History of Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States.
The 2000 census measured the population at 74,848, but a July 1, 2005, update put it at 78,736. In 2005, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the city actually numbers around near 90,000, due to recent immigration from Ecuador, by HatCity BLOG, Retrieved November 17, 2006 and Brazil. An unofficial estimate is that there are 5,000 Ecuadorians (mostly from the Andes province of Azuay) and 15,000 Brazilians (mostly from the southeastern state of Minas Gerais).
Danbury is one of the fastest-growing cities in Connecticut, possibly because the cost of living is relatively low compared to other regions within rail-commuting distance of New York City (via Metro North).
The city may have been named for the origin of many of the early settlers, Danbury Essex in England. Its nickname is Hat City because it used to be a center of the hat industry, at one point producing 25% of America's hats.
Danbury is the site of a low-security women's prison, by Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Facilities, Retrieved November 17, 2006 which was formerly a men's prison. Notable ex-prisoners include cocaine dealer and trafficker of Blow fame George Jung, Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon. Sun Myung Moon, actor Robert Lowe and hotel magnate Leona Helmsley. James Michael Curley, mayor of Boston from 1945-1949, spent five months of his mayoral term at Danbury Federal Prison, after he was convicted on federal charges of official misconduct.
Danbury Hospital is a 400-bed institution with 3,300 employees.2006 Book of Business Lists, Facts and People, published by Westfair Communications Inc. of White Plains, N.Y., in conjunction with its Fairfield County Business Journal, page 57 The hospital is the home of the new Praxair Regional Heart and Vascular center, providing state of the art cardiovascular care to this growing region including open heart surgery and coronary angioplasty.
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