Bethel, Connecticut

Bethel, Connecticut
Town
Location in Connecticut
NECTA	Danbury
Region	Housatonic Valley
Incorporated	1855
Government
• Type	Selectman-town meeting
• First selectman	Robert E. Burke
Area
• Total	43.8 km2 (16.9 sq mi)
• Land	43.5 km2 (16.8 sq mi)
• Water	0.2 km2 (0.1 sq mi)
Elevation	147 m (482 ft)
Population  (2005)
• Total	18,760
• Density	431/km2 (1,117/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP code	06801
Area code	203
FIPS code	09-04720
GNIS feature ID	0213390
Website	bethelct.org

Bethel is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA, about sixty miles from New York City.

The town is easily accessible from Interstate 84 and has a train station on the Danbury Branch of Metro-North's New Haven line.

In Bethel

• Bicycle manufacturer Cannondale, battery manufacturer Duracell, and watch battery distributor Star Struck LLC are all headquartered in Bethel
• Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore and actress Meg Ryan are from Bethel.
• In 1934, Rudolph Kunett started the first vodka distillery in the U.S. after purchasing rights to the recipe from the exiled Smirnoff family.
• Bethel High School is home to an award-winning NJROTC unit. [1]

History

For 96 years, until its secession in 1855, Bethel was a parish of Danbury. The name "Bethel" means "House of El (God)".

On the National Register of Historic Places

• Greenwood Avenue Historic District — Roughly along Greenwood Ave., P.T. Barnum Sq., Depot Pl., and South St. (added 1999)
• Rev. John Ely House — 54 Milwaukee Ave. (added May 25, 2001)
• Seth Seelye House — 189 Greenwood Ave. (added September 29, 1977)

Historic pictures

• 
  Bird's eye view, ca. 1910
• 
  P.T. Barnum Fountain, ca. 1914
• 
  Greenwood Avenue, ca. 1909
• 
  South Street, ca. 1910

Notable people, past and present

• P. T. Barnum (1810-1891) was born in Bethel at 55 Greenwood Avenue. He expanded the home during his youth after a fire destroyed the front of the building.
• Jan Miner (1917-2004) an actress who played Madge, the wisecracking manicurist in the long-running Palmolive dishwashing detergent television commercials, died in town.
• Thurston Moore (born 1958), singer and guitarist for Sonic Youth, was raised in town.
• Meg Ryan was raised in Bethel..
• Julius Hawley Seelye (1824-1895) a missionary, author, U.S. Representative, and former president of Amherst College who is said to have created the system of Latin Honors in use at many universities worldwide, was born in town..
• Bruce Willis has a home in Bethel..

Movies filmed (at least partly) in Bethel

• The Case of the Cosmic Comic (1976)
• Rachel, Rachel (1968)

Source: Internet Movie DataBase Web site's page for Bethel, Connecticut

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 16.9 square miles (43.7 km²), of which, 16.8 square miles (43.5 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.53%) is water.

Demographics

Historical population of Bethel[2]
1860	1,711
1870	2,311
1880	2,727
1890	3,401
1900	3,327
1910	3,792
1920	3,201
1930	3,886
1940	4,105
1950	5,104
1960	8,200
1970	10,945
1980	16,004
1990	17,541
2000	18,067
2002	18,449 (est.)

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 18,067 people, 6,505 households, and 4,846 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,075.7 people per square mile (415.5/km²). There were 6,653 housing units at an average density of 396.1/sq mi (153.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town in 2005 was 85.86% White, 1.91% African American, 0.26% Native American, 4.58% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.20% from other races or of multiple races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.33% of the population. 20.2% were of Italian, 17.5% Irish, 9.1% German, 7.0% English, 6.7% American and 6.0% Polish ancestry according to Census 2000 [3]. 88.7% spoke English, 4.4% Spanish, 3.3% Portuguese, 1.5% German and 1.0% French as their first language [4].

There were 6,505 households out of which 38.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.4% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.5% were non-families. 20.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the town the population was spread out with 27.3% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.1 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $68,891, and the median income for a family was $78,358. Males had a median income of $51,816 versus $36,544 for females. The per capita income for the town was $28,927. About 1.2% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 25, 2005
Party		Active Voters	Inactive Voters	Total Voters	Percentage	Republican	2,732	95	2,827	24.84%	Democratic	2,569	125	2,694	23.68%	Unaffiliated	5,468	288	5,756	50.58%	Minor Parties	93	9	102	0.90%
Total		10,862	517	11,379	100%

References

• Interactive Connecticut State Register & Manual
• U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division

External links

• Bethel home page
• Bethel Action Committee
• Bethel public school system
• Northeast Connecticut Convention and Visitors Bureau