Berlin - Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

Marker Emma Hart Willard’s birthplace, Berlin – Doug Kerr

The town of Berlin, located in Hartford County, has the distinction of having the geographic center of the state located in its town. First known as the Great Swamp Society, the town was incorporated in 1785 and called Berlin. New Britain remained a part of the town until 1850. The early economy formed around farms, mills, and blacksmiths, and in the middle of the eighteenth century, brothers Edward and William Pattison emigrated to Berlin from Ireland and set up the first tinware business in the colonies. Today, Berlin has three distinct areas (Kensington, Berlin Center, and East Berlin), and remains both residential and industrial, with many small industries still in operation.

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A Hip Road Trip

Known as “Gasoline Alley” during the 1950s, the Berlin Turnpike boasts a heady visual mix of neon, brand names, logos, and 1960s' motel Modernism.  …[more]

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Places

“Berlin Historical Society,” 2016. Link.

Connecticut Historical Society. “Civil War Monuments of Connecticut: Soldiers Monument, Berlin,” 2012. Link.

Documents

Connecticut State Library Digital Collections. “Berlin - WPA Architectural Survey,” 2013. Link.

“Berlin Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.

Connecticut Historical Society Library Catalog. “Catalog Record of the Nelson Augustus Moore Family Papers, 1837-1929,” 2012.

Books

Wallace, Willard. An Historical Sketch of Berlin, Connecticut. Berlin,  CT: Bicentennial ’85 Steering Committee, 1985.

Murray, Kathleen. Berlin. Charleston,  SC: Arcadia, 2001.

Meyers, Doris, ed. Berlin: Other Times, Other Voices. Berlin,  CT: Berlin Free Library, 1986.

North, Catharine. History of Berlin, Connecticut. New Haven: The Tuttle  Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1916. Link.

Camp, David. History of New Britain, with Sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889. New Britain, CT: W.B. Thomson & Company, 1889. Link.