Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of West Simsbury was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Below: maps from 1892 on and old-book passages.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how West Simsbury’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of West Simsbury yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
West Simsbury is a census-designated place (CDP) and section of the town of Simsbury, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, West Simsbury had a population of 2,521.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,447 to 2,521 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention West Simsbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Richard Case removed from the old parish to West Simsbury in 1737, and is supposed to have been the first settler, and to have erected the first dwellinghouse. His son, Sylvanus, has ever been reputed to be the first English child born within the limits of West Simsbury. He had ten sons and two daughters.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The people of West Simsbury began holding Sunday services in private houses about 1741. In September, 1746, at the house of Richard Case, they organized an ecclesiastical society ; and at the May session, 1750, the legislature created West Simsbury a distinct parish and the First Congregational Church was formed. Between 1747 and 1750 there was preaching liy the Rev's Adonijah Bidwell and Timothy Pitkin. When the church was formed, the Rev. Evander Morrison was called, at a salary of <£250, "old tenor," and thirty cords of
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Simsbury.
1892Granby sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of West Simsbury.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
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