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History · Broad Brook

Broad Brook’s post office opened in 1836, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Broad Brook was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Its Register listing is . Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1869 on.

1836first post office
1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Broad Brook’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Broad Brook began

When was Broad Brook founded?

1836

The Broad Brook post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 3,998190 years
Founding year: the first Broad Brook post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Broad Brook’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1836: 190 years of Broad Brook.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Broad Brook’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Broad Brook’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Broad Brook, 1869 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869In the archiveAtlas of Hartford and Tolland counties - with a map of Connecticut, from actual surveys
  3. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - Hartford County - Broad Brook - ED …
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905In the archiveFirst streetcar in Broad Brook, 1905 - postcard
  6. 1956Born hereJerry Marquis is born here
The story so far

Broad Brook, in brief

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

Broad Brook is a neighborhood and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of East Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, Broad Brook had a population of 3,998.

Its first post office opened in 1836. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,069 in 2010, 3,998 in 2020.

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

By decade

Broad Brook, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1900s4 items
Atlas of Hartford and Tolland counties - with a map of Connecticut, from actual surveys1869Atlas of Hartford and Tolland counties - with a map o…MapAtlas of Hartford and Tolland counties - with a map of Connecticut, from actual surveys1869Atlas of Hartford and Tolland counties - with a map o…Map1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - Hartford County - Broad Brook - ED 2-60, ED 2-6118801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut -…First streetcar in Broad Brook, 1905 - postcard1905First streetcar in Broad Brook, 1905 - postcardPostcard
1910s–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
Today2 recent
EastWindsorCT FormerBroadBrookMill2016EastWindsorCT FormerBroadBrookMillBroadBrookWoolenCompanyEastWindsorCT2007BroadBrookWoolenCompanyEastWindsorCT
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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - Hartford County - Broad Brook - ED 2-60, ED 2-61
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - Hartford County - Broad Brook - ED 2-60, ED 2-61, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 5 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

East Windsor6 historic placesA−Ellington2 historic placesB

Questions about Broad Brook’s history

What year was Broad Brook founded?

The Broad Brook post office opened in 1836, 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 (6) and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.