Ridgefield HISTORY

Topics

PICTURES
Views of Ridgefield 100 years ago from old postcards.

MAPS
Old maps showing Ridgefield, from the 1700s to the early 1900s.

PEOPLE
Notable Ridgefielders, a who's who of 400 interesting 20th Century residents.

RIDGEFIELD NAMES
A history of the town through its more than 1,200 place names.

TIMELINE
A timeline of interesting events in 20th Century Ridgefield.

DIARY OF JARED NASH
Extensively annotated life of an 1860s Ridgefield farmer.

OBITUARIES
Full obituaries of Ridgefielders who've died recently.

OBITUARY INDEX
An index of obituaries in The Press between 1875 and 1999.

CEMETERIES
History, lore, and more about the town's two dozen cemeteries, with photos.

BOOKS ON RIDGEFIELD
Mostly histories, in and out of print.

FIVE VILLAGE WALKS
A 54-page, fully illustrated guide to village history.

HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A site devoted to Ridgefield Historical Society and its Scott House home.

300^th ANNIVERSARY
Ridgefield turns 300 in 2008. Here's the site will all the celebratory details..

BENEDICT ARNOLD
In Ridgefield, he was a hero. We even issued medals in his memory!

WEATHER RECORDS
Weatherbase.com's stats, based on Danbury.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Recent past articles in The Ridgefield Press are archived online, but cost $2.95 to download.

QUESTIONS?
Have a question about Ridgefield history? Give us a try.

JACK'S HOME PAGE

Main Street, looking south, 1875

Ridgefield, Connecticut is rich in early American history. Purchased from the Ramapoo Indians in 1708, the town became the scene of the Battle of Ridgefield that starred General Benedict Arnold, then considered a hero. For more than two centuries, Ridgefield was an agrarian community. But in the late 1800s artists and writers (including six Pulitzer Prize winners and one Nobel laureate) as well as leaders of finance and industry began to discover its charms. Ridgefield also offered a new home for countless immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Italy, and finally, a home for the modern commuter. Through its nearly 300 years, the town has had many stories to tell. Here are some of them, found in its people, its place names, maps, postcards, and, of course, its cemeteries. ~J.S.