Lakeville, Connecticut

Lakeville is a village and census-designated place in the town of Salisbury in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on Lake Wononskopomuc[1] of the New York metropolitan area. The village includes Lakeville Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district represents about 10 acres (40,000 m2) of the village center of Lakeville where the street grid remains virtually unchanged from the late 19th century. The district is defined to include properties and sites that contributed to the historical development of the village. It is noted that the district area "is surrounded by a much larger area containing many additional historic industrial, commercial, residential, religious, and recreational sites and structures."[2] Lakeville is also a US Postal Service ZIP code (06039) that includes the hamlet of Lime Rock as well as the village of Lakeville and the surrounding area.

History

Until 1846, Lakeville was called "Furnace Village", due to the location there of one of the early blast furnaces of the historic Salisbury iron industry (one of which was established in the 1760s by future Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen). Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, inventor of the Hotchkiss gun was born in nearby Watertown. A boarding school in his name, the Hotchkiss School, was founded by his widow Maria Bissell Hotchkiss in Lakeville in 1891. It later became coeducational. Lakeville is also the home of Indian Mountain School which is a boarding school for students Pre-K through 9th. It was founded in 1922.[3]

Other notable events

In the early 1950s, the well-known Belgian-French writer Georges Simenon resided for several years in Shadow Rock Farm, a large house in Lakeville. The town forms the background for Simenon's novel La Mort de Belle (The Death of Belle), depicting its small town quiet life being shattered by the (fictional) murder of a young girl. It was later adapted to film, released as Passion of Slow Fire, or The End of Belle (see )

Lakeville is the site of Connecticut’s oldest cold case. Camp Sloane camper Connie Smith left the camp on Indian Mountain Road on the morning of July 16, 1952. Connie was ten years old and was from Sundance, Wyoming; she was the granddaughter of former Wyoming Governor Nels H. Smith. Several people observed her walking and hitchhiking toward the center of Lakeville. Connie was last seen walking along Route 44 near the intersection of Belgo Road. Her disappearance sparked one of the largest searches ever conducted by the Connecticut State Police. Despite a nationwide search, she was never found, and foul play is suspected. Her case remains open and still has a detective assigned to it.[4]

Harpsichordist Wanda Landowska was a resident of Lakeville from 1949 until her death in 1959. From the 1970s onward, Nobel Economics Laureate Wassily Leontief made his summer home here.

New England's oldest Methodist congregation is in Lakeville.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lakeville, Connecticut
  2. ↑ National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Lakeville Historic District, p.2
  3. ↑ citation needed
  4. ↑ Dooling, Michael C. Clueless in New England: The Unsolved Disappearances of Paula Welden, Connie Smith and Katherine Hull. The Carrollton Press, 2010.
  5. ↑ http://nyac.com/pages/detail/1688?id=28#lakeville

External links

Coordinates: 41°57′52.3″N 73°26′26.8″W / 41.964528°N 73.440778°W