Town of Eastford: Centennial 1847-1947

When Eastford, Connecticut, gathered to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of its incorporation in 1947, the centennial committee sought to do more than mark a date on the calendar. They set out to preserve the memory of a community's first century, creating a record that would honor its founders, illuminate its struggles and triumphs, and give future generations a sense of continuity with the past. The result was Town of Eastford: Centennial History, a richly detailed portrait of a rural New England town from 1847 to 1947.

The centennial volume traces Eastford's roots back to its separation from Ashford, documenting the forces-social, religious, and economic-that shaped its early character. Readers encounter the stories of the families who built the town's first homes, schools, and churches; the industries that rose and fell along its streams; and the civic institutions that became cornerstones of community life. Alongside official records and town proceedings, the book includes reminiscences, anecdotes, and photographs that capture the flavor of everyday life in a farming village adjusting to the changes of a modernizing America.

The centennial narrative pays tribute to Eastford citizens who fought in the Civil War and both World Wars, situating local experiences within the broader sweep of national history. It records the growth of Eastford's churches and schools as centers of culture and identity, and it preserves the memory of town celebrations, social gatherings, and seasonal rhythms that defined rural New England life. The emphasis throughout is not only on events but also on people-the neighbors, farmers, teachers, and officials whose stories together form the fabric of a community.

For historians and genealogists, the Centennial History offers a wealth of names, dates, and records invaluable for tracing family and regional history. For residents and descendants, it is a monument to the endurance of a small town that weathered a century of wars, economic shifts, and cultural change while preserving its sense of place and identity. And for readers interested in New England's past more broadly, it provides an intimate case study of how one rural town experienced-and remembered-the transformations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Reissued today, Town of Eastford: Centennial History, 1947 is more than a commemorative volume. It is a lasting testimony to the pride of a community that, in its hundredth year, sought to honor its roots and inspire future generations to carry forward the memory of Eastford into its next century.