As the population grew, so did the need for a larger public cemetery. In November 1846, Reverend Frederick Ayres, pastor of the Long Ridge Congregational Church, expressed his concern to the Long Ridge community.

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The Long Ridge residents formally established an association on January 17, 1856, for the purpose of establishing a burying ground at the site. Articles of Association were drawn up stating the group’s intention and signed by 18 members. They named their association the Long Ridge Union Cemetery – a ‘union of the people’.

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Later that year in October, a public notice went up on a sign post on Old Long Ridge Road requesting that the association members meet at the schoolhouse on Friday evening, October 17, 1856 to take the necessary steps to get incorporated. 

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​The following day, William Todd, John Todd’s grandson, deeded approximately one acre of land to the 18 association members, which included Todd himself, for $100 - the cost of the land and fencing. Each man paid between $11.32 and $22.64, depending on the number of plots they purchased. The average grave at that time cost $3.77. John Todd’s small land donation was already occupied by his heirs and those of Ezra Newman, Jeremiah Knapp, Frederick Hoyt, and Richard Libby.

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​The Articles were signed by William Todd on October 18, 1856 and witnessed by Walter J. Clawson, Justice of the Peace, and Albert A. Wilson. By-laws were drawn up and accepted on October 31, 1856 as required by statute. The Articles, which included a deed, were received and recorded on February 10, 1857 by Edwin Scofield, Jr., Stamford Town Clerk – and bounded in Book 33, Page 350.

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Once the cemetery was more formally established, remains of early residents along with their employees and helpers were moved from burial grounds on family farms to Long Ridge Union Cemetery. 

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In 1876, the cemetery established an annual memorial service on the cemetery grounds as a celebration of life. This was held on Children’s Sunday, the second of June, until 1965, when the service was discontinued for a short period. The service was revived in 1980 and continues today, normally held in September. 

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​In 1929, Stamford Selectmen reinterred the remains of 35 individuals who resided at Stamford’s Almshouse on Scofieldtown Road and died between 1860 and 1926. Long Ridge Union Cemetery welcomed the remains and has respectfully referred to the site as a piece of ground reserved as a burial place for strangers, friendless, and the poor. 
 

The Association acquired additional property expansions to the cemetery in 1859, 1872, 1902, and finally in 1951 when the widow of a former cemetery president, Mrs. Edward DeForest, turned over 10 acres for a nominal sum of $4,500.

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John Todd, who inaugurated the cemetery in 1796 with his donated section of pasture, was interred in the cemetery in 1814, Section I, Row 31, Plot 10. He was a Revolutionary War veteran. Today, the cemetery Association is honored to hold the remains of veterans of all wars and conflicts where the US has been involved, as well as residents of all races, and many ethnicities and religions.