All up and down the whole creation
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for the Old Plantation
And for the old folks at home.

Connecticut's cities were (and still are) filled by a people displaced, dispossessed of something they valued very highly. After years of depression and war, many New Englanders were anxious to find for themselves the greatness of an America that had liberated Europe. When the economic opportunity came of regaining the secure feeling of having a place of their own in the vast universe, many took it. Suddenly, the farmlands and forests began to sprout houses instead of crops and trees. People were returning to the land they once farmed - but this time only to live there.

The new migration has had a dramatic effect on population figures. Dozens of towns grew three- to ten-fold in population between the 1940 and 1980 censuses. Simsbury exploded from a population of 3,941 to 21,161, Cheshire from 4,352 to 21,788, Ledyard from 1,426 to 13,735, Bloomfield from 4,309 to 18,609, and Brookfield from 1,345 to 12,872, to mention but a few. The biggest change occurred in New Fairfield, a suburb of Danbury, which rose from 608 to 11,260 - more than an 18fold increase. Meanwhile, both Hartford and New Haven lost more than 30,000 residents over the same time period.⁷

Because of their proximity to the larger centers of urban life, the farmland and forest of the Central Valley and Coast were rapidly converted to new suburban housing. The trend continues today, but the focus has shifted to the Uplands. Currently, the most rapidly growing counties are all in the Uplands and are Connecticut's most rural: Windham, Tolland, and Litchfield counties.⁸ The trend of suburban development in the 20th century is following closely the initial settlement pattern of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The rapid growth in formerly rural areas that accompanied the post-World War II movement out of the cities has not been without its growing pains. As a result of the rise of the automobile in American life

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