Southington, which was originally called "Panthorne," was at first a part of Farmington. Southington was not organized as a separate parish until 1724. Southington’s first settler and tax collector was Samuel Woodruff, Jr.

Although the Indians in the area were generally considered peaceable, several forts were built in town as a precautionary measure against hostile Indians. The first such fort was south of the town house and was a stone structure about 16 feet square.

Southington manufacturing developed rapidly. By 1790, Southington had Potash works, which were south from Plantsville Road, a button factory at South End, a brass foundry at Plantsville, a grist mill at Atwater’s (1767) and grist and saw mills at South End. In the United States, the first cement that would harden under water was made in Southington. Another Southington first was the development of the first machine (built by Micah Rugg of Marion) for making carriage bolts. His partner, Martin Barns, invented the first machine for cutting the bolts in 1840.

Militarily speaking, Southington has done her share. Many Southington men (150) were in Queen Anne’s and the French and Indian Wars. Twelve Southington men took part in the War of 1812, three in the Mexican War and 324 in the Civil War. Important town visitors included Lafayette, disguised in 1778, George Washington in 1780 and Count Rochambeau. In fact a part of Southington, French Hill, received its name because of the fact that it was the site, of the camp of Count Rochambeau’s Army in 1781, which was en route from Newport to the Hudson.

Southington was originally founded because of its many religious people. As the nearest church was 11 miles away in Farmington, Sunday was a day spent mainly traveling to and from church by Southington settlers. A minister was sent here in the winter because of poor travel conditions. Settlers found this to be so much more convenient that they successfully petitioned the Farmington Society to be separated. The first Southington church was built between 1724 and 1728 on the present site of Oak Hill Cemetery. Later churches included the First Congregational Church of Southington, the First Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Plantsville Congregational Church.

During World War I, Marcus H. Holcomb was Governor of Connecticut. He was a Southington citizen and the first to support the president during the outbreak of war. Under him Connecticut became the center of munitions production. A Connecticut unit was also first to meet the enemy and engage in combat.

Southington also played an important role in World War II. Several town youths were at Pearl Harbor. The town underwent many changes during the war. To conserve fuel, pleasure driving was abolished in Southington and food was rationed in restaurants. Several Southington shops, such as Stanley Tool, Beaton and Corbin, and Pratt and Whitney Aircraft, received awards from the War Department for production efficiency.

In April of 1948, Southington, with a population of 12,400 consolidated under one form of government. This meant that Southington which formerly had a borough and town government had one government. Milldale and Marion, as official post office districts, began to receive many benefits and town services, such as sewage removal, street lighting and road repair.

The New York Times had described Southington as "A Microcosm of America." The Office of War Information picked up the phrase and spread it all over the world. Office of War pictures of Southington, as well as articles about it, have appeared in Russia, France, Italy, Britain, Sweden, the Far and Middle East. In fact, Southington had more overseas publicity than any town of its size in the country. As you can see, Southington was aptly named "The City of Progress." During the past two hundred years many changes have occurred which transformed the farming town of Southington into the "City of Progress." If visitors from 1779 were to step from a time capsule into the present, they would be shocked at the transformation of life-styles and the surroundings. They could look around for awhile and begin to recognize features that have not changed over the centuries.

When you fly over Southington at an elevation of 500 feet and feel the mixing of the wind currents flowing over the eastern ridge and western hills, you can appreciate the diversity of the topography below you. You see how the land is occupied and populated more generously by plants, trees and shrubs than it is by houses, cars and asphalt.

As little as one hundred years ago, the farmer was the prime force in shaping the vegetative cover of the land through his cultivation, grazing of domestic animals, clearing of forestlands and the building of stone fences.

The farmers have long since removed to other parts, but their stone fences remain and the forests have returned. They are second and third growth forests now and not the deep, dark frightening canopies that once grew in luxuriant abundance. The fields have left their pasture stages and the forests have literally sprung from them.

They have recovered the sand plains, drumlins, swamps and fertile lowlands with oak, pine and maple. Follow the rock walls and stone fences back to the hinterlands and farms which were the lands of Southington, or follow its main watercourse, the spine of our former mill industries, the river called by name as "Quinnipiac." This ancient watercourse meaning "Long-water land" according to Indian nomenclature served our town well in years past. You will also find in the hills of our town, stories of the land. French Hill, Pudding Hill and Wolf Hill will come alive telling you of the past by speaking through the vegetation that you see living there today.

Physical Features: Unlike many towns in the state, Southington is bounded by two north to south ridges found on the eastern and western regions of the town. These ridges are formidable in that no highway crosses either the eastern or western ridges. They were formed by the faulting or uplifting and cracking of the earth’s crust. The eastern fault is 1,000 feet wide at its maximum width. The western ridge of Southington Mountain is the divide range between two types of bedrock, the eastern section being sedimentary rock and the western segment being metamorphic rock. These two types of bedrock contact with each other along the two western ridges of Southington.

Another geological period molding the valleys and hills of Southington followed the folding and faulting of the bedrock. This was the glacial period when much of North America was covered by glacial ice a mile thick or more. More curious though are the many glacial erratics deposited throughout the town.

The glaciers also brought from the north great tonnage of sand and gravel. The sand plains of western Southington extend two miles wide and north to south six miles from Bristol to Cheshire. As the glaciers melted and retreated northward, the meltwaters flowed quickly through the course sands and gravels. Many rivulets and streams were quickly formed. In the western sand plains, several of those streams formed during glaciation still run today.

(The information in this section was provided by Robert Kuchta, an environmental educator and horticulturist from Southington.)

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