city, coextensive with the town (township) of Ansonia, New Haven county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S., on the Naugatuck River. The area was a part of the township of Derby until it was incorporated as a separate township in 1889. Ansonia's separate identity had been established in 1843, when Anson Greene Phelps of New York City refused to pay an exorbitant price for land in the village of Birmingham in Derby township and established his copper and brass mills at the settlement that took his given name. Ansonia borough was organized in 1864 and chartered as a city in 1893, when the town and city were consolidated. Heavy machinery was manufactured there as early as 1848. Ansonia and the neighbouring cities of Derby and Shelton form one of the important groups of industrial communities in the state. Manufactures include brass and copper alloys, screw machine products, and plastics. Pop. (1990) 18,403; (2000) 18,554.