page_title: History of Wilton, Connecticut
section_title: Industrial age
hierarchical_section_title: History of Wilton, Connecticut / Industrial age
caption_attribution_description: English: Cannondale School, built 1872, served the Cannondale section of Wilton, Connecticut and is now a restaurant in the Cannondale Crossing shopping center, a collection of nineteenth century buildings also holding antique shops, a British goods store and a clothing store.
context_page_description: Wilton, Connecticut, United States, is a rural residential town rich in New England history.
context_section_description: The coming of the railroad in 1852 did not bring many advantages to a community of home industry and farming; instead it offered easy access to the bountiful western lands. After the Civil War, Wilton's population declined as cities grew, industrialization increased, the market for home products dropped, and farms were abandoned. About 30% of the population was lost between 1860 and 1900. By 1900, the census showed only 1,598 people living in Wilton.
  Today Wilton is grateful for this long dormant period in its history because it saved many of the 18th and 19th century homes from demolition and suburban development. Beginning in the 1910s, abandoned farms were discovered by New Yorkers for summer homes and in the 1930s, there were noticeable stresses at Town Meetings between the "old-timers" and the "new people." The community was changing from agricultural to one of commuters.
  Originating in its colonial origins, Wilton had developed in a rather haphazard, individualistic way-a house here and a store there. Shortly after World War II, a new phenomenon brought a new look to Wilton's landscape-the builder subdivision.
  Light industry began moving into town. In order to plan for orderly growth, town zoning was adopted. With the growth in population and businesses came the corresponding need for new schools, new roads, executive offices, and more support services. The period of greatest growth was from 1950 to 1970, when the population grew from 4,558 to 13,572.
caption: Cannondale School building (1872), now a restaurant
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A520", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:09:16 11:54:37", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7505", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:09:16 11:54:37", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:09:16 11:54:37", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "213/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "159/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "157/16", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1704", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2272", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1704", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1860", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "71000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "71000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape"}