About CMSC

The Connecticut Main Street Program was established by the Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) in 1995. At the time, CL&P (now Eversource Energy) recognized there was no comprehensive approach to revitalizing our historic commercial districts, and they were concerned with protecting their significant investment in infrastructure in the State’s downtowns. As a result, they decided to provide the funding and internal administrative resources to establish the Connecticut Main Street Program. To this day, CL&P remains the only private corporation in the country to solely sponsor and administer a statewide Main Street initiative.

Realizing it would be necessary to gather a combination of public and private support to grow Connecticut Main Street, CL&P proposed restructuring the program. In 1999, with the support of then-Lt. Governor M. Jodi Rell, Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC) became a private nonprofit corporation with its own board of directors. In 2000, and continuing through the present day, the State of Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) joined CL&P as a Founding Sponsor.

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