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Joel T. Case and the Victorianization of Bristol’s Federal Hill
The Victorian designs of inventor and architect Joel T. Case make substantial contributions to the landscape of the Federal Hill area in Bristol.
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Yankee Ingenuity: Curtis Veeder, a Mechanical Genius and Shrewd Businessman
Curtis Veeder patented a bicycle seat he sold to the Pope Company, and later invented a cyclometer for measuring distances traveled by bicycles.
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The Life of Chauncey Jerome: An Insider’s Look at What Made Early Bristol Tick
A glimpse at clock making in Connecticut from Chauncey Jerome’s 1860 autobiography
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Lake Compounce: Bringing Amusements to the State’s Residents Since 1846
Bristol’s Lake Compounce is the oldest continually operating amusement park in the US and has been open every summer since 1846.
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Saving Sessions Woods
After decades as historic family property and summer camp, Sessions Woods became a park after local residents organized to save it from private developers.
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Muzzy Field: A Historic Ball Park Survives in a Post-Industrial City
After over one hundred years, Bristol’s Muzzy Field continues to welcome ball players and fans of sports history.
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Emily Holcombe Pioneered to Preserve Connecticut’s Colonial Past
Emily Seymour Goodwin Holcombe was an activist and preservationist who took pride in the state’s history, particularly its colonial past.
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Amos Bronson Alcott Changes the Way Connecticut Children Learn
Amos Bronson Alcott was an educator and reformer born in Wolcott, Connecticut and father to best-selling author, Louisa May Alcott.
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Vera Buch Weisbord’s “Radical” Life
Vera Wilhelmine Buch Weisbord was a labor activist who helped organize trade unions and strikes that shaped the labor movement of the 1920s and 1930s.
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The Telescoping Fishing Rod – Today in History: March 8
On March 8, 1887, Everett Horton, a Bristol mechanic, patented a fishing rod of telescoping steel tubes.
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Rockwell Hardness Tester – Today in History: February 11
In 1919, Hugh Rockwell and Stanley Rockwell received a patent for the Rockwell hardness tester, one of the 20th century’s metallurgical innovations.
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Mr. & Mrs. Rockwell’s Park
In 1914, bell and ball bearing manufacturer Albert Rockwell donated 80 acres of land to the city of Bristol for the creation of a public park.
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The Coaster Brake – Today in History: April 9
On April 9, 1907, Harry Pond Townsend patented the driving and braking mechanism for cycles, the first device to combine driving, braking, and coasting.
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Noble Jerome’s Clock Patent Model
Noble Jerome submitted this clock patent model to the US Patent Office along with his patent application in 1839, a common requirement up until the 1880s.
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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: American Clock & Watch Museum
Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures is a series of 50 five-minute film vignettes that profiles a variety of the state’s most notable cultural resources.
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Video – William Gillette’s Railroad
Actor William Gillette is featured in this two-minute newsreel, “Sherlock Holmes Turns Engineer,” filmed by Fox Movietone News in 1927.
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Over Time: Bristol’s Historical Population
Census data, from colonial times on up to the present, is a key resource for those who study the ways in which communities change with the passage of time.
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When the World Ran on Connecticut Time
The success of the clock- and watch-making industries in Connecticut came about in an era when the state was just beginning to realize its industrial potential.
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