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History · Bantam

Bantam’s post office opened in 1884, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1910 on and old-book passages.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bantam’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bantam began

When was Bantam founded?

1884

The Bantam post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 720142 years
Founding year: the first Bantam post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Bantam’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Old housesHalf of Bantam’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · The story so far

Bantam, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bantam yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Bantam is a borough in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 720 at the 2020 census. It is part of the town of Litchfield. On July 10, 1989, many of the buildings in Bantam were heavily damaged by a tornado that ripped through Litchfield and New Haven Counties. The storm also caused considerable damage to the Litchfield County town of Thomaston, and to the New Haven County towns of Waterbury, Hamden and North Haven.

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 759 to 720 (-5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Bantam in 1881

Passages that mention Bantam, cut from the printed page as they were published.

late Isaac Wadhams stands in the central part of the Squires Farm. But at the time of this survey the town had not been laid out by government, and was denominated Western Lands, or New Bantam, the Assembly not regarding at all the laying out of the town by Hartford and Windsor in 1722. But at thei…
History of Litchfield county, Connecticut1881 · page 323Read the page →
Read the text

late Isaac Wadhams stands in the central part of the Squires Farm. But at the time of this survey the town had not been laid out by government, and was denominated Western Lands, or New Bantam, the Assembly not regarding at all the laying out of the town by Hartford and Windsor in 1722. But at their session in May, 1731, they enacted that their Western lands should be laid out into five townships, and ap-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Under the original grant this section was called Bantam, and was incorporated as the town of Litchfield in 1724. The record of what appears to be the first town-meeting has no date. At this meeting a committee, consisting of John Buel and Nathaniel Smith, was appointed to hire a minister.
History of Litchfield county, Connecticut1881 · page 152Read the page →
Read the text

Under the original grant this section was called Bantam, and was incorporated as the town of Litchfield in 1724. The record of what appears to be the first town-meeting has no date. At this meeting a committee, consisting of John Buel and Nathaniel Smith, was appointed to hire a minister.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Bantam, 1802 to 1942

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1802Born hereHorace Bushnell is born here
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910In the archivePostcardBantamCTSouthStreetca1910
  5. 1942In the archiveBantam, Connecticut. Buffing aluminum supports for bomber seats is nineteen-year-old Gera…
By decade

Bantam, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1940s6 items
PostcardBantamCTSouthStreetca1910c. 1910PostcardBantamCTSouthStreetca1910PostcardBantam, Connecticut. Buffing aluminum supports for bomber seats is nineteen-year-old Gerard Gervais, who came to Bantam…1942Bantam, Connecticut. Buffing aluminum supports for bo…Bantam, Connecticut. Two Bantam girls are seen here burring aluminum castings for aircraft seats at the Warren McArthur…1942Bantam, Connecticut. Two Bantam girls are seen here b…Bantam, Connecticut. Demetress Welch, veteran of the Warren McArthur upholstery shop suffered a pair of broken ankles i…1942Bantam, Connecticut. Demetress Welch, veteran of the …Bantam, Connecticut. Every once in a while the two Filipino kitchen boys at the Bantam Inn bring out their guitars and …1942Bantam, Connecticut. Every once in a while the two Fi…Dante Electric Company1942Dante Electric Company
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

PostcardBantamCTSouthStreetca1910
Retake this viewPostcardBantamCTSouthStreetca1910, c. 1910

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bantam’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Bantam’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPostcardBantamCTSouthStreetca1910: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Bantam’s history

What year was Bantam founded?

The Bantam post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.