Prospect: A Town of Lies

Prospecting for Truth
Prospect, Connecticut: A Town of Lies

You are all familiar with the Connecticut town of Prospect, right?

Right?!

After all, it’s the “Best Small Town in Connecticut!” Right?

Right?!

Well… no, it’s not. But I love that story. Which I only found because I was looking into other Prospect claims to fame that I just intuitively knew couldn’t be true. So let’s start with them.

Lies 1, 2, and Maybe 3

Absurd. I’ve heard this a few times over the decades and at least the person above hedges their bet a bit at the end. There are actually three claims here: Prospect sent the highest percentage of their population to some war or another, every Connecticut town has a Prospect Street/Road/Avenue, and lastly, that there is an actual Connecticut law mandating the street name thing.

I have no idea about the per capital soldiers thing. I do know that Prospect sent 75 men to fight in the Civil War, which was a lot for the small town – this was more than half the number (145) of its voters and one-sixth of Prospect’s total population. Do I believe someone crunched the numbers for every Connecticut town? And which war are we talking about. Logically, it would be the Civil War because of something that did come about as a result of those 75 men.

So that one could be true, but I’d need some verification.

As for the others, they’re patently untrue. Does your Connecticut town have a Prospect Street? Perhaps, as many do. That’s because many towns have hills. Want to know one town without a Prospect Street?

One guess.

That’s right. Prospect.

They’re oh-so close, but nope. Check this out… traveling west to east, Route 68 is Prospect Street in Naugatuck, then it becomes Union City Road in Prospect then Cheshire Road then Prospect Rd when crossing into Cheshire near Mixville Park.

While the “every town” lie is mildly funny, the “because it’s a state law” is hilarious. Especially considering Prospect itself doesn’t comply!

Lie 4

Let’s get back to the “Best Small Town” thing. Not only is this a lie, it’s a known lie. And it’s a pretty great lie. This is the official Prospect town website in June 2024:

Prospect is known locally as being “The Best Small Town in Connecticut,” with the phrase posted on the town’s trucks and, as you see above on its website. This has been the case for decades. In fact, the cheeky moniker predates the internet.

Now, Prospect is fine. I don’t think people hate Prospect, do they? It’s just… kinda there. So we agree it’s not the “best small town in Connecticut,” right? And we probably agree it’s not the worst.

The problem is, in the early 1990’s, Connecticut Magazine felt the need to publish a small town ranking that put Prospect at the bottom.

Yup. The magazine ranked Prospect as the worst small town in the entire state. The measurement was done based on its school system, economy, the cost of living, crime rate and cultural resources. In response to this, the town’s long-time mayor Robert Chatfield, removed the magazine from the library, and declared Prospect “The Best Small Town in Connecticut,” and ordered it placed on town vehicles and bumper stickers.

In short, Prospect was ranked the worst small town in Connecticut but claims boldly that it is the best.

Bald-faced lie.

Lie 5

There are two ponds in Prospect named Brewster Pond and Beer Pond. I visited both and I’m here to tell you that Beer Pond does not contain beer. Unbelievable.

Three, possible four ridiculous lies. Why? It’s totally unnecessary, especially in light of a few superlatives about Prospect that are true!

Three Truths

Prospect is built upon a hill. In fact, Prospect Green is located on the highest inhabited elevation in New Haven County! Amazing fact! Why don’t they tout this instead of the nonsense above? It’s like 7 or 800 feet above sea level!

The green is small but nice and it is here that stands the Civil War soldier monument. The one the state did direct funding towards as an acknowledgement of Prospect’s disproportionate participation in the Civil War.

Or how about how Prospect features my favorite Christmas tree in the state. I’ve driven by it dozens of times on my way to my son’s winter soccer training grounds for two winters now and it’s beautiful. I hope they never put color lights on it. It’s in the center of town near the intersection of Routes 68 and 69. Here’s the only picture of it I could find online:

It’s much prettier without the police theatrics in front of it.

Okay, that’s two totally awesome things that are unique to Prospect.

And here’s another. Remember it was the “longtime mayor” who decreed the “best small town” thing? The guy is a superlative unto himself! A real one!

Robert J. Chatfield (known locally as ‘Mayor Bob’) is the mayor’s name. Chatfield, a Republican, has served as the mayor of Prospect since November 7, 1977 (though not consecutive apparently). He won a 24th term on November 7, 2023 after he defeated the incumbent at the time. Chatfield is the longest serving elected official in Connecticut at the time of this writing (June 2024)!

He also might be the best dressed mayor in the state:

And check this out – four days after I published this page, on June 17, 2024, The Hartford Courant coincidentally ran an “article” (It reads like AI garbage) on the 81-year-old Mayor Bob wherein he stated his support for Trump (because he says the things that “need to be said”… huh?) as well as the following:

Fun fact from Chatfield: He said because of its higher elevation in places, Prospect is known as “the town with an extended view.” Before the trees grew, one could see the sailboats of Long Island Sound from the Green, he said.

He also said every municipality in the state has a Prospect Street or avenue as a nod to Prospect having the most men per capita from Connecticut who fought in the Civil War.

For ha-has I just randomly checked a few towns and very quickly found that Simsbury, New Fairfield, and North Stonington all failed Mayor Bob’s claim. In addition to Prospect.)

Prospect: A Town of Lies. For shame.

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