Lakeville, Connecticut
Encyclopedia
Lakeville is a village and census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 in the town
New England town
The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...

 of Salisbury
Salisbury, Connecticut
Salisbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is the northwest-most in the State of Connecticut. The MA-NY-CT Tri-State Marker is located just on the border of Salisbury...

 in Litchfield County, Connecticut
Litchfield County, Connecticut
Litchfield County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. Litchfield County has the lowest population density of any county in Connecticut but is geographically the state's largest county. As of 2010 the population was 189,927...

, on Lake Wononskopomuc. The village includes Lakeville Historic District
Lakeville Historic District
The Lakeville Historic District in Salisbury, Connecticut is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. It is also the name of a local historic district that was established in 1970...

, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. The district represents about 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of the village center of Lakeville where the street grid remains virtually unchanged from the late 19th century. The district is defined to include properties and sites that contributed to the historical development of the village. It is noted that the district area "is surrounded by a much larger area containing many additional historic industrial, commercial, residential, religious, and recreational sites and structures." Lakeville is also a US Postal Service ZIP code (06039) that includes the hamlet of Lime Rock as well as the village of Lakeville and the surrounding area.

History

Until 1846, Lakeville was called "Furnace Village", due to the location there of one of the early blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...

s of the historic Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...

 iron industry. Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss was one of the leading American ordnance engineers of his day.-American career:...

, inventor of the Hotchkiss gun
Hotchkiss gun
The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch light mountain gun; there was also a 3-inch Hotchkiss gun...

 was born in Lakeville. The Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...

, founded by his widow Maria Bissell Hotchkiss
Maria Bissell Hotchkiss
Maria H. Hotchkiss was the wife of U.S. engineer Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. After his death in 1885, she founded the Hotchkiss School in her husband's native Connecticut in 1891....

 in 1891, is located in Lakeville. It was originally a boys' boarding school but later became coeducational. Lakeville is also the home of Indian Mountain School
Indian Mountain School
The Indian Mountain School is an independent coeducational boarding and day school for children grades pre-K through 9, located on two campuses in Lakeville, Connecticut, USA....

 which is a boarding school for students Pre-K through 9th. It was founded in 1922.

Other notable events

Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen was a farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, and American Revolutionary War patriot, hero, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of the U.S...

 made munitions in Lakeville during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

.

In the early 1950s, the well-known Belgian-French writer Georges Simenon
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...

 resided for several years in Shadow Rock Farm, a large house in Lakeville. The town forms the background for Simenon's novel "La Mort de Belle" ("The Death of Belle"), depicting its small town quiet life being shattered by the (fictional) murder of a young girl. It was later adapted to film, released as Passion of Slow Fire, or The End of Belle (see http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=A105667)

Lakeville is the site of Connecticut’s oldest, cold case. Camp Sloane camper Connie Smith left the camp on Indian Mountain Road on the morning of July 16, 1952. Connie was ten years old and was from Sundance, Wyoming; she was the granddaughter of former Wyoming governor Nels H. Smith. Several people observed her walking and hitchhiking toward the center of Lakeville. Connie was last seen walking along Route 44 near the intersection of Belgo Road. Her disappearance sparked one of the largest searches ever conducted by the Connecticut State Police. Despite a nationwide search, she was never found and foul play is suspected. Her case remains open and still has a detective assigned to it.

Harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

ist Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska was a Polish harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century...

 was a resident of Lakeville from 1949 until her death in 1959. From the 1970s onward, Nobel Economics Laureate
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...

 Wassily Leontief
Wassily Leontief
Wassily Wassilyovich Leontief , was a Russian-American economist notable for his research on how changes in one economic sector may have an effect on other sectors. Leontief won the Nobel Committee's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1973, and three of his doctoral students have also...

 made his summer home here.

New England's oldest standing Methodist church is in Lakeville.

External links

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