Population Increases Jewett City School, 1858 to 1897, Soule Street; then became the Town Hall until it was razed in 1965. Around 1720 the population was about 250 residents. Forty years later it had increased to over 1000. The leading industry was agriculture, with a few saw mills, corn mills and fulling mills. An iron works was the first manufactory within the bounds of Jewett City. Many men from North Preston, as Griswold was then known, fought in the French and Indian Wars, and later in the Revolution and Civil War, and also in the campaign against Havana. At least 200 men from North Preston served in the Revolution, and also the men of property in the town at that time made themselves personally responsible for the soldiers pay. They fought in nearly every battlefield of the was and 17 men died in battle. Back