Watertown, Connecticut

More than 210 years ago the area that is now Watertown belonged to the local Paugasuck Indians. But in 1684, Thomas Judd and 35 other proprietors bought the land from the Indians and Town history began.

With 338 inhabitants, the First Ecclesiastical Society of Westbury was formed in 1738, and 42 years later, in 1780, Westbury separated from Waterbury and was named officially Watertown. For 15 years, however, it also included its territory Plymouth and Thomaston. The eastern area was incorporated as Plymouth in 1795. It soon became the crossroads for a number of early highways, and 12 scheduled train trips between Watertown and Waterbury. John Trumbull, poet of the Revolutionary War, who was also a lawyer and judge, was born here in 1750.

A council-manager form of government in 1961 replaced more than 180 years of a town meeting-selectman form of government. Watertown has been the home of the Taft School, a college preparatory institution, since 1893. An estimated 21,000 inhabitants now occupy the 29.8 square miles which is now Watertown.