Enjoy its various points of interest. The city is a special place with a unique historic background. Ansonia, today, is transformed beyond recognition from the early settlement in this place by Edward Wooster, in 1654, when it became a part of Derby. Anson G. Phelps, looking for a factory site founded a place of sandy plains, hills and meadows and created the village in 1844. Three more stages were struggled through -- gaining borough status by petition in 1864, its incorporation as a town in 1889, and chartered Connecticut's 168^th city in 1893. Ansonia is a place that is constantly renewing itself to keep in step with the changing world.

Welcome to Elm Street, the Ansonia Historic District, established by the City of Ansonia in an Ordinance which became effective on July 25, 1969. This street was originally called the Old Town Road and is truly the "cradle" of the Naugatuck Valley.

In 1654, Edward Wooster came here from Milford looking for a place to grow hops for the Milford brewery and found that place along the banks of the Naugatuck River. He soon built a house in the area, and within a year other settlers joined him and also established families here. The first homes were most likely palisaded dwellings because the area still abounded with wolves bears and wildcats. There were also Indians here but they never became hostile to the settlers.

In 1675 the area received the right to become a plantation and was named Derby after Derbyshire, England, the original home of some of the settlers. The original plantation covered a large tract of land, from Waterbury to Milford. Elm Street is now within the boundaries of the City of Ansonia, which became a town separate from Derby in 1893.

Within the District, there are homes dating from the early 1700's through 1970, so that the area is a microcosm of architectural styles as they developed throughout the history of our country. All of these houses, with the exception of the General David Humphreys House, are privately owned. 

The Green across the street from the Ansonia Police Station marks the northern boundary of the Ansonia Historic District. In colonial times, the stocks for punishing wrongdoers and the posting board were located on this green, and it was the place where soldiers drilled and prepared for their service in the Revolutionary War. There is now a monument on the green in memory of the men who served in the First World War and an historic marker which was obtained by the Ansonia Historic District Commission from the Historical Commission of Connecticut in 1975 and erected on the site by the Ansonia Public Works Department. The plantings were donated and maintained by the Ansonia Garden Club.

As you approach the Green, bear right on Rt. 243 and at the top of the hill bear to the left on Prindle Avenue. Go straight through the stop sign.

This area was once known as 27 Squabble Hole, so named for two feuding families by the name of Weed, living there in the 1700's. It was the first settlement area in the Valley. The first four families settled here between 1654 and 1661. The very first plain meeting house of the First Congregational Church in Derby was erected here in 1682. Though none of these early structures remain today, a few ancient trees, old stone walls and foundation remnants still stand as silent sentinels to the earliest days of Derby.

Go .3 miles - When you see Emmett O'Brien High School on your left, take a right on Ford Street. Go .6 miles and take a left on Benz Street. Go .5 miles and take a right on Milan Street and a quick left up Deerfield Road to the Ansonia Nature Center, the last settlement of the Paugasuck Indians.
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The Paugasuck Indians, an Algonquin tribe, who lived in this area, found the hills surrounding the Housatonic and Naugatuck river valleys, a good place to live and so did the European immigrants, who replaced them. Edward Wooster,(nick-named Wolf Killer), the first permanent white settler in the valley, arrived in 1654, and built his house north and west of the Division Street Bridge. He raised 14 children and grew hops for the Milford Brewery, and was appointed Town Constable.

In 1655, Edward Riggs, also of Milford, built a stockaded house, a mile east of Woosters, on the hill, at what is now Pulaski Highway, across from Upland Terrace. Here, the English refugees, judges Whalley and Goff, sought refuge from King Charles I., in 1661, whom they had condemned earlier. This is the new sight of Ansonia High School. Shortly afterward, his brother-in-law, Thomas Langdon, built his home at the northern edge of this hill settlement, later called Squabble Hole, so named, for two feuding families by the name of Weed. Old stone walls and foundations can be found as evidence of those early settlers. Francis French built the fourth house on the western edge of Squabble Hole, and settled there with his new bride, in 1661.

These four homesteads, along with Wooster's, were the only ones between New Haven and Massachusetts at that time. It was a 20-mile walk to the Milford settlement for Sunday worship services, which were obligatory, in those days. Settlers were expected to pay taxes and support the church, the clergy and the meeting house. In May (1672), the thirty settlers voted to establish and support their own local church and clergy. In 1673, they purchased a lot at Squabble Hole, and six months later, built a £ 100 dwelling for the Reverend John Bowers.

The nucleus of the early settlement, was known as Old Town. Its boundaries ran along the east bank of the Naugatuck River, from Division Street, to Platt Street, up Prindle Avenue (Cankwood Hill), to Pulasky Highway, across the hill to Academy Hill, and down again to Division Street.

Farms dominated the landscape until the 1950s and 1960s, when the average number of building permits were 250 per year. As you turn right onto Milan Street, just to your left, is the old stone foundation, marking the location of Ansonia's first family of African heritage. This is the location of Ansonia's last operating farm, which occupied 80 acres, of what is now the Ansonia Nature and Recreation Center

If you follow Milan Road to your left, it dead-ends near the farmhouse and barn that are privately owned, and surrounded on three sides by Ansonia's Community Gardens. The ancient highways here, Milan and Deerfield Roads, were once used to transport produce and animals into New Haven's busy markets. During the American Revolution, the colonists, making contact with the armed revolutionary forces on the coast used Milan Road's relative obscurity from the British forces, as a supply and courier route. David's Meadow, a reference to the original owners, who were the last of the Paugasuck Indians.

There was a tiny settlement to the north of the park, which housed these ingenious people. Smallpox, a European disease, fatal to native Americans, killed everyone but David's two children. A Yale University doctor had to chase the terrified and grief-stricken children through the woods, in order to inoculate them against the disease. The area residents, who feared smallpox contagion, promptly burned the tiny Village to the ground. No record exists of the children's lives, except that they eked out an existence, by hunting, gardening and selling baskets to the colonists.

Heightened awareness of the natural environment in the 1970s prompted local and regional officials to develop the site of the Ansonia Nature & Recreation Center. The park encompasses 104 acres of mature woodlands, a farm pond, upland swamp, wet meadows and old fields. Several miles of nature trails are used for teaching, nature study, cross-country skiing and hiking. Park hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily, except major holidays. The hub of the park is a large stone and glass interpretive building (Schumacher Pavilion dedicated in 1977). The octagon shaped building houses classroom/conference space, educational exhibits, a small natural history library, a gift shop, business office and a wildlife rehabilitation center. Popular natural history programs are provided to adults and children year round.

Outside is an award winning native wildflower and fern garden, and a butterfly/hummingbird garden maintained by the Ansonia Garden Club. Several acres have been set aside for use by the Ansonia Community Organic Gardeners.Three ball fields are managed by the city’s recreation department, and adjacent is an extensive children’s playground erected in 1991 by community volunteers. Two picnic shelters are available to reserve. Overlooking the pond, the new Redwing Pond House, an early childhood learning center and university intern research station, exhibits sustainable energy generation architectural design. A working demonstration, the building will generate its electricity from the sun and use a deep geothermal well for heating and cooling the structure.

Coming out of the Nature Center and take a right at the stop sign onto Milan St. At the next stop sign take a right on Benz Street. go .7 miles and straight through one stop sign. 

At the end of the road, the 29 First Baptist Church will be straight ahead. First Baptist Church held services for a period of nearly 100 years at its original location at Main and State Streets. It celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1999.

Take a right on Hill Street. Go .4 miles and turn left on North Spring street. Go .1 miles to stop sign and take a right on Jewett Street. Go .2 mile to the Mansfield House on your right.
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Jewett Street, an Indian trail, is the location of the Mansfield House, named after Reverend Richard Mansfield. He  lived from 1724 to 1820 and served for 72 years, a period marking the longest rectorship recorded in the United States.

Mansfield's tenure was not without controversy as he was an outspoken Tory supporter at the time of the American Revolution. When a pro-British letter that he had written to British authorities in New York fell into the hands of patriots, he had to flee for his life to Long Island in 1775. He believed that the colonists should remain loyal subjects of the King of England.

While he was away, both his wife Anna, and their infant daughter died while living in the Episcopal Glebe House Rectory.

Go .1 miles to Cook's Pond and waterfall.

A few good links
Ansonia Township
Where to Dine