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Meriden
Martha Minerva Franklin: Breaking Barriers for Black Nurses
An activist for Black nurses in the early 20th century, Martha Minerva Franklin worked to end discrimination and secure equal rights for her profession.
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Rosa Ponselle: Meriden’s Famous Musical Daughter
Rosa Ponselle etched her name in history as the first American-born and American-trained singer to star with the Metropolitan Opera Company.
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Illuminating Connecticut’s Past: The Bradley & Hubbard Legacy
Meriden’s Bradley & Hubbard Manufacturing Company was an industry-leading American manufacturer of kerosene lamps and metal household items.
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Up from the Ashes: Fire at the Meriden Britannia Company – Today in History: July 16
A manufacturer of silver-plated ware rebounds from the worst fire ever to occur in Meriden.
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The Ku Klux Klan in Connecticut
The white supremacist organization, the KKK, first organized in Connecticut during the 1920s, promoting themselves as part of the nativist movement.
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The Pie Man from Georgetown and the Connecticut ~ Copperthite Pie Company
More than just a wagon driver and Civil War veteran, Henry Copperthite built a pie empire that started in Connecticut.
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Connecticut Pocketknife Firms
Connecticut pocketknife production began around 1840. Over the next two decades, Connecticut became the earliest state to have a burgeoning craft.
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Orville Platt Helps Define International Relations after the Spanish-American War
Orville Platt was a powerful Republican senator from Washington, Connecticut. He presented the Platt Amendment to Congress.
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The Platt Amendment – Today in History: June 12
Orville Platt from Meriden presented the Platt Amendment to Congress in 1901. It essentially made Cuba an American protectorate.
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Nicholas Grillo and his Thornless Rose
Nicholas Grillo was a self-made floriculturist who earned international acclaim for developing the world’s first thornless hybrid tea rose.
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Speaking under the Open Sky: Frederick Douglass in Connecticut
The famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass had several connections to Connecticut, including run-ins with a number of the state’s vocal slavery proponents.
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Meriden Town Hall Burns Down – Today in History: February 14
On February 14, 1904, Meriden’s town hall burned to the ground due to a fire that lasted eight hours.
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The Astronomical Event of the Century
Church bells chimed and factory whistles blew and automobiles, trains, and trolleys throughout the state came to a standstill.
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Connecticut Arms the Union
By the Civil War’s end, Connecticut had supplied 43% of the total of all rifle muskets, breech loading rifles and carbines, and revolvers bought by the War Department.
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Meriden’s Silver Lining
Despite large numbers of local industries going out of business by the start of the Civil War, Horace and Dennis Wilcox, helped establish a lucrative silver industry in Meriden.
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