Bird's-eye view of Thompsonville (now Enfield), Connecticut
Historic map of Enfield, CT in 1908. Originally incorporated in the state of Massachusetts, Enfield became part of Connecticut in 1749, after a court determined that a surveyor's error had incorrectly placed it in Massachusetts. The town that became modern Enfield was formed through the merging of Enfield, Thompsonville and Hazardville.
Notable as the home of "The Hazard Gunpowder Company", founded by Colonel Augustus George Hazard (1802-1868), most of the gunpowder used by the Union in the Civil War was made in Enfield in an area of town called Powder Hollow from the 1840's into the early 1900's.
The Utopian religious sect was established in Enfield in 1793. One of nineteen Shaker villages established in the U.S., the Shakers practiced a communal, celibate lifestyle. The simple architecture and furniture created by the Shaker communities is appreciated throughout the world today. The site of the Shaker village has been redeveloped by the Enfield Correctional Institution.
Inset illustrations of Enfield Buildings include:
- Public Library
- United Presbyterian Church
- St. Patrick's Catholic Church
- High School
- St. Andrew Episcopal Church
- Methodist Episcopal Church
- First Presbyterian ChurchA
