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Route 209 is Bantam Lake Road, which passes to the west of Bantam Lake.
The Route 109/209 intersection in Morris is one of the few in Connecticut that resemble the branching numbering system in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The 209 number arises from the Connecticut practice of choosing a new number "rhyming" with a route's older designation (in this case, 109) where possible: SR 722 becomes Route 222, SR 864 becomes SR 664, and so on.
In the 1920s, Route 209 was part of the old State Highway 310, an L-shaped road leading from Bantam to Thomaston along today's Route 209, and part of today's Route 109.
In 1932, SH 310 became Route 109.
In March 1963, Route 109 was straightened out, and the north-south portion became Route 209.
In late 1931, however, state planning maps included a Route 209 along today's Route 97 leading from Route 12 in Norwich to the Scotland town line. Some 1932 and 1933 maps (but not the state official maps) show a Route 209 here. The official 1932 state map shows Route 97 here instead.
Route 209, a proposed but unused designation for part of Route 97, survives in this 1935 AAA map of southern New England.