Windsor Locks Canal


Book Description

In 1824, a group of prominent Hartford businessmen formed the Connecticut River Company to construct a canal that would bypass the treacherous rapids of Enfield Falls and extend navigation along the Connecticut River. Soon boats were a frequent sight in the village of Windsor Locks, named after the locks of the canal that ran alongside Main Street. Mills also sprang up in the area, utilizing the canals water to power their manufacturing operations. Today the canal has taken on a more historical, ecological, and recreational significance. Home to diverse plant and animal species, it is an excellent place to enjoy sweeping views of the Connecticut River and to see the factories that played a big part in the regions history.




Windsor Locks Canal Park Study


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Master Plan


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Windsor Locks


Book Description

Transportation has always played an important role in Windsor Locks, a Connecticut River town in the north central part of the state named for the canal locks built here in 1829. Expansion continued after the arrival of the railroad in the late 1860s; today, the town is an aviation center with an international airport and an important air museum. Windsor Locks explores the one-hundred-fifty-year-old town through vintage images and lively narrative, into which are woven stories of the past drawn from interviews with longtime residents. Interesting historical details include New England's first Christmas tree, created on a local farm when, in the German custom, a Hessian soldier decorated a tree; and the first female governor to be elected in her own right, Ella Grasso, born and raised here.