Meriden

History

Meriden was originally a part of the neighboring town of Wallingford. It was granted a separate meetinghouse in 1727, became a town in 1806 with over 1,000 residents. Meriden was incorporated as a city in 1867, with just under 9,000 residents. It was once proposed as the Connecticut state capital. It was named for the village of Meriden, West Midlands, England, near Birmingham. The oldest house in town, the Solomon Goffe House, was built by Solomon Goffe in 1711, and became a museum in 1986. Timothy Jerome's son, Samuel, is the great-great-grandfather of Jennie Jerome, Winston Churchill's mother. In the second half of the 1800s, Meriden became a manufacturing center of note, with several companies forming, or relocating to the city, involved in the production of mainly silver, lamps and metalware, glassware, guns, and musical instruments. A substantial number of design and technology patents were secured. For silver, the numerous companies included the Meriden Britannia Company (a predecessor of the International Silver Company with corporate HQ in Meriden), Meriden earned the nickname "Silver City", due to the large number of silver manufacturers, and the International Silver Co. continued production until the early 1980s. Along with the silver companies, other producers of cutlery included the Meriden Cutlery Co. and Miller Bros. Cutlery. In 1876, the Meriden Britannia Company made significant efforts at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and won the First place medal for plated wares. According to the Sotheby's auction house, "The publicity of the award and the impression the firm made on the fair's 8 million visitors was continued by the catalogues and other intensive marketing; by the end of the 1870s Meriden Britannia Co. was considered the largest…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.1 square miles (62.5 km), of which 23.8 square miles (61.5 km) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km), or 1.66%, is water. Meriden is a showcase for a number of prominent peaks of the Metacomet Ridge, a mountainous trap rock ridgeline that stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border. Notable peaks in Meriden include the Hanging Hills (West Peak, East Peak, South Mountain, and Cathole Mountain); Lamentation Mountain, Chauncey Peak, and Besek Mountain. Castle Craig, a city landmark for over a century, was constructed among the Hanging Hills in Hubbard Park. The Quinnipiac River courses through the southwest quadrant of the city, known to area residents as "South Meriden", where it meanders through a gorge lined with several exposed sandstone and brownstone cliffs. Harbor Brook (originally named Pilgrim Harbor Brook) cuts through the town from the northeast to the southwest before emptying into Hanover Pond, an impoundment on the Quinnipiac River in South Meriden. * Meriden Center * South Meriden

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Francis T. Maloney High School
  High · Meriden · 1,264 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Orville H. Platt High School
  High · Meriden · 1,108 students · 14.4:1 ratio
• Lyman Hall High School
  High · Wallingford · 930 students · 9.7:1 ratio
• H. C. Wilcox Technical High School
  High · Meriden · 761 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Mark T. Sheehan High School
  High · Wallingford · 722 students · 10.5:1 ratio
• Lincoln Middle School
  Middle · Meriden · 688 students · 13:1 ratio
• Edison Middle School
  Middle · Meriden · 665 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• Washington Middle School
  Middle · Meriden · 622 students · 12.7:1 ratio