Thompson, Connecticut

Thompson, Connecticut
Town
Town of Thompson
View from the Thompson Common
Seal
Windham County and Connecticut  Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region and Connecticut
Show Thompson Show Connecticut Show the United States
Coordinates: 41°59′04″N 71°52′40″W / 41.98444°N 71.87778°W / 41.98444; -71.87778
Country	United States
U.S. state	Connecticut
County	Windham
Region	Northeastern CT
Incorporated	1785
Government
• Type	Selectman-town meeting
• First selectman	Amy St. Onge (R)
• State Senator	Mae Flexer (D-29th District)
• State Rep.	Rick Hayes (R-51st District)
Area
• Total	48.7 sq mi (126.1 km2)
• Land	46.9 sq mi (121.6 km2)
• Water	1.7 sq mi (4.4 km2)
Elevation	469 ft (143 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	9,189
• Density	190/sq mi (73/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP code	06255, 06262, 06277
Area code(s)	860/959
FIPS code	09-75870
GNIS feature ID	0213516
Website	thompsonct.org

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.^[1] The population was 9,189 at the 2020 census.^[2] 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.