Canaan is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Litchfield County,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, United States. The population was 1,080 at the 2020 census, down from 1,234 at the 2010 census. The town is part of the Northwest Hills Planning Region. The town of Canaan is often referred to locally by the name of its principal settlement, Falls Village.

Geography

Canaan is in northwestern Litchfield County; it is bordered to the north by the town of North Canaan, to the east by

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, to the south by

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, and to the west, across the

Housatonic River The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United ...

, by

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. It is northwest of Torrington, north of

Danbury Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...

, and south of

Great Barrington, Massachusetts Great Barrington is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bot ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town of Canaan has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.97%, are water.

Principal communities

* Falls Village (town center) *Huntsville *Lower City *South Canaan

History

The town was incorporated in 1739. The name "

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

" is derived from the Hebrew name for a Semitic-speaking civilization and region of the

Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region that corresponds approximately to present-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan; some definitions also include southern Lebanon, southern Syria and the Sinai Peninsula. As a strictly geographical descript ...

. It was founded in 1739, eight years after the unrelated settlement (in today's

Fairfield County, Connecticut Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. ...

) of

New Canaan New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. About an hour from New York City by train, the town ...

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,081 people, 445 households, and 298 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 610 housing units at an average density of 18.5 per square mile (7.1/km). The racial makeup of the town was 97.04%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.48%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.19% Asian, 0.09%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.37% from other races, and 0.83% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino people of any race were 0.37% of the population. There were 445 households, out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.97. In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.6% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 28.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.6 males. The median income for a household in the town was $54,688, and the median income for a family was $62,500. Males had a median income of $40,438 versus $29,219 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $35,841. About 3.0% of families and 4.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 5.6% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Canaan is a member of Regional School District 1, which also includes the towns of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, North Canaan,

, and

Sharon Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name. In Anglosphere, English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, ...

. Public school students attend Lee H. Kellogg School for grades K–8, and

Housatonic Valley Regional High School Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) is a public high school in Falls Village, Connecticut, United States. The high school serves the six towns of the Region 1 School District, comprising the towns of Canaan, Cornwall, Kent, North Can ...

for grades 9–12.

Notable people

* Philo Belden, Wisconsin politician *

Steve Blass Stephen Robert Blass (born April 18, 1942) is an American retired professional baseball pitcher and television sports color commentator. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in ...

, former Major League Baseball pitcher and current broadcaster *

Major Felten Major Felten, also "Felton" (March 19, 1904 – November 1975) was an American visual artist and illustrator. He produced modernism style designs in charcoal drawings and other media. Early life Felten was born March 19, 1904 in Canaan, Con ...

, artist and illustrator *

James Mars James Mars (March 3, 1790 – May 27, 1880) was an American slave narrative author and political activist. Born into slavery in Canaan, Connecticut, he gained his freedom in 1811. In 1864, he published his memoir ''A Life of James Mars, a Slave ...

slave narrative The slave narrative is a type of literary genre involving the (written) autobiographical accounts of enslaved persons, particularly African diaspora, Africans enslaved in the Americas, though many other examples exist. Over six thousand such narra ...

author *

Judson Philips Judson Pentecost Philips (August 10, 1903 – March 7, 1989) was an American writer who wrote more than 100 mystery and detective novels under the pseudonyms Hugh Pentecost and Philip Owen, as well as under his own name. As Judson Philips, ...

, author of mystery novels *

Cyrus Prindle Cyrus Prindle (April 11, 1800 – December 1, 1885) was an American abolitionist and one of the founders of the Wesleyan Church. He was born in Canaan, Conn., and entered the New York conference in 1821. An Abolitionist in principle, he was re ...

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

and one of the founders of the

Wesleyan Church The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church or Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a United States-based Christian denomination headquartered in Fishers, Indiana, with congregations across North America, th ...

Lemuel Roberts Lemuel Roberts was a soldier and historian of the American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that ...

, Revolutionary War soldier and historian, born in Canaan in 1755 *

Catherine Roraback Catherine Gertrude Roraback (September 17, 1920 – October 17, 2007) was a civil rights attorney in Connecticut, best known for representing Estelle Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton in the famous 1965 Supreme Court case, '' Griswold v. Connecticu ...

, civil rights attorney *

Bates Turner Bates Turner (October 30, 1760 – April 30, 1847) was a Vermont lawyer, judge and politician. In addition to serving as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives, he was a justice of the Vermont Supreme Court for two years. Biography Turn ...

, Vermont politician and jurist *

Elizur Wright Elizur Wright III (12 February 1804 – 22 November 1885) was an American mathematician and abolitionist. He is sometimes described in the United States as "the father of life insurance", or "the father of insurance regulation", as he campaigned t ...

, the "father of life insurance"

Transportation

The town is served by

U.S. Route 7 U.S. Route 7 (US 7) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in western New England that runs for through the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The highway's southern terminus is at Interstate 95 (I-95) e ...

, Route 63, and Route 126. US 7 leads north into

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and south to

, while Route 63 leads southeast to Litchfield. Route 126 is a local road that passes through the center of Falls Village and runs north along the Housatonic River.

Pictures

File:PostcardCanaanCtFamousElm19081914.jpg, "The Famous Elm", File:PostcardHighSchoolBldgCanaanCT1910.jpg, High school, 1910 File:SouthCanaanCongregationalChurch 737.jpg, South Canaan Congregational Church

References

External links

Town of Canaan official websiteFalls Village-Canaan Historical SocietyNorthwest Connecticut Arts CouncilNorthwest Connecticut Convention and Visitors Bureau
{{authority control Towns in Litchfield County, Connecticut Canaan (town), Connecticut Towns in the New York metropolitan area Towns in Connecticut Towns in Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut