East Haddam's history, to a large degree, has been defined and molded by the town's relationship to the Connecticut River. When the first settlers arrived here about 1685, their holdings were part of Haddam, a huge town encompassing thousands of acres on both sides of the river. Haddam's main settlement area and the town's meeting house were on the west bank; and, although a ferry was established in 1695, it was a hardship for East Haddam families to attend Sunday services. This situation was alleviated in 1700 when the General Assembly, acting on a petition from several prominent residents, granted permission for the "inhabitants of Haddam that dwell on the east side of the great river to embody themselves in church estate." After construction of a meeting house in 1704, the affairs of East Haddam developed in increasing isolation from that of the mother settlement; and in 1734 the town was incorporated as a separate entity. Thus, from the very beginning, the influence of the "great river" shaped the development of the town's institutional and administrative organization. The interesting mixture of residential, commercial and industrial buildings within the bounds of the East Haddam Historic District is architecturally diverse. There are several outstanding individual structures, as well as representative examples of modest homes constructed in most building styles popular between 1750 and 1900. [NR]

Architecture, Commerce, Industry, Politics/ Government, Theater:The East Haddam Historic District possesses three areas of significance. First, its public buildings, commercial buildings, private residences and monuments reflect the changing patterns of growth and development between 1750 and 1900 of this historically important Connecticut town center. Second, the district includes a number of architecturally distinctive buildings, as well as many more modest structures which are representative examples of eighteenth and nineteenth century vernacular styles. Finally, the East Haddam Historic District is associated with persons of importance in national, state, and local history. [NR]

[1] District information retrieved from the town website http://www.easthaddam.org/.
[2] East Haddam Historic District, Report of the Historic District Study Committee, 1973, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[3] Parcel IDs retrieved from the study committee report with the corresponding street addresses obtained from the Assessors office, Town of East Haddam.
[4] The boundaries of the local historic district has been sketched on the map attached with the National Register historic district nomination, referring the original map attached with the district committee report.
[NR] Keiner Hal, edited by John Herzan, East Haddam Historic District, National Register Nomination Number- 83001273 NRIS, National Park Service, 1983 - http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/83001273.pdf; http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/83001273.pdf.

A portion of the National Register historic district is included within the boundaries of the local historic district. Generally, the northern borders of the two districts are the same. However, the southern boundary of the National Register district has been drawn to include considerably more land than its local counterpart. This was done primarily to enclose within the National Register district a number of industrial structures which are essential to the interpretation of this area's historical development. [NR]