Salem Town Hall is located at 270 Hartford Road, Salem CT 06420.
Phone: 860‑859‑3873.
Neighborhoods
Beginnings [1]
Salem, named for Salem Massachusetts, was set off from Colchester, Lyme and Montville in 1879. Land in the northern portion was part of the Colchester tract purchased by Nathaniel Foote of Wethersfield from the Indian Chief Oweneco. The southern portion was deeded in 1669 to William Lord of Lyme by Chapeto, a kinsman of the Uncas. Actual settlement appears to date from about 1700 at which time it was known as Paugwonk, the Indian name for Fairy Lake. When a parish was organized in 1725, the name New Salem was given by Colonel Brown, a large landowner whose former house was in Salem, Massachusetts. The town was incorporated in 1819. In the 1930s it was a sparsely settled farming region with many summer estates.