Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to South Windham

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · South Windham

South Windham’s post office opened in 1850, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1901 on and old-book passages.

1850first post office
0on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From South Windham’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How South Windham began

When was South Windham founded?

1850

The South Windham post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,383176 years
Founding year: the first South Windham post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about South Windham’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of South Windham’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start South Windham’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how South Windham’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 viewStreetcar at Main Street, South Windham…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

South Windham, in brief

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

South Windham ( WIN-dəm) is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. It is located within the town of Windham. The population was 1,421 at the 2010 census.

Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,421 to 1,383 (-3%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about South Windham, 1889–1920

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

South Windham is a pleasant little village about three and a half miles southeast from Willimantic. It is beautifully situated, amid romantic surroundings of hill and marsh, cultivated field and wooded plain, winding through all of which the swift, dark waters of the Shetucket gracefully ripple on …
History of Windham County, Connecticut ..1889 · page 298Read the page →
Read the text

South Windham is a pleasant little village about three and a half miles southeast from Willimantic. It is beautifully situated, amid romantic surroundings of hill and marsh, cultivated field and wooded plain, winding through all of which the swift, dark waters of the Shetucket gracefully ripple on their merry course to the sea. It has stations on the Providence Division of the New York & New England, and on the New London Northern railroads. It lies thirteen miles north-northwest from Norwich.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
then the accumulated manufacturing industries at this point of a carding machine, a grist mill, a saw mill, a clothiery establishment, a blacksmith shop and a paper mill. The Spaffords and Aliens at South Windham were experimenting in various directions. Jesse Spafford and Amos D. Allen procured a …
History of Windham County, Connecticut ..1889 · page 294Read the page →
Read the text

then the accumulated manufacturing industries at this point of a carding machine, a grist mill, a saw mill, a clothiery establishment, a blacksmith shop and a paper mill. The Spaffords and Aliens at South Windham were experimenting in various directions. Jesse Spafford and Amos D. Allen procured a patent for

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and a paper mill. A postoffice was opened in 1827. The Willimantic Fire Engine Company was organized in 1830. In North Windham the paper mill at Badgers, to which the town owed its growth, did not prove successful. George Spafford, of South Windham, was so impressed by the English paper-making mach…
A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut1920 · page 88Read the page →
Read the text

and a paper mill. A postoffice was opened in 1827. The Willimantic Fire Engine Company was organized in 1830. In North Windham the paper mill at Badgers, to which the town owed its growth, did not prove successful. George Spafford, of South Windham, was so impressed by the English paper-making machine used by the second owner of the mill, that he and James Phelps, an experienced paper mill builder, set to work to construct a duplicate. Their machine proved to be an improvement over the English Foudrinier, and found such a ready market that a factory was put up at South Windham for their

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.

By decade

South Windham, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s3 items
Streetcar at Main Street, South Windham - postcard1901–1907Streetcar at Main Street, South Windham - postcardPostcardDecember 1909 streetcar wreck in South Windham - postcard (2)1909December 1909 streetcar wreck in South Windham - post…PostcardDecember 1909 streetcar wreck in South Windham - postcard1909December 1909 streetcar wreck in South Windham - post…Postcard
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
Today3 recent
Antiques on Main Street2024Antiques on Main StreetGuilford Smith Memorial Library2014Guilford Smith Memorial LibraryFormer South Windham combination depot, June 20122012Former South Windham combination depot, June 2012
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.

Streetcar at Main Street, South Windham - postcard
Retake this viewStreetcar at Main Street, South Windham - postcard, 1901–1907

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to South Windham

Nobody well known was born in South Windham itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Annie ProulxAmerican novelist, short story and non-fiction … · b. 1935
Edith RooseveltFirst Lady of the United States from 1901 to 19… · b. 1861
Benedict ArnoldArmy officer who betrayed America to the Britis… · b. 1741
Chris DoddAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1944
John TrumbullAmerican artist · b. 1756
Saunders Mac LaneAmerican mathematician · b. 1909
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Windham10 historic placesA+Lebanon5 historic placesAWillimantic7 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about South Windham’s history

What year was South Windham founded?

The South Windham post office opened in 1850, 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 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.