The city is alongside Interstate 84 (Yankee Expressway) and Route 8 and has a Metro-North railroad station with connections to Grand Central Terminal.

According to Samuel Orcutt's history, some Puritan residents of nearby Farmington "found it expedient to purchase the same lands from different tribes, without attempting to decide between their rival claims.

When the settlement was admitted as the 28th town in the Connecticut Colony in 1686,[8] the name was changed to Waterbury in reference to the numerous streams that emptied into the Naugatuck River from the hills on either side of the valley.

At that time, it included all or parts of what later became the towns of Watertown, Plymouth, Wolcott, Prospect, Naugatuck, Thomaston, and Middlebury.

Growth was slow during Waterbury's first hundred years, the lack of arable land due to the constant flooding of the Naugatuck River in particular, discouraged many potential settlers.

[13] Waterbury was incorporated as a city in 1853 and, as the "Brass Capital of the World", it gained a reputation for the quality and durability of its goods.

Brass and copper supplied by Waterbury were used in Nevada's Boulder Dam among myriad applications across the United States.

A famous Waterbury product of the late-19th century was Robert H. Ingersoll's one-dollar pocket watch, five million of which were sold.

[19] At its peak during World War II, 10,000 people worked at the Scovill Manufacturing Co, later sold to Century Brass.

On May 24, 1962, the north side of the city was devastated by a high-end F3 tornado that caused widespread damage, destroyed numerous neighborhoods, and left one dead and 50 injured.

Downtown, a short walk away, was "the city", offering live theater, fancy stores, parades and spectacles.

[42] Additionally, the city is home to thriving Albanian, Cape Verdean, Brazilian, Portuguese, and Lithuanian communities.

This renaissance began with the founding of the Yeshiva K'tana of Waterbury in 2000; as of 2014, this full-service elementary and middle school has nearly 400 students.

According to the 2014 5-year American Community Survey (conducted 2010–2014, data released December 3, 2015), the median income for a household in the city was $41,136, compared to $69,899 statewide.

In Waterbury, 36.8% of the child population age 0–17, or 9,984 children in the city, lived below the poverty line, compared to 14% statewide.

[46] Waterbury's economic decline in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in it being ranked as having the worst quality of life of 300 U.S. metropolitan areas by Money Magazine in 1992.

The city is known for its hard-nosed political culture compared locally to Cook County, Illinois, close elections, and a number of scandals.

Ironically, the massive corruption scheme was exposed with the help of then comptroller Sherwood Rowland, grandfather of Gov.

What appeared to have been a defeat for Hayes was not really a victory for Pape, and the stage was set for further corruption in Waterbury in the second half of the 20th century.

Waterbury was in serious financial straits due to years of mismanagement, resulting in the city's finances being taken over by the State of Connecticut.

New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia helped campaign for its passage, having backed similar reforms in his own city in 1936.

He was released from federal prison with the stipulation that he serve four months house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet monitor until June 2006.

In January 2008 Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura announced that he would hire Rowland as an economic development advisor for the city.

Rowland began work in February that year receiving an annual salary of $95,000 as the city's economic development coordinator funded in conjunction with the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce.

[64][65] In 2011, the Board of Aldermen voted to eliminate funding the city's portion of his salary and in November 2011 Rowland stated he would give up his position when his contract expired thus ending his quasi-city employment.

[66] Later that year, following his victory over then Mayor Jarjura, new mayor Neil O'Leary created the position of Economic Development Director as part of his new administration, removing the duties from the Chamber of Commerce and bringing them directly into City Hall, making Economic Development a cornerstone of his administration.

[74][75] WCCT-TV (channel 20) is licensed to Waterbury and serves as Hartford's affiliate for The CW; it is operated out of the Hartford Courant building with sister Tribune Broadcasting Fox affiliate WTIC-TV (channel 61), and carries mainly syndicated content outside of network hours.

Metro-North Railroad runs commuter trains multiple times a day between the Waterbury station and Bridgeport, with connections to Grand Central Terminal in New York City.