Willington is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,566 at the 2020 census. The Willimantic River borders the town on the west. Willington is about 25 miles northeast of Hartford on Interstate 84, which also provides a connection to Boston, via the Massachusetts Turnpike. Providence, RI is accessible via U.S. Route 44. Larger communities nearby include Coventry, Stafford, Tolland, and Willimantic. The University of Connecticut is located in adjacent Mansfield. A new public library (formerly located within Hall Memorial School) opened in autumn 2006. History In 1720 a party of eight men, originally from England, bought 16,000 acres of the region and called it Wellington. Willington was incorporated in May 1727. Willington became a part of Tolland County when it was formed from portions of eastern Hartford County and western Windham County on 13 October 1785. The town was well adapted for grazing and lumbering. After a century of farming, the town gradually expanded commercially and industrially. The Daniel Glazier Tavern includes an upstairs ballroom that was used for almost thirty years as a town meetinghouse in cold weather. By 1845 Willington included a thread mill, a cotton mill, three silk factories, a scythe factory, four comb factories, button mills, and a glassworks (1815–1871) producing demijohns and flasks of various designs. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which of it is land and of it (0.63%) is water. Notable people Jeremiah Chaplin (1776–1841), a Reformed Baptist theologian who preached in town Philip Corbin (1824–1910), a businessman and founder of P&F Corbin Company, was born in town William H. Hall (1869–1922), a president pro tempore of the Connecticut State Senate William L. Higgins (1867–1951), a US Congressman and doctor who practiced medicine in town Orrin Holt (1792–1855), 1st representative of Connecticut's 6th congressional district; born and died in town Elias Loomis (1811–1889), a mathematician and astronomer, was born in town Jared Sparks (1792–1866), historian, Unitarian minister and President of Harvard University. A street named in his honor extends from the town green to Moose Meadow Road Justus Vinton (1806–1858), a Baptist missionary to Myanmar, was born in town Roger Wolcott (1679–1767), 28th Governor of the Connecticut Colony (1750–1754), one of the town's founders Eleni Benson (born 1983), Olympic soccer player Demographics As of the census of 2000 (a 2010 census is available), there were 5,959