Willington, Connecticut
N 41° 52.538 W 072° 15.852
18T E 727022 N 4639587
Willington is a small town located in Tolland County, Connecticut, USA.
Waymark Code: WM63TT
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2009
Views: 5
A historical marker about the Town of Willington is located at the intersection of Connecticut Route 74 and Connecticut Route 320. The marker text reads as follows:
Willington
Incorporated 1727
In 1720 a party of eight men, originally from England, bought sixteen thousand acres in this region and called it Wellington. One of these, Roger Wolcott, subsequently became governor of Connecticut (1750–1754).
After a century of farming the town gradually expanded industrially until 1845 when it boasted a thread mill, a cotton mill, three silk factories, a scythe factory, four comb factories, button mils, and a glassworks (1815–1871) producing demijohns and flasks with varying designs.
Persons of distinction born here were Jared Sparks (1789–1866), historian and biographer and president of Harvard; Elias Loomis, professor at Yale, celebrated mathematician and astronomer.
This historical marker was erected in 1976 by the Town of Willington, the Willington Historical Society, and the Connecticut Historical Commission.