Uncasville, Connecticut

Last updated

Uncasville is a village in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. [1] It is located in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the east end of Montville, which is the area served by the Uncasville ZIP Code (06382).

Contents

In 1994, the federal government officially recognized the Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut, which had historically occupied this area as part of its traditional territory. That year Congress passed the Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act. It authorized the United States to take land into trust in northeastern Montville for the Mohegan tribe's use as a reservation. Since gaining a reservation, in 1996 the tribe developed the Mohegan Sun casino resort. It has also built the Mohegan Sun Arena on their land. The Mohegan are one of the Native American peoples who speak Algonquian languages.

History

Uncasville Mill in 1906 PostcardUncasvilleCTUncasvilleMfgCoMill1906.jpg
Uncasville Mill in 1906

Uncasville was named by English colonists for Uncas, the 17th-century Mohegan sachem who became their ally. The Mohegan, originally part of the Algonquian-speaking Pequot people, became independent through the 17th and 18th centuries. They allied with English colonists during the Pequot War of 1637. Uncas established a fortified village for defense, now known as Fort Shantok, on an elevated site next to the Thames River. He later welcomed English colonists to the Mohegan lands.

The European-American brothers John and Arthur Schofield established the first woolen mill in the United States in Uncasville. Their carding and spinning mill, dependent on water power, was located at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River. [2] The Uncasville Manufacturing Corporation operated on the river into the early 20th century, as shown in the postcard image to the right.

In the 1950s, the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation established a large manufacturing facility in the Sandy Desert section in northeastern Montville. In 1961, it formed a joint venture, the United Nuclear Corporation, with Mallinckrodt Corporation of America, and Nuclear Development Corporation of America. They started with a total of 1400 employees, producing nuclear reactor fuel components for the United States Navy nuclear program. [2] [3] The site was near Trading Cove. Some parts of the program ended by 1976. After United Nuclear ceased its operations about 1990, the site was cleaned up of environmental hazards, decommissioned, and released for unrestricted use. [3] The village designated this as a redevelopment area as designated by the village. [3]

During the colonial period, agents had sold traditional lands originally occupied by the Mohegan people and reserved for them by the colony; they became landless. European Americans assumed they would assimilate to the more numerous majority. In the 20th century the Mohegan reorganized and sought federal recognition through the formal administrative process, submitting thorough documentation to prove their community and cultural continuity despite the lack of land. At the same time, beginning in the 1970s, they pursued a land claim against Connecticut for having been deprived illegally of their traditional lands.

In 1994, the U.S. Department of the Interior granted federal recognition to the Mohegan tribe. [4] Several months later, the U.S. Congress passed the Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act. [5] It authorized the United States to take into trust the United Nuclear site for use as Mohegan reservation lands; with this, the law extinguished any other Mohegan land claims in Connecticut. In exchange, Congress approved the tribe undertaking gambling operations at the reservation site. [5]

With its own reservation, the Mohegan developed gaming operations to generate revenue for tribal welfare. They opened the Mohegan Sun casino on October 12, 1996, near the former Fort Shantok site above the Thames River. It has since been expanded into a large resort with hotels and other facilities.

Geography

Uncasville village is located in southeastern Montville near the confluence of the Oxoboxo and Thames rivers. All of eastern Montville, located on the western shore of the Thames, is served by the Uncasville ZIP code, 06382, and is also known as Uncasville. The U.S. Census Bureau treats Uncasville village as part of the Oxoboxo River census-designated place. The Mohegan Sun resort is about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Uncasville village.

Mohegan Sun

Sky Tower at Mohegan Sun Arena Sky Tower, Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT.jpg
Sky Tower at Mohegan Sun Arena

The Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, established in 1996, has become one of the largest casinos in the world. It has more than 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2). The associated resort complex includes a luxury hotel, entertainment theater, and around 50 restaurants and 35 stores. [6]

The Mohegan Sun Arena, located in the complex, hosts concerts and live sporting events. It can hold 10,000 people. [7] It is the home court of the Connecticut Sun, a team of the Women's National Basketball Association.

Notable people

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pequots</span> Indigenous people from Connecticut, US

The Pequot are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or the Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin. They historically spoke Pequot, a dialect of the Mohegan-Pequot language, which became extinct by the early 20th century. Some tribal members are undertaking revival efforts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashantucket Pequot Tribe</span> American Indian tribe in the state of Connecticut

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is a federally recognized American Indian tribe in the state of Connecticut. They are descended from the Pequot people, an Algonquian-language tribe that dominated the southern New England coastal areas, and they own and operate Foxwoods Resort Casino within their reservation in Ledyard, Connecticut. As of 2018, Foxwoods Resort Casino is one of the largest casinos in the world in terms of square footage, casino floor size, and number of slot machines, and it was one of the most economically successful in the United States until 2007, but it became deeply in debt by 2012 due to its expansion and changing conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montville, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

Montville is a town in New London County, Connecticut in the United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 18,387 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxoboxo River, Connecticut</span> Census-designated place in Connecticut, United States

Oxoboxo River is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Montville in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,938 at the 2000 census, 3,165 at the 2010 census, and 2,955 at the 2020 census. The statistical area encompasses the town center of Montville, as well as the adjacent villages of Palmertown and Uncasville. The name of the statistical area is from the river of the same name running through the CDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncas</span> Mohegan sachem of the early colonial period

Uncas was a sachem of the Mohegans who made the Mohegans the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut, through his alliance with the New England colonists against other Indian tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pequot War</span> 1630s conflict in New England

The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place in 1636 and ended in 1638 in New England, between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. The war concluded with the decisive defeat of the Pequot. At the end, about 700 Pequots had been killed or taken into captivity. Hundreds of prisoners were sold into slavery to colonists in Bermuda or the West Indies; other survivors were dispersed as captives to the victorious tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narragansett people</span> Native American tribe from Rhode Island, US

The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. Today, Narragansett people are enrolled in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. They gained federal recognition in 1983.

The Golden Hill Paugussett is a state-recognized Native American tribe in Connecticut. Granted reservations in a number of towns in the 17th century, their land base was whittled away until they were forced to reacquire a small amount of territory in the 19th century. Today they retain a state-recognized reservation in the town of Trumbull, and have an additional reservation acquired in 1978 and 1980 in Colchester, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeastern Connecticut</span> Regional planning agency in Southeastern Connecticut

The Southeastern Connecticut region comprises, as the name suggests, the southeastern corner of the state of Connecticut. It is sometimes referred to as New London County or by the tourist slogan Mystic and More.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohegan Sun</span> American hotel and casino in Connecticut

Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on 240 acres (97 ha) of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has 364,000 square feet of gambling space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fidelia Fielding</span> Last-known speaker of the traditional Mohegan Pequot language.

Fidelia Ann Hoscott Fielding, also known as Dji'ts Bud dnaca, daughter of Bartholomew Valentine Smith and Sarah A. Wyyougs (1804–1868), and granddaughter of Martha Shantup Uncas (1761–1859), was the last-known speaker of the traditional Mohegan Pequot language.

The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the eastern upper Thames River valley of south-central Connecticut. It is one of two federally recognized tribes in the state, the other being the Mashantucket Pequot, whose reservation is in Ledyard, Connecticut. There are also three state-recognized tribes: the Schaghticoke, Paugusett, and Eastern Pequot.

The Podunk were a Native American people who spoke an Algonquian Quiripi language and lived primarily in what is now known as Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. English colonists adopted use of a Nipmuc dialect word for the territory of this people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Shantok</span> Archaeological site in Connecticut, United States

Fort Shantok, in Montville, Connecticut, United States, was the site of the principal Mohegan settlement between 1636 and 1682 and the sacred ground of Uncas, one of the most prominent and influential Mohegan leaders and statesmen of his era. Originally part of Mohegan reservation lands, the property was taken by the state of Connecticut in the 20th century and Fort Shantok State Park was established. In 1995, following legal action by the tribe to recover its lands, the state returned the park to Mohegan control. The tribe now operates the area, part of its reservation, as a local park. The grounds were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph W. Sturges</span> Native American chief

Ralph Weston Sturges was an American Mohegan tribal chief who helped gain federal recognition for the Mohegan people of Connecticut in 1994. He also helped to found and build Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Casino. He held the title of "chief for life."

<i>Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut</i> 18th century indigenous land rights case in Great Britain

Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut (1705–1773) was the first indigenous land rights litigation in history in a common law jurisdiction. James Youngblood Henderson, professor of law, calls the case "the first major legal test of indigenous tenure." Robert Clinton calls it the "first formal litigation of North American Indian rights."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut Indian Land Claims Settlement</span> Indian Land Claims Settlement

The Connecticut Indian Land Claims Settlement was an Indian Land Claims Settlement passed by the United States Congress in 1983. The settlement act ended a lawsuit by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe to recover 800 acres of their 1666 reservation in Ledyard, Connecticut. The state sold this property in 1855 without gaining ratification by the Senate. In a federal land claims suit, the Mashantucket Pequot charged that the sale was in violation of the Nonintercourse Act that regulates commerce between Native Americans and non-Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohegan Tribe</span> Federally recognized tribe in Connecticut

The Mohegan Tribe is a federally recognized tribe and sovereign tribal nation of the Mohegan people. Their reservation is the Mohegan Indian Reservation, located on the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxoboxo River</span> River in the United States of America

The Oxoboxo River, shown on federal maps as Oxoboxo Brook, is a tributary of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It flows roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) in a southeasterly direction from its source at Oxoboxo Lake to its confluence with the Thames. It has a watershed of 6,768 acres (27.39 km2), 87% of which is in the town of Montville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Fielding Baker</span> Leader of the Mohegan Pequots (1828–1916)

Emma Tyler Fielding Baker December 5, 1828 – January 20, 1916) was a member of the Mohegan Pequot Indian tribe and was posthumously awarded the title of Mohegan medicine woman in 1992. Medicine women were culture-bearers and required to have an in-depth knowledge of tribal customs and possess good leadership qualities. She was also a tribal historian and ceremonial leader of the Mohegan Tribe.

References

  1. "Uncasville, Connecticut". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. 1 2 Town of Montville Plan of Conservation and Development 2010 Archived March 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , May 15, 2010
  3. 1 2 3 "United Nuclear Corporation Naval Products Division". ColdWar-CT.com. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  4. 59 Fed. Reg. 12140-01 (1994).
  5. 1 2 Mohegan Nation (Connecticut) Land Claim Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-377, § 2, 108 Stat. 3501 (1994) (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 1775 (2006))
  6. "Mohegan Sun website" . Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  7. "Mohegan Sun Arena Map | Mohegan Sun Meetings & Events". Mohegan Sun. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  8. "Endangered Language Fund Board of Directors". Endangered Language Fund. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2013.

41°26′04″N72°06′35″W / 41.434542°N 72.109799°W / 41.434542; -72.109799