Uncasville is a village in the
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 ...
of
Montville,
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, United States. It is located in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the
Oxoboxo River where it flows into the
Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the east end of Montville, which is the area served by the Uncasville
ZIP Code (06382).
In 1994, the federal government officially recognized the
Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut, which had historically occupied this area as part of its traditional territory. That year Congress passed the ''Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act.'' It authorized the United States to take land into trust in northeastern Montville for the Mohegan tribe's use as a reservation. Since gaining a reservation, in 1996 the tribe developed the
Mohegan Sun casino
A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...
resort. It has also built the
Mohegan Sun Arena on their land. The Mohegan are one of the
Native American peoples who speak
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages ( ; also Algonkian) are a family of Indigenous languages of the Americas and most of the languages in the Algic language family are included in the group. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from ...
.
History

Uncasville was named by English colonists for
Uncas, the 17th-century Mohegan
sachem who became their ally. The Mohegan, originally part of the Algonquian-speaking
Pequot people
The Pequot ( ) are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, ...
, became independent through the 17th and 18th centuries. They allied with English colonists during the
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place in 1636 and ended in 1638 in New England, between the Pequot nation and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Na ...
of 1637. Uncas established a fortified village for defense, now known as
Fort Shantok, on an elevated site next to the
Thames River. He later welcomed
English colonists to the Mohegan lands.
The European-American brothers John and Arthur Schofield established the first
woolen mill in the United States in Uncasville. Their
carding and
spinning mill, dependent on water power, was located at the mouth of the
Oxoboxo River.
Town of Montville Plan of Conservation and Development 2010
'', May 15, 2010 The Uncasville Manufacturing Corporation operated on the river into the early 20th century, as shown in the postcard image to the right.
In the 1950s, the
Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation established a large manufacturing facility in the Sandy Desert section in northeastern Montville. In 1961, it formed a joint venture, the
United Nuclear Corporation
The United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) was a diversified nuclear mining, development, and applications company based out of the United States. Formed in 1961 as a joint venture between the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, the Mallinckrodt C ...
, with Mallinckrodt Corporation of America, and Nuclear Development Corporation of America. They started with a total of 1400 employees, producing
nuclear reactor fuel components for the United States Navy nuclear program.
The site was near Trading Cove. Some parts of the program ended by 1976. After United Nuclear ceased its operations about 1990, the site was cleaned up of environmental hazards, decommissioned, and released for unrestricted use.
The village designated this as a redevelopment area as designated by the village.
During the colonial period, agents had sold traditional lands originally occupied by the Mohegan people and reserved for them by the colony; they became landless. European Americans assumed they would assimilate to the more numerous majority. In the 20th century the Mohegan reorganized and sought federal recognition through the formal administrative process, submitting thorough documentation to prove their community and cultural continuity despite the lack of land. At the same time, beginning in the 1970s, they pursued a land claim against Connecticut for having been deprived illegally of their traditional lands.
In 1994, the
U.S. Department of the Interior granted federal recognition to the Mohegan tribe. Several months later, the
U.S. Congress passed the ''Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act.''
It authorized the United States to take into trust the United Nuclear site for use as Mohegan
reservation lands; with this, the law extinguished any other Mohegan land claims in Connecticut. In exchange, Congress approved the tribe undertaking gambling operations at the reservation site.
[Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-377, § 2, 108 Stat. 3501 (1994) (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 1775 (2006))]
With its own reservation, the Mohegan developed
gaming operations to generate revenue for tribal welfare. They opened the
Mohegan Sun casino on October 12, 1996, near the former Fort Shantok site above the Thames River. It has since been expanded into a large resort with hotels and other facilities.
Geography
Uncasville village is located in southeastern Montville near the confluence of the Oxoboxo and
Thames
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 th ...
rivers. All of eastern Montville, located on the western shore of the Thames, is served by the Uncasville ZIP code, 06382, and is also known as Uncasville. The
U.S. Census Bureau treats Uncasville village as part of the
Oxoboxo River census-designated place. The Mohegan Sun resort is about north of Uncasville village.
Mohegan Sun
The
Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, established in 1996, has become one of the largest casinos in the world. It has more than . The associated resort complex includes a luxury hotel, entertainment theater, and around 50 restaurants and 35 stores.
The
Mohegan Sun Arena, located in the complex, hosts concerts and live sporting events. It can hold 10,000 people.
It is the home court of the
Connecticut Sun of the
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
The WNBA w ...
.
Notable person
*
Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, Mohegan historian
References
{{Authority control
Montville, Connecticut
Villages in New London County, Connecticut
Connecticut placenames of Native American origin
Populated places on the Thames River (Connecticut)
Mohegan