Background
From the earliest days of Windsor’s founding, one of the first towns in Connecticut, settlers gazed east across the Connecticut River at beautiful pastureland. The nation’s first ferry was created by John Bissell in the 1640s, for many years primarily to bring animals across for grazing but also for planting crops in the fertile meadows. But soon many families began to create and settle in a colonial farming community on the east bank of the river, in what was later incorporated as East Windsor in 1768. By 1845, the population had grown immensely and the wide geographic area of the town was no longer convenient. South Windsor, divided from East Windsor as the area to the south of the Scantic River, which runs east from the Connecticut River, was born.
South Windsor’s Main Street, laid out on an ancient Native American thoroughfare, lies between the low-lying flood plain known as the South Windsor meadows and Route 5. The meadows, once the summer home of indigenous peoples, are still tilled today for tobacco and other crops. Historic houses of every era and other buildings still line the street, including Wood Memorial Library & Museum (WMLM).
Agriculture has always been and continues to be a mainstay of South Windsor, however as the town grew eastward, new industries, diversity and other signs of modernism crept in. The story of WMLM itself, built and dedicated as a public library for the town in 1927, was closed in 1970 in favor of the building of a “modern” town hall and public library in the new geographic center of town, more than 3 miles to the east.
2020 marks the 175th Anniversary of South Windsor, and we are celebrating through a variety of thematic exhibits and related program offerings and educational presentations.
Celebrating the Anniversary
By looking to the past, we hope to engage the community in a deeper understanding of and conversations about the changing landscape (literally and figuratively) of South Windsor today. We will remember, learn, appreciate and compare our heritage through four specific topics:
- We will invite the public to help us celebrate notable South Windsor women
- We will teach both children and adults about historical gardening techniques and practical uses of indigenous plants, amidst an exhibit backdrop about our agricultural heritage and a conversation about current efforts of land preservation.
- We will highlight many different types of artists, both current and historical
- We will travel through time to explore how changing transportation impacted South Windsor industries and residents – from the earliest of Native American thoroughfares to the moon – through both static exhibits and digital media.
Come celebrate with us!