Prospect 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 ...

New Haven County, Connecticut New Haven County is a county (United States), county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connectic ...

, United States. It is a suburb of the nearby city of

Waterbury Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...

to its north, and is on the north-eastern fringes of the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

. The population was estimated to be 9,401 in 2020. Prospect is part of the Waterbury NECTA and of the historical New Haven County. Prospect is also a member of the regional health district Chesprocott, along with

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

and Wolcott. Prospect was incorporated as a town in 1827 from the South Farms part of

and the West Rocks part of

. Prospect is an

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburbs, suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density, and rela ...

an town, with residents often traveling to other major cities and employment centers across the state.

History

It is believed that the Native Americans who lived in the area now known as Prospect first arrived to the area between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Little is known of their time living here, with only a few arrowheads, stone tools, and utensils being found in the town. What is known is that the town rested near the border zone of the

Quinnipiac The Quinnipiac were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They lived in present-day New Haven County, Connecticut, along the Quinnipiac River. Their primary village, also called Quinnipiac, was where New Haven, Connect ...

and

Tunxis The Tunxis were a group of Quiripi speaking Connecticut Native Americans that is known to history mainly through their interactions with English settlers in New England. Broadly speaking, their location makes them one of the Eastern Algonquia ...

peoples, and it was known that the area served as a hunting and fishing ground for both tribes. There is no known evidence for any indigenous permanent settlement within the town prior to

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

European settlers permanently occupying the town. The portion of the town that was located in Waterbury also briefly had an indigenous reservation of between 1731 and 1778. The reservation was located on today's Bronson road, and did not have a large population, with a total of four inhabitants in 1774. The first land record inside the town comes from a 1694 land record of John Moss, Jr., who owned to of land on "ye Tenn Mile river alongside an irremovable hill." The land was then first surveyed in 1697, and divided into four tracts, starting from the Waterbury border, and advancing towards Cheshire in half-mile intervals. Several roads in the town today follow the tier lines as outlined in the original survey, and the old border between Wallingford and Waterbury is seen in the modern-day Straitsville road. Harris Platt House Prospect CT

The first European settlers in what would become the town of Prospect arrived in 1712, building homes in the "West Rocks" near the then boundary line of

and

. In 1775, citizens petitioned both towns to establish their own church, which was denied. It was in 1778 that a

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

church was constructed, which gained the name Columbia church from its official title of "Society of Columbia." In 1797, through an act of the

Connecticut General Assembly The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. The ...

, the Congregational Church was established, governed by the "Columbia Company," earning the territory the name Columbia Parish until its incorporation as a municipality in 1827. The town was denied the name Columbia, owing to the already incorporated Columbia in Tolland County, and instead it was named Prospect. This name was chosen because of the view from the town green, which before the growth of the trees, one could observe

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

, 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 ...

, and even

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

on clear days. The town's economic history has long been dominated by agriculture, with agricultural production never being eclipsed by manufacturing or services until the onset of

suburbanization Suburbanization (American English), also spelled suburbanisation (British English), is a population shift from historic core cities or rural areas into suburbs. Most suburbs are built in a formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence ...

in the 1950s. The town used to produce wood, charcoal, hay, ice, apples, cider, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, wool, flax, corn, rye, barley, and oats. For some time, the town did have a manufacturing base. From the onset of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, farmers saw manufacturing as a way to supplement their incomes. Manufacturing activities that required water power were often located at the edges of the town, where the steep drops allowed for a large amount of power to be obtained. This led to the highest concentration of industry in the town being located in the Rag Hollow area, near the border of Cheshire. This section of town had factories that made sewing needles,

britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

and pewter ware, cutlery, buttons, button hooks, hardware, and wagon wheels. The town was also where the first parlor matches were made in the United States, with the factory of Ives & Judd producing them. Other manufacturing was scattered around the town, often on the farms of those who owned the factories. These factories often moved locations. The town's brief foray into manufacturing came to a close by the twentieth century, with operations halting and entrepreneurs leaving for Waterbury, Naugatuck, Cheshire, or even New York. Given the town's rural nature and sparse population, modern amenities developed slowly in the town. A telephone line was run through the town in 1898, connecting

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

and Waterbury, but it was not until 1904 that a telephone was installed in the town. Electrification took place in 1929, when service was established along Route 69. At this time, the Grange hall, the Congregational church, and three street lights made up the initial electric customers. The town made use of dirt roads until the 1920s, where they were upgraded to gravel roads. Other than the two state highways, none of the roads in the towns were paved until 1968, when

Asphalt concrete Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and Tarmacadam, tarmac or bitumen macadam in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface road surface, roads ...

roads began to be installed across the town. The town had a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

from 1830 to 1902, when it was closed and covered by rural delivery until a post office was reopened in 1962. The town has no publicly available sewer service, and all extant hookups are privately funded. Since 2002, there has been limited availability of public water line connections on some roads, which is provided by Connecticut Water. Most town residents and businesses rely on septic systems for discharge, and

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

s for water. Regulation of these systems is managed by Chesprocott, the regional health authority. Since the 1950s, the town has undergone a rapid period of

, as families fled the nearby city of Waterbury and other municipalities during the period of the national

white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...

. Between 1950 and 1969, 1,053 houses were built, which today makes up one third of Prospect's town housing. Today, 88.4% of the houses in the town have been built since 1950. Single family homes make up 90% of the housing stock in the town. In 1955, the "Black Friday Flood" inundated Naugatuck and Waterbury with flood waters, and Prospect became the primary evacuation center. Those who lost their homes found refugee in Prospect's Community School, where they received medical attention and temporary housing. This event helped to drive more residents to move to the town. In 1977, Lorne J. Acquin murdered several members of his extended family. It was the largest mass murder in Connecticut history until the

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting On December 14, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at Newtown Public Schools, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. The perpetrator, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people. The victims were 20 children bet ...

. Prospect is known locally as being "The Best Small Town in Connecticut," with the phrase posted on the town's trucks and website. The name originates from an early 1990s article in ''Connecticut'' Magazine which ranked Prospect as the worst small town in the entire state. The measurement was done based on its school system, economy, the cost of living, crime rate and cultural resources. In response to this, the town's long-time mayor Robert Chatfield removed the magazine from the library, and declared Prospect "The Best Small Town in Connecticut," and ordered it placed on town vehicles and bumper stickers.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.58%, is water. Neighboring towns are

to the north,

to the east,

Bethany Bethany (,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac language, Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā''), locally called in Palestinian Arabic, Arabic Al-Eizariya or al-Aizariya (, "Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba,

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

of Lazarus (name), L ...

to the south, and Naugatuck to the west. The town is located among the far eastern hills of the

Berkshires The Berkshires () are highlands located in western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut in the United States. Generally, "Berkshires" may refer to the range of hills in Massachusetts that lie between the Housatonic and Connecticut River ...

, and the hilly landscape dominates the town's geography. The town is notable for rocky soil, deposited during the retreat of the

glaciers A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

around 11,000 years ago. Trees in the town are relatively new, they had all once been cleared for

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

s. Oaks are the most abundant tree in the town, although in the

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

areas, the

Red Maple ''Acer rubrum'', the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant nati ...

dominates. The town has several

reservoirs A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrup ...

either fully or partially inside its boundaries. Several small streams and brooks also originate in the town.

Climate

According to the

Köppen classification Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

, Prospect is ''Dfb'', or a humid continental climate. The town has warm and humid summers with cold winters. Precipitation is spread throughout the year, with

thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are som ...

frequent during the summer months, and heavy snowfalls during the winter months. Due to Prospect's elevation and location, temperatures are often colder, leading to snow in the town while lower towns to its east have rain. Like Connecticut, Prospect frequently experiences

Nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...

s and

Blizzards A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

during the winter, which can bring heavy snowfall to the town.

Demographics

As of the 2010 Census, there were 9,405 people, 3,357 households, and 2,616 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 3,094 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 95.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.9%

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 ...

, 0.1% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.8% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.3% of the population. Of the 3,357 households 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.3% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.1% were non-families. 28.4% of households were one person and 8.4% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.15. The age distribution was 22.6% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 22.0% from 25 to 44, 32.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% 65 or older. The median age was 43.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males. The median household income was $93,631 and the median family income was $104,306. The per capita income for the town was $26,827. About 2.1% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The present mayor is Robert Chatfield, known to town residents as "Mayor Bob." First elected in 1977, Chatfield is the town's second mayor and for many residents is the only mayor they've ever known. He is the sixth longest serving incumbent mayor in the United States, and the longest serving Mayor in Connecticut. As of 2020, Chatfield is serving in his 22nd term as the town's chief executive. Prospect operated under the

Board of selectmen The select board or board of selectmen is commonly the Executive (government), executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms. Three ...

system of government until 1967, when it shifted to adopt a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

-council form of government. In 1975, the town adopted the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

–

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

system of government. George Sabo, the incumbent chief administrative officer, won election as the town's first mayor over his Republican opponent, Ronald Dreher. Sabo won 1,636 votes to Dreher's 1,189. Chatfield, then a member of the town council, defeated Sabo in the 1977 election with 1,599 votes to Sabo's 1,311. Chatfield has been re-elected to the office ever since. His longevity in office has led him to become the only mayor residents have ever known. Prospect's town council employs

block voting Block or bloc voting refers to a class of electoral systems where multiple candidates are elected simultaneously. They do not guarantee minority representation and allow a group of voters (a voting bloc) to ensure that only their preferred candi ...

in its elections. A total of nine members are elected every two years, and the town charter mandates that no political party have a majority larger than one seat. Since 1977, the town council has been controlled by the Republicans. Other elected officials include the Town Clerk, the Town Treasurer, the Tax Collector, members of the Board of Assessment Appeals, the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and seats to the Regional Board of Education. The current town hall was built in 1961, and prior to that there was no dedicated building for the town's government. Just prior to the construction of the town hall the government met in the back of Oliver's Supermarket (now LaBonne's Market). Prior to this, the town government met at the local tavern (which no longer exists) until 1841. From there, it regularly met in the basement of the Congregational Church. Other locations that they met were the Grange hall, Community School, and Center School. The town's form of government remained mostly unchanged until the 1960s, when it underwent a rapid series of changes, first replacing the three selectmen system with just one First Selectman, then changing the position to Chief Administrative Officer, and finally in 1975 to Mayor. Prospect is the least populated town in Connecticut with a mayoral form of government.

Education

Since 1969, the town of Prospect and the town of

Beacon Falls Beacon Falls is a town in western New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region and is approximately six miles from Waterbury. It lies in the southwestern part of the state, and is bisect ...

have jointly operated Regional School District 16, with the first full school year having been operated in 1970. Both towns did not have access to a

High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

of their own, pursuant to the original intent of school district consolidation in Connecticut for small towns, and sought to consolidate their Boards of Education and begin research on the establishment of a new High School for district members. A high school would not be built in Region 16 until a 1998 referendum in the region approved the construction of Woodland Regional High School in Beacon Falls, with it opening on September 4, 2001. The two towns almost dissolved the regional school district in the late 1970s over the composition of the Board of Education, poor funding, and a lower quality of education for students. The composition of the Board of Education was originally slated to be split evenly between the two towns, which was agreed upon prior to the referendum approving the merger. According to a March 1976

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruling which upheld an earlier decision, the principle of

One man, one vote "One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like ...

applied to the Boards of Education of regional school districts. At the time, Connecticut had 16 regional school districts, and 11 regional school districts were in conflict with this ruling, which affected 34 towns, including Prospect and Beacon Falls. Beacon Falls then attempted to dissolve the regional school district, which at the time only officially contained Long River Middle School, on the basis that the Supreme Court ruling now constituted a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

between Beacon Falls and Prospect. Prospect Elementary School

Prior to the construction of Woodland Regional High School, Prospect students attended High School at Wilby High School in

until 1983. After the contract with Waterbury concluded, Prospect high schoolers had the choice of attending

Nonnewaug High School Nonnewaug High School is a public school in Woodbury, Connecticut, United States, which serves the towns of Woodbury and Bethlehem, Connecticut Bethlehem is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,385 at ...

in Woodbury, Wolcott High School in Wolcott, Naugatuck High School in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Masuk High School in Monroe, Connecticut, Seymour High School in Seymour, Connecticut, Emmet O'Brien Technical High School in Ansonia, Connecticut as well as Kaynor Technical High School in Waterbury, Connecticut.. Since 2015, total enrollment in Region 16's school district has been declining, losing 192 students between 2015 and 2019. In early 2020, the Board of Education began to discuss a policy wherein non-resident students from other towns could attend school within the district, which would cost about $15,800 a student in tuition, but as of the February 22, 2020, no further action was taken on the measure. Funding for Region 16, which today controls and operates four schools, is based on the number of students from each town attending the district. As of 2020, the operating budget for the district was $40.7 million, with the town of Prospect responsible for $20.5 million due to the town's children making up 63.25% of the school district's student population. The town, like Beacon Falls, funds its portion of the region's budget through property taxes. In 2011, voters approved a $47.5 million bonding package that would fund the construction of Prospect Elementary School, renovate Laurel Ledge Elementary School, and build a new office for Region 16 in Prospect on the former location of Algonquin School on Coer Road. The new Prospect Elementary School (grades K–5) replaced Algonquin School (grades K–3) and Community School (grades 4–5). Students in grades 6–8 in Prospect and Beacon Falls attend Long River Middle School, and students in grades 9–12 attend Woodland Regional High School.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Prospect is well connected to Connecticut's wider transportation network. Route 69 and Route 68 intersect near the town centre, which provide town residents access to

, and Union City. In close proximity to the Waterbury-Prospect line are entrances to

I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts), passing through New York and Connecticut {{road disambiguation ...

, and close to the

-Prospect border are entrances to I-691. There are no bus routes within the town, but Bus Routes 431 and 428 of the Greater Waterbury Bus System have stops located just north of the Waterbury-Prospect on East Mountain off Route 69, and on Scott Road near the intersection with Austin Road.

Notable people

* Robert Chatfield, politician * Christopher Evans, French-American graphic designer and illustrator * John Fusco, screenwriter and producer * Julius Hotchkiss, politician * Vincent Ingala, smooth jazz and R&B saxophonist * Rufus G. Russell (1823–1896), architect

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in New Haven County, Connecticut Towns in the New York metropolitan area Towns in Connecticut Towns in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, Connecticut