[1] It is bordered on the west by Bridgeport, to the north by Trumbull and Shelton, and on the east by Milford (across the Housatonic River).

Stratford was founded in 1639 by Puritan leader Reverend Adam Blakeman, William Beardsley, and either 16 families (according to legend) or approximately 35 families (suggested by later research) who had recently arrived in Connecticut Colony from England seeking religious freedom.

[3] By April 13, 1643, the growing town was known as Stratford, changed to honor William Shakespeare's birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

[4] Stratford is one of many towns in the northeastern American colonies founded as part of the Great Migration in the 1630s when Puritan families fled an increasingly polarized England in the decade before the civil war between Charles I and Parliament.

Some of the Stratford settlers were from families who had first moved from England to the Netherlands to seek religious freedom, like their predecessors on the Mayflower, and decided to come to the New World when their children began to adopt the Dutch culture and language.

The goal of these communities was to create perfect outposts of religious idealism where the wilderness would separate them from the interference of kings, parliaments, or any other secular authority.

This and later generations sought to change the religious dictums of their elders, and the utopian nature of Stratford and similar communities was gradually replaced with more standard colonial administration.

Despite its Puritan origins, Stratford was the site of the first Anglican church in Connecticut, founded in 1707 and ministered by the Rev.

[5] Settlers from Stratford went on to found other American cities and towns, including Newark, New Jersey, established in 1666 by members of the Stratford founding families who believed the town's religious purity had been compromised by the changes after Blakeman's death.

U.S. President Gerald Ford was a descendant of one of the Stratford founding families, that was led by William Judson.

The central part of the beach is a nature preserve whose land is set aside for wildlife, particularly nesting raptors, such as American kestrels and ospreys.

The western end of the beach was once the site of about 40 cottages, which were abandoned because of the town's discontinuation of the lease to the land.

The Great Meadows Unit of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge is a key bird migration stopover.

Located in the north end of Stratford, this 250-acre (1.0 km2) site is primarily a mixed deciduous forest, with some wetlands and ponds.

Named for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was set aside in the 1930s, when much of the infrastructure was created as a Works Progress Administration project.

Stratford is the location of two Superfund sites designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

From 1919 to 1989, Raymark manufactured brake pads and other friction products for the automobile industry under the name Raybestos.

The company disposed of wastes containing lead, asbestos, PCBs and other hazardous substances at its Stratford manufacturing plant.

In 1993, the EPA and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection began working together to complete the cleanup of contamination Raymark left behind in Stratford.

Plans for cleanup of the Ferry Creek area and surrounding properties where additional Raymark waste was historically disposed are currently being developed by the EPA.

In 1939, one of the world's first successful commercial helicopters was developed in Stratford by Igor Sikorsky and flown at his plant.

Athletic Brewing Company, the leading U.S. manufacturer of non-alcoholic craft beer, with a 61% market share in 2021 is based in Stratford.

On July 20, 2015, Lockheed Martin announced an agreement to purchase Sikorsky Aircraft from UTC for $9 billion.

The United States Army, which owns the 78-acre (320,000 m2) site, auctioned it off on March 19, 2008,[17] with a winning bid of $9,612,000 which also includes the 1,720,000-square-foot (160,000 m2) facility of over fifty buildings.

It provides helicopter service to New York and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport and is used as a landing site for blimps and small aircraft.

[19] Stratford (Metro-North station) is a stop on the New Haven Line, 59 miles (95 km) east of Grand Central Terminal.

In January 1983 a truck slammed into a line of cars waiting to pay a toll on Interstate 95 in Stratford, killing seven people.

Current Mayor is Laura R. Hoydick (R) Established in 1977, Stratford Emergency Medical Service (SEMS) is the state-licensed, third-service, advanced life support (paramedic) and basic life support, municipal EMS provider to the Town of Stratford.

The theatre featured such actors as Katharine Hepburn, James Earl Jones, Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Jane Alexander, Hal Holbrook, Roddy McDowall, Nina Foch and Will Geer.