City, Town, Borough, and County

City and town government in the twentieth century has been more the province of political scientists than of historians, but a few relevant pieces are listed below.  (For the colonial era, turn back to the section on town history in the early pan of this bibliography.)

Blawie, James, and Blawie, Marilyn. "The Inherent Right to Local Self Government in Connecticut" Connecticut Bar Journal 30(October and December, 1956):231-52, 376-89. The authors assert that the General Assembly dealt only with state and colony matters until the 1830s or so. They are dead wrong, and so their contention that Assembly authority over towns was unconstitutionally usurped hogwash. This is a polemic in support of the Home Rule Act of the 1950s.

Littlefield, Neil O. "Municipal Home Rule--Connecticut's Mature Approach." Connecticut Bar Journal 37(September, 1963)3:390-419. Makes much better sense than Blawie.

Lockard, Duane. "Home Rule for Connecticut's Municipalities." Connecticut Bar Journal 29(March, 1955)1:51-60. An article generated by the controversy over the Home Rule bill. Lockard argues that, despite town-meeting government, Connecticut towns have less control over local affairs than do towns in many Western states. Home-rule legislation, Lockard claims, was not successful in Connecticut when vied between 1917 and 1923.

The first town in New England to be incorporated as a city was New Haven in 1784--yes, even before Boston City charters introduced the office of mayor, and Amos A. Brewing, in "The Mayoralty in Connecticut" Connecticut Magazine 5(1899)1:27-33, discusses the evolution of the office from a largely honorific position in 1784 to that of a modern executive at the dose of the nineteenth century.

County government in Connecticut was initiated in 1666 as a result of the completion of the incorporation into Connecticut of the New Haven colony towns. They were at first principally judicial entities, but county courts were abolished in 1855. County government never amounted to much and in 1965 was virtually done away with. The subject is discussed in the following:

Faeth, Henry J. The Connecticut County: A Description of its Organization, Function and Relationship with Other Governmental Units, 1666-1948. Storrs: University of Connecticut, 1949.

Levenson, Rosalie. County Government in Connecticut Its History and Demise. Storrs: University of Connecticut Institute of Public Service, 1966. An extensive, scholarly work of 237 pages. The plan to abolish counties was not new. There was one afoot early in the twentieth century. See Mathewson, below.

Mathewson, Albert McClellan. The County System of Connecticut New Haven, 1917. A ten-page pamphlet urging the abolition of county administration. "The County System as at present organized is irresponsive and irresponsible and its work could be much better performed by other existing organizations." (p. 7) The author calls attention to significant legislation of 1838 affecting counties.

Talbot Irwin N. "Regional Administration: the Role of the County in Connecticut and New Jersey." Doctoral dissertation, New York University, 1971. Talbot selected Connecticut because it was "said to be the first state to abolish its county governments and establish regional planning agencies throughout the major portion of its Jurisdiction." He concluded that "the regional planning agencies of Connecticut at present [1971] may be less effective than anticipated, possibly being handicapped by their inability to enforce their decisions and recommendations." To say the least! (quotations from the abstract)

Connecticut's boroughs date from 1801, when Bridgeport was carved out of Stratford. They have served various administrative purposes over the years and have proved a flexible entity. Their story up to the late nineteenth century when they were numerous, is told in Calvin H. Carter's "Connecticut Buroughs," Papers of the NHCHS 4(1888):139-84. There are only eleven boroughs left none incorporated since 1915.