Target Cities

Meriden was originally part of Wallingford. It was granted a separate meetinghouse in 1727, became a town in 1806, and incorporated as a city in 1867. It was named for the town of Meriden, West Midlands, England. The oldest house in town still standing, built by Solomon Goffe in 1711, is now a museum, the Solomon Goffe House. In the 1800s, Meriden earned the nickname “Silver City,” due to the large number of cutlery and related products which were manufactured here by companies such as International Silver and Meriden Cutlery. Charles Parker and his younger brother, opened their first manufacturing factory in Meriden in 1832, with a capital outlay of $70.00. Over the years they manufactured a wide variety of products‚ from steam engines, train wheels and printing presses to piano stools. During the American Civil War Parker's Meriden Machine Company was under Union contract to produce 10,000 repeating rifles and 15,000 Springfield rifles. Parker began producing his own shotgun, referred to as “The Gun of 1866”. In 1868, Charles and his sons, Wilbur, Charles and Dexter started the Parker Brothers Gun Company, which continued as an independent company until 1934 when it was purchased by the Remington Arms Company.
As of the census of 2000, there were 58,244 people, 22,951 households, and 14,964 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.8 people per square mile (946.9/km²). There were 24,631 housing units at an average density of 1,037.3/sq mi (400.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.2% White, 6.4% Black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 8.6% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32.4% of the population. There were 22,951 households out of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% were married couples living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.08. In the city the population was spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $43,237, and the median income for a family was $52,788. Males had a median income of $39,633 versus $10,268 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,597. About 17.5% of families and 20.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.3% of those under age 18 and 23.8% of those age 65 or over.

Information on this page was taken from the Meriden, Connecticut entry on Wikipedia, accessed on 26 Mar, 2011.