WALLINGFORD

urban town (township), New Haven county, south-central Connecticut, U.S. It lies along the Quinnipiac River northeast of New Haven. The land was purchased from Montowese, son of an Indian chief, in 1638 for 12 cloth coats. It was set off from New Haven and opened to white settlers in 1667. Originally called East River, it was incorporated in 1670 and renamed for Wallingford, Eng. The borough of Wallingford, incorporated in 1853, was consolidated with the town in 1958. The town's silverware industry began in 1835 with the production of Britannia ware. Manufacturing is now diversified. Choate School (1896), a fashionable private prep school for boys, merged with Rosemary Hall (1890) in 1974 and became the coeducational Choate Rosemary Hall. Area 39 square miles (101 square km). Pop. (1990) 40,822; (1996 est.) 40,798.