Thomas Short became the Connecticut Colony’s first official printer in 1708, printing the laws and proclamations for the colonial legislature as well as the colony’s first book.
ReadJohn Warner Barber chronicled 19th-century Connecticut history through his historical writing and hundreds of engravings—many of which still exist today.
ReadOn November 12, 2008, Connecticut issued its first marriage licenses for same-sex couples after Kerrigan et al. v. Commissioner of Public Health et al..
ReadThe first private gas light companies in Connecticut appeared just before 1850 in New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport.
ReadDuring WWII, the US military bestowed 175 Connecticut war plants with the Army-Navy “E” Award for outstanding production contributions to the army and navy.
ReadThe Amos Bull House in Hartford and the Sterling Opera House in Derby are tied for Connecticut’s first listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
ReadResources to learn more about Connecticut’s contributions to the narrative of Black history in America.
ReadOn January 2, 1958, Governor Abraham Ribicoff officially opened the Connecticut Turnpike—today the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike—to traffic.
ReadIn 1973, the state legislature mandated that Connecticut’s license plates should display the state slogan “Constitution State.”
ReadChurch bells served many important functions in early New England. Consequently, skilled bellfounders in Connecticut found themselves in high demand.
ReadThe Charter of 1662 described Connecticut boundaries that extended all the way to the the Pacific Ocean!
ReadThe Connecticut poll tax lasted for almost 300 years and encompassed four different variants.
ReadDespite passage of the federal Uniform Holiday Bill in 1968, Connecticut residents were largely reluctant to move Veterans Day observances from November 11.
ReadConnecticut’s 1991 “gay-rights law” was one of the state’s first LGBTQ+ civil rights laws and prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment, and credit.
ReadA map of some of the Connecticut Landmarks of the Constitution researched and published by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation.
ReadWhile Connecticut used variations of flags for state functions, the legislature did not adopt an official state flag until 1897.
ReadAlthough few of the privately managed toll-roads of the 1800s proved profitable for investors, state commerce benefited in the long run.
ReadOld Sturbridge Village moved numerous historical CT buildings, but evidence of their existence still lives on in historic maps, photographs, and memories.
ReadConnecticut’s blue laws are a series of laws based on puritan values that restrict or ban certain “morally questionable” activities on days of worship or rest.
ReadSherwood Island, Mount Tom, Macedonia Brook, and Kent Falls are among the earliest lands set aside as the parks movement took hold in the state.
ReadThe Connecticut Charter, which provided the basis for Connecticut government until 1818, was secured because of Connecticut’s realization after the restoration of Charles II to the English throne in 1660 that the government of the colony lacked any legal foundation.
ReadThe city of West Haven, incorporated in 1961, is Connecticut’s youngest city but one of the state’s oldest settlements.
ReadIn 1989, the Norwich Branch of the NAACP organized the first official Juneteenth celebration in Connecticut—several other towns followed suit in subsequent years and decades.
ReadReligious mandates, the difficulties of colonial-era travel, and industrialization are a few of the forces that gave rise to the proliferation of towns in our state.
ReadSome Connecticut River towns continue to hold an annual shad festival, replete with a “Shad Queen” and a feast known as a “shad planking.”
ReadConnecticut’s description as “the land of steady habits” has been used to stand for a wide list of subjects, from beer drinking to sushi to hair bobbing.
ReadCitizens’ dedication on the battlefield and home front did not always signal agreement on key issues of the day.
ReadThe Connecticut gubernatorial election of 1817 transferred power from the Federalists to the Republican Party, ending the Congregational Church’s domination.
ReadWhen the University of Connecticut started life as the Storrs Agricultural School in 1881, Governor Hobart Bigelow appointed its first eight trustees—all with agricultural backgrounds.
ReadTreatments for tuberculosis included everything from exposure to extremes in temperature to regimens involving access to the outdoors.
ReadThough Connecticut’s official nickname is the “Constitution State,” it has been known by many names throughout the centuries.
ReadCounty government operated in Connecticut in one form or another for nearly 300 years before the state abolished it in 1960.
ReadOn September 22, 1776, the British hanged Revolutionary War soldier Nathan Hale, a school teacher from Coventry, Connecticut, for spying.
ReadA powerful and popular preacher, Thomas Hooker led a group of Puritans out of Massachusetts in 1636 to settle new lands that eventually became the city of Hartford.
ReadConnecticut Protestants wanted to cleanse the church of what they saw as corruption, and to return to the simplicity and purity of early Christian worship.
ReadIn 1870, Connecticut ratified the 15th Amendment, but poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and other means of disenfranchising African Americans remained in place.
ReadAfter observing the financial success of commercial banks in Boston and New York City, wealthy elites in Connecticut pressured the Connecticut General Assembly to grant charters for privately owned commercial banks in Hartford, New Haven, and New London in 1792.
ReadBetween 1934 and 1943, the federal government placed murals in twenty-three Connecticut post offices.
ReadOn June 3, 2003, the Connecticut General Assembly designated The Nutmeg, Homeland of Liberty by Dr. Stanley L. Ralph as the State Cantata.
ReadA timeline displaying the major events leading to Connecticut statehood, including its settlement by the Dutch, the origins of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, the founding of the Connecticut, New Haven, and Saybrook colonies, and Connecticut’s acquisition of a formal charter from England.
ReadLoyalists in Connecticut, often acting on beliefs tied to relegion, proved particularly prominent in Fairfield County. Many of them fled to Canada rather than face imprisonment at New-Gate.
ReadA wheel damaged in battle now resides at the Connecticut State Capitol to commemorate the Civil War service of the First Light Battery Connecticut Volunteers.
ReadMajor league hockey debuted in Hartford in 1975 and the Hartford Whalers remained a staple of the Connecticut landscape for twenty-three years.
ReadThe aquatic inhabitant, shad, has a long history of influencing foodways, income, and culture in the region.
ReadThe Embargo Act of 1807 stifled Connecticut trade with Europe, but ultimately boosted local manufacturing.
ReadConnecticut joined several other states and the District of Columbia mandating seat belt usage for children and adults in automobiles in 1985.
ReadPollution of Connecticut’s waters by industrial waste and sewage in the decades after the Civil War was arguably the state’s first modern environmental crisis.
ReadIn the early 20th century, supporters of the New Deal tried to recreate the Tennessee Valley Authority in the Connecticut River Valley.
ReadBefore the expense of having two capital cities became too great, both Hartford and New Haven served that function. Hartford became the sole capital in 1875.
ReadIn 1971, to eliminate the state’s budget deficit, Connecticut legislators approved a tax on income. Just forty-two days later, they repealed it, instead voting to increase the state’s sales tax.
ReadWhy tasty Crassostrea virginica deserves its honored title as state shellfish.
ReadIn the wake of a 1912 trolley campaign, the woman’s suffrage movement rapidly gained ground across Connecticut.
ReadOn May 25, 1909, the cornerstone was laid for the new State Library and Supreme Court building in Hartford.
ReadConnecticut took part in many of the great World’s Fairs, especially those held in North America.
ReadAn Orderly and Decent Government is an exhibition on the history of representative government in Connecticut developed by the CT Humanities in April 2000.
ReadConnecticut’s Old State House is a memorial to many of the legislative advances made in Connecticut during the most formative years of the United States.
ReadThe American Revolution prompted enormous political and social changes in other states, but Connecticut remained a “land of steady habits” until 1817 brought change to state government.
ReadIndustry, immigration, and urbanization characterized Connecticut in the 19th century.
ReadConnecticut’s ancient system of town-based representation ensured the continuation of small town values and perspectives.
ReadPuritans from Massachusetts settled early Connecticut towns, and in 1639 drew up “The Fundamental Orders” by which they would be governed.
ReadIn 1698 the General Court reorganized itself to deal more effectively with Connecticut’s complex new problems.
ReadAfter the Pequot War, New settlers and speculators sought to establish new towns from the colony’s undistributed lands.
ReadDuring the early 19th century, the General Assembly was slow to deal with rising crime, poverty and the other social costs of a rapidly changing society.
ReadStimulated by immigration and industrialization, Connecticut cities expanded rapidly
ReadConnecticut saw its population of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe swell in the last decades of the 19th century.
ReadIn the last decades of the 19th century, Connecticut was transformed by a massive flood of immigrants fleeing political and economic instability.
ReadConnecticut attempted to reorganize it state government by streamlining its agencies and rejected a number of socially progressive programs.
ReadEarly 20th century life in Connecticut was marked by the election of 1912, US entry into World War I, and the Great Depression.
ReadDuring the American Revolution, loyalists were common in Connecticut. Those sympathetic to the patriot cause helped provide for the Continental army.
ReadWith war’s end, suffrage advocates stepped up their campaign for equal rights.
ReadOrganized labor grew strong during wartime while discriminatory practices in housing and education persisted throughout the state.
ReadThe late 1800s witnessed significant challenges to Connecticut’s voting and taxation laws.
ReadThe era of Wilbur Cross and the Great Depression transitioned into World War II and state control by Democrat mastermind John Bailey.
ReadConnecticut recast its constitution, reapportioned its House and Senate, and struggled with providing equal rights to all races and socio-economic classes in the state.
ReadConnecticut replaced town-based representation with legislative districts while the state struggled to supply equal opportunities across race and class lines.
ReadIn 1873, the legislature began to look more closely at the problems of Connecticut’s workers.
ReadThe 1965 state constitution helped redistribute populations more evenly into districts. It was also a period of new representation for women and African Americans in the state government.
ReadWorld War II helped bring an end to the Great Depression in Connecticut. Following the war, the growth of the suburbs redefined life in the state.
ReadThe state generated revenue for urban renewal and social programs through gaming and income tax initiatives.
ReadIn the years following the Civil War, Connecticut’s transformation to an urban, industrial state intensified.
ReadYouTube – CTHPrograms – Co-produced by Connecticut Public Television and…
ReadWho are we? What traditions and accomplishments define us as a state and shape our lives today?
ReadYankee peddlers were a common sight in the Connecticut countryside in the mid-19th century.
ReadBy the 1870s, the State’s practice of having dual capitols in Hartford and New Haven was considered awkward and ineffective.
ReadThe original Windsor settlement contained not only the town of Windsor but also what eventually became the towns of Enfield, Suffield, Simsbury, and others.
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