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Welcome to New Britain ...

So far, we found very little information about New Britain. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added New Britain to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with New Britain, please Contact Us.

New Britain would have been located within present day Columbia County<2>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of New Britain, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1833.

When the people of New Britain referred to themselves (known as a demonym), they are believed to have used New Britainite<3>

While the community is gone, the present day location for New Britain is 960 feet [293 m] above sea level.<4>.

Time Zone: The area where New Britain was located is in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

The Area Codes where New Britain was located: 518 & 838<5>

Communities Also Named New Britain ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 3 communities that are also named New Britain - they are located in Connecticut, Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for New Britain.

Communities near New Britain ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near New Britain.

  • Albany
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Pittsfield
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Rensselaer
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rensselaer have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rensselaer
    • Rensselaer is located in Rensselaer County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,142 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rensselaer <6>
  • Great Barrington
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Dalton
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dalton have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dalton
    • Dalton is located in Berkshire County (MA)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,479 people
  • Lee
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Lenox
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Wyantskill
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wyantskill came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<8>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyantskill
    • Wyantskill is located in Rensselaer County
  • Ravena
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Cheshire
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around New Britain. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for New Britain.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of New Britain. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around New Britain.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around New Britain. See our Newspapers Page for New Britain.

Adding New Britain to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of New Britain in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for New Britain was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<9>

X2X - From that list, the New Britain post office opened in 1833.

We also found New Britain in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (Oct. 1846).

For more details, see References and Mentions for New Britain.

The official website for Columbia County: www.columbiacountyny.com/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about New Britain, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>If you're interested in how the shape of New York's counties, including Columbia, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<3>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of New Britain refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a community's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of New Britain may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around New Britain - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 518 code has been Overlayed with the 838 area code. New phone numbers in the New Britain area will be assigned with one of these codes: 518 or 838. As a result, placing a call in the New Britain area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<8>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<9>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025