Downtown Norwich Historic District | |
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| Location | Roughly bounded by Union Square, Park, Main and Shetland Streets, and Washington Square, Norwich, Connecticut, United States |
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| Coordinates | 41°31′26″N72°4′38″W / 41.52389°N 72.07722°W Coordinates: 41°31′26″N72°4′38″W / 41.52389°N 72.07722°W |
| Area | 64 acres (26 ha) |
| Architect | Evan Burdick and others |
| Architectural style | Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals, Greek Revival, Late Victorian |
| NRHP reference # | 85000707 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | April 4, 1985 |
The Downtown Norwich Historic District is a historic district representing the core of the downtown area of the city of Norwich, Connecticut in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It includes 115 contributing buildings and one other contributing structure over a 64-acre (26 ha) area. [1] Several buildings in the historic district are also individually listed on the National Register, including the Norwich Town Hall, the Telephone Exchange Building and the Carroll Building. [2]
Norwich, known as 'The Rose of New England,' is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 40,493 at the 2010 United States Census. Three rivers, the Yantic, the Shetucket, and the Quinebaug, flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long Island Sound.
Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the United States. As of the 2010 Census, it has the highest per-capita income, Human Development Index (0.962), and median household income in the United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford and its most populous city is Bridgeport. It is part of New England, although portions of it are often grouped with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-state area. The state is named for the Connecticut River which approximately bisects the state. The word "Connecticut" is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for "long tidal river".
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Norwich was settled by English colonists in the 17th century, and its first wharf was built in 1684. It developed rapidly as a shipping port, with economic activity focused near the waterfront at the confluence of the Shetucket, Yantic, and Thames Rivers. The downtown developed as a linear area just north of the main port area, Main Street forming an east-west axis. The oldest surviving commercial building dates to 1742, and the oldest house to 1745. A major fire in the downtown in 1793 encouraged a shift to brick construction, but growth was squelched by the economic blockades associated with the War of 1812. The downtown's architecture is consequently dominated by Greek Revival andlate 19th and early 20th century architecture, which was built when the city was an important point for the transshipment of goods by either rail or ship. By this time, the city's economy had diversified to include banking, textiles, and other water-powered industry. [2] The downtown area includes many intact 18th and 19th-century buildings centered on the now-picturesque harbor. [3]
The Shetucket River is a tributary of the Thames River, 20.4 miles (32.8 km) long, in eastern Connecticut in the United States.
The Yantic River forms at the confluence of the Deep River, Sherman Brook, and Exeter Brook about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Colchester, Connecticut. It runs for 14.2 miles (22.9 km) and flows into the Shetucket River in Norwich, forming the Thames River. The Yantic River is a popular whitewater paddling destination with a mix of quickwater and Class I-III whitewater. It passes through the towns of Lebanon, Bozrah, and Norwich.
The Thames River is a short river and tidal estuary in the state of Connecticut. It flows south for 15 miles (24 km) through eastern Connecticut from the junction of the Yantic River and Shetucket River at Norwich, Connecticut, to New London and Groton, Connecticut which flank its mouth at Long Island Sound. The Thames River watershed includes a number of smaller basins and the 80-mile-long Quinebaug River, which rises in southern Massachusetts and joins the Shetucket River about four miles northeast of Norwich.
