LITCHFIELD, named from Litchfield, Connecticut, from which place many of the early settlers came, was formed from German Flats, February 5, 1796. A part of Winfield was taken off in 1816. It lies upon the west border of the County, south of the Mohawk. The surface is elevated and moderately hilly, its mean elevation being about 500 feet above the river. In the south and west is a series of ridges known as the “Dry Lots,” from the circumstance that no water is found upon them. The streams are small, some of them flowing north into the Mohawk, and others south into the Unadilla. In the east part is a sulphur spring of some notoriety. Litchfteld, (p. o.) in the north part, contains a church and about 20 dwellings. Cedar Lake (p. o.), Cedarville (p. o.) and Jerusalem are hamlets. North Litchfield is a post office. There is a Wesleyan Methodist society at Cedar Lake, a Universalist society at Cedarvile, and a Methodist Episcopal church at Jerusalem Hill. The first settlement of this town was commenced in 1786, by Elijah Snow, from Massachusetts. The place was formerly called Snow’s Bush, but more recently Whelock’s Hill. William Brewer and Ezekiel Goodale, from Mass., John Andrews, Christopher Rider and John and Eleazer Crosby, from Conn., and Ebenezer Drewry and John Everett, from New Hampshire, came into the town about the year 1787. Samuel Miller, from Conn., and James Gage and Nathaniel Ball, from New Hampshire, settled about 1788; Selah Holcomb, from Conn., settled in 1791. William and Thomas Jones, Oliver Rider and Joseph Crosby were among the other early settlers. The first birth in the town was that of Luke Andrews, in 1790; and the first marriage that of Joseph Day, the same year. Jeremiah Everett taught the first school; Joseph Shepard kept the first inn, and David Davis the first store. John Littlejohn built the first grist mill, and Talcott the first saw mill, in 1806—7. An iron foundry was established here for the manufacture of hollow ware, at which a considerable business was formerly carried on, and during a pressure in the money market, notes were given payable in Litchfield hollow ware. The first religious services were held in 1794; Rev. ____ Spaulding was the first preacher. Elder Joel Butler was the first preacher of the Baptist denomination. The population of the town in 1865 was 1,397; its area is 15,777.