The original settlement of Waterbury was in 1674 in the Town Plot section. King Philip's War caused it to be vacated and the location was changed to the Western part of the Green in 1677. Both sites are marked. The Algonquin name for the area was "Matetacoke" meaning "place without trees." It appeared as "Mattatock" in 1673, "Mattatuck" in the General Court record of May 18, 1674, and on May 15, 1686, "This court grants that Mattatuck shall be and belong to the County of Hartford, and the name of the plantation shall be for the future Waterbury.
"Quid Aere Perennius" is the inscription in marble above the City Hall entrance. It translates as "What is More Lasting Than Brass?" and was chosen by Frederick Kingsbury for his design of the Waterbury Seal in 1876. It was inspired by Horace's Book III, Ode XXX:
"I have executed a monument which is more lasting than brass and more sublime than the regal elevation of pyramids which neither wasting the shower, the unvailing north wind, or an innumerable succession of years and the flight of seasons shall be able to demolish."
Waterbury occupies 28.9 square miles. Its elevation is between 215 and 965 feet above sea level. Its population is approximately 105,000.
Waterbury is located in New Haven County, in the Eastern Time Zone, midway between the 41st and 42nd latitudes north (roughly the same as Avigliano, Italy) and directly on the 73rd longitude west (the same as the coast of Chile.)
The public school system consists of: 3 high schools, 3 middle schools, and 19 elementary schools. There are 10 private or parochial elementary schools, and 3 private or parochial high schools.
Waterbury is the metropolitan center for a 13-town region known as the Central Naugatuck Valley. The City sits at the crossroads of two major expressways, I-84 and Route 8. This makes any site in Waterbury easily accessible from all points in the Northeast. Driving times from major American cities to Waterbury are:
* 1 1/2 hours from New York
* 1/2 hour from New Haven
* 2 1/2 hours from Boston
3/4 hour from Springfield
* 1/2 hour from Hartford
* 1/2 hour from Bridgeport
Source: http://www.munic.state.ct.us/WATERBURY/factg.htm Date: 062603
