Windsor Locks boasts an outstanding quality of life with wonderful tree-lined residential streets to great recreational opportunities, accessible health care, and active civic organizations.
Recreation
Windsor Locks combines the relaxing atmosphere of small-town New England with a mix of activities, place and events. There’s always plenty to do in and around Windsor Locks.
Culture..Windsor Locks is the home of the New England Air Museum (where you can look, touch and even climb into the cockpit) and the Noden-Reed Museum (for a look at Windsor Locks past). For a taste of something a bit different, visit our Bradley Teletheater for the latest horseracing action or a great meal at their Turf Club Restaurant.
Further south, Hartford features the world-renowned Wadsworth Atheneum and the Connecticut Sports Museum and Hall of Fame. The Basketball Hall of Fame is just to the north in Springfield,Massachusetts.
If you like your art live, then you have your choice: plays, concerts and dance abound in the Windsor Locks area. Hartford is home to Bushnell Memorial Hall, Hartford Civic Center Coliseum, Hartford Stage Company, and the University of Hartford Lincoln Theatre, while Springfield, Ma offers performances at the Paramount Theater, Mass Mutual Coliseum, Stage West and Symphony Hall.
Windsor Locks provides a series of free outdoor summer concerts featuring local talent, and the surrounding towns are home to several local theater and other performing companies.
Nature. Go for a walk, run or bike ride along the 6 miles of the Windsor Locks Canal and keep your eyes open for eagles and other wildlife often found nesting in the spring.
Some of New England’s best beaches are only 1.5 hours from Windsor Locks along Connecticut’s Gold Coast and Long Island Sound, as well as along Rhode Island’s great shoreline.
Sports. Windsor Locks offers opportunities for all to play organized sports:baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, swimming and bowling. Golfers can choose from among 21 courses that are within 45 minutes of town.
Toddlers and schoolchildren can enjoy town-sponsored summer programs of sports, recreation and arts and crafts.
Windsor Locks skiers have their choice of several downhill and cross-country ski areas close by in Connecticut. A quick 1.5 hours to the north, one of the country’s top ski regions can be found in Vermont.
If you’re a sports fan, there’s plenty to see in the Windsor Locks area.
Just 12 miles south, the Hartford Civic Center hosts the Hartford Wolf Pack (American Hockey League) and the University of Connecticut Huskies (NCAA Division I/Big East Basketball). For a fun summer family event, take the 30 minute drive south to see the Double A Eastern League Baseball New Britain Rock Cats. For the golf fan, the best in PGA can annually be found at the Buick Championship Golf Tournament, and UConn Football at Rentscheler Field.
Thrills...There's something for everyone nearby. It could be the Six Flags New England Amusement Park locate 15 minutes away in Agawam, Mass. Or in the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casinos (the world’s largest gaming facility) about an hour to our south.
Shopping.. For other thrills, shopping can be done at several plazas in town, 4 major shopping malls located within 20 minutes of Windsor Locks, or in New York City and Boston only a short car, bus or train ride away.
Education
For many years, those living in Connecticut have had access to some of the best educational opportunities in the U.S.A. Windsor Locks residents are no different. Whether in the Windsor Locks Public School system, area college preparatory schools that are recognized nationwide, nearby colleges and universities, or in the Windsor Locks Senior Center, quality classes, programs, and facilities are available for all.
All four of the public schools in Windsor Locks, (kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grade, sixth through eighth grade, ninth through twelfth grade) have recently completed a system-wide facilities upgrade to accommodate the technological changes required for the 21st century. Tutoring, mentoring, and shadowing programs with local business people are available to meet the needs of students in all grades as is an innovative foreign-language program (beginning in kindergarten) designed to prepare all students for the rapidly changing business world.
Along with Suffield Academy, neighboring Windsor Locks to the north, the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor to our south, Avon Old Farms School, Deerfield Academy, and the Watkinson School are some of the finest college prepatory schools to be found and all are within a 30 minute drive from Windsor Locks. Several community colleges are located in the immediate area and ten colleges and universities offering undergraduate and graduate level programs are also found within 30 minutes of town, they are:
- American International College in Springfield, MA
- Amherst College in Amherst, MA
- Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT
- Rensselear in Hartford, CT
- St. Joseph College in West Hartford, CT
- Trinity College in Hartford, CT
- University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT
- University of Hartford
- University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA
- Western New England College in Springfield, MA
Health Services
Complete medical and dental services are offered in town, including an emergency medical center, a volunteer ambulance organization and the Visiting Nurses Association.
Five major hospitals are located within a 30-minute drive of Windsor Locks.
- Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA
- Hartford Hospital, in Hartford, CT.
- Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, CT
- Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut
- University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut
Organizations
Befitting its small-town image, Windsor Locks is home to a variety of community organizations. Residents have ample opportunity to meet with one another and to work, celebrate and worship together.
Civic Organizations… Existing for a variety of purposes, these groups meet regularly and sponsor many local events, including, food drives, memorial celebrations and remembrance, road races and charitable events
- American Legion, Gensi Viola Post 36
- General Federated Women’s Club of Windsor Locks
- Italian American Club
- Junior Achievement of Connecticut
- Knights of Columbus, Council 26
- Lions Club
- Rotary Club
- Veterans of Foreign Wars, Smalley Brothers Post 6123
- Windsor Locks Chamber of Commerce
- Windsor Locks Historical Society
- Religious Organizations..
- Places to worship in Windsor Locks.
- Bethany Baptist Church
- Calvary Baptist Church
- Congregational Church of Windsor Locks
- Living Waters Fellowship Church
- New Life Assembly of God
- New Life Tabernacle, Church -UPC
- St. John’s Episcopal Church
- St. Mary Roman Catholic Church
- St. Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church