The Villages of Stratford
By David Wright
Town Historian
The Villages of Stratford
In a Connecticut Post article from January 8th, 2024, “From Plantsville to South Meriden, Connecticut has dozens of villages,”the writer declares:“There’s probably at least one village hamlet or district in every single one of Connecticut’s 169 towns. They are, some say, vestiges of Connecticut’s history, and each has a unique origin.”
Stratford was originally 112 square miles in size, and encompassed the entirety of today’s Trumbull, Shelton, Monroe, part of eastern Easton, and all of Bridgeport east of Park Avenue. Due to the distance from Stratford Center, many villages and districts sprang up to make traveling to worship on Sundays less burdensome on residents.
Other village areas sprang up as a result of developers creating what today is known as a “subdivision”. Most of these village names have been lost or forgotten. Here is a list of “villages” that were once very distinct places in the town of Stratford:
- Stratfield (still exists on the Fairfield/Bridgeport line),
- Old Mill Green (next to “Pembroke Lake” in Bridgeport),
- Huntington (today’s Shelton),
- Nichols (Trumbull),
- North Stratford (Trumbull),
- New Stratford (Monroe),
- Corum Hill (Shelton east of Oronoque),
- Bridgeport (Connecticut’s first borough),
- West Stratford (East Bridgeport),
- White Hills (Shelton),
- Ripton Parish (Shelton),
- Lordship,
- Oronoque,
- Putney,
- Paradise Green,
- Floral Park,
- Knowlton Park,
- Avon Park,
- and Hollister Heights.
I believe the only village names that we still refer to in Stratford are Paradise Green, Lordship, Putney, and Oronoque. Floral Park, Knowlton Park, Avon Park, and Hollister Heights all fell by the wayside in the 1960s, or thereabouts. The other village names are known as parts of the towns that separated from Stratford in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s.
For this article, let’s concentrate on Knowlton Park, which may be the most obscure “village” name in our list. A wonderful history of Knowlton Park was written by Mrs. R. E. Curly in July of 1914, and published in The Stratford Times:
‘Knowlton Park’ is situated on a heighth [sic], which is a dry and healthy place for residence all the year, being near the Barnum Avenue car line on West Broad St., and near the center of the town, which makes it a very convenient place for residence.
…Mr. Knowlton, who owns the place now, has had it in his possession since 1886. Prior to this time it belonged to William A. Booth, and was at one time a part of small farms. Its history is very old and historic and an old Indian Tribe had its wigwams where the Weatogue Country Club now stands, it being named after a tribe of Indians called the ‘Weatogues’.
The golf grounds of the Weatogue Country Club are beautifully kept up, and it is part of ‘Knowlton Park’, being owned by Miner Knowlton, who takes great pride in its possession, and he has done everything in his power to improve it by building beautiful houses, and by not allowing annoyances of any kind to creep into it in the form of factories, etc.”
You may read this history in its entirety at https://bit.ly/knowltonct.
