Windsor Locks is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares ...
in
Hartford County, Connecticut
Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2020 census, the population was 899,498, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. Hartford County contains the ...
, United States. As of the
2020 census, its population was 12,613.
It is the site of
Bradley International Airport
Bradley International Airport is a public international airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, United States. Owned and operated by the Connecticut Airport Authority, it is the second-largest airport in New England.
The airport is about half ...
, which serves the
Greater Hartford-Springfield region and occupies approximately 1/3 of the town. Windsor Locks is also the site of the
New England Air Museum.
Located beside the
Connecticut River and equidistant from the densely populated cities of
Springfield, Massachusetts and
Hartford, Connecticut, Windsor Locks is named for a set of
canal locks that opened in 1829. Windsor Locks is situated just south of the first large falls in the Connecticut River, the
Enfield Falls
Enfield Falls Canal (commonly known as the Windsor Locks Canal) is a canal that was built to circumvent the shallows at Enfield Falls (or Enfield Rapids) on the Connecticut River, between Hartford, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts. It is ...
, which is the
head of navigation
The head of navigation is the farthest point above the mouth of a river that can be navigated by ships. Determining the head of navigation can be subjective on many streams, as the point may vary greatly with the size or the draft of the ship ...
(the farthest point that seagoing vessels can reach) of the Connecticut River. The
Enfield Falls Canal circumvents the Enfield Falls and its nearby shallows.
History<