Glastonbury ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is on the banks of the Connecticut River, southeast of Hartford. The town center is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP). The population was 35,159 at the 2020 census. History In 1636, 30 families settled in Pyaug, a tract of land belonging to Wethersfield on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River, bought from the Native American chief Sowheag for of trading cloth. In 1672, the General Court granted Wethersfield and Hartford permission to extend Pyaug's boundary line to the east. By 1690, Wethersfield had permitted Pyaug residents to form a separate town and, the town of Glassenbury was created in 1693. The ties have not been completely broken: the oldest continuously operating ferry in the United States still runs between South Glastonbury and Rocky Hill, also then part of Wethersfield, as it did as far back as 1655. One result of being split off from Wethersfield was that the town was built along a main road, rather than around the large green that anchors most New England towns. After part of New London Turnpike was realigned to eliminate the rotary in the middle of town during the mid-20th century, a small green was established there. During the American Revolutionary War, several homes were used to hold classes from Yale University. Noah Webster was a student in these classes; later he taught at one of Glastonbury's one-room schoolhouses. Glastonbury freed its slaves in the 1780s, 60 years before Connecticut formally abolished slavery. The town organized its first library in 1803. It organized the first hospital shortly after the Revolution to combat and treat smallpox. By the end of the Revolution, there were ten schools, formed one by one during the 18th century. During the American Revolution, George Stocking's gunpowder factory operated in the town. In 1785, the town residents renamed Glassenbury Glastenbury. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Glastenbury was a shipbuilding town. Located on the Connecticut River, it had reliable waterpower and nearby hardwood forests of oak. Sawmills, charcoal kilns, and foundries developed around the shipyards to process timber and other goods for their needs. As shipbuilding was ending, the early industrial beginning continued. The J.B. Williams Soap Factory started in 1840 in