Canton is a town, incorporated in 1806, located in the Farmington Valley section of Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,124 as of the 2020 census. It is bordered by Granby on the north, Simsbury on the east, Avon and Burlington on the south, New Hartford on the west, and Barkhamsted on the northwest. Running through it is the Farmington River. The town includes the villages of North Canton, Canton Center, Canton (Canton Valley), and Collinsville. In September 2007, Collinsville was ranked in Budget Travel magazine as one of the "Ten Coolest Small Towns In America". History The name of Canton was officially designated on its incorporation in 1806. While assisting with the town's organization, its name was given by Ephraim Mills, ancestor of Lewis S. Mills. There are two competing theories for Mills' source of the name, however. According to William Edgar Simonds, husband of Ephraim Mills' great-granddaughter, and Sylvester Barbour in his book Reminisces, Canton's name derives from canton, a Swiss administrative division. Simonds wrote that Canton "... is derived from a supposed likeness to a Swiss canton, the meaning of the word being to divide or set off, and the partition from Simsbury made the name appropriate." Barbour instead noted that "it came from Mr. Mills' interest in the Swiss people and their ardent patriotism, and was suggested to his mind by their territorial divisions into cantons. The name appealed to him, partly because of its pleasant sound, and its being so easy to read and write." In an article within a 1903 issue of The Connecticut Magazine, Joel N. Eno claimed without a source that Canton's name derived from Canton, an archaic name for Guangzhou, China. This claim has since been repeated by others, such as The Register Citizen, a Connecticut newspaper. Other towns such as Canton, Massachusetts and Canton, Ohio have used the name for the town. It separated from Simsbury in 1806. At the Collins ax factory in Collinsville, Elisha Root invented the important industrial technique of die casting. Points of interest The Canton Historical Museum in Collinsville is located in a building of the former Collins Axe Company, founded by Samuel W. Collins and one of the first ax factories in the world. It displays a 19th-century general store, a post office, a printing press and blacksmith and barber shops. Vehicles, tools and farm implements are also exhibited, as well as