WETHERSFIELD  , a township of

Hartford county, Connecticut, U.S.A., on the Connecticut river, adjoining on the N. the city of Hartford, of which it is a residential suburb . Pop . (1890) 2271; (1900) 2637 (489 foreign-born); (1910) 3148 . Area, about 12 sq. m . It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway and by electric lines to Hartford . Among its old buildings are the house in which in 1781 George Washington and Count Rochambeau met to plan the Yorktown campaign; the First Church of Christ (Congregational), erected in 1761 and re-modelled in 1838 and 1882; and the old academy building, which was built in 1802, is now used as a town hall, and houses a public library . There is a giant elm here, 262 ft. in girth . The Connecticut state prison is in Wethersfield . In the township tobacco, vegetables and garden seeds are raised and dairy interests are of considerable importance; the principal manufactures are small tools and mattresses . Wethersfield is the oldest permanently 1 Title contested by Nathan Goff . Contest settled by legislature Feb . 4, 1890, until which time Governor Wilson held over.inhabited township in the state; it was first settled in the winter of 1634-1635 by colonists from Watertown, Massachusetts, and received its present name in 1637 .

With Hartford and

Windsor in 1639 it framed the Fundamental Orders of the Colony of Connecticut . Before r66o its inhabitants aided in the founding of Stamford and Milford, Connecticut, and of Hadley, Massachusetts . See H . R . Stiles, History of Ancient Wethersfield (New York, 1900) .