Greenwich, Connecticut. Greenwich is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other financial service firms. Greenwich is a principal community of the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area, which comprises all of Fairfield County. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut as well as in the six-state region of New England. The town is named after Greenwich, a royal borough of London in the United Kingdom. The town of Greenwich was settled in 1640. One of the founders was Elizabeth Fones Winthrop, daughter-in-law of John Winthrop, founder and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. What is now called Greenwich Point was known for much of the area's early history as Elizabeth's Neck in recognition of Elizabeth Fones and their 1640 purchase of the Point and much of the area now known as Old Greenwich. Greenwich was declared a township by the Connecticut General Assembly in Hartford on May 11, 1665. During the American Revolution, General Israel Putnam made a daring escape from the British on February 26, 1779 in Greenwich. Although British forces captured and sacked the town, Putnam was able to warn Stamford. In 1974, Gulliver's Restaurant and Bar, on the border of Greenwich and Port Chester, burned, killing 24 young people. In 1983, the Mianus River Bridge, which carries traffic on Interstate 95 over an estuary, collapsed, resulting in the death of three people. For many years, Greenwich Point, was open only to town residents and their guests. However, a lawyer sued, saying his rights to freedom of assembly were threatened because he was not allowed to go there. The lower courts disagreed, but the Supreme Court of Connecticut agreed, and Greenwich was forced to amend its beach access policy to all four beaches in 2001. These beaches include Greenwich Point Park, Island Beach, Great Captain Island, and Byram Park. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2000, the town had a total area of 67.2 square miles, of which 47.8 square miles is land and 19.4 square miles, or 28.88%, is water. In terms of area, Greenwich is twice the size of Manhattan. The town is bordered to the West by Port Chester, New York, Rye Brook, New York, and White Plains, New York. To the North it is bordered by Armonk, New York, and Banksville, New York. To the South it is bordered by the Long Island Sound. To the East, it is bordered by Stamford, Connecticut. The U.S. Census Bureau recognizes nine CDPs within the town: Byram, Cos Cob, Glenville, Indian Field, Old Greenwich, Pemberwick, Riverside, Rock Ridge and the Greenwich CDP covering the historic municipal center of the town. The USPS lists separate zip codes for Greenwich, Cos Cob, Old Greenwich, and Riverside. Additionally, Greenwich is often further divided into several smaller, unofficial neighborhoods. The Hispanic and Latin American population is concentrated in the southwestern corner of the town. In 2011, numerous neighborhoods were voted by the Business Insider as being the richest neighborhoods in America.