According to Fairfield county and state records from the time Redding was formed, the original name of the town was Reading. But in 1767, soon after incorporation, the name was changed to its current spelling of Redding. The resulting confusion lasted into the mid 1880s when the U.S. Post Office formalized the name. The first land grant was given to Cyprian Nichols in 1687 and 2 more followed soon after the turn of the century.

Mark Twain, a resident of the town in his old age, contributed the first books for a public library which was eventually named after him. A brief description of how the library started, written by one of the original trustees, Albert Bigelow Paine, is featured on the library's Web site:

"When Mark Twain moved into his new home in Redding he found that he had a great many more books than his library at Stormfield would hold. He proposed that as Redding had no public library he would contribute these books as the nucleus of one. Shelves were put in a little chapel standing on the Umpawaug Road, and the library opened with a small gathering of farmers and summer residents, on which occasion Mark Twain made one of his happy speeches. A year or so later, a more permanent location being desired, Mr. Theodore Adams, an old resident of the "Four Corners," donated a corner lot for the new library building."

"Shortly before Mark Twain's death, he realized a sum of money from the sale of a small farm, left by his daughter Jean, who had died at the end of the previous year. He told me that he would like to build the Redding library with this money as a memorial for Jean, and it was only a few days before his death that he gave me a check for that purpose, naming William E. Hazen, Harry A. Lounsbury and myself as trustees of this fund. This was in April, 1910. The library was ready for occupancy that winter, or early in 1911, and was called the Jean Clemens Memorial Library.

"A sum being needed for current expenses I wrote to Andrew Carnegie, a very old friend of Mark Twain, and asked him if he would like to provide it. His reply was that he would be proud to do this in memory of his friendship with Mark Twain.

"From that day until Mr. Carnegie's death, the library received $500.00 yearly from him. Following his death, the Carnegie Foundation sent a lump sum to provide that amount of income.

"Other contributions have been received and a variety of entertainments have aided in keeping the library open."