Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 23,643 at the 2000 census, spread across 35 square miles (91 km 2 ). In the 2000 census, the town center, which was formerly a borough, was defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. Other named localities in the town are Titicus, near the New York state line, and Ridgebury, near the border with Danbury. Like many Fairfield County towns, Ridgefield is one of the most affluent communities in the United States.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 35.0 square miles (90.6 km²), of which, 34.4 square miles (89.2 km²) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.4 km²) of it (1.52%) is water. The town is bordered by the towns of North Salem and Lewisboro in Westchester County, New York to the west, Danbury, Connecticut to the north, Wilton, Connecticut to the south and Redding, Connecticut to the east.
The town has a Metro North railroad station called "Branchville." Branchville is a business and residential community in the southeast corner of the town.
The CDP corresponding to the town center covers a total area of 6.4 square miles (16.6 km 2 ), of which 0.16% is water. Other locales within the town include Titicus on Route 116 just north of the village; Ridgebury in the northern section of town; Scotland, which is south of Ridgebury; Farmingville located northeast and east of the town center; Limestone located northeast of the town center; Flat Rock located south of the town center; and Florida located just north of Branchville.
History
Ridgefield was first settled by English colonists from Norwalk and Milford in 1708 when a group of settlers purchased land from Chief Catoonah of the Ramapoo tribe. The town was incorporated under Royal Charter in 1709. The most notable 18th Century event was the Battle of Ridgefield (on April 27, 1777). This Revolutionary War skirmish involved a small colonial militia force (the Connecticut Continentals, part of the Continental Army), led by, among others, General David Wooster, who died in the engagement, and Benedict Arnold, whose horse was shot from under him. They faced a larger British force that had landed at Norwalk and was returning from a raid on the colonial supply depot in Danbury, Connecticut. The battle was a tactical victory for the British but a strategic one for the Colonials since the British never again attempted a landing by ship to attack colonial strongholds during the war. Today, the dead from both sides are buried together in a small cemetery on Main Street on the right of the entrance to Casagmo condominiums: "...foes in arms, brothers in death..." The Keeler Tavern, a local inn and museum, features a British cannonball still lodged in the side of the building. There are many other landmarks from the Revolutionary War in the town, with most along Main Street.
In the summer of 1781, the French army, under the Comte de Rochambeau marched through Connecticut, encamping in the Ridgebury section of town, where the first Catholic Mass in Ridgefield was offered. (The town of Lebanon, Connecticut is where the first Catholic Mass was offered in the state.)
For much of its three centuries, Ridgefield was a farming community. Among the important families in the 19th Century were the Rockwells and Lounsburys, which intermarried. They produced two Connecticut governors, George Lounsbury and Phineas Lounsbury. The Ridgefield Veterans Memorial Community Center on Main Street, also called the Lounsbury House, was built by Gov. Phineas Chapman Lounsbury around 1896 as his primary residence.
In the late 1800s, spurred by the new railroad connection to its lofty village and the fact that nearby countryside reaches 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Ridgefield began to be discovered by wealthy New York City residents, who assembled large estates and built huge "summer cottages" throughout the higher sections of town. Among the more noteworthy estates were Col. Louis D. Conley's "Outpost Farm", which at one point totalled nearly 2,000 acres (8.1 km 2 ), some of which is now Bennett's Pond State Park; Seth Low Pierrepont's "Twixthills", more than 600 acres (2.4 km 2 ), much of which is now Pierrepont State Park; Frederic E. Lewis's "Upagenstit", 100 acres (0.40 km 2 ) that became Grey Court College in the 1940s, but is now mostly subdivisions; and Col. Edward M. Knox's "Downesbury Manor", whose 300 acres (1.2 km 2 ) included a 45-room mansion that Mark Twain often visited.
These and dozens of other estates became unaffordable and unwieldy during and after the Great Depression, and most were broken up. Many mansions were razed. In their place came subdivisions of one- and 2-acre (8,100 m 2 ) lots that turned the town into a suburban, bedroom community in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. However, strong planning and zoning has maintained much of the 19th and early 20th Century charm of the town, especially along its famous mile-long Main Street.
Right after World War II, Ridgefield was one of the locations considered for the United Nations secretariate building.
On the National Register of Historic Places
- Benedict House and Shop — 57 Rockwell Road (added 1998)
- Branchville Railroad Tenement — Old Main Highway (added September 12, 1982)
- Frederic Remington House — 154 Barry Ave. (added November 15, 1966)
- Hugh Cain Fulling Mill and Elias Glover Woolen Mill Archeological Site (added October 19, 1985)
- J. Alden Weir Farm Historic District — 735 Nod Hill Road and Pelham Lane (added February 5, 1984; see Weir Farm National Historic Site , below)
- Keeler Tavern — 132 Main St. (added May 29, 1982)
- Lewis June House — 478 N. Salem Road (added March 16, 1984)
- March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Ridgebury Road — Ridgebury Road, from intersection with Old Stagecoach South (added July 6, 2003)
- Phineas Chapman Lounsbury House — 316 Main Street, also known as the Ridgefield Veterans Memorial Community Center (added November 3, 1975)
- Ridgebury Congregational Church — Ridgebury Road and George Washington Highway (added April 1, 1984)
- Ridgefield Center Historic District — Roughly bounded by Pound Street, Fairview Avenue, Prospect, Ridge, and Whipstick Roads (added October 7, 1984)
- Thomas Hyatt House — 11 Barlow Mountain Road (added March 16, 1984)
- West Mountain Historic District — state Route 102 (added March 23, 1984)
Ridgefield Center Historic District
The central portion of the town center is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town center was added to the Register in 1984 and is noted for its mid-19th century revival, Late Victorian, and Colonial revival architectural styles. Many of the houses in the historic district were designed by Cass Gilbert.
Attractions, landmarks, and institutions
Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra, formerly the Ridgefield Symphony Youth Orchestra, has performed at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.
The Keeler Tavern Museum preserves an early 1700s house that, by the time of the Revolution, had become a tavern and inn. The tavern was a center of community activities, an early post office, and a stop on the northern New York to Boston post road. In the early 20th Century, it was the home of noted architect Cass Gilbert. The tavern is open several days a week, offers tours, and has a gift shop.
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is a leading venue for the world's best contemporary artists. Its exhibitions have attracted international attention and respect. The museum was redesigned and expanded in 2004, and offers many special programs, including concerts.
Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra began as the Ridgefield Symphonette in 1965 with 20 players, only a third of them professionals. It became fully professional by the end of the decade and today has 75 musicians and draws soloists of international reputation. In 1984, Maxim Shostakovich, then a Ridgefielder, conducted a sold-out concert of music by his father, Dmitri Shostakovich, with the composer's grandson, Dmitri, performing as piano soloist.
The Ridgefield Playhouse, opened in December 2000, is housed in the "old Ridgefield High School" auditorium, designed in the 1940s by Cass Gilbert Jr. (son of Cass Gilbert, architect of the Supreme Court building and the Woolworth Building), and extensively remodeled as a playhouse. The Playhouse is the year-round venue for dozens of concerts and other performances, many by internationally known artists such as Joan Baez, Paul Newman, Arlo Guthrie, Jose Feliciano, the Bacon Brothers, Blues Traveler, Peter Yarrow, Marcel Marceau, Barbara Cook, and Moscow Boys Choir. The Playhouse also shows movies, many of them first-run.
Weir Farm National Historic Site straddles the Ridgefield-Wilton border, and is the only Nati
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