Originally known as Aspinock,
then part of Killingly, Putnam was
incorporated in 1855, carved out of Killingly, Pomfret,
and Thompson and named
in honor of General
Israel Putnam of Revolutionary War fame. Some of
the early settlers led the expansion to the Northwest Territory
in 1787.
One of the first cotton mills in the country was built here in 1806. With the
availability of waterpower and the opening of the railroad in 1840, textile industries
flourished. After the mill district was ravaged by the flood of 1955, the Industrial
area of Putnam was rebuilt. |
