Willimantic is a census-designated place located in Windham, Connecticut, United States. Previously organized as a city and later as a borough, Willimantic is currently one of two tax districts within the Town of Windham. Willimantic is located within Windham County and the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. Known as "Thread City" for the American Thread Company's mills along the Willimantic River, it was a center of the textile industry in the 19th century. Originally incorporated as a city in 1893, it entered a period of decline after the Second World War, culminating in the mill's closure and the city's reabsorption into the town of Windham in the 1980s.
Willimantic was populated by a series of ethnic groups migrating to the city to find work at the mills, originally Western European and French Canadian immigrants, later Eastern Europeans and Puerto Ricans. Architecturally, it is known for its collection of Victorian-era houses and other buildings in the hill section, the Romanesque Revival town hall and several crossings of the Willimantic River, including the Willimantic Footbridge and the "Frog Bridge". It is home to Eastern Connecticut State University and the Windham Textile and History Museum. As of 2020, Willimantic had a population of 18,149 people.
History
Early history Willimantic is named for the Willimantic River which passes through it. The word was first attested in English writing as Waramanticut in 1684, and later as Wallamanticuk, Wewemantic and Weammantuck before being standardized as Willimantic. The word is of Algonquian origin, either Mohegan-Pequot or Narragansett. It is commonly translated as 'land of the swift running water', but the word more likely means 'place near the evergreen swamp'. The town of Willimantic, Maine, is named after Willimantic, Connecticut.
The surrounding town of Windham was founded in 1693 on land bequeathed by the Mohegan people. The first settler in what is now Willimantic was Samuel Ashley, who bought property there in 1717. Until it was industrialized, the area was called "Willimantic Falls". The first mill to be established was a picking and carding facility for wool, in 1806. Other mills followed, most notably a series of thread mills starting in 1822.
As an incorporated city (1833–1983) As the city grew, it was incorporated as a borough in 1833. Willimantic became known as "Thread City" for the proliferation of textile mills, primarily thread, along the river.
Willimantic became a city when its charter was revised in 1893. Up to the outbreak of World War II, it continued to be a center for the production of silk and cotton thread. Various groups of immigrants arrived over the years to work in the mills. The city was a major rail hub; in the early twentieth century, as many as a hundred trains ran through Willimantic daily. Ornate Victorian homes were built in the town's Prospect Hill section, and the town prospered, growing from a population of less than 5,000 in 1860 to more than 12,100 by 1910.
But hard times followed; American Thread moved to North Carolina in 1985 and without it, the town's economy foundered. The city consolidated back into the town in 1983.
As part of Windham (1983–present) Heroin use, present since the 1960s, became a major public health problem in the early 2000s, declining somewhat by the 2010s. In 2002, The Hartford Courant ran an investigative series called "Heroin Town" describing rampant heroin use in Willimantic, disproportionate to the town's small size, which was followed by a 60 Minutes segment in 2003. The coverage upset local residents, and the state appointed a task force to study the issue. The Hotel Hooker, long known for drug use and prostitution, was renamed to the Seth Chauncey Hotel and put under new management in 2004, then renamed Windham House in 2005. Drug and prostitution arrests peaked in the late 2000s with increased enforcement, and began to fall by 2010. The poverty rate, at 25.9%, was more than double the state average in 2010.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the census-designated place (CDP) has a total area of , of which is land and (2.23%) is water. The Willimantic River and the Natchaug River converge to form the Shetucket River in southeastern Willimantic. The Hop River also flows into the Willimantic River at the western border.
Willimantic is, in part, bordered by rivers. Its western border follows the Willimantic River; its eastern border is formed by the Natchaug and Shetucket Rivers. The CDP borders the towns of Coventry, Mansfield, Columbia, and Lebanon. It also borders the CDPs of South Windham (which is in the same town as Willimantic) and Mansfield Center.
Climate
Demographics
Immigrants of many national origins populated the city. First, Europeans arrived to work in the mills—Irish, Italians, Poles, Germans and French Canadians. Later, Estonian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Puerto Rican immigrants moved to the town in search of mill jobs. As a mark of how strongly newcomers identified with their places of origin, Willimantic has many churches, even several from the same denomination: for example, one Catholic church for French Canadians, another for Irish, Polish and Italian immigrants.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Willimantic had a population of 18,149. The median age was 29.0 years. 20.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 10.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.6 males age 18 and over.
99.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.2% lived in rural areas.
There were 6,352 households in Willimantic, of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 25.0% were married-couple households, 25.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 39.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 6,891 housing units, of which 7.8% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.2%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 8,717 48.0% Black or African American 984 5.4% American Indian and Alaska Native 443 2.4% Asian 759 4.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 4 0.0% Some other race 4,579 25.2% Two or more races 2,663 14.7% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 9,049 49.9%
2010 census
As of the 2010 US Census, there were 17,737 people, 5,812 households, and 3,324 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 6,282 housing units at an average density of .
The racial makeup of the CDP was 66.0% White, 7.5% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 20.2% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 39.8% of the population, of whom the majority are (26.4%) Puerto Rican.
Of the 5,812 households, just over one third (34.2%) included children under the age of 18, 30.6% were married couples living together, 20.2% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 42.8% were non-families. About 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.9% of households were one individual aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.21.
In the CDP the population's age distribution was 21.5% under age 18, 31.0% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.3 males. For every 100 women ages 18 and over, there were 95.8 men.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $37,469, and the median income for a family was $45,254. Males had a median income of $37,111 versus $33,862 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $18,441. About 23.7% of families and 25.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.4% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.
The Willimantic urban cluster is an area surrounding the CDP, which has a population of 29,669 as of the 2010 census. Economy Willimantic's first factory was built in 1822 on Main Street by Charles Lee, followed by the first of the Jillson Mills in 1824. The Jillson Mills were bought in 1854 by a group of investors from Hartford, who formed the Willimantic Linen Company. In 1879, the Company built a woodworking factory to source its spools in Howard, Maine, which was renamed Willimantic in 1881. In 1880, the Willimantic Linen Company built its Mill No. 4, the first industrial building designed for electric lighting and the world's largest cotton mill at the time, which stood until it was burned down by two teenagers in 1995. The company was acquired by American Thread Company in 1898, and expanded production. The mill closed when the company moved operations to North Carolina in 1985.
Major employers include Willimantic Waste Paper Company, which specializes in the collection and recycling of fiber products, scrap metal, and co-mingled plastic refuse, as well as Brand-Rex Corporation, which maintains a manufacturing making specialty wire and cable for commercial and industrial customers. In January 2018, a fire destroyed the Willimantic Waste Paper processing plant, however it was rebuilt and is currently operating. On July 26, 2021, Casella Waste Systems purchased Willimantic Waste Paper Company.
Points of interest
Willimantic is home to a wealth of Victorian-era architecture. Prospect Hill Historic District is a National Register-listed historic district containing 993 buildings. Windham Town Hall, formerly Willimantic City Hall, is a Romanesque Revival building housing the town offices for Windham and Willimantic.
The Windham Textile and History Museum preserves and presents the history of the neighboring Jillson Mills and the rest of Willimantic during the Industrial Revolution. The Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum, located where the Columbia Junction Freight Yard was, has a collection of locomotives and rolling stock, as well as a reconstructed six-stall roundhouse.
Willimantic is the home of the Willimantic Footbridge. Built in 1907, it is the only footbridge in the United States to connect two state highways, as well as crossing all three major forms of transportation: road, rail, and river. The Thread City Crossing ("Frog Bridge") is a road bridge over the Willimantic River, opened to traffic in September 2000, featuring eight-foot high, green-painted bronze frogs sitting on concrete thread spools to represent Willimantic's history in textiles as well as the local legend of the Windham Frog Fight of 1754.
Culture
Willimantic holds a Boom Box Parade every 4 July where, instead of a marching band performing, residents bring boom boxes tuned to WILI, the local AM radio station. The tradition started on Memorial Day of 1986, when no marching band was available for a parade. The parade has received national attention from the Washington Post. For Valentine's Day, it runs a chocolate festival, including a baking contest. The event started with a popular set of T-shirts first printed in 1980, which led to the first crowning of a "Town Cupid" in 1982, now an annual event.
Once a year, the Willimantic Victorian Neighborhood Association offers tours of homes in the Prospect Hill Historic District as part of a "Victorian Days" event.
Starting in 2002, on the third Thursday of each month from May to September, the town holds the Third Thursday Street Fest on Main Street, an arts festival with live music and street vendors. The event is run by Willimantic Renaissance, a local nonprofit organization, and draws about eight thousand attendees.
Education