First settled in about 1686 by descendants of Norwich men who received the land as grants from Uncas' son Joshua, the Town, named from Windham in Sussex County, was incorporated in 1692. The area in the vicinity of Willimantic was settled to take advantage of the river's water power for saw and grist mills. In later years, the town was dominated by the thread and textile industry. The town was known worldwide as one of the finest manufacturers of thread outside of England and was aptly named the Thread City. It was chartered as a borough in 1833, a city in 1893 and in 1983 it was consolidated as part of the Town of Windham.