Thompson, Connecticut, USA (North Grosvenordale) (Quinebaug) (Fabyan) (Mechanicsville)
About Thompson, Connecticut

Thompson, Windham, Connecticut, USA
Although Thompson is one of the largest geographical areas in northeastern Connecticut (some 45 square miles) it has no one single center of identity. Instead, most of its residents identify themselves with the "village" that is closest to them.

Thus Thompson has become known as the town of 10 villages. The Thompson Historical Society has considerable information about each of the villages and its history, together with many photographs of each area and its denizens. The following is only a brief description of the most important or famous historical event in each of the villages. The villages are:

East Thompson
Site of the only 4-train wreck in the history of the United States. The wreck took place in 1891.

Wilsonville
Noted primarily for the Keegan Mill, originally built by Smith Wilkinson, which was a major employer in the area for some 100 years.

Fabyan
Originally known as "New Boston". Settled mainly by Swedish residents.

Quinebaug
Named after the Quinebaug River, which flows through the area.

Quaddick
Located next to Quaddick State Park, and famous for hardy souls braving the lake's cold water on the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Day swim.

Mechanicsville
Located along the banks of the French River.

Grosvenordale
Location of the Grosvenordale Mill, later owned by Belding Heminway Corp., and now being demolished to make way for other economic development.

North Grosvenordale
Originally developed as Masonville, a prosperous mill town typical of many New England mill towns, primarily settled by French Canadian immigrants and their descendants, but also home of immigrants from Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Sweden. The mill area was named after William Mason, whose family had developed the mills. William Mason built a magnificent mansion on Thompson Hill.

Thompson Hill
The earliest settled area in Thompson, and the early location of local industries. After the advent of the mill villages of Grosvenordale and North Grosvenordale, the industrial activity declined on the Hill, which became the residence of wealthy mill owners. Its reputation remains to this day.

West Thompson
West Thompson was a thriving area of farms and open spaces, until the flood of 1955, after which the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers flooded the village in order to operate a new dam to prevent further floods in the area.



www.thompsonct.org/ About/ about.html

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