As I prepare to travel from sunny Texas to the snowy Northeast, to teach a seminar and give a reading from my works at the esteemed Western Connecticut State University (venue of the nation’s only MFA course in Professional Writing) in historic and picturesque Danbury, former hat-making center and chief town of bucolic Fairfield County, I leave my readers, such as they are, with vital info gleaned from the local Chamber of Commerce website. These dry data will have to do until first-hand experience returns with me to flesh them out.
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, in the Bridgeport-Stamford metro area.
The community was named after a town in England.
The latitude of Danbury is 41.402N. The longitude is -73.471W.
It is in the Eastern Standard time zone. Elevation is 397 feet.
The estimated population, in 2003, was 77,353.
Danbury is on the Still River.
Former name:
· Paquiage
Once a hat-making center.
British forces set fire to the town in 1777.
Poet Robert Lowell served six months in the federal prison here for his stance as a conscientious objector during World War II. Danbury was the filming location for "Rachel, Rachel" (1968). Notable residents have included Charles Ives, Marian Anderson, and Rex Stout.
