Enfield History
The History Of Enfield CT
The town of Enfield is located in Connecticut of the United States within the Hartford County. And, it is bordered by the Connecticut River in the west, Ellington and East Windsor in the south, Somers in the east and Massachusetts in the north. The Pocomtuc tribe were the original inhabitors of Enfield where they built two villages, these were referred to as Nameroke and Scitico. During 1674, parcels of land were being granted to those who wished to settle in Enfield, however, it wasn’t until some years after in 1679 when the Pease Brothers came from Salem, Massachusetts.
The brothers, John II and Robert made shelter as they camped for the winter and waited until the rest of their family could come and aid with building houses. Prior to that, the town had been home to William Pynchon IIs sawmill, however, in 1675 it was burnt to the ground as a result of the war by King Phillip. On the 14th of August 1679, the town witnessed its first town meeting as a committee of five had been appointed by people from Springfield since it was considered the parent town at the point in time. And, on the 16th of May 1683, Enfield was made a Freshwater Plantation by Massachusetts.
After some time, the town of Enfield had been declared an official town by Massachusetts. On the 16th of March 1688, people of the town went on to buy Enfield for 25 pounds from a Podnuk by the name of Notatuck. To this day, it is still unclear of the rights that Notatuck had to the land in which he sold. After a certain period in the early 1700s, the towns name was changed to that of Enfield, this was done so that it would match other neighboring fields such as Suffield, Westfield and Springfield.
However, in 1734, Somers town was established as the eastern part of the town was separated. And, in 1749, a lawsuit was settled after it had been determined that a surveyor had mistakenly placed a section of land within the Massachusettsian boundary. However, this was seceded as the town went on to instead become part of Connecticut.
As the Great Awakening revival of the mid-18th century had struck from New England and spread like wild fire through the Western North American communities, Jonathan Edwards continuously preached to Enfield about sinners being in the hands of a God who was angry. As the town strived to became modern, it was later comprised due to the merger of Thompsonville, Enfield and Hazardville. Hazardville was named after Colonel Augustus George Hazard who had a company which manufactured gunpowder in the town during the 1830s until around 1910. The 1989 film known as Glory featured multiple boxes of gunpowder which carried the words Enfield, CT, and, an episode of Hawaii Five-O had a scene which led to the discovery of explosives which came from Colonel Hazards company in Enfield CT.
During the Civil War, approximately 1200 pounds of gunpowder were manufactured each day, and more than 60 people had died during all its years of production. Over the years, the mill did in fact blow up on several occasions, however, it was constructed in such a way that if one building blew, the others wouldn’t. The ruins left behind by this facility are opened to the public, and the area is also known for its magnificent hiking trails and baseball fields.
As we conclude we have just looked at the history of Enfield. Another interesting fact about its history is that during 1972, the Asnuntuck Community College came on stream as it became the 12th institute within the Connecticut State. Enfield has been shaped in many ways by its extensive history.