Rocky Hill Town

Hartford County, Connecticut

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Rocky Hill Town Hall is located at 761 Old Main Street, Rocky Hill CT 06067.
Phone: 860‑258‑2700.

Neighborhoods

Beginnings [1]

Historically, Rocky Hill was part of Wethersfield, one of the first three Connecticut River towns settled in Connecticut, ca. 1635/1640. Wethersfield's "Lower Community," as Rocky Hill was known, got its start in 1650 at the river landing which still is a terminal for the ferry across the Connecticut River to Glastonbury. The ferry began running ca.1655, and is said to be the oldest ferry in continuous operation in the country. The rocky hill was, and is, a stone outcropping along the river north of the ferry.

For decades the Lower Community played a secondary role to the activity center of Wethersfield to the north. But when the Connecticut River changed its course, ca. 1700, Wethersfield harbor no longer could accommodate larger river craft, while the Rocky Hill landing could. Rocky Hill therefore came into its own with shipping and shipyards, leading to recognition that it was a community in its own right. Recognition took the form of establishment by the Connecticut General Assembly, in 1723, of a separate ecclesiastical society for the area, called Stepney Parish. As Stepney Parish proceeded to develop into the town of Rocky Hill and the town continued to grow, agricultural land such as bordered Elm Street was built up in a manner common in Connecticut towns.

  1. David F. Ransom and John F. A. Herzan, Connecticut Historic Trust, Elm Street Historic District, Rocky Hill CT, nomination documentation, 1997, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

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