Mansfield, Connecticut


Mansfield is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. The population was 25,892 at the 2020 census.
Pequot and Mohegan people lived in this region for centuries before the arrival of English settler-immigrants in the late 17th century. By 1692, English settlers put down roots in the area that is now Mansfield Center.
Mansfield was incorporated in October 1702, separating from the Town of Windham, in Hartford County. The community was named after Major Moses Mansfield, a part-owner of the town site. When Windham County was formed on May 12, 1726, Mansfield then became part of that county. A century later, at a town meeting on April 3, 1826, selectmen voted to ask the General Assembly to annex Mansfield to Tolland County. That occurred the following year.
The town of Mansfield contains the community of Storrs, which is home to the main campus of the University of Connecticut and the associated Connecticut Repertory Theatre. Villages within the town include Gurleyville and Mansfield Center, Mansfield Hollow, and Atwoodville.

History

English settler-immigrants arrived in the area that is now Mansfield in the late 17th century. The Town of Mansfield was legally incorporated in 1702, and the Storrs family history dates back to that time. Samuel Storrs migrated from Nottinghamshire, England to Massachusetts in 1663, then moving to the area in 1698.
The first silk mill in the United States was constructed in Mansfield and financed by Pilgrim descendant William Fisk. The town, along with neighboring Willimantic, played an important role in the manufacture of thread and other textiles. Though nothing but the foundation remains of the mill, Mansfield has held onto several other historic landmarks. A fully intact gristmill, dating to 1835, the Gurleyville Gristmill is the only one of its kind in Connecticut. Built on the Fenton River, this stone grist mill remains intact with the original equipment. There are tours available May through October. The adjacent miller's house is the birthplace of former Connecticut governor Wilbur L. Cross,.More recent yet rare nonetheless, the Mansfield Drive-in, a drive-in movie theater, and Lucky Strike Lanes, a duckpin bowling alley, are among the last of their breed in the nation, with only 41 congress-certified alleys currently, down from 450 in 1963.
The Mansfield Training School and Hospital, situated on more than and encompassing 85 buildings, was operated by the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services until its closure, after legal challenges, in 1993. Four years later, the former director and a once staunch advocate of the school declared, "The Mansfield Training School is closed: the swamp has finally been drained." Since then, the site has been allowed to deteriorate, though the University of Connecticut has been slowly finding uses for and fixing up many of the buildings. The school, with its eerie overturned wheelchairs and neo-classical hospital, remains a magnet for adventurous locals, the police, and amateur photographers.
Located directly across U.S. Route 44 from the Mansfield Training School is the Donald T. Bergin Correctional Institution, which closed in August 2011. The Level 2 facility housed approximately 1,000 inmates. It served as a pre-release center for inmates who were approaching the end of their sentence or a period of supervised community placement.
On the Northeastern edge of town, the playwright, actor and producer Willard Mack owned a large estate. Mack permitted his other various friends and associates to board and breed their thoroughbreds on his property. One of these, boxing legend Jack Dempsey, made continual use of these facilities until Mack's death in the mid-1930s. During Mack's stewardship of this property, the famous Arabian Stallion "Broomstick", sire of numerous Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown winning thoroughbreds, was also a temporary resident. The property has since been purchased and maintained by private owners.
Development has increased in recent years, leading to the imposition of a temporary moratorium on new subdivisions, as well as additional land acquisition. Town-provided services, including free community wireless Internet access became available at the Mansfield Community Center, the Mansfield Town Hall, the Mansfield Senior Center, and the Mansfield Public Library in the late 2010s.
Media outlets have previously reported Mansfield to be a safe place. In 2005, Slate named Storrs "America's Best Place to Avoid Death Due to Natural Disaster." and in 2025, rankings webpage Niche included Mansfield and the village of Mansfield Center in its list of the top 100 places to live in Connecticut.

On the National Register of Historic Places

  • Farwell Barn, Horsebarn Hill Rd.
  • Gurleyville Historic District, on Gurleyville and Chaffeeville Rds.
  • Mansfield Center Cemetery, jct. of Storrs and Cemetery Rds.
  • Mansfield Center Historic District, Storrs Rd.
  • Mansfield Hollow Historic District, 86-127 Mansfield Hollow Rd.
  • Mansfield Training School and Hospital, jct. of Route 32 & U.S. Route 44
  • University of Connecticut Historic District-Connecticut Agricultural School, roughly Route 195/Storrs Rd. at North Eagleville Rd.

    Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 45.5 square miles, of which, 44.5 square miles of it is land and 1.0 square miles of it is water. Mansfield Hollow Lake rests on the border between Mansfield and Willimantic.
Mansfield is listed as a member town of the Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor and is sometimes considered a part of Connecticut's Quiet Corner, a colloquial designation for the more rural, northeastern part of the state.

Settlements

  • Atwoodville
  • Bassettsville
  • Celeron Square
  • Conantville
  • Dunhamtown
  • Eagleville
  • Four Corners
  • Freedom Green
  • Gurleyville
  • Holinko-Hunting Lodge
  • Industrial Tract
  • Mansfield Center
  • Mansfield Depot
  • Mansfield Hollow
  • Merrow
  • Mount Hope
  • Perkins Corner
  • Spring Hill
  • Storrs
  • Wormwood Hill
Storrs, the largest of the town's settlements, is an unincorporated village within Mansfield anchored economically and demographically by the main campus of the University of Connecticut. The community was named after Charles and Augustus Storrs, two brothers who founded the university by giving the land and $6,000 to the State of Connecticut in trust in 1881.
Due to its association with UConn and the Huskies' popular basketball programs, it has also taken on the moniker of the "College Basketball Capitol of the World".
The "downtown" area of the village is the economic and government center of Mansfield, acting as a mixed-used community development following its construction in the mid-2000s. At the time, the goal of the redevelopment was smart growth through what the Town of Mansfield described as a "livable downtown". Municipal services located there notably include the Avery P. Beck Building and Mansfield Community Center on South Eagleville Road, and nearby EO Smith High School on Storrs Road. A number of businesses and apartment are also based in the development, including a number of special-interest stores and restaurants, in addition to some banks, offices and grocery stores.
Betsy Paterson Square, an outdoor green space with sculpture installations, anchors the "downtown" area including and is flanked by a Barnes and Noble-operated UConn Bookstore, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, and health service locations operated by UConn Health. The Mansfield Downtown Partnership, a town-affiliated nonprofit organization, hosts community-based events at the square.
Mansfield Center, the town's other major village, is situated southerly and borders Willimantic. Mostly a bedroom community, Mansfield Center does include a business district which features the East Brook Mall and shopping plazas. Original properties located in Mansfield Center, including a historic general store building, are listed as part of the Mansfield Center Historic District.
Both Storrs and Mansfield Center also each contain a related census-designated place.
Mansfield enjoys a moderate amount of protected open space, notably Mansfield Hollow State Park, town parks and preserves, and numerous Joshua's Trust properties in addition to UConn-owned and maintained properties including Spring Valley Student Farm. Three large private farms operate within Mansfield, including Mountain Dairy, which has been producing and processing milk under the stewardship of one family since 1871.

Infrastructure and Transportation

passes through the southern end of Mansfield as an isolated stretch of divided highway, part of the planned but never realized interstate between Hartford and Providence, Rhode Island. Construction began midway between the two major cities, far removed from population centers. When opposition arose and complications developed, the project was shelved, with only stranded parts of the highway completed; the freeway portion extends from the nearby town border of Columbia and Willimantic and ends in North Windham.
The community includes the intersection of state roadways U.S. Route 44 and Connecticut Route 32 in Mansfield Depot. Route 6 has an interchange with Storrs Road on the town border with Willimantic; Storrs Road runs north and intersects with Route 44 at the "four corners", a colloquial name for the intersection, continuing through Coventry and Tolland to meet with Connecticut Route 74.
Willington Hill Road and South Eagleville Road act as major roadways to access the village from the north and south, respectively. Willington Hill Road begins in nearby Willington and merges into Storrs Road at the "four corners". South Eagleville Road offers a junction to Storrs Road from Route 32 in Coventry.