A farm town of two old parishes, North Branford and Northford, under the traprock ridge of Totoket Mountain, where inventors on the little Farm River once turned out pins, screws, buttons and shredded coconut.

New Haven County · Record checked October 11, 2026

13,544Population2020 census1
1831Became a townset off from Branford, with Northford1
720 ftTotoket Mountainthe high point of town, in Northford1
1866Soldiers' Monumentdedicated on the village green April 122
5National Registerplaces, all still standing3

North Branford on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of North Branford, Connecticut in 2026, with North Branford center, Northford, Totoket Mountain, Lake Gaillard and 34 numbered landmarks

2026

North Branford today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills from the traprock ridges of Totoket Mountain around Lake Gaillard up to Northford, every street, Clintonville, Northford, North Branford and Totoket by name, and a guide of 34 numbered landmarks with the National Register sites marked.4

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of North Branford

The inventors of the Farm River

Northford is a small place on a small river, but for a few decades it was full of inventors. A 1925 history says Maltby Fowler built the first four-wheel vehicle in Connecticut, then left barrel making for buttons, with four peddlers' carts on the road. He built machines for buttons, combs, spoons, gimlets and pins, and his pin machine was sold to Waterbury when pin making began there. By 1840 the Fowler brothers were selling Northford pins, made on a machine that was in some ways better than the famous Howe machine. Thaddeus Fowler's pin works ran in the old Maltby mill until it moved to Seymour in 1860. He and his brother DeGrasse are credited with a screw machine that turned out 6,000 screws a minute.5678

Coconut dippers and Christmas cards

Around 1850 E. Chapman Maltby was making buttons, wooden spoons and water dippers in Northford, the dippers cut from coconut shells brought in from the West Indies. He found a way to dry and shred the leftover coconut meat, and Northford became the home of shredded coconut in America. About forty people worked there before the business moved to Shelton in 1880. Then the empty buildings filled with printing presses. David Stevens made popular Christmas cards there, and by 1892 card printing was one of the town's chief trades, with more card works at Totoket and North Branford village. The factory came down about 1935, but its foundations by the river are on the National Register as an archaeological site.491011

Totoket and Paug

Before there was a North Branford, the whole tract from the shore to the hills was called Totoket. Settlers from Wethersfield bought it in 1644, and as families pushed north to farm, they formed a church in the North Farms in 1725 and ordained Jonathan Merrick in 1727. Farther north, the place the Indians seem to have called Paug became Northford. Its first minister, Warham Williams, was a grandson of the Deerfield pastor carried off to Canada in 1704, and he served Northford for 38 years. Northford was proud of its schooling, and an 1888 history said no place its size in Connecticut sent more men and women into the professions. In 1831 the two parishes became one town.121314151

Through the years

25 moments from 1638 to today.

  1. 1638New Haven's settlers buy the Totoket tract, which takes in today's North Branford, from the Indian sachems.12
  2. 1644Settlers from Wethersfield buy Totoket and found Branford.12
  3. 1700Before this year the Frisbie and Hoadley families have settled Bare Plain.16
  4. 1705About this year the oldest part of the Howd-Linsley House goes up in what's now Northford.17
  5. 1717The northern farms of Branford are allowed their own Congregational parish.18
  6. 1725The church in the North Farms is organized and named the church in North Branford.12
  7. 1727Rev. Jonathan Merrick is ordained as the parish's first minister.13
  8. 1734Edward Petty is allowed to set up a sawmill and a fulling mill near the center.19
  9. 1745Northford becomes a parish of its own.20
  10. 1750The Northford church is organized on June 13, with Rev. Warham Williams as pastor.21
  11. 1765The North Branford green is laid out, where the militia will muster in the Revolution.18
  12. 1777Colonel William Douglas comes home sick from the battles around New York and dies at Northford.22
  13. 1800About this year the Fourth District School is built on Forest Road.23
  14. 1830Maltby Fowler opens a button shop on the Farm River.1
  15. 1831North Branford and Northford are incorporated together as a town.1
  16. 1840By this year the Fowler brothers of Northford are selling pins made on their own machine.7
  17. 1854The Northford Manufacturing Company is formed to make tinware and household goods.24
  18. 1860The Fowler pin works at Northford moves to Seymour.8
  19. 1866The Soldiers' Monument, of Stony Creek granite, is dedicated on the North Branford green on April 12.2
  20. 1871Land around Pistapaug Pond, north of Totoket Mountain, is annexed to North Branford.25
  21. 1876E. Chapman Maltby's Northford coconut wins first prize at the Centennial Exposition.4
  22. 1889A post office named Totoket opens near the Bare Plain chapel.11
  23. 1926Lake Gaillard, the reservoir inside the arms of Totoket Mountain, is formed.1
  24. 1928The Fourth District School is moved into Northford to save it.23
  25. 1958The Totoket Historical Society is founded, as the Northford Historical Institute.1

Places to see

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

  • 8Reynolds-Beers HouseNorth Branford center. Home of the Totoket Historical Society.
  • 10Fourth District SchoolNorthford. One-room schoolhouse of about 1800.
  • 15Northford Center Historic DistrictMiddletown Avenue. The old village of Northford.
  • 16Lake Gaillard Watershed Reserve LandTotoket Mountain. Reservoir lands around Lake Gaillard.
  • 18Big GulphNorthford. Trails on Totoket Mountain.
  • 20Atwater LibraryNorth Branford center. Brick library of 1943 on the green.Visit their website
  • 25Howd-Linsley HouseMiddletown Avenue. Saltbox begun about 1705.
  • 28George Baldwin HouseFoxon Road. Small Greek Revival house, probably 1830s.
  • 33North Branford Congregational ChurchNorth Branford center. Romanesque church of 1908.
  • 34North Branford Center Historic DistrictNorth Street and Foxon Road. The old town center and green.

On the National Register

All 5 places in North Branford on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.3

  • Howd-Linsley House

    Built about 1705 · Listed 1986 · 1795 Middletown Avenue

    A saltbox with a massive central chimney whose oldest part dates to about 1705, a candidate for the oldest building in town. It was restored in 1928, when its 19th-century additions were taken off.17

  • North Branford Center Historic District

    Listed 1999 · Roughly along Church and North Streets

    The town's civic and religious center since the early 1700s, grown up around the site of the first church. It takes in the green of 1765, where the militia mustered in the Revolution, the oldest cemetery, the 1908 church, the Atwater Memorial Library and North Branford Hall of about 1870.18

  • Northford Center Historic District

    Listed 2002 · Roughly along Middletown Avenue and parts of Old Post Road

    The village of Northford, settled in the early 1700s and made a small industrial village in the 1800s by the Maltby and Fowler families. It includes a tavern of 1776, the Henry Austin church and many fine houses from before the Civil War.20

  • Fourth District School

    Built about 1800 · Listed 1985 · Old Post Road

    A rare surviving Connecticut schoolhouse from about 1800. It stood on Forest Road until 1928, when it was moved into Northford to save it, and the Totoket Historical Society keeps it as a museum.23

  • George Baldwin House

    Listed 1977 · 530 Foxon Road

    A small Greek Revival house, probably built in the 1830s, with two Doric columns at the door. Its design has been credited to the New Haven architect Ithiel Town, though that is not certain.26

In their words

“Northford has furnished more liberally educated men and women for various professions than any other place of equal size in the whole state.”

Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, 188815

“The inhabitants are generally substantial farmers, and property is very equally distributed.”

John Warner Barber, Connecticut Historical Collections, 183613

“Fifty years ago this little Farm river began to be much used to furnish the power needed to carry on the industries devised by some of the citizens of Northford.”

History of New Haven County, 18926

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. North Branford, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Soldiers' Monument, Internet Archive
  3. National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  4. Map of North Branford, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  5. History of Connecticut in monographic form (1925), on Maltby Fowler and his sons, Internet Archive
  6. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Farm River inventors, Internet Archive
  7. The Brass Industry in Connecticut (1909), on the Fowler pin machine, Internet Archive
  8. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the United States Pin Company, Internet Archive
  9. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the coconut and card works, Internet Archive
  10. Maltby-Stevens Factory Site, Wikipedia
  11. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Totoket and North Branford village, Internet Archive
  12. Contributions to the ecclesiastical history of Connecticut (1861), on Totoket and the North Farms church, Internet Archive
  13. Connecticut Historical Collections, John Warner Barber (1836), on North Branford, Internet Archive
  14. Connecticut Historical Collections, John Warner Barber (1836), on Northford, Internet Archive
  15. Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society (1888), on the Northford church, Internet Archive
  16. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Bare Plain, Internet Archive
  17. Howd-Linsley House, Wikipedia
  18. North Branford Center Historic District, Wikipedia
  19. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on North Branford's early mills, Internet Archive
  20. Northford Center Historic District, Wikipedia
  21. By-laws, rules of procedure, and catalogue of churches of the New Haven East Consociation (1854), Internet Archive
  22. Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut (1911), on Colonel William Douglas, Internet Archive
  23. Fourth District School, Wikipedia
  24. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Northford Manufacturing Company, Internet Archive
  25. A history of the plantation of Menunkatuck and of the original town of Guilford (1897), Internet Archive
  26. George Baldwin House, Wikipedia