Thompson, Connecticut

Thompson is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The town was named after Sir Robert Thompson, an English landholder. The population was 9,189 at the 2020 census. Thompson is located in the northeastern corner of the state and is bordered on the north by Webster, Massachusetts and Dudley, Massachusetts, on the east by Douglas, Massachusetts and Burrillville, Rhode Island, on the west by Woodstock, Connecticut, and on the south by Putnam, Connecticut.

Thompson has the highest-banked race track (Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, a 5/8 mile oval and a restored 1.7 mile road course) in New England. This speedway holds one of the biggest race programs in New England, The World Series of Auto Racing, where 16 divisions and about 400 cars show up each fall. Another claim to fame is that the Tri-State Marker is located just on the border of Thompson. The term "Swamp Yankee" is thought to have originated in Thompson during the American Revolution in 1776. In colonial times, the town was the site of an Indian village, known as Maanexit.

Thompson was the site of the Great East Thompson Train Wreck in 1891, one of the worst train wrecks in American history and the only one to involve four trains.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 48.7 square miles (126 km²), of which 46.9 square miles (121 km²) is land and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²), or 3.51%, is water. Thompson possesses many small ponds, such as Little Pond and Long Pond, as well as two principal lakes: West Thompson Lake and Quaddick Reservoir. Contained within its borders are several moderately sized rivers, including the French River and Five Mile River, both tributaries of the Quinebaug River, which also runs through Thompson. One of the highest points in Thompson and the surrounding villages is Fort Hill at 649 feet (198 m) above sea level. The city is located 64 miles southwest of Boston and 110 miles northeast of Bridgeport. It is on the 42nd parallel north, putting it on the same latitude as the northern suburbs of Rome, Italy.

A minor point of geological interest is the Wilsonville Fault, created during the breakup of Pangaea nearly 200 million years ago.

Thompson is composed of ten villages:

As of the census of 2010, there were 9,458 people, 3,730 households, and 2,587 families residing in the town. The population density was 201.7 inhabitants per square mile (77.9/km²). There were 4,171 housing units at an average density of 88.9 per square mile (34.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.6% White, 0.6% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.6% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population.

Of the 3,730 households: 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.6% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.98.