Waterbury

About Waterbury

Nestled in the Naugatuck River valley, Waterbury is Connecticut's fifth-largest city — a gritty, proud, and culturally rich community that earned the nickname "The Brass City" for its once-dominant role in America's industrial heartbeat. With a mosaic of ethnic neighborhoods, a striking downtown skyline, and a fierce civic identity, Waterbury has the soul of a working-class city that never stopped believing in itself.

What to Know

• The iconic Waterbury Clock Tower — modeled after the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy — rises above the downtown train station and is one of the most recognizable landmarks in all of Connecticut.
• The Mattatuck Museum on the Town Green blends fine art with deep local history, telling the story of the Naugatuck Valley's industrial rise.
• Holy Land USA, a quirky hilltop religious theme park that once drew hundreds of thousands of visitors, still overlooks the city as a beloved, if eccentric, local landmark.
• Waterbury is served by the Waterbury Branch Line, a Metro-North commuter rail connection to Bridgeport and onward to New York City.
• The city is home to Post University and a campus of University of Connecticut.

History

Incorporated as a town in 1686, Waterbury transformed dramatically in the 19th century into the brass manufacturing capital of the United States — supplying buttons, clocks, and hardware to a growing nation. At its peak, the city's mills along the Naugatuck River made it one of the most industrially significant cities in New England.

Community & Living

Waterbury is a city of deep roots and real character, where long-established Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican, and West Indian communities give neighborhoods a warmth and texture you can feel. Residents take pride in their city's resilience — it's a place that has weathered economic shifts and keeps reinventing itself, one mural, festival, and renovated downtown building at a time.