Cornwall

CORNWALL This area was once part of the Western Lands ordered surveyed by the Legislature in 1731. Yale Lands were surveyed and three hundred acres were set aside for income for Yale College in 1732. At an auction in Fairfield in 1738 the town was sold in fifty shares, named Cornwall, and incorporated in 1740. After the church "gathered" in 1740 schools began to open. In time there were seventeen school districts. The Foreign Mission School in 1817 numbered among the students an Hawaiian, Obookiah, who links Cornwall eternally to Hawaii. (Continued on other side) CORNWALL (Continued from other side) An agricultural school was started in 1849. More than ten private schools have educated youth through the years. Farming was the earliest industry. The Cornwall Iron Company, founded in 1833, increased prosperity and growth. Products found new markets with the advent of the Housatonic Railroad in 1842. Ira Allen, the Vermont statesman, was born here. A Civil War general, John Sedgwick, is remembered by a monument. Mark Van Doren, poet-teacher, enriched many lives from his Cornwall home. State landmarks: Cornwall Bridge Railroad Station, West Cornwall Covered Bridge.