East Granby is a town in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,214 at the 2020 census.^[2]

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East Granby, Connecticut
Town
Town of East Granby
East Granby Town Hall
Seal
Hartford County and Connecticut  Capitol Planning Region and Connecticut
Show East Granby Show Connecticut Show the United States
Coordinates: 41°56′48″N 72°44′28″W
Country	United States
U.S. state	Connecticut
County	Hartford
Region	Capitol Region
Incorporated	1858
Hamlets	East Granby Floydville Granbrook Park Granby Station
Government
• Type	Selectman-town meeting
• First selectman	Eden Wimpfheimer (R)
• Selectman	Joe Doering (D)
• Selectman	Steven Hall (R)
Area
• Total	17.7 sq mi (45.8 km2)
• Land	17.6 sq mi (45.5 km2)
• Water	0.1 sq mi (0.3 km2)
Elevation [1]	348 ft (106 m)
Population  (2020)[2]
• Total	5,214
• Density	297/sq mi (114.6/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP Code	06026
Area code(s)	860/959
FIPS code	09-22070
GNIS feature ID	0213421[1]
U.S. Routes
Website	www.eastgranbyct.org

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Original inhabitants of the current East Granby area were Native American peoples, including the Algonquin/Poquonock, the Massaco, and the Agawam.^[3]

The East Granby area was first settled by Europeans in 1664, which was one of the four Congregational parishes in Simsbury.^[4] The Turkey Hills Ecclesiastical Society in 1786 became a section of Granby, and in 1858 was incorporated as the Town of East Granby.

The first incorporated copper mine in America resided in what is now East Granby. The mine later became Old Newgate Prison, a Revolutionary War jail and the first state prison in the United States (1790).

Farming was the mainstay of the town for much of its history. The early twentieth century saw local farmers specializing in dairy product and tobacco.

East Granby experienced a housing boom that started in 1951 and resulted in a rise in population.^[5]

The town celebrated its 150th anniversary with a three-day festival June 7–9, 2008.

East Granby is in the Farmington valley, with the Farmington River passing along the southern border of the town. The Metacomet Ridge, a mountainous trap rock ridgeline that stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border, runs through the center of the town, cutting off Salisbury Plain to the east, which used to lie under the ancient, glacial Lake Hitchcock. High points on the Metacomet Ridge in East Granby include Hatchet Hill and Peak Mountain; the latter offers a bird's eye view of the historic Old Newgate Prison. The 51-mile (82 km) Metacomet Trail traverses the ridge.

As of the census^[8] of 2014, there were 5,055 people (2012) and 2,129 households (2012). The population density was 289 inhabitants per square mile (112/km²) (2012). There were 2,186 housing units. The racial makeup of the town was 86.7% White, 5.28% African American, 0% Native American, 5.66% Asian, 2.35% from other races or multi-race residents. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.9% of the population.

The town the population was spread out, with 22.5% under the age of 18, 4.85% from 18 to 24, 35.55% from 25 to 49, 22.5% from 50 to 64, and 6% who were 65 years of age or older. 47.85% of the population is female (52.15% male). Residents that were 18 years or older compromised 77.47% of the population. 49.46% of residents that were 18 years or older were female (50.52% male). For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males. In 2000,^[9] the median age was 39 years.

As of 2000, there were 1,848 households, out of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.8% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families.^[9] 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.04.

Once strongly Republican, East Granby has become friendlier to Democrats in recent elections, similar to other suburban areas.^[18] In 2016, this was one of ten Connecticut towns to flip from Republican to Democrat, albeit giving Hillary Clinton a victory of only 18 votes.^[19][20] In 2020, Joe Biden won East Granby by a margin of more than 10 points.^[21]

• Solomon Flagg Alderman (1860–1928), Minnesota state senators and lawyer
• Walter Forward (1783–1852), lawyer and Secretary of the Treasury for President Tyler
• Jeff Simmons (born 1976), former IndyCar driver
• Walter Wick (born 1953), author of the I Spy find-it-in-the-picture book series

Education in East Granby is through the East Granby Public School System, including East Granby High School, the smallest public high school in the state of Connecticut. The high school mascot is a crusader, and the middle school's is The Purple Wave. Both the high school's and the middle school's colors are purple and white.

Average class size for students in kindergarten in the East Granby school system was 13.8, second grade 23.7, fifth grade 23, seventh grade 20.5, and high school 17.1.^[24] The students per computer ratios were: elementary 3.8, middle school 1.4, and secondary school 1.8. East Granby School students performed high on both the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and SATs, where students' averages were higher than state averages in all grades (grade 4, 6, and 8 for CMT) and test subjects (Reading, Math, and Writing for both tests).

East Granby was noted in the book The Black Box, a record of airplane CVR recordings. East Granby was the site of the American Airlines Flight 1572 incident, which clipped the tops of trees in East Granby as it came in for a landing at Bradley International Airport.