The Silver City of Connecticut, a factory city that was home to what was once called the largest silverware company in the world, under the cliffs of the Hanging Hills and the stone tower of Castle Craig.

New Haven County · Record checked October 8, 2026

60,850Population2020 census1
1806Became a townfrom Wallingford's North Farms2
1867Became a citywith just under 9,000 people1
1,024 ftWest Peakhighest of the Hanging Hills3
12National Registerplaces, all still standing4

Then and now

The same town 151 years apart. Click either map to look closer.

Bird's-eye view map of Meriden, Connecticut from 1875 by C.H. Vogt, restored by KNOWOL

1875

The bird's-eye view

By C.H. Vogt

The Silver City drawn as if from the sky, with its streets, churches and factories, from the Meriden Britannia Company and Bradley and Hubbard to Parker Brothers Gun Works and the Wilcox Silver Plating works.5

See the 1875 printMore about this map
Map of Meriden, Connecticut in 2026, with downtown, the Hanging Hills, Castle Craig, Hubbard Park and 34 numbered landmarks

2026

Meriden today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills from the cliffs of the Hanging Hills down to the Quinnipiac River, every street, Castle Craig on East Peak, and a guide of 34 numbered landmarks with the National Register sites marked.6

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Meriden

From North Farms to the Silver City

Meriden began as North Farms, the northern part of Wallingford, and became its own town in 1806. Two years later Ashbel Griswold, who had learned the trade as an apprentice to a Rocky Hill tin and pewter maker, came to Meriden and began making block-tin, and the britannia works grew out of his shop. In the second half of the 1800s Meriden turned into a factory city, making ivory combs, buttons, tinware, lamps, glassware, guns and musical instruments, and above all silver. The Meriden Britannia Company won the first place medal for plated wares at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, and Meriden became known as the Silver City. The International Silver Company kept making silver here until the early 1980s.127

Castle Craig and the Hanging Hills

The Hanging Hills, a horseshoe of traprock cliffs, rise more than 700 feet over the city. Most of Hubbard Park, about 1,800 acres around Mirror Lake, was a gift from the manufacturer Walter Hubbard, on condition that everything in it stay free for the people of Meriden. On East Peak he built Castle Craig, a 32-foot stone tower, and gave it to the city in 1900, serving six barrels of roasted clams at the dedication. From the top you can see Long Island Sound to the south and the Hartford skyline to the north.893

The stone fort on the old road

Before Meriden had a name on any town list, the colony granted a Mr. Belcher five hundred acres here on one condition: he had to build a stone house or fort with port holes and keep arms and ammunition in it. With the land came the right to keep a tavern forever. The fort went up between 1660 and 1667, and a bigger one replaced it about 1690. It stood on the old road in the upper part of town, a noted place through the French and Revolutionary wars, and stayed a tavern until the turnpike came in 1799. In 1784 the first stage in Connecticut ran through Meriden on the old country road. By the 1830s travelers knew the village tavern as the half-way house, seventeen miles from both Hartford and New Haven.10

Through the years

25 moments from 1660s to today.

  1. 1660sBetween 1660 and 1667 a stone fort with port holes goes up on the Belcher grant, which came with the right to keep a tavern forever.10
  2. 1711The Solomon Goffe House is built. It's still the oldest building in Meriden.11
  3. 1727The people of northern Wallingford are granted their own meetinghouse.1
  4. 1760About this year Samuel Andrews builds the house on West Main Street that his son Moses inherits.12
  5. 1784The first stage in Connecticut runs through Meriden on the old country road.10
  6. 1801Dr. Ensign Hough of Meriden helps bring vaccination to the area, and a Mr. Paddock of Meriden is one of the first two test subjects.13
  7. 1806With more than 1,000 people, Meriden becomes a town, named for the village of Meriden near Birmingham in England.1
  8. 1808Ashbel Griswold comes to Meriden and starts making block-tin, the beginning of the britannia works.7
  9. 1838The railroad from New Haven reaches Meriden, and a business district grows up along Colony Street and West Main Street.14
  10. 1860In March, Abraham Lincoln speaks in Meriden.1
  11. 1867Meriden is incorporated as a city.1
  12. 1875C.H. Vogt draws his bird's-eye view of the city.5
  13. 1876The Meriden Britannia Company wins the first place medal for plated wares at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.1
  14. 1876The Charter Oak Firehouse, the city's first firehouse, is built on Hanover Street.15
  15. 1884On June 28, the Curtis Home for orphan children and aged women is dedicated, built and endowed by Lemuel and Bedotha Curtis.16
  16. 1891The Berlin Iron Bridge Company builds the Red Bridge over the Quinnipiac River.17
  17. 1900On October 29, Walter Hubbard gives Castle Craig to the city. About 250 guests come to the dedication.9
  18. 1903The Curtis Memorial Library opens on East Main Street, a gift from Augusta Munson Curtis.18
  19. 1907The Beaux Arts post office on North Colony Street is built.19
  20. 1930The Aeolian Company closes its Meriden plant and moves to New Jersey.20
  21. 1939Edwin Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio, makes one of the first FM broadcasts from West Peak.3
  22. 1944The War Manpower Commission names Meriden "The Nation's Ideal War Community."1
  23. 1980sThe International Silver Company stops making silver in Meriden.1
  24. 2017The rebuilt Meriden station is finished for the Hartford Line.21
  25. 2018The Red Bridge is restored and opened to people on foot.17

Places to see

The numbers match the landmark guide printed on the 2026 map.

  • 2Castle CraigEast Peak. Walter Hubbard's stone tower of 1900.
  • 4Meriden StationDowntown. Rebuilt for the Hartford Line.
  • 6Meriden City HallDowntown. Beside the Augusta Curtis Cultural Center.
  • 19Red BridgeSouth Meriden. An iron truss bridge of 1891.
  • 20Hubbard ParkHanging Hills. About 1,800 acres around Mirror Lake.
  • 24Meriden Public LibraryDowntown. Just north of City Hall.Visit their website
  • 25Solomon Goffe HouseNorth Colony Road. The oldest house in Meriden.
  • 26Moses Andrews HouseWest Main Street. A museum since about 1940.Visit their website
  • 31Augusta Curtis Cultural CenterDowntown. The library of 1903.
  • 34Meriden Historical Society MuseumWest of downtown. The city's history center.Visit their website

On the National Register

All 12 places in Meriden on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.4

  • Solomon Goffe House

    Built 1711 · Listed 1979 · North Colony Road

    The oldest building still standing in Meriden, older than the town itself. The city owns it and opens it for tours in the summer, so you can step inside a house that was here when Meriden was still North Farms.11

  • Moses Andrews House

    Built about 1760 · Listed 1978 · 424 West Main Street

    One of the few 18th-century houses left in the city. During the Revolution, Moses Andrews was distrusted as a possible Loyalist because of his Anglican faith and ended up holding services in his own home. The historical society has kept it as a museum since about 1940.12

    Visit their website

  • Ives-Baldwin House

    Built about 1798 · Listed 2003 · 474 Baldwin Avenue

    A well-kept farmhouse from the late 1700s, a kind of building that's become rare in a city that grew up around its factories.22

  • Colony Street-West Main Street Historic District

    Late 1800s and early 1900s · Listed 1987 · Downtown

    The heart of downtown, built up after the railroad arrived. Some buildings have been lost since the listing, but the commercial blocks that remain still give it the look of a typical downtown of a century ago.14

  • Charter Oak Firehouse

    Built 1876 · Listed 1994 · 105 Hanover Street

    Meriden's first firehouse and the oldest city-built building still standing. It's a private business now.15

  • Aeolian Company Factory Complex

    Listed 2023 · 85 Tremont Street

    The Aeolian Company, founded in 1887, made musical instruments here until it closed its Meriden plant in 1930. General Electric later leased the factory, and its old buildings are being turned into homes.2023

  • Red Bridge

    Built 1891 · Listed 1993 · Oregon Road, over the Quinnipiac River

    Built by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company, it's one of only a few lenticular truss bridges left in Connecticut, the lens-shaped iron design the company was known for. It's open to people on foot.17

  • Meriden Curtain Fixture Company Factory

    Built 1892 · Listed 1986 · 122 Charles Street

    A good example of the city's factory buildings of the 1890s, tied to Charles Parker, one of Meriden's leading industrialists. It's been turned into homes.24

  • Hubbard Park

    Listed 1997 · West Main Street and the Hanging Hills

    About 1,800 acres of woods, cliffs and gardens around Mirror Lake, mostly a gift from Walter Hubbard on condition that it stay free for the people of Meriden. Castle Craig stands on its East Peak.89

  • Curtis Memorial Library

    Built 1903 · Listed 1981 · 175 East Main Street

    A Classical Revival library that Augusta Munson Curtis gave the city in honor of her husband George, a leading businessman and onetime mayor. It's the Augusta Curtis Cultural Center now.18

  • U.S. Post Office, Meriden Main

    Built 1907 · Listed 1986 · 89 North Colony Street

    Built in 1907 and enlarged in 1932, it's one of the city's finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture.19

  • George A. and Jennie Curtis Fay House

    Listed 2025 · 144 Curtis Street

    Meriden's newest place on the National Register, nominated in 2025.25

Meriden in old postcards

Click any card to see it larger.

  • Mirror Lake in Hubbard Park, 1906

    Mirror Lake in Hubbard Park 190626

  • Colony Street, 1907

    Colony Street 190726

  • City Hall and the First Methodist Church, 1907

    City Hall and the First Methodist Church 190726

  • Meriden's train station, 1909

    Meriden's train station 190926

  • The Meriden YMCA, 1910

    The Meriden YMCA 191026

  • East Main Street and the Curtis Memorial Library, 1924

    East Main Street and the Curtis Memorial Library 192426

In their words

“A spirit of enterprise and activity in business characterizes the inhabitants of this town.”

A gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 181927

“Wholly to the genius of the people; they were determined to succeed and they did.”

A history of 1906, on how Meriden became a great manufacturing city without the natural advantages most factory towns had28

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Meriden, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. Meriden, ConnecticutHistory.org
  3. Hanging Hills, Wikipedia
  4. National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  5. Bird's-eye view of Meriden, 1875, restored by KNOWOL
  6. Map of Meriden, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  7. Historic Towns of the Connecticut River Valley, 1906, Internet Archive
  8. Hubbard Park (Meriden, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  9. Castle Craig, Wikipedia
  10. Connecticut Historical Collections, John Warner Barber, 1836, Internet Archive
  11. Solomon Goffe House, Wikipedia
  12. Moses Andrews House, Wikipedia
  13. Biographical Sketches of the Original Members of the Middlesex County Medical Society, 1877, Internet Archive
  14. Colony Street-West Main Street Historic District, Wikipedia
  15. Charter Oak Firehouse, Wikipedia
  16. Chapter Sketches, Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution, 1904, Internet Archive
  17. Red Bridge (Meriden, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  18. Curtis Memorial Library, Wikipedia
  19. United States Post Office, Meriden Main, Wikipedia
  20. Aeolian Company, Meriden, mill record, Connecticut Mills (Preservation Connecticut)
  21. Meriden station, Wikipedia
  22. Ives-Baldwin House, Wikipedia
  23. 85 Tremont, Trinity Financial
  24. Meriden Curtain Fixture Company Factory, Wikipedia
  25. National Register nominations received, Federal Register, May 13, 2025 (National Park Service)
  26. Welcome to Meriden: old postcards and photographs, KNOWOL
  27. A Gazetteer of the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 1819, Internet Archive
  28. 1906 history quoted on KNOWOL's 1875 Meriden map page, Google Books