Fairfield County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 957,419, representing 26.6% of Connecticut's overall population. The closest to the center of the New York metropolitan area, the county contains four of the state's top 7 largest cities—Bridgeport (1st), Stamford (2nd), Norwalk (6th), and Danbury (7th)—whose combined population of 433,368 is nearly half the county's total population.
Redding is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,765 at the 2020 census.
Bridgewater is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,662 at the 2020 census, down from 1,727 at the 2010 census.
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately 50 miles (80 km) northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 25,033 at the 2020 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place.
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately 149 miles (240 km) long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about 1,950 square miles (5,100 km2) of southwestern Connecticut into Long Island Sound. Its watershed is just to the west of the watershed of the lower Connecticut River.
New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town, part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area, lies in western Connecticut, 14 miles (23 km) north of Danbury, on the banks of the Housatonic River, and shares its border with the northeastern shore of Candlewood Lake. It is the largest town in the state of Connecticut in terms of land area at nearly 63.7 mi². The population as of 2020 was 28,115 according to the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP). The northern portion of the town is part of the region of northwestern Connecticut, and the far eastern portions are part of the Litchfield Hills region.
The Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.
The Danbury Branch is a diesel branch of the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line from downtown Norwalk, Connecticut north to Danbury, mostly single-tracked. It opened in 1852 as the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad. Until the early 1970s, passenger service continued north from Danbury to Canaan, Connecticut and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Metro-North took over operation of the line from Conrail in 1983.
The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, chartered in 1835 as the Fairfield County Railroad, was an independent American railroad that operated between the cities of Danbury and Norwalk, Connecticut from 1852 until its absorption by the Housatonic Railroad in 1886. The right of way established by the D&N continues in operation and is now the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line of the Metro-North Railroad.
The Still River is a 25.4-mile-long (40.9 km) tributary to the Housatonic River in western Connecticut.
Housatonic Area Regional Transit, known popularly as HARTransit, is the provider of public transportation for Danbury, Connecticut and surrounding communities. HARTransit was founded in 1972 as the Danbury-Bethel Transit District by the two municipalities. The name was changed to Housatonic Area Regional Transit in 1979 after the addition of other municipal members. The agency receives funding from municipal contracts, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration and the New York State Department of Transportation. Prior to HARTransit's establishment, Danbury had gone without transit service since 1967 when the privately owned ABC Bus Company which had replaced the Candlewood Bus Company a few months before, ceased operations. The first local bus transit operator in the area, Danbury Power & Transportation Company, operated bus services in Danbury and Bethel from 1926 to 1965. HARTransit provides service to a greater number of towns than its predecessors.
Greater Bridgeport is the metropolitan area centered on the city of Bridgeport in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The area is located in Southwestern Connecticut. In its most conservative form the area consists of the city of Bridgeport and five surrounding towns—Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull. This definition of the Bridgeport area has a population of more than 305,000 and is within the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area, which consists of all of Fairfield County, Connecticut. The estimated 2015 county population was 948,053. The area is numbered as part of the New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area NY-NJ-CT-PA by the United States Census Bureau.
Connecticut's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the western part of the state and spanning across parts of Fairfield, Litchfield, New Haven, and Hartford Counties, the district runs from Meriden and New Britain in central Connecticut, westward to Danbury and the surrounding Housatonic Valley, encompassing the Farmington Valley, Upper Naugatuck River Valley, and the Litchfield Hills. The district also includes most of Waterbury.
The Naugatuck River is a 40.2-mile-long (64.7 km) river in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Its waters carve out the Naugatuck River Valley in the western reaches of the state, flowing generally due south and eventually emptying into the Housatonic River at Derby, Connecticut and thence 11 miles (18 km) to Long Island Sound. The Plume and Atwood Dam in Thomaston, completed in 1960 following the Great Flood of 1955, creates a reservoir on the river and is the last barrier to salmon and trout migrating up from the sea.
Branchville is a neighborhood of the town of Ridgefield in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, and is also the name of a Metro North railroad station. Branchville was listed as a census-designated place (CDP) prior to the 2020 census.
Kent Falls State Park is a public recreation area located in the town of Kent, Connecticut, within the Litchfield Hills region of the southern Berkshires. The state park is home to Kent Falls, a series of waterfalls on Falls Brook, a tributary of the Housatonic River. The falls drop 250 feet (76 m) in under a quarter mile. The largest cascade drops more than 70 feet (21 m) into a reflecting pool, before traveling over the lesser falls.
Greater Danbury, also known as the Housatonic Valley Region, is a region in the state of Connecticut centered on the city of Danbury. It consists of the city of Danbury and adjacent towns in the areas around the Housatonic River and the Still River. The area is also home to Candlewood Lake, the largest lake in the New York metropolitan area.
Mill Plain is an unincorporated area in the City of Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It is located in the westernmost part of the city, bordering the town of Southeast, New York.
Sanford station was a passenger rail station on the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad and later the Danbury Branch of both the Housatonic Railroad and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. The station was located on the border between Ridgefield and Redding, Connecticut, and was located on Topstone Road. Opened in 1852 as a flag stop and located in the Topstone section of Redding, Connecticut, the original station building was destroyed in 1891 by a speeding freight train. A new station building was erected the following year and would serve until the station's closure in 1938. The station was called so because of the numerous families named Sanford in the area surrounding the station.
