Ridgefield was founded in 1708 when 24 families from Long Island Sound settlements bought the land from Ramapoo Indians. The lots were located up and down Main Street from a Common where a Meeting House was built. By the 1820s, Ridgefield became a manufacturing town, with manufacturers on south Main Street making candlesticks, furniture, and shirts. By the turn of the industrial revolution, Ridgefield’s distance from water to supply power resulted in a downturn in production, and the town found itself reborn as a vacation destination and second home for wealthy new yorkers.