Windsor Locks, which except for Suffield and Enfield, is our state’s
northernmost town on the Connecticut River, and should not be confused with
Stamford, which to us pre baby boomers was known as “The Lock City.”
Now there are locks and there are locks. Some locks are meant to keep
things in one place. The Yale locks manufactured in Stamford were of
that particular species. Then there are locks that are meant to keep
things moving, and those are the kind for which Windsor (Locks) was named.
These were opened in 1829 and formed part of the Enfield Falls Canal that
circumvented nearby shallows on the river. Although there are no longer
boats and barges being raised and lowered on the canal that went through the
town, Windsor Locks is still, to put it mildly, involved in transportation.
It is the home of Bradley International Airport, an airport big enough to be
“International,” but small enough to get to, depart, and embark without
feeling that your psyche is being crushed. I think that the
appropriate description would be “civilized.”
But Windsor Locks as a place of transportation does not end with Bradley.
Hamilton Sundstrand Aerospace, headquartered there, is a world leader in the
manufacture of a multiple quality mechanical and electrical systems for the
aerospace industry worldwide as well as design and development of components
and systems for missile, launch, space and undersea applications.
In recent times, Windsor Locks agricultural past and its present have joined
hands across the years with the current resurgence in of all things, cigars.
The growing of tobacco in this part of Connecticut goes back to the Indians.
But since the 19th century, the growing and processing of Connecticut shade
tobacco has been prized around the world as the wrapper, or outer leaf, of
the cigar; and with the smoking of cigars once again fashionable, the
north central Connecticut tobacco growers and processors have been given a
new lease on life.
But the most wonderful way to combine the past and the present is to visit
the New England Air Museum at Bradley. There you can observe over
forty historical airplanes, helicopters, gliders, balloons, as well as
missiles, rockets, and experimental and home grown aircraft. What a
trip before your trip!
