Glenville was a tiny mill town founded in 1774 by Baptist settlers seeking land on which to establish a church. The area was originally called Sherwood's Bridge, named for the Sherwood family who settled here in 1634. During the nineteenth century, the name Sherwood Bridge was changed to Glenville because, history tells us, a glen was formed by the tree-covered hills that dipped toward the Byram River.The Sherwood family owned a farm on Glenville Road that provided 1,400 dozen eggs per week and 1,000 turkeys per year. The Sherwood family began farming in 1756 and continued for nine generations. The farm, one of the oldest in New England, closed down in 1978. The Sherwoods were veterans of every American war and some of the family members are buried in the small cemetery which fronts Glenville Road.
Glenville has always been home to industry because of the power of the Byram River that flows through the area. Mill work brought many Irish workers to the neighborhood during the nineteenth century, followed by Polish immigrants during the early twentieth century. In 1790, a mill was opened for grinding Peruvian bark, used as fever medication. From the mid-eighteenth century until the early twentieth century, still another mill ground wheat and corn for area farmers. Glenville is best known, however, for the American Felt Company, a producer of piano felts and felt for cars and aircraft. The American Felt Company closed in 1979 but has always been considered an important part of the Industrial Revolution. Also known in Glenville was Russel, Fursall and Ward, a manufacturer of nuts and bolts for use in assembling stoves. Eventually, this company became a major supplier of metal fasteners. The waterfall that gave power to the mill industries still flows today. The Mill remains the heart of Glenville, consisting of upscale restaurants, condominiums, offices and retail stores.
After World War II, homes were being built on previously undeveloped land, as Glenville developed into a residential community. The neighborhood began to flourish. The original Glenville School was built in 1921 and is now the Western Greenwich Civic Center. The Glenville fire house was built in 1951 and the Glenville Post Office in 1962. Soon after, the Glenville Shopping Center opened for business. As the area population increased, the need for a bigger school became apparent. The current Glenville School on Riversville Road opened its doors in 1975 and is one of the largest elementary schools in Greenwich. In the 1930's the Rockefeller family, through their Indian Spring Land Company, began buying up land on Glenville Road, including part of Sherwood Farm. In December 1979, the remaining portion of Sherwood Farm was sold to Indian Spring Land Company for $300,000. The Indian Spring Land Company has since developed this property into a residential community of multi-million dollar estates.
The residential and commercial development of Glenville, combined with the natural beauty of the area, has made it a highly-desirable section of Greenwich. In spite of the tremendous growth that Glenville has seen in the past decades, the familiar neighborhood ambiance still thrives throughout the area.
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