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P.T. Barnum
Hartford Circus Fire: “The Tent’s on Fire!” – Who Knew?
The Hartford Circus Fire on July 6, 1944, may be the worst human-caused disaster ever to have taken place in Connecticut.
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“Tom Thumb” Born – Today in History: January 4
Charles Stratton, born in Bridgeport on January 4, 1838, toured the world with P. T. Barnum under the name, General Tom Thumb.
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Taking on the State: Griswold v. Connecticut
In the 1960s, Estelle Griswold challenged Connecticut’s restrictive birth control law, making it all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut – Today in History: November 1
On November 1, 1961, Estelle Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton opened the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut in New Haven.
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The Hartford Circus Fire – Today in History: July 6
Called the worst disaster in Hartford’s history, the fire killed 168 and injured 487, including many children.
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P. T. Barnum: An Entertaining Life
Once declared “the most widely known American that ever lived,” this showman’s life story is as colorful as the entertainments he provided in the mid-1800s.
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Connecticut and the Comstock Law
Connecticut passed its own state law in 1879 that carried the anti-contraception movement further than any other state in the country.
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Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wed – Today in History: February 10
He was rich, handsome and famous, she was considered a great beauty and their wedding was front page news around the nation.
Read Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wed – Today in History: February 10
He was rich, handsome and famous, she was considered a great beauty and their wedding was front page news around the nation.
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The Hartford Circus Fire
As a result of the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944, Connecticut enacted new, strict fire safety regulations for public performances.
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P. T. Barnum Dies – Today in History: April 7
On April 7, 1891, the showman and entertainer, P. T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum died in Bridgeport.
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A Bird’s-eye View of Bridgeport
The lower perspective of this 1882 example is somewhat atypical of most of the bird’s-eye views of the era, but its emphasis on industrial accomplishment is a hallmark of the genre.
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