Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located along the Still River approximately 70 miles northeast of New York City. Danbury's population at the 2010 census was 80,893. Danbury is the fourth most populous city in Fairfield County, and seventh among Connecticut cities. The city is within the New York Combined Statistical Area and Bridgeport Metropolitan AreaThe city is named for Danbury, England, the place of origin of many of its early settlers. It is nicknamed the Hat City because of its prominent history in the hat industry; for a period in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was the center of the American hat industry. The mineral danburite is named for Danbury.Danbury is home to Danbury Hospital, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury Fair Mall and Danbury Municipal Airport.HistoryDanbury was settled by colonists in 1685, when eight families moved from what are now Norwalk and Stamford, Connecticut. The Danbury area was then called Pahquioque by its namesake, the Algonquian-speaking Pahquioque Native Americans (they are believed to have been a band of the Paugusset people), who occupied lands along the Still River. Bands were often identified by such geographic designation but they were associated with the larger nation by culture and language).
