A century later, at a town meeting on April 3, 1826, selectmen voted to ask the General Assembly to annex Mansfield to Tolland County.

[3] The first silk mill in the United States was constructed in Mansfield and financed by Pilgrim descendant William Fisk.

The adjacent miller's house is the birthplace of former Connecticut governor Wilbur L. Cross, (1931 to 1939).More recent yet rare nonetheless, the Mansfield Drive-in, a drive-in movie theater, and Lucky Strike Lanes,[6] a duckpin bowling alley, are among the last of their breed in the nation, with only 41 congress-certified alleys currently (2016), down from 450 in 1963.

[7] The Mansfield Training School and Hospital, situated on more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) and encompassing 85 buildings, was operated by the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services until its closure, after legal challenges, in 1993.

The school, with its eerie overturned wheelchairs and neo-classical hospital, remains a magnet for adventurous locals, the police, and amateur photographers.

Located directly across U.S. Route 44 from the Mansfield Training School is the Donald T. Bergin Correctional Institution, which closed in August 2011.

It served as a pre-release center for inmates who were approaching the end of their sentence or a period of supervised community placement.

On the Northeastern edge of town (Mount Hope Village), the playwright, actor and producer Willard Mack owned a large estate (originally built by William Fisk)[citation needed].

[9] During Mack's stewardship of this property, the famous Arabian Stallion "Broomstick", sire of numerous Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown winning thoroughbreds, was also a temporary resident.

Development has increased in recent years, leading to the imposition of a temporary moratorium on new subdivisions, as well as additional land acquisition.

Storrs, the largest of the town's settlements, is an unincorporated village within Mansfield anchored economically and demographically by the main campus of the University of Connecticut.

[12][13] The "downtown" area of the village is the economic and government center of Mansfield, acting as a mixed-used community development following its construction in the mid-2000s.

[18][19][20] Betsy Patterson Square, an outdoor green space with sculpture installations, anchors the "downtown" area including and is flanked by a Barnes and Noble-operated UConn Bookstore, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, and health service locations operated by UConn Health.

[25][26] Mansfield enjoys a moderate amount of protected open space, notably Mansfield Hollow State Park, town parks and preserves, and numerous Joshua's Trust properties[27] in addition to UConn-owned and maintained properties including Spring Valley Student Farm.

Three large private farms operate within Mansfield, including Mountain Dairy, which has been producing and processing milk under the stewardship of one family since 1871.

U.S. Route 6 passes through the southern end of Mansfield as an isolated stretch of divided highway, part of the planned but never realized interstate between Hartford and Providence, Rhode Island.

When opposition arose and complications developed, the project was shelved, with only stranded parts of the highway completed; the freeway portion extends from the nearby town border of Columbia and Willimantic and ends in North Windham.

The Nash-Zimmer Transportation Center, located on Royce Circle in the "downtown" area, acts as a de-facto hub for intermodal services, with a parking garage and waiting room.

The express route makes limited stops at commuter lots in Tolland, Vernon, and Manchester connecting at The Shoppes at Buckland Hills toward Hartford Union Station.

[39] Other proposals for local and high-speed rail projects in Connecticut have included planned stops in Storrs and in nearby Tolland to service UConn.