Tariffville Map
Part of the original mill village area is included in the Tariffville Historic District, a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic district excludes newer development around West Point Terrace and Hayes Road, as well as properties along White Water Turn, Wooster Road, and Main Street Extension. The historic district is architecturally significant for preserving some evidence of early nineteenth century mill village characteristics (in retaining some old mill housing and street layout) and for also preserving later 19th century Greek Revival and Gothic Revival structures.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.7 km2), of which, 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km2) of it (6.15%) is water.
In 1825 (or 1827), the Tariff Manufacturing Company built a carpet mill along the Farmington River, giving its name to the area. The company name came from the Tariff Act of 1824 which included protective tariffs for a number of products, including wool and cotton textiles. The area did not have sufficient housing for the workers, so the company built housing, some of which survives today. The carpet business survived for a few decades, but by 1867, the primary industry in the area was sorting and packing of tobacco. The tobacco business would continue as the chief industry through the 1930s.
Nearby cities include West Hartford, Collinsville, Hartford, Broad Brook, East Hartford.