Naugatuck River Valley

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The Naugatuck River Valley is located in the western part of Connecticut along the Route 8 corridor and Metro-North railroad line. Geographically, it comprises the municipalities located within the Naugatuck River basin. During the 19th and 20th Centuries, the area was one of the main manufacturing centers in New England, and most of the Valley communities were emblematic New England mill towns.

1 Subdivisions
2 History
3 Culture
4 External links

[edit] Subdivisions

Map of Connecticut showing the regions of the Naugatuck River Valley. Green is the Valley, yellow is the Greater Waterbury area, and blue is the Litchfield Hills region.

Traditionally, the Naugatuck Valley is often subdivided for historical, cultural, geographic, and demographic reasons.

The Upper Naugatuck Valley is more often referred to as the Litchfield (Northwest) Hills, and includes the municipalities of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Litchfield, Morris, New Hartford, Norfolk, Torrington, Winchester.

The Central Naugatuck Valley, is more often referred to as the Greater Waterbury area, and includes the municipalities of Thomaston, Bethlehem, Watertown, Woodbury, Wolcott, Waterbury, Middlebury, Southbury, Cheshire, Prospect, Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, and Oxford. Cheshire is sometimes not considered part of the Naugatuck Valley, although its proximity to Waterbury warrants its inclusion in the region, as it typically derives its social services from many Waterbury area agencies. Despite being in the Naugatuck River Valley basin, Plymouth (not listed above) is often included in the Greater Hartford region.

The Lower Naugatuck Valley includes the municipalities of Seymour, Ansonia, Derby, and Shelton. Typically it is called simply The Valley and sometimes includes Beacon Falls, Oxford, and occasionally Naugatuck. For demographic reasons, many area residents debate the inclusion of increasingly wealthy towns like Shelton and Oxford in the Naugatuck Valley. However, historical, social, and geographic evidence supports their inclusion.

[edit] History

The Naugatuck Valley is a unique region straddling New Haven, Litchfield and Fairfield counties. This was once the most prosperous part of Connecticut in the early days of industrialization. The region was home to key factories in national industries, most notably the brass industry, rubber manufacturing, petrochemical production, and shipbuilding. The friction match was invented in the town of Beacon Falls, and Naugatuck was the birthplace of Naugahyde. This industrial past has given the region a heavy urban landscape, with many factory buildings rising prominently along the riverside and dominating the central districts of the towns.

After the Great Depression, however, the area began a prolonged period of deindustrialization and lost large portions of its manufacturing base, leaving behind weak economies and empty buildings typical of Rustbelt landscapes. In 1955, the area's fortunes were further impaired when floodwaters brought by Hurricane Diane devastated the region. From Winsted to Shelton, entire downtown neighborhoods were washed away, leaving the region in disaster. High unemployment, poverty, and isolation marked the more urban Naugatuck Valley cities through the 1980s.

Since the early 1990s, rural and southern portions of the Naugatuck Valley have evolved into sprawling commuter towns. Communities like Shelton, Oxford, and Southbury have become popular bedroom communities for residents working in New York City and lower Fairfield County. Vast sections of farmland up and down the Naugatuck Valley have also been developed for the building of luxury homes. Despite this suburbanization, however, the region is still tied to its core city centers like Torrington, Waterbury, and the Lower Valley, thus retaining its working-class flavor.

[edit] Culture

In contrast with other regions of Connecticut, for example, the Naugatuck Valley maintains a high emotional and cultural involvement with its high school football teams and their rivalries. The Naugatuck Valley League serves 12 high schools in the Valley: Torrington, Watertown, Crosby, Holy Cross, Wilby, Kennedy, Sacred Heart, Naugatuck, Woodland, Seymour, and Ansonia.

In 2000, the seven town Lower Naugatuck Valley region was selected as an All-American City with the title of the award changed to "All-American Valley."

Politically the Valley is far more conservative than much of the rest of Connecticut, and supported George W. Bush in the 2004 election and Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary.

The Waterbury judicial district is also known for the large number of capital sentences it has handed down over the years.