river, and Haddam Neck on the east. For the first two hundred years of the town's existence, the Connecticut River was a major source of income and transportation. Today, the town of Haddam is a residential community. The town was named for Much Hadham and Little Hadham in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England, collectively known as ''The Hadhams''.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 7,157 people, 2,701 households, and 2,101 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 2,822 housing units at an average density of 24.7 persons/km² (64.1 inhabitants/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.86% White, 1.03%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.11% Native American, 0.82%

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. 1.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 2,701 households, out of which 34.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.1% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 22.2% were non-families. 18.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.00. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 30.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.8 males. The median income for a household in the town was $78,571, and the median income for a family was $87,026. Males had a median income of $50,500 versus $37,447 for females. The per capita income for the town was $30,519. 3.5% of the population and 1.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 4.6% were under the age of 18 and 7.2% were 65 or older.

Notable people

* Samuel Arnold, politician * David Brainerd, missionary * George Bradford Brainerd, engineer, photographer, and nature historian * Smith Clark, lawyer and legislator * Mary H. Dickerson, businesswoman *

David Dudley Field II David Dudley Field II (February 13, 1805April 13, 1894) was an American lawyer and law reformer who made major contributions to the development of American civil procedure. His greatest accomplishment was engineering the move away from common ...

, politician *

Stephen Johnson Field Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an American jurist. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from May 20, 1863, to December 1, 1897, the second longest tenure of any justice. Prior to this ap ...

, politician and jurist * Josiah J. Hazen, college football player and coach * Asahel W. Hubbard, attorney, judge, and politician * David McDowell, psychiatrist, author, and consultant * Emil Planeta, MLB pitcher * Alexander Shaler, military general * Venture Smith, enslaved African and author * James Clark Walkley, politician

Literary references

*The "thin men of Haddam" are apostrophized in stanza seven of "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

: :''O thin men of Haddam,'' :''Why do you imagine golden birds?'' :''Do you not see how the blackbird'' :''Walks around the feet'' :''Of the women about you?''

Notable locations and historic sites

* Higganum Landing Historic District, NRHP-listed * Camp Bethel – a historic religious camp at 124 Camp Bethel Road, built in 1877 and added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2007 * The town center village, listed as the Haddam Center Historic District on the NRHP * James Hazelton House, NRHP-listed * Thankful Arnold House Museum, a stop on the Connecticut Women's Heritage Trail

References

External links

Town government Web site
{{authority control Towns in Middlesex County, Connecticut Connecticut populated places on the Connecticut River Towns in Connecticut Greater Hartford 1668 establishments in Connecticut Towns in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut