Salisbury, Connecticut

Salisbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States of the New York metropolitan area. The town is the northwest-most in the State of Connecticut. The MA-NY-CT (Massachusetts-New York-Connecticut) Tri-State Marker is located just on the border of Salisbury. The population was 3,977 at the 2000 census.

History
Salisbury was established and incorporated in 1741, and contains several historic homes, though some were replaced by larger modern structures in the late 20th century. Salisbury was named for a town in England. Historian Ed Kirby tells us that traces of iron were discovered in what was to become Salisbury in 1728, with the discovery of the large deposit at Old Hill (later Ore Hill) in 1731 by John Pell and Ezekiel Ashley. Beginning before the Revolution, during the Federal period, and until around 1920, Salisbury was the seat of an important iron industry.

Additional iron mines were opened, mostly in the Western end of the township, although historian Diana Muir dismisses them as "scarcely big enough to notice," with the further disadvantage of not being near a river large enough to ship iron to market at a reasonable cost. The solution, according to Muir, was to pour labor into the iron, working it into a quality of wrought iron so high that it could be used even for gun barrels. This fetched a high price and made Salisbury iron the celebrated choice of Connecticut's early nineteenth-century arms industry as well as the preeminent source of cast iron railroad car wheels until they were superseded by steel wheels. Peter P. Everts, an agent of the mid-19th-century mines, however, stated the quality of Salisbury iron varied. The iron industry in Salisbury became inactive following World War I, a plan to revive it during World War II was never implemented, and the mines remain under water.

Scoville Library in Salisbury was the first in the United States open to the public free of charge. Salisbury is also home to the oldest Methodist Church in New England, The Lakeville Methodist Church, constructed in 1789.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 60.1 square miles (155.6 km²), of which, 57.3 square miles (148.5 km²) of it is land and 2.8 square miles (7.1 km²) of it (4.59%) is water. Although the peak of Mount Frissell lies in Massachusetts at an elevation of 2,453 ft, the south slope of the mountain (2,380 ft) in Salisbury, is the highest point in Connecticut. Within Salisbury there are several ponds and six lakes: Wononscopomuc, Washinee, Washining, Wononpakook, Riga Lake and South Pond.

Principal communities
The town of Salisbury includes the villages of Salisbury and Lakeville, and the hamlets of Amesville, Lime Rock, and Taconic. Historically the areas of Joyceville, Ore Hill, Hammertown, Weatogue and Twin Lakes were recognized as separate communities but are no longer.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,977 people, 1,737 households, and 1,042 families residing in the town. The population density was 69.4 people per square mile (26.8/km²). There were 2,410 housing units at an average density of 42.0 per square mile (16.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.75% White, 1.66% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.96% Asian, 0.45% from other races, and 0.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.53% of the population.

There were 1,737 households out of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.4% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 33.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.81.

In the town the population was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 20.4% from 25 to 44, 31.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $53,051, and the median income for a family was $69,152. Males had a median income of $43,807 versus $29,861 for females. The per capita income for the town was $38,752. About 4.9% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.6% of those under age 18 and 2.6% of those age 65 or over.

Parks and recreation
The Appalachian Trail runs through Salisbury.

Sports
The Salisbury Winter Sports Association hosts ski jumping competitions at its Satre Hill venue in Salisbury. It has hosted United States Eastern Ski Jumping Championships each February since 1952.

The village of Lakeville has the well known automobile racing course at Lime Rock Park.

Government
Salisbury has an Open Town Meeting form of government, with three Selectmen.

Education
There is one primary school, Salisbury Central School (K-8th), and three boarding schools in the town, Salisbury School and Hotchkiss School, both high schools, and Indian Mountain School, pre-K through grade 9. Public high school students attend Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, CT.

Media
The community is served by a weekly newspaper, The Lakeville Journal. The Salisbury Sampler is a 10-issue-per-year newsletter of community events, notices and news edited by the office of the Selectmen and mailed to all households. The Salisbury Association publishes a bi-annual Newsletter covering the land trust, historical and civic committees news and activities. It is mailed to all households.

Transportation
Route 44 is the main east-west highway in the town, while Route 41 is the main north-south highway. Route 112 runs diagonally, northwest to southeast, and connects with US Route 7, which runs north/south parallel to the Housatonic River.

Notable people



 * Ethan Allen (1738-1789) owned a blast furnace in Lakeville in the 1760s.
 * Charles B. Andrews (1834–1902), Governor of Connecticut (1878–1881).
 * William Henry Barnum, (1818–1889) United States Representative and Senator, and longest-serving Chairman of the United States Democratic Committee, as well as President of Barnum & Richardson Company, lived all his adult life in Lime Rock, a hamlet of the Town of Salisbury.
 * Daniel Chipman (1765 – 1850), United States Representative from Vermont
 * Nathaniel Chipman (1752 - 1843), United States Senator from Vermont and Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
 * Martin Chittenden (1763–1840), Governor of Vermont (1813–1815), was born in town.
 * Thomas Chittenden, (1730 - 1797), first Governor of the state of Vermont.
 * Jill Clayburgh (1944–2010), film and stage actress.
 * Maurice Firuski (1894–1978), famous alumnus of Yale University.
 * Jeff Greenfield (1943-), ABC television newsman
 * Margaret Hamilton (1902–1985), actress who played The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, spent her last years in town.
 * Edward Herrmann (1943–2014), film and television actor, lived in town.
 * John M. Holley (1802-1848), former US Congressman
 * Myron Holley (1779-1841), Erie Canal builder
 * Maria Bissell Hotchkiss (1827-1901), widow of Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, founded the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville.
 * Josiah S. Johnston (1784-1833), United States Senator representing Louisiana
 * Alfred Korzybski (1879–1950) founded the Institute of General Semantics at a country estate in the Salisbury hamlet of Lime Rock and directed it until his death. The Institute remained there until 1981 when it moved elsewhere.
 * Richmond Landon (1898–1971), Olympic gold medal winner.
 * Wanda Landowska (1879–1959), famous harpsichordist, was a resident in Lakeville from 1949 until her death in 1959.
 * Laura Linney, (b. 1964) American actress of film, television, and theatre.
 * Frederick Miles (1815–1896) was a United States Representative from Connecticut.
 * Peter Buell Porter (1773–1844), U.S. Secretary of War (1828–1829), was born in town.
 * Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) Among the most recognized economists, he died in his home in Taconic in 1950.
 * Jonathan Scoville (1830-1891), former US Congressman
 * Georges Simenon (1903–1989), prolific Belgian author, most notably of the Maigret novels, lived for a time in a large house called "Shadow Rock Farm" in the Lakeville section of town.
 * Meryl Streep (1949-) the Oscar winning stage and screen veteran lives in Salisbury with her family.
 * Rip Torn (1931), American television and film actor.
 * Elisha Whittlesey (1783-1863), former US Congressman