{{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Suffield, Connecticut | official_name = | settlement_type = Town | image_skyline = SuffieldCT Library.jpg | image_caption = The Suffield Public Library | image_flag = | image_seal = Suffield CT seal.png | motto = "Our Roots Run Deep"<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.suffieldtownhall.com/ |title= Town of Suffield Connecticut|publisher= Town of Suffield Connecticut |access-date= September 22, 2012}}</ref> | image_map = {{switcher|230px|frameless|alt=Suffield's location within Hartford County and Connecticut| Hartford County and Connecticut|250px|frameless|alt=Suffield's location within the Capitol Planning Region and the state of Connecticut| Capitol Planning Region and Connecticut|default=1}} | image_map1 = {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=280|frame-height=200|frame-coord=SWITCH:{{coord|qid=Q753836}}###{{coord|qid=Q779}}###{{coord|41|59|N|72|41|W}}|zoom=SWITCH:10;6;3|type=SWITCH:shape-inverse;point;point|marker=city|stroke-width=2|stroke-color=#000000|id2=SWITCH:Q753836;Q779;Q30|type2=shape|fill2=#ffffff|fill-opacity2=SWITCH:0;0.1;0.1|stroke-width2=2|stroke-color2=#808080|stroke-opacity2=SWITCH:0;1;1|switch=Suffield;Connecticut;the United States}} | coordinates = {{Coord|41|59|N|72|41|W|region:US-CT_type:city(16,000)|display=inline,title}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|United States}} | subdivision_type1 = U.S. state | subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Connecticut}} | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = Hartford | subdivision_type3 = Region | subdivision_name3 = Capitol Region | established_title = Settled | established_date = 1670 | established_title2 = Incorporated (Massachusetts) | established_date2 = June 8, 1674 | established_title3 = Annexed by Connecticut | established_date3 = 1749 | government_type = Selectman-town meeting | leader_title = First selectman | leader_name = Colin Moll (R) | leader_title1 = Selectmen | leader_name1 = {{plainlist| * Jeremiah Mahoney (R) * Kathleen Harrington (R) * Peter Hill (D) * Mel Chafetz (D) }} | unit_pref = Imperial | area_total_km2 = 111.2 | area_land_km2 = 109.5 | area_water_km2 = 1.8 | elevation_m = 60 | elevation_ft = 197 | population_total = 15752 | population_as_of = 2020 | population_density_km2 = auto | timezone = Eastern | utc_offset = −5 | timezone_DST = Eastern | utc_offset_DST = −4 | postal_code_type = ZIP Codes | postal_code = 06078, 06093 | area_codes = 860/959 | blank_name = FIPS code | blank_info = 09-74540 | blank1_name = GNIS feature ID | blank1_info = 0212351 | website = {{URL|https://www.suffieldct.gov}} }}
'''Suffield''' is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, and located in the Connecticut River Valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,752.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/profile?g=0600000US0900374540| title=Census - Geography Profile: Suffield town, Hartford County, Connecticut|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=December 21, 2021}}</ref> The town center is a census-designated place listed as Suffield Depot.
Bordering Massachusetts, Suffield is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts NECTA. It was once within the boundaries of Massachusetts.
==History== Originally known as Southfield—pronounced "Suffield," on May 20, 1674, the committee for the settling of the town petitioned:
{{blockquote|...that the name of the place may be Suffield, it being the southernmost town that either at present is, or like to be in that Countrey, and neere adjoining to the south border of our Patent in those parts. {{sic}} }}
The petition was granted by the Massachusetts Bay court on June 8, 1674. Suffield was incorporated as a town in March 1682.<ref>Sellers, Helen Earle (no date, c. 1965; reprint from ''The Connecticut Register and Manual'', 1942 Edition). ''Connecticut Town Origins: Their Names, Boundaries, Early Histories and First Families''. Stonington, Connecticut: The Pequot Press. p. 81.</ref>
Also, on early 17th and 18th century maps, Suffield was alternatively spelled as Suthfield.
Suffield and the surrounding area were part of the Equivalent Lands compromise with Massachusetts in 1715–1716.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Nw4wi4igtLAC|title=Vermont, the Green mountain state|first=Walter Hill|last=Crockett|date=March 18, 1921|publisher=New York, The Century history company, inc.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
Suffield's native and adopted sons include The Rev. Ebenezer Gay, a renowned Congregational minister; U.S. Postmaster General Gideon Granger; real estate speculator Oliver Phelps, once the largest landowner in America; composer Timothy Swan; architect Henry A. Sykes; sculptor Olin Levi Warner; Seth Pease, surveyor of the Western Reserve lands in Ohio, most of which were controlled by Suffield financiers and speculators; and Thaddeus Leavitt,<ref>Leavitt's daughter Jane Maria Leavitt, wife of Vermont Congressman Jonathan Hunt was the mother of architect Richard Morris Hunt, painter William Morris Hunt and photographer Leavitt Hunt</ref> inventor of an early cotton gin, merchant and patentee of the Western Reserve lands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.suffield-library.org/localhistory/index.htm|title=Historic Suffield|website=www.suffield-library.org}}</ref> Thanks to the town's early prominence and wealth, it boasts an astonishing collection of early New England architecture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.suffieldhistoricalsociety.org/|title=Suffield Historical Society|website=www.suffieldhistoricalsociety.org}}</ref> The Kent family, for whom the town's library is named, originated in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and boasted relations to many prominent early New England families, including the Dwight family of Northampton, Massachusetts, the Hooker family of Hartford, the Dudleys of Guilford, Connecticut, and the Leavitts of Suffield.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.suffieldhistoricalsociety.org/families/kent.htm |title=Family History of Samuel Kent, Suffield Historical Society |access-date=April 10, 2008 |archive-date=January 23, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123121201/http://suffieldhistoricalsociety.org/families/kent.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/genealogicalnot00goodgoog|title=Genealogical Notes, or Contributions to the Family history of Some of the ...|date=March 18, 1856|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Descendants of Robert Olds, who arrived from Sherborne, Dorset, in 1667, include automotive pioneer Ransom Eli Olds, Copperhead Ohio politician Edson Baldwin Olds, his great-grandson USAAF General Robert Olds, and his son, iconic USAF fighter pilot Robin Olds.
Slavery was common throughout the Connecticut River Valley during the 18th century, and the 1774 Census for the Colony of Connecticut listed 37 slaves in Suffield. Throughout the Connecticut Valley, wealthy merchants, tavern owners and town ministers owned slaves. When Major John Pynchon originally purchased from the Pequonnocks and Agawam tribes a six-mile tract of land, which he called Stoney Brooke Plantation, he first ordered the construction of a sawmill, and used two of his slaves, Harry and Roco, for the construction.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0iiUQQAACAAJ&q=robert+romer+google+books Slavery in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts] 2009, Robert H. Romer</ref> Suffield's third minister, Reverend Ebenezer Devotion, became minister in 1710, and "sixteen years later the town voted to give him £20 to purchase a slave.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0iiUQQAACAAJ&q=robert+romer+google+books Slavery in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts] 2009, Robert H. Romer</ref> Reverend Ebenezer Gay, Devotion's successor, owned six slaves throughout his long term, 1742–1796. Reverend Ebenezer Gay Jr. manumitted his family's three remaining slaves in 1812. They were Titus, Ginny and Dinah.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colonial Slavery |url=https://www.suffield-library.org/manuscripts/colonial%20slavery/slavery1.htm |access-date=22 January 2013 |website=www.suffield-library.org}}</ref> "Princess," a slave belonging to early Suffield settler, Lieut. Joshua Leavitt, died November 5, 1732.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QcWAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22john+devotion%22+suffield&pg=PA83|title=Documentary History of Suffield: In the Colony and Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, 1660-1749|date=March 18, 1879|publisher=C.W. Bryan Company|via=Google Books}}</ref> Some of Leavitt's descendants became ardent abolitionists, including Joshua Leavitt and his cousin Roger Hooker Leavitt, who operated an Underground Railroad station in Charlemont, Massachusetts.
One of the earliest graduates of the Yale Medical School was one of Suffield's earliest physicians. Dr. Asaph Leavitt Bissell, born in 1791 at Hanover, New Hampshire, to parents originally from Suffield,<ref name="dwight1">{{cite book |author=Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight |title= The history of the descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass |volume= 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLfMU4yd1FYC&pg=PA416 |year=1874 |publisher=J. F. Trow & son, printers and bookbinders |isbn= 9780788448911 |author-link= Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight }}</ref> attended Dartmouth College, and later graduated in the second class of the Yale Medical School. Bissell moved to Suffield, where he rode horseback to make house calls on his patients. Bissell's saddlebags are today in the collection of the Yale Medical School's Historical Society.<ref>[http://yalemedicine.yale.edu/ym_ws98/gallery/gallery_01.html When house calls were horse calls, Yale Medicine, Winter/Spring 1998]</ref>
==Geography== According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of {{convert|111.2|km2|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|109.5|km2|order=flip}} is land and {{convert|1.8|sqkm|order=flip}}, or 1.58%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010">{{Cite web| url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/0600000US0900374540| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212143004/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/0600000US0900374540| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 12, 2020| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Suffield town, Hartford County, Connecticut| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=November 28, 2012}}</ref> The town center (Suffield Depot CDP) has a total area of {{convert|5.1|km2|order=flip}}, all of it land.
Suffield is on the west bank of the Connecticut River, {{convert|8|mi|0}} south of the river's largest city, Springfield, Massachusetts, and {{convert|16|mi}} north of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. Two bridges span the river to the town of Enfield: the Amtrak/Springfield Terminal Railroad Bridge and the Enfield–Suffield Veterans Bridge.
The Metacomet Ridge, a mountainous trap rock ridgeline that stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border, runs through the center of Suffield from south to north as West Suffield Mountain. The {{convert|51|mi|adj=on}} Metacomet Trail traverses the ridge.
==Demographics== {{See also|List of Connecticut locations by per capita income}} {{US Census population |1850= 2962 |1860= 3260 |1870= 3277 |1880= 3225 |1890= 3169 |1900= 3521 |1910= 3841 |1920= 4070 |1930= 4346 |1940= 4475 |1950= 4895 |1960= 6779 |1970= 8634 |1980= 9294 |1990= 11427 |2000= 13552 |2010= 15735 |2020= 15752 |footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref> }}
As of the census<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref> of 2000, there were 13,552 people, 4,660 households, and 3,350 families residing in the town. The population density was {{convert|321.0|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 4,853 housing units at an average density of {{convert|115.0|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the town was 88.67% White, 6.95% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.94% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.03% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.25% of the population.
There were 4,660 households, out of which 32.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.2% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.1% were non-families. Of all households, 23.3% were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.1% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 116.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 121.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $66,698, and the median income for a family was $79,189. Males had a median income of $52,096 versus $35,188 for females. The per capita income for the town was $28,171. About 1.8% of families and 3.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.5% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.
==Arts and culture== ===Historic homes and sites=== thumb|Burbank-Hatheway House, built {{circa|1735}} thumb|upright|West Suffield Mountain
Main Street, a designated historic district with the Green, three churches, Suffield Academy and vintage colonial and Victorian homes, typifies a New England town. Named for the Kent family of Suffield, the Kent Memorial Library is an important research center for source materials, records, and documents from north-central Connecticut. A walk along Main Street reveals many examples of 18th and 19th century architecture. The Dr. Alexander King House, on the corner of Kent Avenue, and the Phelps-Hatheway House, a little farther north on Main Street, are museums open to the public from May to October.
===Historic sites=== Sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places include:<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>
* Alexander King House * Babb's Beach * Farmington Canal-New Haven and Northampton Canal – roughly from Suffield to New Haven * Gothic Cottage * Hastings Hill Historic District * Hatheway House (also known as "Phelps-Hatheway House and Garden") – reflects two architectural styles: the original 1761 building is a typical colonial house, the 1794 north wing is one of the first examples of the Neoclassical style in the Connecticut River Valley<ref>''Connecticut, Massachusetts & Rhode Island Tourbook, 2007 edition'' (2007). p. 60. AAA Publishing, Heathrow, Florida</ref> * Hilltop Farm<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hilltopfarmsuffield.org/|title=George Hendee farm | Hilltop Farm Suffield | Suffield, CT|website=Hilltop Farm}}</ref> * John Fuller House * King's Field House * Lewis-Zukowski House * Suffield Historic District
==Government== === Voter registration === {| class="wikitable" ! colspan="6" | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of November 1, 2022<ref>{{cite web |title=Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of November 1, 2022 |url=https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sots/electionservices/registration_and_enrollment_stats/nov22re.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022020124/https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SOTS/ElectionServices/Registration_and_Enrollment_Stats/Nov22RE.pdf |archive-date=October 22, 2023 |access-date=October 21, 2023 |url-status=live |publisher=Connecticut Secretary of State}}</ref> |- ! colspan="2" | Party ! Active Voters ! Inactive Voters ! Total Voters ! Percentage |- | {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}} | Democratic | align="center" | 2,566 | align="center" | 205 | align="center" | 2,771 | align="center" | 25.86% |- | {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}} | Republican | align="center" | 2,763 | align="center" | 215 | align="center" | 2,978 | align="center" | 27.80% |- | {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}} | Unaffiliated | align="center" | 4,197 | align="center" | 447 | align="center" | 4,644 | align="center" | 43.35% |- | {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}} | Minor parties | align="center" | 294 | align="center" | 27 | align="center" | 321 | align="center" | 2.99% |- ! colspan="2" | Total ! align="center" | 9,820 ! align="center" | 894 ! align="center" | 10,714 ! align="center" | 100% |}
===List of First Selectmen=== {| class=wikitable |- valign=bottom ! Representative ! Party ! Years ! Note |- | Roland Dowd || {{party shading/Independent}} | Suffield Community Party || 1995–1997 || Defeated for reelection |- | Robert Skinner || {{party shading/Republican}} | Republican || 1997–2001 || Did not seek reelection |- | Elaine Sarsynski || {{party shading/Republican}} | Republican || 2001–2005 || Did not seek reelection |- | Scott Lingenfelter || {{party shading/Republican}} | Republican || 2005–2009 || Defeated for reelection |- | Tom Frenaye || {{party shading/Democratic}} | Democratic || 2009–2011 || Defeated for reelection |- | Edward McAnaney || {{party shading/Republican}} | Republican || 2011–2015 || Defeated for reelection |- | Melissa Mack || {{party shading/Democratic}} | Democratic || 2015–2021 || Defeated incumbent by a 637-vote margin, ran unopposed in two subsequent elections, defeated for reelection after third term |- | Colin Moll || {{party shading/Republican}} | Republican || 2021–present || |}
==Education== The town's public school system, Suffield Public Schools, includes Spaulding Elementary School, McAlister Intermediate School, Suffield Middle School, and Suffield High School.
Suffield is also the home of Suffield Academy, a private coeducational preparatory school.
==Notable people== * Willis Seaver Adams (1842–1921), landscape painter and part of the Tonalism movement which took place in the late 19th century; born in Suffield<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.suffield-library.org/localhistory/adams.htm|title=Willis Seaver Adams (1844-1921)|publisher=Kent Memorial Library|access-date= October 22, 2012}}</ref> * Ran Blake, pianist * Selden M. Bronson, former Wisconsin State Assemblyman * Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), American dietary reformer; born in Suffield<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.suffield-library.org/localhistory/graham.htm|title=Sylvester Graham (1794-1851)|publisher=Suffield Library|access-date= October 22, 2012}}</ref> * Amos P. Granger, former US Congressman * Francis Granger, former US Congressman and Postmaster General * Gideon Granger, former US Postmaster General * Judson Worthington Hastings (1853–1923), physician and public official * George M. Hendee. Founder of Indian Motorcycle; moved to Suffield after retiring * Chris Kellogg, current morning host of The Kellogg Krew morning show on WMAS-FM * Titus Kent (''fl.'' 1775–1783), an enslaved man who enlisted as a Connecticut militiaman for eight years in the American Revolutionary War. * W. Bruce Lincoln, scholar of Russian history * Thaddeus J. Martin. Major General in the United States Air Force and Connecticut Adjutant General * Eliphalet Remington, Engineer and founder of Remington Arms, born in Suffield * David Newton Sheldon, 5th President of Colby College * Israel Smith (1759–1810), served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, a member of the United States Senate and Governor of Vermont; born in Suffield<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_vermont/col2-content/main-content-list/title_smith_israel.html|title=Vermont Governor Israel Smith|publisher= National Governors Association|access-date= October 22, 2012}}</ref> * Noah Smith (1756–1812), brother of Israel Smith, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Taft |first=Russell S. |date=January 1, 1894 |title=The Supreme Court of Vermont, Part II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zA6SAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA30 |magazine=The Green Bag |location=Boston |publisher=Boston Book Company |ref={{sfnRef|"The Supreme Court of Vermont, Part II"}}}}</ref> * Timothy Swan (1758–1842), composer and hatmaker; resident of Suffield<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.suffield-library.org/localhistory/swan.htm|title= Timothy Swan (1758-1843)|publisher= Suffield Library |access-date= October 22, 2012}}</ref> * Emily Sweeney, member of 2018 US Olympic luge team * John Tod (1779–1830), United States Congressman for Pennsylvania * Hugh M. Alcorn (1872–1955), politician and lawyer<ref>{{cite web | title=Olin Warner | url=https://www.suffield-library.org/localhistory/alcorn.htm }}</ref> * Greg Butler, visual affects supervisor
== See also == * {{Portal inline|Connecticut}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *[https://www.suffieldct.gov/ Town of Suffield official website]
{{Connecticut}} {{Hartford County, Connecticut}} {{Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut}} {{Greater Hartford}} {{Connecticut River}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Suffield, Connecticut Category:Connecticut populated places on the Connecticut River Category:Greater Hartford Category:Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts Category:Towns in Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut Category:Towns in Connecticut Category:Towns in Hartford County, Connecticut