Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield, Connecticut Official seal of Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States.
Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old improve had a populace of 24,638 at the 2010 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S.
Ridgefield was first settled by English colonists from Norwalk and Milford in 1708, when a group of pioneer purchased territory from Chief Catoonah (also known as Chief Katonah) of the Ramapo tribe. The town was incorporated under a royal charter from the Connecticut General Assembly issued in 1709. The most notable 18th-century event was the Battle of Ridgefield on April 27, 1777.
In the summer of 1781, the French army under the Comte de Rochambeau marched through Connecticut, encamping in the Ridgebury section of town, where the first Catholic mass in Ridgefield was offered. For much of its three centuries, Ridgefield was a farming community.
The Ridgefield Veterans Memorial Community Center on Main Street, also called the Lounsbury House, was assembled by Gov.
The Lounsbury Farm near the Florida section of Ridgefield is one of the only remaining working farms in Ridgefield. In the late 19th century, spurred by the new barns connection to its lofty village and the fact that close-by countryside reaches 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Ridgefield began to be identified by wealthy New York City residents, who assembled large estates and assembled huge "summer cottages" throughout the higher sections of town.
The Ridgefield School (postcard sent in 1909) In 1946, Ridgefield was one of the locations considered for the United Nations secretariat building, but was not chosen due to its relative inaccessibility. According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town has a total region of 35.0 square miles (91 km2), of which 34.4 square miles (89 km2) is territory and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2), or 1.52%, is water.
The town is bordered by the suburbs of North Salem and Lewisboro in Westchester County, New York to the west, Danbury to the north, Wilton to the south and Redding to the east.
The town has a Metro-North Railroad station called Branchville in the Branchville corner of town.
The Enumeration designated place (CDP) corresponding to the town center covers a total region of 6.4 square miles (17 km2), of which 0.16% is water.
Other locales inside the town include Titicus on Route 116 just north of the village; Ridgebury in the northern section of town; Scotland, which is south of Ridgebury; Farmingville, positioned northeast and east of the town center; Limestone, positioned northeast of the town center; Flat Rock, positioned south of the town center; and Florida, positioned just north of Branchville.
Ridgefield consists of hilly, rocky terrain, ranging from 1,060 feet (320 m) above sea level (at Pine Mountain) to 342 feet (104 m) at Branchville.
The line bisects the southern half of the town, running generally north of West Lane, athwart the north end of the village, past the south end of Great Swamp and generally eastern into Redding in the Topstone area. North of Cameron's Line, the town is rich in limestone.
Climate data for Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield has a traditional New England Board of Selectmen Town Meeting form of government, which is created by Town Charter and allowed by the voters. The Charter calls for an annual Town and Budget Meeting to be held on the first Monday of May each year.
The following are the elective offices of the Town of Ridgefield: Board of Selectmen, Town Clerk, Town Treasurer and Tax Collector.
The following are the elective boards and commissions of the Town of Ridgefield: Board of Education, Planning and Zoning Commission, Board of Appeals on Zoning, Board of Tax Review, Board of Police Commissioners and Board of Finance.
In the town, the populace was spread out with 30.6% under the age of 18, 3.2% from 18 to 24, 27.8% from 25 to 44, 27.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median income for a homehold in the town was $107,351, and the median income for a family was $127,981 (these figures had risen to $125,909 and $154,346 in the order given as of a 2007 estimate).
Main article: Ridgefield School District (Connecticut) Ridgefield has nine enhance schools and two private schools.
The enhance schools are managed by Ridgefield Public Schools.
Scotts Ridge Middle School (Ridgefield's newest school) and East Ridge are the town's two middle schools.
The high school is Ridgefield High School.
Ridgefield's Roman Catholic schools are St.
Ridgefield Academy is a co-educational, autonomous school serving preschool through eighth grade, situated on a 42-acre (17 ha) turn-of-the-20th-century estate on West Mountain that was once home to the Congregation de Notre Dame. The Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra, formerly called the Ridgefield Symphony Youth Orchestra, has performed at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center. The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra began as the "Ridgefield Symphonette" in 1965 with 20 players, only a third of them professionals.
In 1984, Maxim Shostakovich, then a Ridgefielder, conducted a sold-out concert of music by his father, Dmitri Shostakovich, with the composer's grandson, Dmitri, performing as piano soloist. The Ridgefield Playhouse, opened in December 2000, is homed in the former Ridgefield Alternate High School auditorium, and was remodeled as a playhouse.
The Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance was established as the Ridgefield Studio of Classical Ballet in 1965 by Patricia Schuster.
In 2002 it became the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.
The Conservatory is home to three pre-professional performance companies: the Ridgefield Civic Ballet, The Junior Dance Ensemble, and the Contemporary Dance Ensemble.
The conservatory presents The Nutcracker annually at the Ridgefield Playhouse. Ridgefield golf course The site and grounds are maintained by the Ridgefield Garden Club.
Ridgefield's enhance open space includes Aldrich Park, Bennett's Pond State Park, Brewster Farm, Florida Refuge, Hemlock Hills/Lake Windwing, Pine Mountain, Seth Low Pierrepont State Park, and the Weir Farm National Historic Site.
Ridgefield Golf Course is the town's municipal 18 hole golf course designed by George Fazio and Tom Fazio and opened in 1974. The town's biggest industry is Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, whose United States command posts are positioned in the Ridgebury section of town.
The town also features a skatepark, owned by the town and maintained by the town's parks and recreations service, in which both skateboarding and aggressive inline skating are done.
In 2010 the skatepark was rebuilt and period as a result of the need to grew the Ridgefield Playhouse parking lot. Part of the town center is a historic precinct listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as Ridgefield Center Historic District. The precinct was added to the Register in 1984 and includes representations of mid-19th-century revival, Late Victorian, and Colonial revival architectural styles. Noted architect Cass Gilbert purchased historic Keeler Tavern inside the precinct and renovated it for his use as a summer home. Roughly bounded by Pound Street, Fairview Avenue, Prospect Ridge, and Whipstick Roads, the precinct was added on October 7, 1984. In addition to the town center historic district, there are a number of individual properties and at least one other historic precinct in the town that are NRHP-listed: Alden Weir Farm Historic District: 735 Nod Hill Road and Pelham Lane (added 1984; see Weir Farm National Historic Site, below) Phineas Chapman Lounsbury House: 316 Main Street, also known as the Ridgefield Veterans Memorial Community Center (added 1975) For more details on this topic, see People of Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Cartoonist Roz Chast, a incessant New Yorker periodical contributor, lives in town as does singer Judy Collins.
Kurt Waldheim, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, rested in town at the estate of a friend, and Theodore Sorenson, former advisor to President John F.
United, went to Ridgefield High School.
Silvio Bedini (1917 - 2007) a noted historian of American Science was born in Ridgefield and wrote the definitive history of Ridgefield, Ridgefield in Review (1958).
Water: Aquarion serves central and west parts of town (down Route 33 south to St.
Local newspaper: The Ridgefield Press The 1939 film In Name Only, starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Kay Francis, is partially set in Ridgefield, and the opening shot is of the wooden sign at the corner of Main St.
In the 1941 film The Lady Eve, starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwick, Fonda's character hosts lavish parties in a fictional town called Bridgefield, Connecticut, a town full of millionaires, right outside of New York.
This fictional town is based on the town of Ridgefield. Images of America: Ridgefield (1999) 127 pages; 1890s to 1950s.
Ridgefield 1900-1950, by Jack Sanders (2003) 126 pages An account of the Battle of Ridgefield amid the Revolutionary War.
Ridgefield in Review, by Silvio A.
History of Ridgefield, by George L.
The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Records, Volume 36, an index to Ridgefield births, marriages and deaths from 1709 to 1850.
The History of Ridgefield, Connecticut, by the Rev.
The Proprietors of Ridgefield, by Glenna M.
Lost in Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia, by Mark Salzman (1996), 288 pages, Ridgefield native reflects on the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of suburban Connecticut life.
"Race, Hispanic or Latino, Age, and Housing Occupancy: 2010 Enumeration Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File (QT-PL), Ridgefield town, Connecticut".
See Benedict Arnold, a Ridgefield hero for more on his small-town exploits Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut.
"Monthly Averages for Ridgefield, CT".
"Nutmeg festival at 100: Ridgefield's earliest fair is today", article by Kathleen Flaherty in The Ridgefield Press, August 12, 2006 Ridgefield Community Center Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ridgefield (Connecticut).
Town of Ridgefield official website Ridgefield Public Schools Ridgefield High School Athletics Ridgefield Open Space Association The Ridgefield Press, Ridgefield's improve journal since 1875 Ridgefield Magazine, presented bimonthly, with features on Ridgefield and encircling towns The News-Times, presented daily in Danbury, carries news of Ridgefield WLAD, 800 AM, covers breaking news of Ridgefield Jack Sanders' history website: Jack Sanders, an editor at The Ridgefield Press, has extensive knowledge about the town's history at his website.
Ridgefield Names: A history of a Connecticut town through its place names Postcard views of Ridgefield in the early 20th Century Timeline of Twentieth century affairs in Ridgefield Diary of Ridgefielder Jared Nash, 1865-1866 Old maps of Ridgefield A list of Ridgefield authors Books about Ridgefield Information on Ridgefield cemeteries Ridgefield Baptist Church
Categories:
Ridgefield, Connecticut - Populated places established in 1708 - Towns in Connecticut - Towns in Fairfield County, Connecticut - Towns in the New York urbane region - 1709 establishments in Connecticut
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