Primarily an agricultural community until the Revolutionary War, New Canaan shifted to shoe making as its major industry in the 19th century.  By the late 1800s wealthy New York City residents built summer homes in the area, and many of them stayed year-round. In the 1940s New Canaan became an important center of modern architectural design when the “Harvard Five” built over 80 homes. Today, New Canaan remains a wealthy rural enclave and is still known for its modernist homes of which The Philip Johnson Glass House takes center stage. As part of Connecitcut’s Gold Coast, New Canaan is known for its wide range of architecture to historic New England colonials and farms. as well as its vast public parks such as Waveny Park, and a signature town center with classic boutiques. New Canaan is consistently listed as one of the wealthiest towns in the country, appearing in multiple rankings of the nation’s richest zip codes. It is also known for its public school system, which in 2018 was ranked as the top public school system in  Connecticut, and in 2008 the third-best in the country.