page_title: Middletown, Connecticut
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Middletown, Connecticut / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard: Main Street north from City Hall, Middletown, Connecticut; 1912 postmark Original caption&#58; ""Main Street, North from City Hall, Middletown, Conn" Lower righthand corner: "P12543" Store Web page states: "Postmarked 1912 with a Middletown cancel and mailed to L Peck, North Windham, Connecticut.""
context_page_description: Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Native American name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. Middletown was included within Hartford County upon its creation on May 10, 1666. In 1784, the central settlement was incorporated as a city distinct from the town. Both were included within newly formed Middlesex County in May 1785. In 1923, the City of Middletown was consolidated with the Town, making the city limits extensive.
  Originally a busy sailing port and then an industrial center, it is now largely residential with its downtown—mainly Main Street—serving as a popular retail, dining, and bar district near Wesleyan University. Middletown was the county seat of Middlesex County from its creation in 1785 until the elimination of county government in 1960. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 47,648.
context_section_description: The land on the western bank of the Connecticut River where Middletown now lies was home to the Mattabesett Native Americans (also spelled Mattabesec, Mattabeseck, and Mattabesek); the area they inhabited—now Middletown and the surrounding area—was named after them. At the time the first European settlers arrived in the region, the Mattabesetts were a part of the group of tribes in the Connecticut Valley, under a single chief named Sowheag.
  Plans for the colonial settlement were drawn up by the General Court in 1646; the first Europeans arrived from nearby Connecticut colonies in 1650. On September 11, 1651, the General Court of Connecticut established the town of "Mattabesett". A couple of years later in November 1653, the settlement was renamed Middletown. It was chosen because the site was approximate halfway between Windsor and Saybrook on the Great River. Life was not easy among these early colonial Puritans; clearing the land and building homes, and tending farms in the rocky soil of New England was a labor-intensive ordeal. Law, too, was often harsh among the Puritans; offenses legally punishable by death in the Connecticut colonies included, "witchcraft, blasphemy, cursing or smiting of parents, and incorrigible stubbornness of children."
  Pequot Mohegans, at that time traditional allies of the English colonists and enemies of the Mattabesett and other local tribes, arrived in the Middletown area in the latter half of the 17th century; conflict between them and local Native American tribes ensued. The Mattabesett and other tribes referred to the Mohegan as "destroyers of men." Sowheag hoped that the colonists would intervene. They did not. Smallpox, too, afflicted the Mattabesett, significantly lessening their ability to resist and their cohesion as a tribe. Records show that, over time, Sowheag was forced to sell off most of the Mattabesett property to the local colonists; by 1676 the Puritans owned all but 300 acres (1.2 km²) of the former Mattabesett territory. Similar milieus of tragic interaction between Native Americans and colonists were common in 17th century New England.
  During the 18th century, Middletown became the largest and most prosperous settlement in Connecticut. By the time of the American Revolution, Middletown was a thriving port with one-third of its citizens involved in merchant and maritime activities. Slavery was part of the early economy of Middletown; African slaves were brought to the town in 1661 from Barbados; by 1756 Middletown had the third largest African slave population in the state of Connecticut—218 slaves to 5,446 whites.
  Middletown merchant traders pushed for the clearance of the Saybrook Bar at the mouth of the Connecticut River, and later sought the creation of Middlesex County in 1785. The name 'Middlesex' was chosen because the intention was to make Middletown the head of a long river port, much as London was at the head of its long river port in Middlesex County, England. The same persons also established the Middlesex Turnpike (now Route 154) to link all the settlements on the western side of the Connecticut, again with the intent of creating one long port.
  The port's decline began in the early 19th century with strained American-British relations and resulting trade restrictions, which led to the War of 1812. The port never recovered; however, the city distinguished itself in the war effort, as Middletown's Commodore Thomas Macdonough led American forces to the victory on Lake Champlain in 1814 which ended British hopes for an invasion of New York.
  During this period, Middletown became a major center for firearms manufacturing. Numerous gun manufacturers in the area supplied the majority of pistols to the United States government during the War of 1812. After that war, however, the center of this business passed to Springfield, Massachusetts, Hartford, Connecticut, and New Haven, Connecticut. (See also History of Connecticut industry.)
  1831 saw the establishment of Wesleyan University which was to become one of the United States' leading liberal arts institutions. The i
caption: Main Street, looking north from City Hall, about 1912
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