Farmington Town Hall is located at 1 Monteith Drive, Farmington CT 06032; phone: 860-675-2300.
Often called the 'mother of towns,' because it formerly included land which has been divided into 9 other towns, Farmington was settled in 1640 by a party of colonists from Hartford, a year after Captain John Mason had been sent by the three river towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor to explore the region then inhabited by the Tunxis Indians. Fiver years later, the settlement was incorporated and named Farmington, probably for the English Farmington in Gloucester, though the name may have been suggested by the occupation of the settlers.
After the American Revolution, the town entered upon a period of industrial activity which continued throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1802 and 1803, 15,000 yards of linen were manufactured, and 2,500 hats were made by Timothy Root's shop on Hatter's Lane; leather goods were being made in four shops, and muskets and buttons were being manufactured. Other industries were operated by clock-makers, silversmiths, goldsmiths and tinsmiths; candle-makers, carriage-builders and cabinet makers, whose products were shipped to the South and peddled through the States by Yankee peddlers. During this period the Farmington East India Company did a thriving shipping business, and the town became a prosperous mercantile center.
The opening of the Farmington Canal through this section in 1828 brought increased trade and prosperity to the town, which continued until 1848 when the waterway was closed because of landslides. By 1935 commercial activity in Farmington included only small local stores and wayside tea rooms, with principal industries being dairying and agriculture.