Connecticut History Day 2025: Rights and Responsibilities in History

By CTH Staff The 2025 theme for National History Day is “Rights and Responsibilities in History.” There are lots of different types of rights and responsibilities that initiate, uphold, and…

A Godmother to Ravensbrück Survivors

…military valor? Ferriday’s French Connection Photo taken in France of Caroline Ferriday, from the cover of Jacqueline Péry d’Alincourt’s reminiscence of Ferriday given at Ferriday’s 1990 memorial service in Bethlehem…

Playing with Time: The Introduction of Daylight Saving Time in Connecticut

By Nancy Finlay Poster “Victory! Congress Passes Daylight Saving Bill”, showing Uncle Sam turning a clock to Daylight Saving Time, 1918 – Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division The…

Connecticut Residents Did Not Let Veterans Day “Go Commercial.”

…Holiday Bill. The act provided for federal employees and others to receive more three-day weekends by moving the celebration of Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day to…

Halladay’s Revolutionary Windmill – Today in History: August 29

Halladay’s Wind-Mill from Illustrated Annual Register of Rural Affairs: A Practical and Copiously Illustrated Register of Rural Economy and Rural Taste, 1858 On August 29, 1854, Daniel Halladay a machinist,…

A Day of Celebration – Today in History: September 17

…Paier College of Art and a graduate student in US history at Central Connecticut State University. This Today in History was published as part of a semester-long graduate student project…

A Day for Women – Today in History: March 8

Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day. First observed in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland as International Working Women’s Day, this annual event was established in 1910 by the Second…

Doing History | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

D-Day – Today in History: June 6

…in newspaper reports. The full story of D-Day would take years to tell. Yet we may, through the power of recorded sound, return to the moment people learned about D-Day….

Hall of Flags: Memorial to Connecticut’s Civil War Colors

…for the embroidered flags ranged from $100–$160 each. With inflation today, the cost equates to approximately $2,266–$3,626. Battle Flag Day—September 17, 1879 In 1879 the Connecticut General Assembly decided to…

Hartford’s Industrial Day – Today in History: October 7

Hartford celebrated the 1908 opening of the Bulkeley Bridge with a three-day extravaganza. The new Hartford Bridge, as it was initially named, connected Hartford and East Hartford. Industrial Day was…

Dark Day – Today in History: May 19

…major forest fire in the spring of 1780 was the likely culprit of Connecticut’s Dark Day. “The day of Judgment is either approaching, or it is not.” – Abraham Davenport…

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St. Patrick’s Day – Today in History: March 17

On March 17, 1842, the New Haven Hibernian Provident Society, founded in 1841, sponsored the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade held in New Haven. A small event, the parade featured…

The Connecticut Town Green

…the green may be one of the only extant artifacts from colonial times. An impressive 170 Connecticut greens exist today, though some towns have more than one and some no…

Pierre Lallement and the Modern-Day Pedal Bicycle – Today in History: November 20

On November 20, 1866, mechanic Pierre Lallement, a temporary resident of New Haven, Connecticut, received a patent for an improvement in velocipedes. Credited with paving the way for the modern-day…

President Grant Celebrates Independence Day in Woodstock – Today in History: July 4

On July 4, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant attended Independence Day celebrations at Roseland Cottage in Woodstock. His host, Woodstock-native Henry C. Bowen, had gained success in the dry goods…

John Warner Barber’s Engravings Chronicle Connecticut History

…history through his historical writing and hundreds of engravings—many of which still exist today. Early Life in East Windsor John Warner Barber – The New York Public Library. Used through…

Content Updating Policy

ConnecticutHistory.org Content Updating Policy Last Updated: November 8, 2023 ConnecticutHistory.org, a project of Connecticut Humanities, is a state public history resource written for a diverse set of readers, ranging from…

Gideon Welles Appointed Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy – Today in History: March 7

…received in 2013, and is currently continuing his education at Central Connecticut State University in the public history degree program. This Today in History was published as part of a…

The Decorative Arts of Connecticut

…products today. Redware jar attributed to the Day Pottery – Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Used through Public Domain and Fair Use. Connecticut’s glasshouses flourished after the Pitkin monopoly…

Capital Community College Students Explore Hartford’s Immigrant History…In Their Own Words

In spring 2013 students from Capital Community College’s Liberal Arts Capstone Course conducted research at Hartford Public Library’s Hartford History Center. Led by Dr. Jeffrey Partridge, students explored important figures…

Celebrating Civil War Men and Women – Today in History: April 9

…Museum of America and the Sea and indulging in her favorite pastimes: historical research, knitting, and blacksmithing. This Today in History was published as part of a semester-long graduate student…

Derby Day on the Housatonic

…Blackwell Cup, created lively interest in the sport for residents of the Lower Naugatuck Valley. New Haven Railroad brochure for Derby Day 1940 – Joseph DiRienzo On Saturday, May 5,…

Unveiling of the Grant Memorial Tablet – Today in History: October 4

…University. This Today in History was published as part of a semester-long graduate student project at Central Connecticut State University that examined Civil War monuments and their histories in and…

Waterbury Burns – Today in History: February 2

…the worst fires in the city’s recorded history. The fire started in the upholstery department on the third floor of the Reid & Hughes Dry Goods Company at 108-112 Bank…

The 29th Leaves for War – Today in History: March 19

…casualties in a half-dozen hard-fought battles in Virginia. Cornel Garfman, MS, is a writer and historian. This Today in History was published as part of a semester-long graduate student project…

Reporting News of Pearl Harbor – Today in History: December 7

…as a turning point. On the next day President Roosevelt called on Congress to declare war on the Empire of Japan; they complied almost immediately. A few days later, Germany…

Civil War Soldier Dies of Gangrene – Today in History: July 10

…the First Light Battery, Connecticut Volunteers, was engaged near Richmond, Virginia. On that Sunday morning, during the fourth day of the five-day Battle of Proctor’s Creek, a Confederate artillery shot…

The Charter Oak Fell – Today in History: August 21

…local legend and a much-told Connecticut tale in which a hollow space in the tree was used to hide the colony’s charter. The tree’s history does not begin with the…

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The Danbury Fair, 1869-1981

…two most popular attractions. The horse races took place on the track for the first five days of the fair, and the auto races on Saturday, the last day of…

Four Saints in Three Acts Debuts – Today in History: February 7

…not—to the too serious minded. But neither do ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and other creations of fantasy.” Today, Four Saints in Three Acts is regarded as a landmark of American modernism….

Alfred Howe Terry Born in Hartford – Today in History: November 10

…1890 and is buried in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, CT. Sandra Whitney is a graduate student at Central Connecticut state University. This Today in History was published as…

The 29th First to Enter Confederate Capital When It Surrenders – Today in History: April 3

…wrote, until her voice gave out. Cornel Garfman, MS, is a writer and historian. This Today in History was published as part of a semester-long graduate student project at Central…

Lounsbury Elected Governor – Today in History: January 4

…from North Branford High School in 2009 and Holy Apostles College and Seminary in 2013 with a bachelor of arts in the Social Sciences. This Today in History was published…

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Benedict Arnold Demands the Key – Today in History: April 22

…open the building and help themselves if they didn’t have the key in five minutes. Once armed, the company began a three-day march to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to join the fight…

First Recorded Fall of Meteorites in the United States – Today in History: December 14

…approximately 350 pounds of meteorite that fell on Weston in December 1807, fewer than 50 pounds can be accounted for today according to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History….

Fort Griswold Attacked – Today in History: September 6

…wounded died within a few days and others were taken as prisoners. Today, Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park commemorates this moment in Revolutionary War history with a monument and museum….

The Great Hurricane of 1938 – Today in History: September 21

…Five days of intense rain, the approach of the autumnal equinox, and a full moon combined to increase the destructive force of the hurricane. In Greenwich, as elsewhere in the…

The Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper – Today in History: October 29

On October 29, 1764, New Haven printer Thomas Green established a weekly newspaper, the Connecticut Courant, in Hartford. Only the third newspaper to be published in the colony—and now known…

Stealth Attack from Guilford Launched – Today in History: May 23

…force of British troops on a two-day invasion that destroyed the Continental Army’s supplies and left more than a dozen American defenders dead. The patriot force consisted of a flotilla…

Byram River Flood – Today in History: October 15

…storm as the “worst catastrophe” in the history of the town. Byram River Flood, 4:20 pm, October 16, 1955. L. E. Gotch, photographer – Greenwich Historical Society House swept away…

A Total Eclipse of the Sun – Today in History: January 24

On January 24, 1925, Connecticut residents witnessed a full solar eclipse. They had ample notice. Governor John H. Trumbull had issued a proclamation on January 15: On Saturday, the twenty-fourth…

First US Detachable Electric Plug – Today in History: November 8

…damaging short circuit occurred. Hubbell went on to receive another 45 patents, most for electric products, and the company he started, Hubbell Incorporated, is still in business today in Shelton….

Parking Authority Created in New Haven – Today in History: June 2

On June 2, 1953, the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, known today as the Connecticut Supreme Court, ruled that creating a parking authority in the city of New Haven was…

Rockwell Hardness Tester – Today in History: February 11

…the Wilson Mechanical Instrument Company. The Rockwell hardness test remains the most efficient and widely used hardness test today and is recognized as one of the 20th century’s metallurgical innovations….

Frederick Law Olmsted Born – Today in History: April 26

…Olmsted to landscape what is known today as Bushnell Park in Hartford. Olmsted, however, turned down the park design to focus on his work completing New York’s Central Park landscape….

Oldest College Daily – Today in History: January 28

…by the demand for news among us.” Such dry wit would remain a hallmark of the publication, which later took its current name, Yale Daily News. Today, this student-produced publication…

G. Fox & Co. Destroyed by Fire – Today in History: January 29

…for use as the Hartford campus of Capital Community College, retail shops, and offices. Today, the restored building exhibits much of its original splendor and is listed on the National…

Ethan Allen Born – Today in History: January 10

…for settlement of the same properties in what is today Vermont. Allen’s men defended the claims of New Hampshire grant holders while antagonizing settlers with New York titles. At the…

John Brown Born – Today in History: May 9

…and poet Walt Whitman called Brown “the meteor of war.” Considered extreme and even insane in his own day, today he is widely studied for his commitment to ending slavery….

Largest Earthquake in Connecticut – Today in History: May 16

…reported earthquake of that day struck with two heavy shocks in quick succession and a fissure measuring several meters long formed in the ground. Shortly after, 30 lighter shocks occurred,…

Fire Ravages Cos Cob School – Today in History: July 29

…While the school had smoke detectors, it did not have a sprinkler system, nor was a sprinkler system required by law. Today, multiple-story buildings are required to have sprinklers; however,…

Ivoryton Playhouse Opens – Today in History: June 17

…the playhouse stage, as did other notables such as Cliff Robertson and Norma Terris. Today the playhouse logo bears a silhouette of Loxodonta Africana, the African elephant so deeply linked…

Samuel Huntington, the first President of the United States, dies – Today in History: January 5

On January 5, 1796, Samuel Huntington, the man who arguably served as the first president of the United States, died. Born in Scotland Parish (known today as Scotland, Connecticut), Huntington…

The Aqua Velva State – Today in History: November 17

…Your Strongest Suit – A Face That’s Fit! and in the 1960s it became the familiar There’s something about an Aqua Velva man. Aqua Velva is still produced today, though…

Hubbell’s Pull-Chain Electrical Light Socket – Today in History: August 11

…and controlled by a pull chain—a design that remains popular to this day. Harvey Hubbell, from Connecticut History Makers by Elias Robert Stevenson, 1929 Thomas Edison invented the first practical…

Connecticut Issues Same-Sex Marriage Licenses for the First Time – Today In History: November 12

…eight) same-sex couples, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (today, GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders) filed the lawsuit back in 2004 after the state denied marriage licenses to the couples…

Connecticut Turnpike Opens – Today in History: January 2

On January 2, 1958, Governor Abraham Ribicoff officially opened the Connecticut Turnpike—today the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike—to traffic. Ten months later, the last three miles, including the bridges over…

Civic Center Roof Collapses – Today in History: January 18

On January 18, 1978, at about 4:20 in the morning, the Hartford Civic Center roof collapsed. Ten days of bad weather coupled with a snowstorm the prior evening were responsible…

The Platt Amendment – Today in History: June 12

…of the Platt Amendment. One stipulation remained in effect, however, and that was the continued lease of the naval base at Guantánamo Bay—an issue still helping define Cuban-American relations today.…

Farmington Canal’s Ground-Breaking – Today in History: July 4

On July 4, 1825, the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Farmington Canal took place at Salmon Brook village in Granby. Governor Oliver Wolcott gave the day’s address to the 2,000 to…

The Kennedys in Connecticut – Today in History: November 6

…A photograph taken that day shows the youthful-looking candidate riding through the streets in the back of a convertible. Barely three years later, on November 22, 1963, President John F….

World’s First Helicopter – Today in History: September 14

…Presented to Henry Ford and included in his Edison Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, on October 7, 1943, the VS-300 today remains on display at the Henry Ford Museum. Igor Sikorsky…

Medical Pioneer Eli Todd born – Today in History: July 22

…in 1833. He is buried at Old North Cemetery in Hartford. In the 20th century, the hospital was renamed the Institute of Living and is known by that name today.…

Jacob Schick Invents the Electric Razor – Today in History: May 13

…Inc. In 1946 the name was changed to Schick, Inc., and in 1981 Norelco took over operations. Today, Norelco is located where Schick operated his electric shaver factory in Stamford….

Connecticut Ratifies US Constitution – Today in History: January 9

…ones, which advocated that all states have but one vote each. Their “Connecticut Compromise” led to the two-house legislative system still in place today. Ratification Debated The next step following…

The “Father of American Football” is Born – Today in History: April 7

…War I. Walter Camp as Yale’s Team Captain from the book Football Days Memories of the Game and of the Men Behind the Ball by William H. Edwards, 1916 The…

Goodspeed Opera House Opens – Today in History: October 24

…restore the building and bring back theater performances. The Goodspeed Opera House reopened in 1963 and continues to operate today as a theater. Since 1968, numerous productions that originated at…

Colt Armory Burns – Today in History: February 4

…Designed by General William B. Franklin and completed in 1867, the new five-story brick building boasted a distinctive dome, similar to the original one that burned. Today, the factory complex…

American Architect Ithiel Town Born – Today in History: October 3

…City Hall and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. Trinity Church, New Haven – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Illustrated In addition to building design, Town also studied engineering and…

The Launch of the USS Nautilus – Today in History: January 21

…to be powered by nuclear fuel it could travel faster and farther than any other submarine in the history of the world. In 1983, the Nautilus was named the official…

The Lemon Law – Today in History: June 4

On June 4, 1982, Connecticut made legislative history by pioneering the country’s first Lemon Law. The Lemon Law is actually the nickname for Connecticut General Statute Chapter 743b “Automotive Warranties,”…

Bridgeport Women Answer the Call – Today in History: April 15

…the city’s women. Shirley T. Wajda, PhD, currently an independent historian living in the Connecticut Western Reserve, is the creator and organizer of Viennapedia, a wiki devoted to the history…

The Hartford Circus Fire – Today in History: July 6

…almost 7,000 people, a fire broke out and spread through the Big Top. Called the worst disaster in Hartford’s history, the fire killed 168 and injured 487, including many children….

Academy Graduates First African American Student – Today in History: June 8

On June 8, 1966, the US Coast Guard Academy in New London graduated the first African American student, Ensign Merle James Smith, Jr. Smith received a Bachelor of Science degree…

Sunday Funday? We Think Not – Who Knew?

…If the park’s owners opened on Sunday, they were strapped with fines. To learn more, read Luna Park: A 20th-century Story of Amusement and Morality   Horses crossing the finish…

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch – Today in History: September 17

…ceremony of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Bushnell Park, Hartford – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Illustrated The monument tells the story of Hartford’s role in the Civil…

Up from the Ashes: Fire at the Meriden Britannia Company – Today in History: July 16

…of Hartford, Connecticut, 1830-1880. © Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and Connecticut Historical Society. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Connecticut History | WNPR News Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not…

Last State Highway Toll Paid – Today in History: April 28

…history with toll roads. Between 1792 and 1839, about 100 private turnpike corporations were chartered; they built 1,600 miles of toll roads, or turnpikes, across the state. These private corporations…

New-Gate Prison Breakout – Today in History: May 18

On May 18, 1781, the largest mass breakout in the history of New-Gate Prison took place. At the time, the prison population included British Loyalists who joined the other prisoners…

Power of Place | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

The State Cantata – Today in History: June 3

…the B. W. Tinker Elementary School in Waterbury by the school’s 1962 graduating class. Cantatas are choral compositions usually set to sacred texts, but The Nutmeg relates Connecticut’s history through…

Theodate Pope Riddle Dies – Today in History: August 30

…that Hill-Stead become a museum as a memorial to her parents and that the house and its contents be maintained precisely as they had been during her life. Today, the…

Educator Sarah Pierce Born – Today in History: June 26

…41-year-long history, she educated women from throughout the United States and Canada. Litchfield academy emphasized both academics and the decorative arts and was famous also for the high quality of…

“Tom Thumb” Born – Today in History: January 4

…age of 45. Lavinia outlived Charles by 36 years, finally passing away in 1919. Today, a monument in Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport marks the place where the Strattons, together,…

Abraham Ribicoff dies – Today in History: February 22

…Highway Safety Act of 1966. In the years following his senate seat, he practiced law in New York City. He was, and remains, the only Jewish governor in Connecticut’s history….

New Haven Gives the Lollipop its Name – Today in History: October 13

…generic term today, George Smith was the first to apply it to hard candy on a stick. Smith was inspired by the success of a local confection being produced in…

Charles McLean Andrews and Evangeline Walker Andrews

…Elizabethan history, Evangeline Andrews is credited with reviving May Day celebrations in the United States through her staging, in 1900, of the Elizabeth May-Day Festival at Bryn Mawr. She served…

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ConnecticutHistory.org Content Takedown Policy Last Updated: September 24, 2024 ConnecticutHistory.org is committed to providing free and open access to Connecticut’s shared history through our content and resources. ConnecticutHistory.org has been…

The Pest House Completed – Today in History: December 4

…the area, away from official town cemeteries. Currently, only one gravestone remains to mark the history of smallpox in Durham: that of Timothy Hall who died in July 29, 1775….

Connecticut 29th Mustered into Service – Today in History: March 8

Ambrotype of unnamed soldier from the 29th Regiment – Stamford Historical Society On March 8, 1864, the state’s first African American regiment, the Connecticut Twenty-Ninth (Colored) Regiment, C.V. Infantry, mustered…

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ConnecticutHistory.org: Call for 250th Related Content ConnecticutHistory.org invites prospective authors to submit pitches for content related to the themes developed by the America 250 | CT Commission for the United…

“U.S. Troops in Viet Nam, but none in Selma” – Today in History: March 9

On March 9, 1965, protesters held an all-night vigil in front of Connecticut Governor John Dempsey’s residence. Representatives of Hartford’s civil rights movement, led by members of the North End…

Mastodon Bones Unearthed – Today in History: August 13

…died just days earlier on the 5th.) The men were excavating to provide drainage for a piece of swamp land when they found what they believed to be the root…

Paleontologist Othniel Marsh dies – Today in History: March 18

…founder of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History (a gift to Yale College in 1863), Marsh was appointed one of the museum’s first curators. He also served as the government’s…

USS Nautilus Passes Under North Pole – Today in History: August 3

On August 3, 1958, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) made history by becoming the first ship to pass underneath the North Pole. The 1,830-mile journey was launched from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,…

Connecticut Valley Railroad’s First Train – Today in History: July 29

Fenwick Hall, Fenwick, Old Saybrook – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Illustrated On July 29, 1871, a ceremonial train ran along the new 44-mile single-line track built by the…

The Long, Ambiguous History of Connecticut’s Blue Laws

…in the pre-Revolutionary period, no examples of the laws themselves existed before “a sketch of some of them” materialized in the Reverend Samuel Peters’s 1781 work, A General History of…

Foot Ball Match: Harvard vs. Yale – Today in History: November 13

…stockings. Harvard vs. Yale, Foot Ball Match. Hamilton Park, Saturday, Nov. 13th, 1875 Played at Hamilton Park in New Haven, the match was also the first time these schools met…

Furniture Caster Patented – Today in History: June 30

On June 30, 1838, the US patent No. 821—the first for a furniture caster—was granted to the Blake Brothers of New Haven. The brothers, Eli Whitney Blake, Philos Blake, and…

Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut – Today in History: November 1

…a lifelong social activist, challenged Connecticut’s ban on birth control by offering family planning counseling and contraceptives. Nine days later they were arrested and fined $100. The court found Griswold…

Painter, Muralist, Sculptor Sol LeWitt born – Today in History: September 9

On September 9, 1928, the American artist Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford. A long-time Chester resident, LeWitt, whose work includes drawings and sculptures, is identified with the late 20th…

Timothy Dwight Dies – Today in History: January 11

On January 11, 1817, Timothy Dwight (theologian, educator, poet, and eighth president of Yale) died in New Haven, Connecticut. A remarkable scholar, Dwight entered Yale at age 13 and upon…

Scrabble Copyrighted – Today in History: December 1

…the game Scrabble. He received the copyright on December 1 and the trademark on December 16, 1948. The Brunots initially manufactured 18 games a day in the living room of…

Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wed – Today in History: February 10

By Anne Farrow He was rich, handsome and famous, she was considered a great beauty and their wedding was front page news around the nation. On February 10, 1863, at…

Thanksgiving and Christmas at Long Lane, 1874

…Lane. The entries below remain faithful to the original spelling and punctuation. “Thanksgiving Day.” Nov. 26. [18]74 A day of cloudless skies, soft – misty atmosphere and almost summer warmth….

Mianus River Bridge Collapses – Today in History: June 28

…and Archives, of the Greenwich Historical Society contributed this article and co-curated the exhibition Everyday Heroes: Greenwich First Responders (September 14 through August 26, 2012) from which it is derived….

Roger Sherman Dies – Today in History: July 23

On July 23, 1793, Roger Sherman—a Connecticut merchant, lawyer, and statesman—died in New Haven. Roger Sherman moved to Connecticut as a young man and applied himself to a number of…

Benedict Arnold died in London, England – Today in History: June 14

On June 14, 1801, Revolutionary War general and traitor Benedict Arnold died in London. Arnold became involved in local politics while a New Haven merchant-sea captain trading in horses and…

Colt’s Submarine Battery – Today in History: April 13

On April 13, 1844, Samuel Colt blew up a schooner on the Potomac River off the Washington (DC) Navy Yard to demonstrate the effectiveness of his invention, the underwater electric…

Blizzard Halts Mail Delivery – Today in History: February 7

…that had struck the East Coast the day before. It deposited two feet of snow that had drifted to shoulder height in places and left thousands of cars stranded on…

The 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Flag and Display

…for Battle Flag Day, September 17, 1879 – Courtesy of the Connecticut Office of Legislative Management, from the book Qui Transtulit Sustinet by Geraldine Caughman According to the History of…

The Portable Typewriting Machine – Today in History: April 12

On April 12, 1892, the first US patent for a truly portable typewriter was issued. The patent, No. 472,692, was issued to George C. Blickensderfer of Stamford for a “type…

Christopher Leffingwell Born – Today in History: June 11

On June 11, 1734, businessman and civic leader Christopher Leffingwell was born in Norwich. Leffingwell’s ancestors founded Norwich in the 1660s, and he continued and expanded the family business with…

The Blake Rock Crusher – Today in History: June 15

On June 15, 1858, Eli Whitney Blake of New Haven was granted US patent No. 20,542 for a “machine for crushing stone.” The nephew of cotton-gin inventor Eli Whitney, Blake…

East Haddam Swing Bridge – Today in History: June 14

On June 14, 1913, the East Haddam Swing Bridge officially opened on Flag Day. The pin-connected drawbridge designed by Alfred P. Boller, an authority on deep bridge foundations, was fabricated…

Harriet Beecher Stowe Born – Today in History: June 14

On June 14, 1811, author Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield. The daughter of Reverend Lyman Beecher, Harriet was educated at the Litchfield Female Academy and the Hartford Female…

Bucket Brigade to the Rescue – Today in History: September 12

…Young, former Curator of Library and Archives, of the Greenwich Historical Society contributed this article and co-curated the exhibition Everyday Heroes: Greenwich First Responders (September 14 through August 26, 2012)…

Samuel Colt and Elizabeth Jarvis Marry – Today in History: June 5

On June 5, 1856, Samuel Colt married Elizabeth Hart Jarvis, the daughter of Reverend William Jarvis and Elizabeth Hart of Middletown. Colt chartered the steamboat Washington Irving to transport him…

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Begins Serialization – Today in History: June 5

On June 5, 1851, the first chapter of what would become the landmark novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin appeared in the National Era, an anti-slavery newspaper published in Washington, DC. This…

American Painter John Trumbull Born – Today in History: June 6

On June 6, 1756, John Trumbull, painter, architect, and author, was born in Lebanon. The son of Governor Jonathan Trumbull, Trumbull served in the Continental Army as an aide to…

Thomas Hall’s Electric Block Railroad Signal – Today in History: June 7

On June 7, 1870, Thomas Hall patented the electromagnetic signal apparatus for railroads–better known as the automatic electric block. This handy device prevented trains from colliding. Hall, who was from…

Griswold v. Connecticut – Today in History: June 7

On June 7, 1965, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Griswold v. Connecticut. The case came before the court when the executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut,…

Hamilton Breaks Air Records – Today in History: June 13

On June 13, 1910, Charles Keeney Hamilton of New Britain shattered aviation records. Flying from New York to Philadelphia and back, Hamilton completed the first round-trip journey ever made between…

USS George Washington Launched – Today in History: June 9

On June 9, 1959, the first nuclear-powered, ballistic-missile submarine, the USS George Washington (SSBN 598), was launched at Groton. The George Washington was originally scheduled to become the USS Scorpion,…

Vietnam Veterans Against the War – Today in History: April 19

…immediate American withdrawal, the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized five days of demonstrations, including the staging of a guerrilla theater to simulate search and destroy tactics across the…

Sarah Bernhardt Performs in Hartford – Today in History: June 8

On June 8, 1906, French stage and film actress Sarah Bernhardt appeared at Foot Guard Hall in Hartford. She performed the part of Marguerite Gautier in the play La Dame…

Waterbury Tornado – Today in History: May 24

On May 24, 1962, a tornado hit the towns of Waterbury, Wolcott, and Southington. One person was killed by a falling tree and at least 39 others were injured. The…

The Father of Gastric Physiology Born – Today in History: November 21

On November 21, 1785, physician and physiologist William Beaumont, who became the first person to observe and describe the process of digestion in a still-living human, was born in Lebanon….

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson at Touro Hall – Today in History: March 24

On March 24, 1863, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, a 20-year-old Quaker and abolitionist from Pennsylvania, spoke at Hartford’s Touro Hall. Dickinson had been paid by Connecticut Republicans to deliver a speech…

The American School for the Deaf – Today in History: April 15

On April 15, 1817, the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opened with seven pupils in Hartford. The institution, later renamed The American School…

“Appalling Calamity”: Loss of the Steamboat Lexington – Today in History: January 13, 1840

On January 13, 1840, over 150 people perished on Long Island Sound when the steamboat Lexington caught fire. Only four survived the “Appalling Calamity,” as newspapers across the country described…

Roger Griswold Starts a Brawl in Congress – Today in History: February 15

…weeks debating the issue. When the votes came back along party lines on February 14, the Federalists hadn’t received the necessary two-thirds majority. The following day Griswold defended his honor…

The Smith Sisters and Their Cows Strike a Blow for Equal Rights – Today in History: January 8

On January 8, 1874, seven cows belonging to Abigail and Julia Smith headed down Glastonbury’s Main Street to the auction block. The cows—Jessie, Daisy, Proxy, Minnie, Bessie, Whitey, and Lily—were…

Leatherman Dies – Today in History: March 20

…devoted each day to walking a never-ending, clockwise circuit through southwestern Connecticut and adjacent sections of lower New York State. Legend has it that his journey covered 365 miles and…

Civil Rights Demonstrations – Today in History: March 18

…violence used in blocking marchers at the Edmund Pettus bridge on March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, known as “Bloody Sunday,” eventually forced the passage of the Voting Rights Act….

Knights of Columbus Chartered – Today in History: March 29

On March 29, 1882, the Connecticut legislature officially chartered the Knights of Columbus. Several months earlier, in October of 1881, the Reverend Michael Joseph McGivney and male parishioners of St….

First New-Gate Prisoner – Today in History: December 22

…only 18 days later Hinson, the first person to be imprisoned, also became the first to escape. Sentenced to 10 years for burglary, the 20-year-old Hinson was held underground in…

Hamilton Wrecks Aeroplane – Today in History: April 22

…The plane was assembled the next day at Andrews Field in the Stanley Quarter of New Britain. The buzz around town about Hamilton’s new venture was widespread as the plane…

Deadly Fire at Gulliver’s – Today in History: June 30

…Curator of Library and Archives, of the Greenwich Historical Society contributed this article and co-curated the exhibition Everyday Heroes: Greenwich First Responders (September 14 through August 26, 2012) from which…

The Telescoping Fishing Rod – Today in History: March 8

The Horton Manufacturing Company On March 8, 1887, Everett Horton, a Bristol mechanic, patented a fishing rod of telescoping steel tubes. The rod was lightweight and compact, and the steel…

Artist Louis Paul Dessar Dies – Today in History: February 14

Louis Paul Dessar at work outdoors, 1940 – Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection On February 14, 1952, American artist Louis Paul Dessar died in Preston,…

John Fitch Born – Today in History: January 21

On January 21, 1743, John Fitch, an inventor and pioneer in steamboat construction, was born in Windsor–a settlement in the British colony of Connecticut. Fitch is credited as the first…

Fire at Wesleyan’s North College – Today in History: March 1

On March 1, 1906, North College at Wesleyan University in Middletown was destroyed by fire. Built in 1825 by the American Literary, Scientific, and Military College established by Captain Alden…

The Turtle Submarine – Today in History: September 6

On September 6, 1776, the first functioning submarine, called the Turtle, attacked the HMS Eagle anchored in New York Harbor. Designed by Saybrook native and Yale graduate David Bushnell, the…

Governor Chester Bowles Dies – Today in History: May 25

On May 25, 1986, Chester Bowles, a Connecticut governor, Congressional representative, ambassador, and author, died in Essex, Connecticut. Bowles was elected the 61st governor of Connecticut in 1948, serving for…

Lisbon Tunnel Completed – Today in History: August 28

An ad for the Norwich and Worcester Rail-Road for contractors from the September 17, 1836, edition of the Hartford Times On August 28, 1837, the directors of the Norwich and…

Land Purchase Becomes Bushnell Park – Today in History: January 5

On January 5, 1854, Hartford voters approved spending over $100,000 in public funds for land that would become a municipal park. It would be the first park in the country…

Father of Architects Born – Today in History: December 4

On December 4, 1804, “Father of Architects” Henry Austin was born in the Mt. Carmel section of Hamden, Connecticut. A New Haven architect for most of his career, Austin opened…

Memorial Day 1920 Brings a Changing of the Guard

…not until 1971 that federal law changed observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May no matter its date), the Hartford Courant reported: As the day will be…

The Hartford Convention – Today in History: December 15

On December 15, 1814, delegates to the Hartford Convention met in secret at the Old State House in Hartford. The Massachusetts legislature had requested the conference in October and delegates…

Connecticut Suffragists Appeal to the President – Today in History: July 12

…Brandegee’s mind belonged to an earlier generation and compared it to an antique, “interesting to observe, but not for present day use.” The Connecticut rally and telegram were contributions to…

Setting Speed Limits – Today in History: May 21

On May 21, 1901, Connecticut passed An Act Regulating the Speed of Motor Vehicles. Connecticut was the first state in the United States to have a law that regulated automobiles….

Yale University Art Gallery – Today in History: October 25

On October 25, 1832, the Trumbull Gallery at Yale opened to the public. Also known as the Picture Gallery, the Trumbull Gallery holds the distinction of being the first art…

P. T. Barnum Dies – Today in History: April 7

On April 7, 1891, P. T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum died in Bridgeport. Barnum launched his career as a showman and entertainer in the 1840s when he bought Scudder’s American Museum…

Cornerstone Set – Today in History: May 25

…a piece of the Charter Oak, and copies of that day’s Hartford newspapers. The Connecticut State Library is an executive branch agency of the State of Connecticut. It was formed…

William Gillette’s Last Performance – Today in History: February 27

William Gillette On February 27, 1936, William Gillette made his last appearance on any Connecticut stage at the Bushnell Memorial auditorium in Hartford, starring in Austin Strong’s comedy Three Wise…

Phineas Pratt’s Machine for Making Combs – Today in History: April 12

…man can cut the teeth of forty dozen combs in one day.” This type of economy of scale allowed for direct competition with British imports and a number of shops…

First Woman Elected as US State Governor Born – Today in History: May 10

On May 10, 1919, Ella Grasso, née Ella Rosa Giovanna Oliva Tambussi, the first woman governor in the US to be elected “in her own right,” was born in Windsor…

Sheff v. O’Neill – Today in History: July 9

On July 9, 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the state had an affirmative obligation to provide Connecticut’s school children with a substantially equal educational opportunity. Landmark School Desegregation…

Alse Young Executed for Witchcraft – Today in History: May 26

On May 26, 1647, Alse Young of Windsor was the first person on record to be executed for witchcraft in the 13 colonies. Young was hanged at the Meeting House…

Labor Day at the Turn of the 20th Century

In February of 1889, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill making the first Monday of each September a legal holiday. Labor Day, an initiative of the labor movement, had…

Branding Law Enacted – Today in History: February 5

On February 5, 1644, Connecticut enacted the first branding law in the colonies. The act called for all livestock owners to ear-mark or brand their cattle, sheep, and swine that…

The Steamboat New England: “The shock was dreadful” – Today in History: October 8

…Explored (formerly Hog River Journal) Vol. 9/ No. 4, Fall 2011. Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of…

Today in History – Fales & Gray Explosion Underscores Need for a Hartford Hospital

…that on the morning after the disaster, a jury inspected the site and the remains of the boiler and convened an investigation, hearing six days of testimony from workers, managers,…

First American Medicine Patent – Today in History: April 30

On April 30, 1796, Samuel Lee Jr. of Windham, Connecticut, received a Letters Patent for his composition of bilious pills—a patent medicine that eventually became known as “Dr. Lee’s Windham…

Connecticut Declares War Against the Pequot – Today in History: May 1

…would fight dozens of battles in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Confrontations occurred in the present day towns of Old Saybrook, Groton, Wethersfield, and Fairfield as well as in Mystic and…

The Lyman Allyn Opens – Today in History: March 2

On March 2, 1932, the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, in New London, had its grand opening. The museum was founded by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman…

Helen Keller Dies – Today in History: June 1

On June 1, 1968, American author, political activist, and lecturer Helen Keller died at the age of 87. Keller contracted an illness at 19 months old that left her blind…

Nathaniel Palmer discovers Antarctica – Today in History: November 18

On November 18, 1820, Nathaniel Brown Palmer of Stonington, Connecticut, discovered the mainland of Antarctica, one of the seven continents. At 22, Palmer was an experienced sealer and the captain…

Erector Set Patented – Today in History: July 8

Erector Set On July 8, 1913, the United States Patent Office issued a patent to Alfred C. Gilbert of New Haven for his “Toy Construction-Blocks.” What started as the “Mysto…

The Automatic Gallows – Today in History: June 18

On June 18, 1895, Jabez L. Woodbridge of Wethersfield patented an automated gallows. The object of Patent No. 541,409 was “to provide an apparatus or machine by means of which…

John Howe Makes a Better Pin – Today in History: June 22

On June 22, 1832, John Ireland Howe invented the first practical machine for manufacturing pins. Howe was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut, in 1793 and trained as a doctor, working at…

Private vs. Public Property – Today in History: June 23

On June 23, 2005, in the eminent domain case Kelo et al vs. New London, the US Supreme Court ruled that a city may take private property under the “takings”…

Henry Ward Beecher Born – Today in History: June 24

On June 24, 1813, Henry Ward Beecher was born in Litchfield. The Beechers were already well-known because Lyman Beecher, Henry’s father, was a nationally renowned clergyman, and Henry, too, became…

Buffalo Bill Cody Visits the Monument of Uncas – Today in History: July 2

On July 2, 1907, American adventurer and showman “Buffalo Bill” Cody visited the Mohegan Royal Burial Grounds in Norwich. Colonel William F. Cody, who had begun his popular “Wild West”…

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Born – Today in History: July 3

On July 3, 1860, Charlotte Anna Perkins (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Gilman became a prolific writer whose subject matter ranged from the differences between women and…

Pepperidge Farm Opens Bakery – Today in History: July 4

On July 4, 1947, Margaret Rudkin of Fairfield opened a modern commercial bakery in Norwalk and gave it the name of her small bakery, Pepperidge Farm. Rudkin had begun baking…

British Burn Fairfield – Today in History: July 7

…but others stayed to protect their property. Once ashore, an estimated 2,000 British troops, under the leadership of General William Tryon, burned the town. By the end of the day,…

Jonathan Edwards’ Famous Sermon – Today in History: July 8

On July 8, 1741, theologian Jonathan Edwards spoke the words of the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” at a Congregational church in Enfield. He could not…

Oliver Cromwell Launched – Today in History: June 13

On June 13, 1776, the ship Oliver Cromwell, built by Uriah Hayden, was launched in Essex. The ship was one of the largest full-rigged ships built for the state after…

Creating Candlewood Lake – Today in History: July 15

On July 15, 1926, Connecticut Light & Power Company’s board of directors approved a plan to build a man-made reservoir in order to produce electric power. What would become Candlewood…

The Connecticut Compromise – Today in History: July 16

On July 16, 1787, a plan proposed by Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, Connecticut’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention, established a two-house legislature. The Great Compromise, or Connecticut Compromise as…

Sanitary Fair – Today in History: July 25

On July 25, 1864, the Stamford Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society held a Sanitary Fair. Sanitary Fairs were established in response to the needs of Civil War soldiers beyond what the…

Hartford Wide-Awakes – Today in History: July 26

On July 26, 1860, the Hartford Wide-Awakes welcomed the Newark, New Jersey, Wide-Awakes to a banquet and ratification meeting at Hartford’s City Hall. The Wide-Awakes in Hartford were a political…

An American Heritage River – Today in History: July 27

On July 27, 1998, Vice President Al Gore designated the Connecticut River one of 14 American Heritage Rivers. The American Heritage River program was designed to restore the historic, economic,…

Connecticut’s “Woodstock” Canceled – Today in History: July 30

On July 30, 1970, Louis Zemel, the owner of Powder Ridge Ski Area in Middlefield had to tell a crowd of thousands that the scheduled three-day rock festival they had…

Miss Huntley’s School Opens – Today in History: August 1

On August 1, 1814, a young teacher named Lydia Huntley opened a school for young women in Hartford. Daniel Wadsworth, the art collector and later founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum,…

Poet Wallace Stevens Dies – Today in History: August 2

…Blue Guitar,” “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” and “Sunday Morning.” Many important poets of the 20th century—including Connecticut’s James Merrill—cite Stevens as a major influence on their work….

Home Missionary Society’s First Missionary – Today in History: August 7

…the West in hopes of converting Native Americans in that area to Christianity. Traveling mostly by foot for 34 days Bacon reached Detroit, where he held council with the Mackinac…

The Bazooka Changes War – Today in History: June 14

…both ends, was produced in 4 days. Final development took only three weeks, after which GE was tasked with producing 5,000 bazookas in 30 days. The gun worked by inserting…

First Human Test of a Nylon Parachute – Today in History: June 6

On June 6, 1942, Adeline Gray made the first jump by a human with a nylon parachute at Brainard Field in Hartford. Her jump, performed before a group of Army…

Danbury Prison Protest – Today in History: August 11

On August 11, 1943, conscientious objectors and other prisoners staged a 135-day hunger strike to protest racial segregation in the Danbury prison’s dining hall. Built in 1932 and opened in…

William Redfield Born – Today in History: March 26

On March 26, 1789, William C. Redfield, the noted American meteorologist, was born in Middletown. Redfield had observed after a hurricane that trees in central Connecticut had toppled toward the…

The Blizzard of 1888 – Today in History: March 11

On Sunday, March 11, 1888, a blizzard came unexpectedly to the northeastern United States. A cloudy and rainy day toward the end of winter took a turn for the worse…

First Commercial Telephone Exchange – Today in History: January 28

On January 28, 1878, the Boardman Building in New Haven became the site of the world’s first commercial telephone exchange, the District Telephone Company of New Haven. The exchange was…

Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wed – Today in History: February 10

By Anne Farrow He was rich, handsome and famous, she was considered a great beauty and their wedding was front page news around the nation. On February 10, 1863, at…

Park Central Hotel Boiler Explosion – Today in History: February 18

This photograph was taken by R.S. DeLamater, local Hartford photographer – Connecticut Historical Society In the pre-dawn hours of February 18, 1889, the Park Central Hotel in Hartford was ripped…

The Revolving Gun – Today in History: February 25

On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt received a patent for a “revolving gun” US patent number 138, later known as 9430X. His improvement in fire-arm design allowed a gun to…

Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Rally – Today in History: March 5

On March 5, 1860, Abraham Lincoln addressed the Republicans of Hartford at City Hall. He spoke to the danger of an indifferent attitude on the topic of slavery, a follow-up…

Elihu Burritt Dies – Today in History: March 6

Elihu Burritt On March 6, 1879, Elihu Burritt “the learned blacksmith” died in New Britain. A self-educated man who studied European and Oriental languages and taught himself to read more…

The Beadle Family Murders – Today in History: December 11

Following the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed a law that closed the Port of Boston to all ships, preventing supplies from reaching the citizens of Massachusetts. William Beadle,…

Government Orders Horse Pistols – Today in History: March 9

On March 9, 1799, the government issued its first contract for pistols to Simeon North of Berlin. The contract specified 500 horse pistols be made at a cost of $6.50…

Bursting of the Staffordville Reservoir – Today in History: March 27

On March 27, 1877, the Staffordville Reservoir Company’s dam burst, flooding the valley for a distance of five miles and causing the loss of two lives. The dam, on the…

Katharine Hepburn Born – Today in History: May 12

On May 12, 1907, stage and screen legend Katharine Hepburn was born to Hartford physician Thomas Norval Hepburn and women’s right activist Katharine Houghton Hepburn. In her six-decade-long career as…

Steamboat Accident – Today in History: March 29

On March 29, 1876, the steamboat City of Hartford, of the New York and Hartford steamboat line, hit the Air Line Railroad Bridge on the Connecticut River at Middletown carrying…

Fuller Brush Tower Collapses – Today in History: March 31

…rods from the tank the day before were the likely cause of the accident. The rods reinforced the four upright supports of the water tank but took up quite a…

Freighter Worcester Launched – Today in History: April 5

Fred. J. Hoertz, Your work means victory: Build another one, 1917, United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation On April 5, 1919, the steel-hulled freighter Worcester was launched in Groton….

Horace Bushnell Born – Today in History: April 14

…compassion he embedded in his approach. In a sermon preached the Sunday after the Union Army was defeated in 1861 at the Battle of Bull Run, he said, sympathizing with…

Ironclad Commissioned – Today in History: April 21

On April 21, 1862, the USS Galena was commissioned. New Haven businessman Cornelius Bushnell submitted the design for the Galena by naval architect Samuel H. Pook to the United States…

Battle at Ridgefield – Today in History: April 27

On April 27, 1777, American forces under the command of Major General David Wooster attacked the retreating British troops under Major General William Tryon in Ridgefield. In anticipation of Tryon’s…

USS Tullibee – Today in History: April 27

On April 27, 1960, the USS Tullibee, the first atomic submarine to use turbo-electric propulsion, was launched. The Tullibee was also the first in a new class of hunter-killer submarines…

Artist Frederic Church Born – Today in History: May 4

On May 4, 1826, the great American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church was born to a wealthy Hartford family. The Church family’s success in industry and insurance allowed Frederic to…

First Woman to Receive US Patent – Today in History: May 5

On May 5, 1809, Mrs. Mary Kies of South Killingly became the first woman in the United States to receive a patent. Her patent was for a new way to…

The Great Wallingford Tornado – Today in History: August 9

…at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery Thousands attended the burial of 25 of the victims the following Sunday. The local special police were called in to keep back…

Connecticut’s First Female Telephone Operator – Today in History: March 24

On March 24, 1879, Marjorie Gray became Connecticut’s first female telephone operator. Working for the Telephone Dispatch Company of Bridgeport (which was taken over by the Southern New England Telephone…

Governor Jonathan Trumbull Dies – Today in History: August 17

On August 17, 1785, Connecticut’s first governor, Jonathan Trumbull, died. A merchant, judge, and politician, Trumbull held the distinction of serving as the colony’s 28th governor prior to the American…

Town Patents the Lattice Truss Bridge – Today in History: January 28

On January 28, 1820, architect Ithiel Town was granted a patent for a wooden truss bridge, also known as Town’s Lattice Truss. An architect and civil engineer, Town had already…

Elizabeth Jarvis Colt Born – Today in History: October 5

…patron, and philanthropist. Known as the “The First Lady of Hartford”, she served for 22 years as the president of the Union for Home Work, which provided daycare for the…

Igor Sikorsky Dies – Today in History: October 26

On October 26, 1972, aviation pioneer Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky died at his home in Easton. Founder of the Sikorsky Aviation Corporation, Sikorsky moved the company to Stratford in 1929, and…

Calder’s Stegosaurus Dedicated – Today in History: October 10

On October 10, 1973, Alexander Calder’s sculpture, Stegosaurus, was dedicated in Hartford. Constructed of 45 thin steel plates bolted together in an abstract form representing a dinosaur from the Jurassic…

Meriden Town Hall Burns Down – Today in History: February 14

On February 14, 1904, Meriden’s town hall burned to the ground. In total, the fire caused $130,000 in damages and injured 6 firefighters. Started by what authorities think were crossed…

Arthur Miller dies – Today in History: February 10

On February 10, 2005, the award-winning American playwright Arthur Asher Miller died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, of congestive heart failure. The next night the lights of New York’s…

Rex Brasher Dies – Today in History: February 29

…their everyday activities. Visiting every state, Brasher captured birds that are now extinct, including the heath hen, passenger pigeon, and Eskimo curlew. He often financed these trips by working at…

The First US Can Opener – Today in History: January 5

On January 5, 1858, Waterbury native Ezra J. Warner invented the first US can opener. The idea of storing food in cans dates back almost 50 years earlier when Peter…

Thread Your Needle – Today in History: March 2

On March 2, 1866, the Excelsior Needle Company of Wolcottville was organized. The company produced machine-made sewing needles by a new method called swaging, a process of cold-forming metal by…

Elizabeth Bentley Born – Today in History: January 1

On January 1, 1908, Elizabeth Terrill Bentley was born in New Milford. Bentley is best known for her role as an American spy for the Soviet Union in the 1930s…

Elihu Burritt Born – Today in History: December 8

Elihu Burritt from life by J.W. Allderige – New York Public Library Digital Collections, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs On December 8, 1810,…

The Temperance Movement in Connecticut – Today in History: October 27

…Historical Society The two-day convention consisted of speeches and activities, and included a procession that passed through William, Broad, Washington, and Main streets in Middletown. The procession incorporated music and…

Jim Morrison Arrested – Today in History: December 9

On December 9, 1967, police arrested Doors’ front man Jim Morrison as he performed onstage at the New Haven Arena. An incident that took place between Morrison and a police…

Oliver Wolcott Dies – Today in History: December 1

On December 1, 1797, signer of the Declaration of Independence Oliver Wolcott died while serving his term as Connecticut’s governor. Born in 1726 to a prominent political family, Wolcott grew…

First New-Gate Prisoner – Today in History: December 22

…only 18 days later Hinson, the first person to be imprisoned, also became the first to escape. Sentenced to 10 years for burglary, the 20-year-old Hinson was held underground in…

Reel Lawn Mower Patent – Today in History: January 28

On January 28, 1868, Amariah Hills of Hockanum, Connecticut, received the first US patent for a reel-type lawn mower. In 1830, Edwin Beard Budding, an engineer from Gloucestershire, England, had…

The Coaster Brake – Today in History: April 9

On April 9, 1907, Harry Pond Townsend patented the driving and braking mechanism for cycles. The coaster brake, as it was known, was not a radically new invention, but it…

First General Copyright Law – Today in History: January 29

On January 29, 1783, Connecticut became the first state to pass a general colonial copyright law, entitled “An Act for the Encouragement of Literature and Genius.” Printing books in the…

First General Copyright Law – Today in History: January 29

On January 29, 1783, Connecticut became the first state to pass a general colonial copyright law, entitled “An Act for the Encouragement of Literature and Genius.” Printing books in the…

Pratt & Whitney Debuts Wasp Engine – Today in History: December 24

On December 24, 1925, aviation engineer and head of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company Frederick B. Rentschler debuted its first product: the Wasp engine. It featured a radial design,…

Frozen Reservoir Destroys Danbury – Today in History: January 31

On January 31, 1869, Danbury’s Kohanza Reservoir froze. At around 7 o’clock in the evening the icy surface broke, causing the upper Kohanza dam to burst, which in turn caused…

The Tariffville Disaster – Today in History: January 15

On January 15, 1878, at about 10:00 in the evening, a span of the Tariffville Bridge gave way, plunging a Connecticut Western Railroad train into the Farmington River 20 feet…

Accidental Shooting Leads to Witchcraft Conviction – Today in History: October 3

…people and groups such as the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project. This article has been updated, find the original archived article here. Learn more about content updating on ConnecticutHistory.org here….

New Haven Coliseum Imploded – Today in History: January 20

…a time and hosted sports games and concerts, including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, over the years. In its heyday hundreds of thousands of people attended events there each year….

Kensington Soldiers Monument Dedicated – Today in History: July 28

On July 28, 1863, the Soldiers Monument in the Kensington section of Berlin was dedicated. One of the state’s–and the country’s–earliest monuments commemorating the Civil War, the dedication was held…

Roosevelt Rides in an Electric Car – Today in History: August 22

…imagine that this was a design choice left over from the days of the horse-drawn carriage). It had two 20-volt batteries that totaled approximately 800 pounds, about 40 percent of…

Fitch Soldiers’ Home Closes – Today in History: August 28

On August 28, 1940, Fitch’s Home for Soldiers and their Orphans, also known as Fitch’s Home for Soldiers, in Darien, closed its doors and relocated hundreds of Connecticut veterans to…

Joshua Hempsted Born – Today in History: September 1

…provides a picture of Hempsted’s life, events in New London and eastern Connecticut, and day-to-day activities. The diary is difficult to read but has been extensively studied and is an…

Dinosaur Tracks Found – Today in History: August 23

On August 23, 1966, hundreds of dinosaur tracks were uncovered in Rocky Hill. The first few tracks were discovered by a bulldozer operator who was excavating the site for a…

Nathan Hale Hanged in New York – Today in History: September 22

…hanged. He was 21 years old. The site of the Dove Tavern is at the present-day corner of 66th Street and Third Ave, although there are two other locations in…

Parachutist Snagged in Midair – Today in History: September 13

On September 13, 1966, Charles (Chuck) Alexander became the first human to be captured by an aircraft in flight. A test parachutist for the Pioneer Parachute Company of Manchester, Connecticut,…

Mystic River Bridge Opens – Today in History: July 19

On July 19, 1922, the Mystic River Bridge spanning the Mystic River in Groton opened to the public. The bridge replaced the 1904 bridge and was fabricated by the American…

Roger Tory Peterson Dies – Today in History: July 28

On July 28, 1996, ornithologist and artist Roger Tory Peterson died in Old Lyme. From age 11, growing up in New York, Peterson was active in the Junior Audubon Club…

History in a Heart

…know today as the Hartford Public Library. She was also a true collector. Miss Hewins collected dolls from other countries, books for children written in many languages, and Valentine’s Day…

A Better Home and Garden in Bethlehem

…of the house contains works of art, ornaments, and furniture that reflect much of Caroline Ferriday’s taste and interest in honoring the home’s history. Open to the public, the Bellamy-Ferriday…

Pope Park – Yesterday and Today

…Park today retains little of its past grandeur, but many Frog Hollow residents revere their neighborhood’s history and architecture. In 1979 the district was placed on the National Register of…

America 250 | CT

…the 250th anniversary of American independence. Click on each theme to learn more and explore related ConnecticutHistory.org articles. Tell Inclusive Stories Power of Place Doing History For the Common Good…

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

…workroom Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford – Hartford Public Library, Hartford History Center, Hartford Times Collection and Connecticut History Illustrated Between 1977 and 1987, director Tracy Atkinson helped establish the Amistad Foundation,…

Black History Resources

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History,” founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), now called the Association for the Study…

Arbor Day’s Roots in Connecticut – Who Knew?

…that Connecticut’s Reverend Birdsey Grant Northrop popularized Arbor Day celebrations in schools across the country. While J. Sterling Morton (governor of Nebraska Territory) started an annual day of planting trees…

The Rogerenes Leave Their Mark on Connecticut Society

…Sunday, the rest of the day should be treated like any other. Other beliefs sprang from a literal interpretation of selected Scriptural passages. The Rogerenes believed that prayer should be…

Samuel Waldo Born – Today in History: April 6

Old Pat, The Independent Beggar painting by Samuel Lovett Waldo – Wikimedia Commons, Cleveland Museum of Art On April 6, 1783, portrait artist Samuel Lovett Waldo was born in Windham,…

The Thimble Islands – Little Islands with a Big History

…the majority can only be seen during times of low tide. Today, the inhabited islands are home to local residents, small businesses, and remain steeped in folklore and history. Photograph…

Blizzard of 1888 Devastates State

…The Great White Hurricane On the first day of the storm, which lasted three days, over 30 inches of snow fell. Two days later, the total reached 45 inches. Today’s…

The British Attack Danbury – Today in History: April 26

On April 25, 1777, British forces land at the mouth of the Saugatuck River with plans to attack Danbury. General William Howe had ordered Major General William Tryon, royal governor…

Edwin Land Inventor of the Polaroid Born – Today in History: May 7

On May 7, 1909, Edwin Herbert Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A scientist and inventor, Land is known best for his development of instant…

Sloan Wilson, the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, is Born – Today in History: May 8

On May 8, 1920, American author Sloan Wilson was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. Readers know Wilson best for his 1955 book The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. The novel,…

A Celebrated Artist and a Meaningful Space – Today in History: October 20

…CTPost.com. All rights reserved. This article is excerpted and originally appeared on Archive Archaeology Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update…

Enfield’s Shaker Legacy

…History Illustrated Packaged Garden Seeds, a Shaker Innovation During their early 19th-century heyday, the Enfield Shakers produced a variety of goods for their own consumption and for trade with the…

Alfred Carlton Gilbert, Inventor of the Erector Set – Today in History: February 15

On February 15, 1884, the New Haven inventor of the Erector Set, Alfred Carlton Gilbert, was born. A magician, athlete, and savvy businessman, Gilbert enrolled in medical school at Yale…

Where Mr. Twain and Mrs. Stowe Built Their Dream Houses

…until her death, and the Chamberlin-Day House (1884). The Hartford Architecture Conservancy called the Day House “Hartford’s most fully developed example of the Queen Anne style.” It now houses the…

Pomp and Circumstance: Civil War Commemoration

…Wednesday, almost all of our citizens participating. The day was a general holiday, and the houses and stores in town were handsomely decorated. . . . After a fine parade…

The 42-Day Income Tax

…agreement on how best to address the financial crisis. On June 30, 1971, the last day before the start of the new fiscal year, legislators worked into the night to…

Litchfield’s Revolutionary War Soldiers’ Tree

…History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or language….

Gun Wheel of the First Light Battery, Connecticut Volunteers

…First Light Battery was engaged near Richmond, Virginia, during the fourth day of the five-day Battle of Proctor’s Creek that took place from May 12 to 16, 1864. A Confederate…

Eighteen-hundred-and-froze-to-death: 1816, The Year Without a Summer

…the weather, his activities that revealed the weather. In the first days of March 1816, Robbins planted peas. A week later he noted that the day was “quite warm.” Three…

The Industrial Might of Connecticut Pegmatite

…Feldspar Mill, Higganum – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Online Versatile Feldspar For centuries pegmatite was chiefly valued for its mineral feldspar. Feldspar mining peaked in Connecticut in the…

Blizzard of ’88 Shuts Greenwich Off from Outside World

…Greenwich Historical Society A storm of wind and rain began on Sunday night, March 11, 1888. The temperature dropped rapidly. Before daylight Monday, a blizzard was in full progress. By…

Hartford’s Les Payne, Trailblazing Journalist

…Payne for many years at Newsday. Another colleague, Anthony Marro, said that Payne was second only to one-time editor and publisher David Laventhol in transforming Newsday from a primarily suburban…

Mariann Wolcott and Ralph Earl – Opposites Come Together and Make History

…as Samuel Wolcott wrote in his 1881 family history. She stands proudly in front of her family’s tidy fields. The illusion of depth suggests the Wolcott land holdings were vast,…

The Corbin Cabinet Lock Company and Patent Law: A Lesson in Novelty from a CT Perspective

…having a handle on the left side of the mug isn’t “novel.” Resubmitting Rejected Patent Ideas “The Day’s Work Done” from History of the house of P. & F. Corbin,…

This Won’t Hurt a Bit! A Brief History of Anesthesia

By Ben Gammell for Your Public Media The discovery of anesthesia is one of the major breakthroughs in medical history. From ancient times to the mid-1800s, pain from dentistry and…

Connecticut’s Capitol Building – Inside and Out

…shaped Connecticut’s history. Lauren Remetta graduated with a degree in history from Shippensburg University in 2012. She is currently in Central Connecticut State University’s public history master’s degree program. Ashly…

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: Connecticut Lessons from a Tragedy

Sol Bidek’s family lived in a tenement on Market Street in Hartford. They waited several days for word from New York. Finally, they got the news: their sister was safe….

Anna Louise James Makes History with Medicine

Anna Louise James was born on January 19, 1886, in Hartford. The daughter of a Virginia plantation slave who escaped to Connecticut, she grew up in Old Saybrook. Dedicating her…

Connecticut’s Mulberry Craze

…June day in 1881 a few sericulture veterans gathered at a home in Mansfield to reminisce about the old days, according to an account in the Willimantic Chronicle. Each speaker…

New Haven: What Was Everyday Life Like During the Civil War?

…bit using New Haven as an example. A great primary resource for digging into a community’s everyday life is a city directory. The first listings of inhabitants in emerging American…

Breaking the Myth of the Unmanaged Landscape

…New England on issues of natural resource conservation, land management, and history. Paul Grant-Costa, the executive editor of the Yale Indian Papers Project, holds degrees in law, history, and linguistics,…

Homer D. Babbidge, Leader in Education

…Board of Trustees named the school’s new library in his honor. Bruce M. Stave is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus and Director of the Oral History Office…

Cash Crop: L.B. Haas & Co. and the History of Tobacco in Connecticut

By Ben Gammell for Your Public Media Both small farms and large companies have shaped the history of tobacco production in Connecticut. Native Americans grew tobacco and passed their knowledge…

A History of Libraries Speaks Volumes About Southington

While it is not uncommon in the modern era for towns to appropriate funds for operating public libraries, the town of Southington has an especially unique history with its libraries….

The Day Four Trains Collided in East Thompson

Thompson, Connecticut, was the site of one of the most horrific railway accidents in American history. The catastrophe claimed the lives of two railway workers, injured hundreds of passengers, and…

Alain and May White Memorial Boulder

…History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or language….

The Complicated Realities of Connecticut and the Civil War

…survival. The history of the Civil War surrounds Connecticut residents every day both in terms of its physical realities and in the lasting legacies of a complicated conflict that shook…

A New Source of Farm Labor Crops Up in Wartime

…the workers. A typical day for a Connecticut WLA worker started at 5:30 am. While much of their 8-hour workday involved supporting the functions of the few remaining men on…

Cornfield Point: Old Saybrook’s Forgotten Scenic Alcove

…nearby marker explains the location’s early history, and the site is known among photographers for its beautiful sunsets. Kelly Marino is an Assistant Lecturer of History at Sacred Heart University….

Content Updates

The Language of the Unheard: Racial Unrest in 20th-Century Hartford

…one of the tenements that lined the Park River, Hartford – Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library The clergy used their pulpits to condemn wanton attacks on black communities in…

Forlorn Soldier Oral History Interviews

…here is a collection of interviews documenting the latest iteration of the soldier’s oral history. Some of the interviews include Peter G. Kelly, whose family members were the stewards of…

Early Civil Rights and Cultural Pioneers: The Easton Family

…of the 1828 Thanksgiving Day Address by Reverend Hosea Easton – The Shoeleather History Project Hosea, married Louisa Matrick in the 1820s and became a minister and effective abolitionist agitator….

Emma Hart Willard: Leader in Women’s Education

…In 1849, Willard penned Guide to the Temple of Time; and Universal History for Schools. In the same year, she published Last Leaves of American History. As a result these…

A Monument Memorializes the Fallen

…Seven Days Battle, facing off against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The Heavies, as Bruce Catton called Heavy Artillery Regiments in A Stillness at Appomattox, fought at Gaines…

Amateur Radio Comes of Age in Connecticut

…– Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library In April 1914, inventor, scientist, and amateur radio operator Hiram Percy Maxim of West Hartford encouraged the Radio Club of Hartford to organize…

Living Rituals: Mohegan Wigwam Festival

…towards the west close to the cook house. East and west doors had to do with early traditions. Tables were arranged inside and the festival was held Wednesday and Thursday…

Typing History

…Broadcasting Network and Connecticut Historical Society. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Connecticut History | WNPR News Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform…

The Storied History behind Connecticut’s Nicknames

…many names–some more flattering than others–throughout its almost 400-year history. The Blue Law State Prohibition of Tobacco from The Code of 1650, Being a Compilation of the Earliest Laws and…

Maritime History: The Founding of the United States Coast Guard Academy

…the maritime history of the East Coast. Specifically, the state has been home to the United States Coast Guard Academy since the early 1900s. Over the years, the Coast Guard…

An Old Saybrook Borough has a Stately History

…in 1639, and while he only remained there for nine years, his work left a lasting impression on the community that Old Saybrook still recognizes today. Land Grant Establishes a…

Alan L. Hart: Pioneer in Medicine and Transgender History

…change over time, Alan Hart fits into a long, persistent history of trans and nonbinary people. After he transitioned in 1917, Hart had to fight gender discrimination and the constant…

J. Frederick Kelly: Constructing Connecticut’s Architectural History

…Kelly’s works outlining the history of the state’s various early architectural structures. One such organization was the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society of Connecticut who funded a re-release of the widely…

The Newsies Strike Back

…and few of the newsboys (all ten years old and younger) that she invited to a Sunday afternoon party. In two days she secured the names of 39 newsboys and…

Reverend James Pennington: A Voice for Freedom

…local voice to the greatest national issues of the day. Stacey Close is professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University and his essay is adapted from Connecticut Explored magazine’s…

A Good Spot and a Healthy Place: A Short History of Charles Island

…Haven also called at the island allowing day trippers from as far away as Hartford to spend a summer day on Long Island Sound, perhaps taking in an “old-fashioned clambake”…

Connecticut’s Christmas Town

By Gregg Mangan Nestled in a quiet section of Litchfield County lies the picturesque town of Bethlehem, Connecticut. Named after the birthplace of Jesus, the town’s history is one steeped…

Bridgeport’s Walt Kelly, Creator of Pogo

…Day: We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us” A 1971 Earth Day comic strip written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, featuring Pogo and Porkypine. Though by 1970 Pogo…

Everyday Life

…of social history and reveal much about the economic conditions, class disparities, shared values, and other characteristics of a given time. Joshua Hempstead’s diary, for example, provides a detailed account…

From Frontier Town to Capital City: Collection Traces Hartford’s Transformation

…Hartford History Center. Today, an online finding aid for the records makes them immediately accessible to the public. For students, scholars, and others researchers wanting to investigate the history of…

Video – Hidden History: Hartford’s Ancient Burial Ground

YouTube – CTnow.com Hidden History is a video series highlighting stories from Connecticut’s past. Content is produced by and used with the permission of CTnow.com. Presentation of external content from…

Bridgeport’s Catastrophic 1911 Train Wreck

…long before the overnight darkness gave way to sunshine and still greater heat. Though a bustling industrial city, Bridgeport was undoubtedly fairly quiet at 3:30 that Tuesday morning. That quiet…

The Hurricane of 1938 Rocks Connecticut

…pulverizing Long Island and cutting a swath across Connecticut. The result was what the Hartford Courant called the “most calamitous day” in the state’s history. It was hard for Americans,…

Video – Hidden History: Bushnell Park

YouTube – CTnow.com Hidden History is a video series highlighting stories from Connecticut’s past. Content is produced by and used with the permission of CTnow.com. Presentation of external content from…

Sloop-of-War Ship’s Figurehead Lands at State Capitol

…the city of Hartford designated October 19, 1897, as “Farragut Day.” The day remembered David Glasgow Farragut, commander of the USS Hartford, and also became the day officials placed the…

Mighty, Mighty Hartford

…more each day who filled the specially constructed, 22,000-seat grandstands and bleachers which provided good views of all the festivities. The celebration ran from Monday, October 6, to Wednesday, October…

The Sand Hogs Set the Foundation for the Bulkeley Bridge

By Steve Thornton We might drive over the Bulkeley Bridge every day, but we seldom think about the sweat and toil it took to produce the link between Hartford and…

Video – Hidden History: Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch

YouTube CTnow.com Hidden History is a video series highlighting stories from Connecticut’s past. Content is produced by and used with the permission of CTnow.com. Presentation of external content from for-profit…

Hidden Nearby: Goshen’s Liberty Pole

…History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or language….

The Colvocoresses Oak

…History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or language….

Video – Hidden History: Old Hartford State House

YouTube CTnow.com Hidden History is a video series highlighting stories from Connecticut’s past. Content is produced by and used with the permission of CTnow.com. Presentation of external content from for-profit…

Raise a Glass to Winemaking in Connecticut

…everyday event. To satisfy this practice, the first settlers experimented in winemaking techniques along the Eastern Seaboard. The Early History of Winemaking in the State A tavern sign, Sign of…

Goshen’s Animal Pound

…State University, maintains the Hidden in Plain Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published…

Connecticut Arms the Union

…& Company, Connecticut Arms Company. Digital composite by Christine Pittsley, Connecticut State Library – Museum of Connecticut History Rifles and Carbines Of 23 private northern contractors rising to the challenge…

Nellie McKnight Promotes History and Literacy throughout Ellington

…June 30, 1867, a sermon preached by the Reverend Diodate Brockway on the day the workers laid the cornerstone, and what the Hartford Courant referred to as numerous “shinplasters”—a slang…

Dynamic Tensions: Conservation and Development up to the 1920s

…1900 – Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Used through Public Domain. The history of conservation and development in Connecticut up until the 1920s reveals that our present “War on…

Overland Travel in Connecticut, from Footpaths to Interstates

…years of geologic evolution have produced today’s Connecticut landscape: its north-south river valleys, its stony uplands, and its many harbors along Long Island Sound. This long evolution has affected the…

Putting History on the Map

…were often issued in conjunction with anniversaries celebrating a town’s founding, or especially significant events in the town’s history. A map of Ridgefield, issued in 1935, in conjunction with the…

The Rise of the Black Panther Party in Connecticut

…Hartford Times Collection, Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library From the 1920s to the 1960s, Connecticut’s African American activists formed a number of membership groups for self defense. The Anti-Lynching…

Peter’s Rock: North Haven History with a View

…formation with an extensive history of service to the surrounding area. During the years of colonial settlement, Peter’s Rock was described as a Native American lookout post and given the…

Connecticut’s Chickamauga Tree: An Investigation

…bachelor of arts in the social sciences, and is currently pursuing a master of arts in history at Central Connecticut State University. His interest in history is the Napoleonic Era…

The Black Panther Party in Connecticut: Community Survival Programs

…December 1969 – Hartford Public Library, Hartford History Center, Hartford Times Collection and Connecticut History Illustrated Life or Death One example of Panther community service stood above the rest, and…

Governor Griswold’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

…on October 3, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation declaring the last Thursday in November National Thanksgiving Day. In 1941, Congress moved that date to the fourth Thursday in November….

Canon Clinton Jones: A Revolutionary Figure in Connecticut’s LGBTQ+ History

…century.   Eve Galanis is a historian, teacher, and artist based in Connecticut. Her research is primarily centered on historical justice and intersectional critical theory. She currently teaches history and…

Video – Hidden History: Connecticut Historical Society

YouTube CTnow.com Hidden History is a video series highlighting stories from Connecticut’s past. Content is produced by and used with the permission of CTnow.com. Presentation of external content from for-profit…

Video – Haunted History: Harriet Beecher Stowe House

YouTube CTnow.com Hidden History is a video series highlighting stories from Connecticut’s past. Content is produced by and used with the permission of CTnow.com. Presentation of external content from for-profit…

Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy

…the Hidden in Plain Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform…

Danbury Baseball History Covers All the Bases

…1870s, baseball was so popular it made front-page news every day during the season. One of the earliest town directories in the Danbury Historical Society’s collection is from 1874 and…

Video – Hidden History: Keney Tower

YouTube – CTnow.com Hidden History is a video series highlighting stories from Connecticut’s past. Content is produced by and used with the permission of CTnow.com. Presentation of external content from…

Restoring a Unique Piece of Bloomfield History

…them to restore and display the property to the public. Today the Society works diligently to restore and preserve both the house (which still resides on the land purchased by…

Building an Armenian Community in New Britain

…conditions deteriorated following the outbreak of World War I. Today, evidence of Armenian immigration survives throughout New Britain—detailing the history of a community that continues to shape one of Connecticut’s…

W. J. Squire’s Gill Net Manufactory in East Haddam

…History © Connecticut State Library. All rights reserved. This article is excerpted and originally appeared in The Connector, July 2008. Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another…

Gallaudet’s Vision Advances Deaf Education

By Emily E. Gifford Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a Congregationalist minister, is acclaimed today for his role in pioneering education for the deaf in the United States and establishing the American…

Indian Hill Cemetery and the Vernacular of the Times

…that the founders of Indian Hill Cemetery merely sought to promote the cemetery by portraying Middletown’s interactions with Native Americans as friendly—thereby separating themselves from a history that often portrayed…

New London’s Indian Mariners

…Hill (present-day North Stonington), the Mohegan in present-day Montville, Niantic in present-day East Lyme, Wangunk in Middletown, Tunxis in Farmington, Paugussett in Derby, and Schaghticoke in Kent. The loss of…

General Joseph R. Hawley Helps Commemorate Connecticut’s Civil War Soldiers

…occurred during elaborate and well-attended dedication day ceremonies complete with patriotic rituals, decorations, songs, prayers, and speeches. Prominent orators made appearances on dedication days, and Connecticut’s General Hawley was always…

Bird’s-eye Views of Rockville Chart Textile Industry’s Growth

…right) are much larger in scale than the homes surrounding them. Rockville, Connecticut, Boston: O.H. Bailey & Co., 1895 – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Online Although these prints…

Sam Colt’s Funeral: The Day Hartford Stopped

…Continental uniforms. Samuel Colt, who had been born July 19, 1814, passed away on January 10, 1862. His burial took place a few days later. Armsmear, Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford –…

The Most Famous American in the World

…Sunday morning in early April 1853. Excitement mounted as the tender approached from the steamship Canada. A petite woman in her early 40s, barely 5 feet tall, stepped off the…

Hartford’s Nook Farm

…Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Today, the Katharine Seymour Day House is the site of the Stowe Center’s library and administrative offices. Jenifer Frank, a longtime journalist in Connecticut, is co-author…

O Christmas Tree!

…especially, a great quantity of loose stones; with any amount common dirt and street filth.” Making Spirits Bright For Christmas day itself, Hartford residents who celebrated the holiday could choose…

Civil War Monuments and Memorials in and Around the State Capitol

…of 19th-century Connecticut history that you can not only read about, but see firsthand when you visit Hartford. Compiled here on ConnecticutHistory.org, the 15 resources are easily accessed online, through…

Hidden Nearby: Harwinton’s Catlin Trough

…and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any…

Liberian Independence Day

…and history to school children – Connecticut Historical Society The American Colonization Society, which aimed to send African Americans to Africa, was founded in 1816. Connecticut’s own Colonization Society was…

The White Mountain Express Derails in Greenwich

By Karen Frederick and Anne Young In the early days of Greenwich, volunteers were the town’s first responders. An 1873 newspaper reported that when the church bell rang, “Citizens and…

Horace Wells Discovers Pain-free Dentistry

…had long been concerned about the amount of pain suffered by his patients during dental procedures, he immediately enlisted Colton’s help. The day after the demonstration, Colton came to Wells’s…

Union Brew

…to seek job applicants. Within a few days of the walkout, the owners were hoping to be ready to start production with a scab labor force. But within six days…

Amelia Simmons Adds a Uniquely American Flavor to Cooking

…and Goodwin, Simmons’s work became so popular that public demand kept it in reprints for 35 years. Today, more important than the delicious meals the book helps readers prepare, American…

Edith Watson: Camera Artist

…published a book, Romantic Canada, in 1922. In the book, Hayward created the expression “Canadian Mosaic” to describe the multicultural nature of the rural country—a term still in use today.…

Malcolm X in Hartford: “Our Mission is Not Violence but Freedom”

By Steve Thornton On a warm summer day in 1955, 15 domestic workers—maids, cooks, and chauffeurs—packed into a small apartment in a Hartford public housing project. It was a Thursday,…

“The Basque Game in Town”: The Heyday of Jai Alai in Connecticut

…years, closing in December 2001. Patrick J. Mahoney is a Research Fellow in History & Culture at Drew University and former Fulbright scholar at the National University of Ireland Galway…

Oniontown: How Hard Work, Tall Tales, and Red Onions Built Wethersfield

…of Connecticut, which is littered with criticisms and outright lies regarding Connecticut history—including the myth of the Onion Maidens. Peters’ General History of Connecticut established the myth that Wethersfield women…

The Gildersleeve Shipbuilding Legacy in Portland

…for which a large section of Portland is still named today. Sylvester Gildersleeve from History of Middlesex County, Connecticut, with Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men by Henry Whittemore Born…

The Sandemanians

…and articles about Danbury-area history. He has been a longtime volunteer for environmental causes. This story is based on his longer paper for the Fall 2017 issue of Connecticut History…

Let There Be Light: An Early History of the Hartford Electric Light Company

…article originally appeared on Your Public Media. Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or language….

Selling Connecticut Products Abroad

…is associate professor of history at Central Connecticut State University. David Corrigan is curator of the Museum of Connecticut History. Both are members of the Connecticut Explored editorial team and…

Exploring Early Connecticut Mapmaking

…of the landscape as seen by the mapmaker. Scattered across town, state, and private collections, they provide valuable glimpses of events great and small in Connecticut history. During the 19th…

Connecticut’s Sleepy Hollow

…a mystery, but there are some interesting connections between the town and the tale. In 1838 Milford resident Edward Lambert wrote in his History of the Colony of New Haven,…

Rivers of Outrage

…articles about Danbury-area history. He has been a longtime volunteer for environmental causes. This story is based on his longer paper for the Spring 2020 issue of Connecticut History Review….

Breaking the Mold: Tradition and Innovation in the Work of Elbert Weinberg

…before him. Elbert Weinberg in his Hartford studio, ca. 1990 – Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library For the next 25 years, Weinberg lived and worked primarily in Rome, creating…

A Different Look at the Amistad Trial: The Teenager Who Helped Save the Mende Captives

…Covey from John Warner Barber’s book A History of the Amistad Captives:…” On July 2, 1839, the Africans seized the schooner Amistad from Portuguese slavers who planned to sell these…

Lobsters and Oysters and Clams: A Short History of Seafood in Connecticut

…in the early part of the 20th century and continue to thrive today. The Clam Box, opened Memorial Day in 1939 as a small seafood stand on the Boston Post…

Harwinton’s Sign has a Long History – Who Knew?

…that a sign has stood at the intersection of Route 4 and South Road in Harwinton for over 200 years. The use of a sign as a means of communication…

The Deplorable History of Hartford’s Seyms Street Jail

…“substantial brick wing” that contained an additional 120 steel cells. In its earliest days, the jail provided prisoners with straw mattresses but no plumbing or sewer lines, and very little…

The Land of Nod Farm, East Canaan, Connecticut

…vital to the success of the iron industry in East Canaan, yet the great part it and its owners played in the history of northwestern Connecticut remains largely underappreciated. Detail…

Abundant Wildlife Drives the History of Rocky Neck State Park

…The practice of using fish as fertilizer proved so popular that entrepreneurs built a factory to dry and store the fish on what are today park grounds. A fire destroyed…

Bradley International Airport Transforms Windsor Locks into Regional Gateway

…Field, 1944 – Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library and Connecticut History Illustrated During the war years, Bradley Field served as a training base for air combat units, a staging…

Samuel Colt…and Sewing Machines?

By Eric Hintz for the National Museum of American History’s blog, O Say Can You See Take four technologies from the National Museum of American History’s collections—a revolver, a sewing…

Branford’s History Is Set in Stone

…company provided the stone for New York City’s famous AT&T (now Sony), building. Completed in 1984, this project alone earned the company an estimated $8 million. Today, local quarrying operations…

The Connecticut History Sports Challenge

…filed Feb. 18, 1954       This park once boasted bowling greens, tennis courts, and 15 baseball diamonds. Today, you can still catch a vintage baseball game here in…

Hidden Nearby: The Morris Academy

…and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any…

Beatrice Fox Auerbach: Retail Pioneer Led Iconic Family Department Store

By Amanda P. Roy Beatrice Fox Auerbach holds an iconic position in Connecticut’s history as a retailing pioneer, community activist, and lifelong philanthropist. The granddaughter of Gerson Fox, co-founder of…

Connecticut Servicemen in the “Bloody Bucket” Division

…All about them, the men witnessed the aftermath of the D-Day landings. The area around Normandy remained covered in refuse from the Allied invasion, and the division’s soldiers passed through…

The Constitution Oak

…and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any…

Swinging for the Fences: Connecticut’s Black Baseball Greats

…Connecticut Historical Society, gift of Dr. Austin Kilbourn The history of this sport, found in a multitude of books and movies, is an important part of American lore. But not…

“Negroes Who Stand Up and Fight Back” – Paul Robeson in Hartford

By Steve Thornton It was called the “greatest mobilization of police in the city’s history.” But the event that brought out hundreds of Hartford-area police to Keney Park was not…

Sending Season’s Greetings: Christmas Cards in Connecticut

By Karen DePauw for Your Public Media Holiday greetings have been around almost as long as the Christmas holiday itself, in the form of sermons, almanac entries, poems, books for…

Hidden Nearby: Jedediah Strong’s Milestone

…Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or…

The “Welcoming Beacon” of Sheffield Island Lighthouse

…maritime tradition. Over its history, Sheffield Island has had many names, including Little Longe, White’s Island, and Smith’s Island, among many others. According to town records, in the late 1600s,…

Lake Compounce: Bringing Amusements to the State’s Residents Since 1846

…a long and checkered history brought on by dramatic shifts in American culture. Today, the park offers more than 50 rides, the largest water park in the state, live shows,…

Hidden Nearby: John Brown’s Torrington Birthplace

…History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated content or language….

Chick Austin Modernizes a Connecticut Institution

…Museum of Art, holds a BA in museum studies and art history from Regis College in Massachusetts and is pursuing her MA in public history at Central Connecticut State University….

Miss James, First Woman Pharmacist in CT Right in Old Saybrook

…and changed the name to James Pharmacy. With Anna living upstairs, the pharmacy was open every day except half-days on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. Everyone called her Miss James,…

The Public Library Movement: Caroline Hewins Makes Room for Young Readers

…hosting little girls and their Christmas dolls. (Today, her doll collection is housed at the Hartford History Center of the Hartford Public Library.) Hewins had a great capacity for collegiality….

An Orderly and Decent Government

…rested on the idea of representation. While today we take for granted that each adult should have an equal vote, very different notions prevailed for much of our history. We’ve…

Discovered Dinosaur Tracks Re-Route Highway and Lead to State Park

…a public historian who received his oral history training at Central Connecticut State University, where he works for the Veterans History Project, an archive partner with the Library of Congress….

Airborne Pioneers: Connecticut Takes Flight

…land of Col. Sam Colt and Mr. Woodbridge White… Broadsides L 1854 F781f — Connecticut Historical Society Early Air Experiments in Connecticut The history of early aviation in Connecticut is…

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This privacy policy covers the Connecticut Humanities website located at www.ConnecticutHistory.org. Connecticut Humanities respects and protects the privacy of our website visitors and does not collect personally identifiable information about…

Selma, Not So Far Away

…day that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Connecticut Responds to James Reeb’s Death On the same night that Tartaglia left for Selma, Unitarian minister James Reeb died from wounds received…

A Public Responsibility: Conservation and Development in the 20th Century

…the economy and the environment. Leah Glaser, PhD is an Associate Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University where she teaches courses on Public History and the American West….

Actress Gwen Reed Best Remembered for Dedication to Childhood Literacy

…and scrapbooks to add to their Hartford History Center archives. Today, a star in the cement on the library’s patio continues to honor her memory and contributions to Hartford’s history….

John Ledyard, Connecticut’s Most Famous Traveler

…his next great adventure. David Drury, a retired editor of The Hartford Courant and lifelong student of history, regularly contributes articles about Connecticut history to The Courant and other publications….

Louis’ Lunch and the Birth of the Hamburger

…Louis’ Lunch on Crown Street today remains faithful to the original Lassen hamburger of 1900. Owen Rogers is a public historian who received his oral history training at Central Connecticut…

“Something to Show for Our Work”: Building Brainard Airport

…a day plus food and rent assistance. Two buses from Main and and Gold Streets ultimately transported them to and from the job site each day. Once assigned to the…

The Education of Ella Grasso

…and her mother finished grade six. His first job in Connecticut was as a machine operator at the Anchor Mill earning a dollar a day. He later worked at the…

A Separate Place: The New Haven Colony, 1638-1665

By Nancy Finlay Political boundaries can be arbitrary things, accidents of history that might have turned out differently if a certain sequence of historical events had a different outcome. Even…

Tradition and Transformation Define Hartford’s Jewish Community

…to trading and teaching. Some founded their own businesses. Ados Israel Synagogue, Hartford, 1961 – Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library and Connecticut History Illustrated Forbidden by law to organize…

Tavern Signs Mark Changes in Travel, Innkeeping, and Artistic Practice

…Today’s comparable establishments (roadside restaurants, motels, gas stations) are generally recognizable as distinctive building types, but colonial taverns and inns were literally “public houses.” These were ordinary dwellings licensed to…

Franklin’s Ashbel Woodward was a Battlefield Surgeon and Historian

…particularly local history. He collected literature and numerous artifacts pertaining to Franklin’s past and eventually wrote a book detailing the town’s history. In what remained of his free time, Woodward…

Education/Instrucción Combats Housing Discrimination

…in-person meeting, a number of listings existed. African American woman looking at home to purchase, Hartford, 1963 – Hartford Times Collection, Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library and Connecticut History…

The Park Movement in Hartford

…as they, too, sought to introduce space for relaxation and recreation into increasingly crowded urban settings. Bushnell Park, 1916 – City Park Collection, Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library Inspired…

The Seth Wetmore House: A Storied Structure of 18th Century Middletown

…various paneled walls were used to hide those who may have been escaping to freedom. Today, the storied history of the Seth Wetmore house still holds tales of grand designs,…

The Greenwich Avenue Fires of 1908 and 1936 Sparked Upgrades to Town’s Emergency Services

…passed that a sum of $3,000 (over $70,000 today) be appropriated for the purchase of new fire hose to replace a hose that had burst and $2,000 (over $45,000 today)…

The Burning of Danbury

…the rear as they made their way back to their fleet at the end of their third day in Connecticut. Richard Buel is Professor of History Emeritus at Wesleyan University….

The Slaters Go Round the World

…his father, William paid $300,000 (more than $7.5 million in today’s dollars) for a yacht he named after his daughter, the Eleanor. The saloon of the Eleanor – Slater Memorial…

The Joshua Hempsted Diary: A Window into Colonial Connecticut

…Bailey of Long Island, probably in 1698. Their first child was born in July of 1699. The Hempsteds had nine children. A few days after the birth of their ninth…

Sarah Kemble Knight’s Journey through Colonial Connecticut

…in an entry dated “Thirsday, Octobr ye 5th”: “Here, by reason of a very high wind, we mett with great difficulty in getting over—the Boat tos’t exceedingly, and our horses…

The Lives of Addie Brown and Rebecca Primus Told Through their Loving Letters

…today in the Connecticut Historical Society’s collections and detail moments of pride, sadness, anger, and happiness between the two women. They also contain amorous language that modern readers feel implies…

When Elections in Hartford Were a Piece of Cake

By Gregg Mangan Unlike today, in the 18th and 19th centuries, Election Day met with great celebration. Voters came to major cities such as Hartford to cast their ballots and…

Hidden Nearby: The Bantam Lake Ice House

…at Western Connecticut State University, maintains the Hidden in Plain Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit…

Trumbull’s Parlor Rock Park: A Premier Amusement Center of the Late 19th Century

…prompted people to leave Bridgeport for the day, travel just eight miles north, and spend some leisure time in what was then considered the “country.” Once passengers stepped off the…

The Forlorn Soldier

…several times to commemorate the Civil War generation. Today, experts continue to preserve both the statue and its history so that generations to come might know them. Anthony Roy is…

Luna Park: A 20th-century Story of Amusement and Morality

…Company, which owned Luna Park, faced considerable opposition to its policy of operating on Sundays. At the time, Connecticut’s Sunday law prohibited “any secular business or labor, except works of…

Stevan Dohanos Captures Connecticut Life

…Dohanos, “Rural Post Office at Christmas”, December 13, 1947, cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Everyday life inspired Dohanos, and he relished elevating the mundane. He captured the vibrancy of…

“Girl Pilot”: Mary Goodrich Jenson Breaks Barriers in Aviation and Journalism

…grew stronger as her writing and her piloting continued. She joined Amelia Earhart’s Ninety-Nines—an international organization of licensed women flyers—in 1929. Through this group, Jenson made history again when she…

Henry Ward Beecher, a Preacher with Political Clout

…of the most spectacular scandals of his day. Life under a Famously Conservative Father Henry Ward Beecher was born on June 24, 1813 in Litchfield to Lyman and Roxana Foote…

A Diversified Mind: Hiram Percy Maxim

…air conditioning, and other applications which are still utilized today. The Inventor as Hobbyist, In and On the Air An avid hobbyist, Maxim’s pursuits led him to other distinctions. As…

Carl Sandburg, Poet from the Grassroots, Reaches Connecticut Audiences

…in Washington, Connecticut, bought some of Sandburg’s herd. The goats—Babette, Coty, and Tenu—eventually returned to North Carolina when Sandburg’s home became a national historic site. Today, however, if the general…

Oxford: From Paths to Pikes

…today. A real focus on road construction occurred in Oxford in the 1780s. In 1783, residents helped build a road along the eastern bank of the Housatonic River from Derby…

Road Signs of the Air

…upon by the US Department of Commerce. On June 14, 1928, the department established the Airway Marking Committee and issued Aeronautics Bulletin No. 4 the following day. The bulletin urged…

Josephine Bennett: Hartford’s City Mother

By Steve Thornton The history of the early Connecticut women’s movement is not complete without the story of militant suffragist, feminist, anti-imperialist, and labor pioneer Josephine Day Bennett (1880-1961). Bennett…

Philip Johnson in His Own Words

…PJ: I had about a million dollars, which in these days is nothing but in those days was comfortable. So I could pay my own salary. That was the big…

George Washington Slept Here (Just Perhaps Not Well)

…true. In 1789, George Washington embarked on what was the first of two long tours of the United States—eventually covering the young nation’s entire East Coast from modern-day Maine to…

The Orrin Freeman House and the Spirit of ‘76

…House B&B. With each name change, the home assumed and embraced a new identity representative of the time, its owners, and the community surrounding it. Today, however, the house is…

Bridgeport’s WPKN: Going Strong After Half a Century

…any number of others who simply turn WPKN on and leave it on over the course of the day, evening, and night. The beloved station has received many accolades and…

Portland’s Guy Hedlund: Actor and Activist

…quickly. In 1910 Hedlund made $5 a day as an actor, and by 1913 he had negotiated his way up to $50 a day. He acted under the direction of…

Greenwich Emergency Responders: On the Move Overtime

1779 General Putnam rides down today’s Put’s Hill to rally support in Stamford in an effort to rescue the Town of Greenwich from the invasion of British troops. 1903 Glenville’s…

Prospect’s David Miles Hotchkiss and the Free Soil Party

…where Hotchkiss lived still serves the community today. Growing Up in Prospect Hotchkiss was born in 1797 in what today is the town of Prospect. In fact, early in his…

Hartford’s Fuller Brush Company Goes Door-to-Door Across US

…Fuller Brush representatives—and she outsold him her first day on the job and nearly every day thereafter for two years. In 1909 the business became a national corporation after an…

A Memorial to General Hawley at the State Capitol

…Hawley to be erected on the grounds of the capitol. They allocated $1,500 for costs associated with its construction, (an amount of more than $29,000 in today’s currency) and secured…

Brass City/Grass Roots: Waterbury Farming in the Late 1800s

…mostly sold as butter and cheese. Milk was difficult to keep fresh and disease free—it was not then the everyday household beverage it became in the 20th century. Green dots…

Death and Mourning in the Civil War Era

…its death toll left on Connecticut. Amy Gagnon works as a content developer for ConnecticutHistory.org at Connecticut Humanities and received her MA in Public History at Central Connecticut State University….

The Rose King of America Transformed Cromwell’s Landscape

…the town in ways still visible today. One of the most significant contributions Pierson’s enterprise made to Cromwell was to the local architecture. The Main Street Historic District in Cromwell…

Andover Looks Good on Paper

…day in the mill, making approximately $1.25 each day. Unfortunately for the Case family, they lost their paper mill to fires numerous times. In February of 1916, the mill burned…

Rubber Vulcanization and the Myth of Nathaniel Hayward

…1852, another rubber manufacturer named Horace Day argued in Goodyear v. Day that Goodyear’s idea was insufficiently original to patent, and that the discoveries of Hayward and others contributed too…

Gifford Pinchot: Bridging Two Eras of National Conservation

…the latest forest management science and methods. (Today, the school is called the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.) As a close advisor to Teddy Roosevelt, Pinchot was instrumental…

An Inconvenient Season: Charlotte Cowles’s Letters from December 1839

…the snow storm they were experiencing. The Hartford Courant referred to it as the “Great Snow Storm.” The snow fell from Saturday night into Monday. “So furious was the gale…

“Washburn Colonials”: Distinguished 1920s Homes Stand the Test of Time

…drawn to Colonial Revival-style dwellings that embodied warmth and tradition. They found them then – and still treasure them today – in the work of an unlikely source: a female…

From Kiln to Collection: Norwich Pottery and Its Makers

…rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Connecticut History | WNPR News Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances…

The Hartford Circus Fire

Thursday July 6, 1944, was a miserably hot day in Connecticut. In a field on Barbour Street in Hartford, between six- and eight-thousand patrons sought distraction from the summer heat…

Any Month with an “R” in It: Eating Oysters in Connecticut

…Connecticut Historical Society. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Connecticut History | WNPR News Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does…

From the State Historian: The Final Journey of Nathaniel Lyon

By Walter W. Woodward for Connecticut Explored Except for an occasional descendant in search of lost roots, visitors to the old Phoenixville Cemetery in Eastford these days are few and…

Hartford’s Sex Trade: Prostitutes and Politics

…not given to the press) were released with some words of warning but without charge. Dunn and McElroy were sentenced to 45 days in jail. So much for victimless crimes….

Osborn Correctional Institution

…prison population grew, New-Gate’s damp, musty mine tunnels and outdated above-ground facilities proved inadequate for securing inmates. Somers’ prison cell block opening day, November 1963 – Hartford History Center, Hartford…

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918

…People changed. Everything changed. David Drury, a retired editor of The Hartford Courant and lifelong student of history, regularly contributes articles about Connecticut history to The Courant and other publications….

P. T. Barnum: An Entertaining Life

By Gregg Mangan P. T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was one of the greatest entertainment entrepreneurs in history. His traveling shows, museums, and world-famous circus helped him amass…

Anson Dickinson: Milton’s Painter of Portrait Miniatures

…author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update any instances of outdated…

Hidden Nearby: Henry Obookiah’s Cornwall Grave

…Connecticut, and at Western Connecticut State University, maintains the Hidden in Plain Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does…

The Welcoming Warmth of Kent’s Seven Hearths

…the many incarnations of the house, the lives of the occupants, and the respective eras of Kent’s history. A House for Many Purposes Artistic representation of one of the historic…

Connecticut’s Naval Contributions to the Civil War

…Historical Society and Connecticut History Online At the start of the Civil War, the navy was in disarray, with much of its officer corps harboring Confederate sympathies and its ships…

Hartford Times – Voices of Change

Hartford Times Collection, Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library [SlideDeck2 id=20884 iframe=1] 1960’s photographs from The Hartford Times offer a look back at a decade of protest that focused local…

Race Restrictive Covenants in Property Deeds

…black people, Jews, or other minorities allowed discrimination to quietly persist. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 did much to discourage continuations of these practices. Documenting a History of Discrimination…

From Bombs to Bras: World War I Conservation Measures Transform the Lives of Women

…worn by Eva Follett at her marriage to I. DeVer Warner (one of the founders of the company) in 1897 – Courtesy of Fairfield Museum and History Center New York…

Marking Time: Early Connecticut Innovations Transform Clock Making

By Mary Muller for Your Public Media The invention and creation of devices to measure time has an ancient history. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Connecticut played a major…

Hartford’s Challenge to “The Birth of a Nation”

By Steve Thornton Can a movie change history? The Birth of a Nation did. The original 1915 film fomented racial bigotry and consciously distorted the history of the post-Civil War…

Ebenezer Bassett’s Historic Journey

By Carolyn B. Ivanoff with Mary J. Mycek and Marian K. O’Keefe for Connecticut Explored On June 5, 1869, on a hot day in New York City, 36-year-old Connecticut native…

The Ghost Ship of New Haven Sets Sail Shrouded in Mystery

By Michael Hoberman English settlers in New Haven Colony witnessed one of the strangest apparitions in the history of New England, and the retelling of this spectral event has gone…

The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Tablet

…male descendants of Union soldiers, sailors, and marines) commissioned the tablet which was placed in the capitol on October 1, 1916, and officially unveiled three days later. ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT…

Late 19th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

…running on the German Independent Ticket – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Illustrated European Immigration Boom A population explosion in the southern and eastern regions of Europe, coupled with…

Hidden Nearby: Bethlehem’s Joseph Bellamy Monument

…Western Connecticut State University, maintains the Hidden in Plain Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content…

Gallows Lane and the Execution of Barnett Davenport

…University, maintains the Hidden in Plain Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on…

Yukitaka Osaki and Gillette Castle: One of Hadlyme’s First Japanese Immigrants

By Emma Wiley While many know Gillette Castle and its dramatic owner—famous actor William Gillette—the estate also contains a piece of Japanese history. For over four decades, Japanese-born Yukitaka Osaki…

Ellis Ruley: Art that Celebrated Life

By Rena Tobey Better known today than in his lifetime, African American artist Ellis Ruley, and his astonishing story, are an integral part of Norwich’s history. After working in the…

The Connecticut Houses that Ended Up in Massachusetts

…of a kiln at the shop. Today, the former location in Goshen is a historic industrial archaeological site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to his…

William Eaton, a Peace Democrat and Civil War Opponent

…and words during the Civil War years mark his best-remembered contribution to Connecticut’s history. The Union, Past, Present, and Future a Speech Delivered at City Hall, Hartford, on Saturday Evening,…

Mystic-built USS Galena Part of Plan to Strengthen Union Navy

…for the vessel, while workers from Troy, New York attached the ship’s iron plating. Mystic-built ironclad Navy Steamship Galena, 1861 – Mystic Seaport and Connecticut History Illustrated The local newspaper,…

A Willington Visionary Preserves the Nation’s Colonial Past

…displayed an interest in literature and history, supplemented later by studies in mathematics and Latin. In 1811, Sparks began attending Harvard University. He briefly dropped out the following year (for…

Connecticut Origins Shape New Light Luminary Jonathan Edwards

By Kenneth Minkema Jonathan Edwards, arguably one of the most significant religious figures in US history, was a theologian, philosopher, pastor, revivalist, educator, and missionary. An adherent of Reformed Puritan…

Mary Townsend Seymour: Hartford’s Organizer, Activist, and Suffragist

…American suffrage movement had a long history of systematically and intentionally excluding Black women. Southern states were the most challenging opponents to women’s suffrage and passing the 19th Amendment—white suffragists…

Hartford Retreat for the Insane Advanced Improved Standards of Care

…Connecticut History Online A number of state physicians, including Eli Todd, MD, had led the effort to convince political and community leaders of the need for a facility reflective of…

The Life of Chauncey Jerome: An Insider’s Look at What Made Early Bristol Tick

…into our understanding of history. Clarissa J. Ceglio is a digital humanities research assistant at the University of Connecticut’s Digital Media Center and a member of the ConnecticutHistory.org editorial staff….

Notorious New-Gate Prison

By Gregg Mangan The story of New-Gate Prison in East Granby includes more than three centuries of history. Once a copper mine and notorious prison, it is now a famed…

World War I Flying Ace Raoul Lufbery

…honors—to Lufbery’s descendants. David Drury, a retired editor of The Hartford Courant and lifelong student of history, regularly contributes articles about Connecticut history to The Courant and other publications.  …

Where It All Happened: Connecticut’s Old State House

…legislative activities–a place where government officials debated some of the most consequential court cases and political policies in American history. The building then served as Hartford’s city hall and remained…

Artist Roger Tory Peterson, a Champion for the Natural World

…the author. Even with the country deep in the Great Depression, that first printing of Peterson’s book sold out in days. Peterson was born in Jamestown, NY, on August 28,…

Colonial Revival Movement Sought Stability during Time of Change

…a state rich in historic resources, Connecticut became inextricably linked with the movement, supplying both symbolic imagery and active adherents. Although interest in the colonial era persists today, the heyday…

Chamberlin Mill: A Woodstock Survivor

…The Chamberlin Mill’s Place in History Section of John S. Lester’s 1883 Map of Woodstock, CT. Mill is located near Woodstock’s western border, midway from top to bottom on this…

Hiding the Charter: Images of Joseph Wadsworth’s Legendary Action

…B234h — Connecticut Historical Society Anyone with a basic knowledge of Connecticut history will be familiar with the legend of the Charter Oak, how the tree came to be the…

Mohegan Federal Recognition

…little old tribe that lives upon the hill. We are now the Nation that lives upon the hill. On May 15, 1994, sixty days after the publication of Mohegan Federal…

Willimantic’s American Thread Plant–A Multinational Corporate Takeover

By Donald W. Rogers The huge granite mill that still straddles the river in Willimantic, Connecticut, today symbolizes a cotton thread factory that long dominated the history of that city….

Fame and Infamy for the Hulls of Derby

…them. So began what may have been the greatest chase in naval history. Hull ordered portholes in his rear cabin knocked out and widened and had two 24-pound cannon placed…

Connecticut’s Loyal Subjects: Toryism and the American Revolution

…Tisdale, Judgment Day of Tories, engraving, ca. 1790s – New York Public Library Digital Collection Religion and Royal Allegiance Within colonial Connecticut, the roots of Toryism, and the specific localities…

The Incident of the Stonington Schooner ‘Breakwater’: A View from Indian Country

…genocide.” Some tribal communities today self-identify using the term “Indian” including the Narragansett Indian Tribe, Schaghticoke Indian Tribe, and Shinnecock Indian Nation. Keeping this in mind, to better connect readers…

Abraham Ribicoff: Kennedy Confidant and Connecticut’s First Jewish Governor

…that followed him throughout his career. Adlai Stevenson and Abraham Ribicoff, Hartford, February 25, 1956 – Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library and Connecticut History Illustrated After completing his law…

Hidden Nearby: Two Monuments to Sportsmen at Housatonic Meadows State Park

…Village, Connecticut, and at Western Connecticut State University, maintains the Hidden in Plain Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org…

A Life Lived in a Rapidly Changing World: Samuel L. Clemens

As Twain’s books provide insight into the past‚ the events of his personal life further demonstrate his role as an eyewitness to history. During his lifetime‚ Sam Clemens watched a…

The Flood That We Forget: October 15 and 16, 1955

…Connecticut Historical Society staff. © Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and Connecticut Historical Society. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Connecticut History | WNPR News Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not…

Connecticut in the French and Indian War

…exploded into opposition. David Drury, a retired editor of the Hartford Courant and lifelong student of history, regularly contributes articles about Connecticut history to the Courant and other publications.  …

Echoes of the Old World: The Architectural Legacy of Ithiel Town

…whose mansion stood nearby. In New Haven, John Trumbull, an important portrait and history painter lacking any formal training in architecture, provided the floor plans for Yale College (later Yale…

Hidden Nearby: Camp Columbia State Park in Morris

…Sight blog and is the author of Hidden History of Litchfield County (History Press, 2014). Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not…

Connecticut Native American Arts

The five Indigenous tribes recognized by Connecticut state law include the Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot, each with its own history and identity. The…

Ann Petry: Old Saybrook’s Bestselling African American Author

…University. The Crisis published her first short story, “On Saturday the Siren Sounds at Noon,” in their December 1943 issue. Later, the literary community realized that The Afro American actually…

Illuminating Connecticut’s Past: The Bradley & Hubbard Legacy

…Culture and History. Bradley & Hubbard is a testament to the ingenuity and resilience that shaped the nation’s history. From humble beginnings in Meriden, Connecticut, the company’s journey through time…

UConn and the Evolution of a Public University

…state as well as in Storrs. Bruce M. Stave is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus and Director of the Oral History Office at the University of Connecticut….

The Last Wolf in Connecticut

…© Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and Connecticut Historical Society. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Connecticut History | WNPR News Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published…

Marian Anderson’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement

…performances in segregated Jim Crow railroad cars and endured humiliations and rejections by white society. Marian Anderson – Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library and Connecticut History Illustrated Despite all…

From Aprons to Lab Coats: The Art and Science of Home Economics

…what higher education was and meant at the turn of the 20th century. For example, “Course No. 7” in Home Economics required courses in English, German, History, Algebra, Geometry, Elocution,…

James Williams, More than Trinity College’s Janitor

…Old Trinity College buildings, Trinity Street, Hartford (1851) – Connecticut Historical Society, Connecticut History Illustrated James H. Williams was born into slavery on August 3, 1788. His mother was a…

Trinity College Students Call Attention to Histories of Inequality

Trinity College students enrolled in Professor Jack Dougherty’s “Cities, Suburbs & Schools” seminar collaborated with the ConnecticutHistory.org team during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. The students researched the history…

Hiram Bingham III: Machu Picchu Explorer and Politician

…adjunct professor of Latin American history at Yale University in 1907. Shortly thereafter, Bingham made one of the most famous discoveries in archeological history. Discovering Machu Picchu Photograph by Hiram…

Moses Wheeler: Legendary Housatonic Ferryman

…Elnathan eventually inherited the ferry service—it remained in the Wheeler family for three generations and over one hundred years. Just days after his one hundredth birthday, Moses Wheeler died at…

Site Lines: Monuments to Connecticut’s Lost County Government

…is quite weak, and Massachusetts has in the past 10 to 15 years done away with 7 of its counties. Today, the counties in Rhode Island and Connecticut serve no…

The Industrial Revolution Comes to Jewett City

…nature of day-to-day mill operations, including insights into relations between management and labor. As workers shifted from being small producers of hand-made materials to being paid laborers in increasingly mechanized…

Built on Innovation, Saved by Nostalgia: Hitchcock Chair Company

…chairs alongside cabinets, tables, and candle holders. John Warner Barber, West view of Hitchcocksville in Barkhamsted, ca. 1836, pen and ink – Connecticut Historical Society, and Connecticut History Online Chair-making…

Park Street Festival, Hartford 1978

Despite the exodus to the suburbs, Connecticut’s cities still retain their vitality and diversity. The Park Street Festival is an annual Puerto Rican celebration held in the heart of Hartford‘s…

A Special Place to Honor Military Veterans in Plainville

…honored its Korean and Vietnam veterans with a 12-foot-high Vermont granite monument dedicated on Memorial Day in 1984. Weighing approximately 5,000 pounds, the monument features an engraved eagle across the…

Levi Pease, Stage Route and Transportation Innovator

…a top. The four seats did not have backs for passengers to rest against and, collectively, could accommodate 11 people. These early trips from Hartford to Boston took four days….

Somers School of the Prophets

…theologian Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening, a period of evangelical Protestant revival. They wanted to update their traditional Puritan teachings to be more reflective of their modern-day lives. Unsatisfied…

First Connecticut Carpet Mills Emerge in Simsbury and Enfield

By Edward T. Howe In the 1820s, the first Connecticut carpetmakers emerged in the north central part of the state—the Tariff Manufacturing Company in Simsbury and the Thompsonville Carpet Manufacturing…

P. T. Barnum’s Lottery

…which he is famous. Melissa Houston is the Registrar and Museum Educator at The Barnum Museum in Bridgeport as well as the History Camp Instructress for the Newtown Historical Society….

Brass City/Grass Roots: Struggles and Decline

…of California growers, why should the city manage a farmers’ market? If meat was being trucked in from afar, why have a local slaughterhouse? Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content…

Igor Sikorsky and his Flying Machines

…and medical evacuation vehicle. Today, the military, together with civilian rescue teams, remain the prime customers for helicopter sales. Meanwhile, Sikorsky Aviation Corporation of Stratford, today a division of United…

A Revolution in Horse Power: The Hartford & Wethersfield Horse Railroad Goes Electric

…Connecticut Historical Society. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on Your Public Media. Note: ConnecticutHistory.org does not edit content originally published on another platform and therefore does not update…

Harkness Memorial Park Offers a Glimpse into Early 20th Century Wealth

…every other day during the summer. The property also had a windmill used to pump water into the home’s 20,000-gallon water tank. Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford – Hartford History…

A Bird’s-eye View of New Britain

…accustomed to—their rapidly changing environments. H. Knecht, View of New Britain, Conn. NY: Jacob Rau, ca. 1862-68 – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Online In this bird’s-eye view of…

Video – William Gillette’s Railroad

…point of pride—his short-line, narrow gauge train—is shown traveling over the three-mile route on the grounds of his 184-acre estate, the Seventh Sister (known today as Gillette Castle) in East…

Connecticut Poor Law Aimed to Care for the Needy

…goings of people in their towns. The town system ceased to function as a viable tool for administering aid to the state’s poor. Today, administering state aid remains a challenge…

Firefighters Answer the Call in Greenwich

…neighbors with fire buckets to extinguish flames or they simply allowed fires to burn out.) In 1882 the Selectmen authorized $300 (over $6,000 today) towards the building of a bell…

Imagining Connecticut

Who are we? What traditions and accomplishments define us as a state and shape our lives today? This is our story.   Connecticut’s heritage began thousands of years ago with…

The Hartford Wheel Club: Disparity in the Gilded Age

…“penny farthings,” single high-wheeled vehicles, at his factory on Washington Street.) The Wheel Club took their cycles to races in other states, which often meant two- or three-day treks. Since…

Muzzy Field: A Historic Ball Park Survives in a Post-Industrial City

…as teams from the Negro leagues. Muzzy Field Today Throughout the years, Muzzy Field’s popularity waned as recreation tastes shifted and ballparks in neighboring cities and states built parks and…

A Fair to Remember in Brooklyn

…in use today. In recent years, the Windham County Agricultural Society has successfully expanded the variety of services it offers to the community, as well as the entertainment available to…

Norfolk—Alive With The Sound of Summer Music

Norfolk began hosting the Yale Summer School of Music and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival back in 1941. Today the festival provides opportunities for students of music to perform for live…

Child Labor in Connecticut

…from a distance.” Wethersfield Avenue day crew, Hartford Street Railway Co., 1907 – Connecticut Historical Society In 1916, the US Congress passed the short-lived Keating-Owen Act, which President Woodrow Wilson…

The Scoville Memorial Library

…crammed with tens or hundreds of books replace clunky paperbacks and hardcovers. With such advanced technology becoming more and more accessible every day, the library has become a mundane option,…

Wesleyan Hills Helps Redefine Suburbia

…Wesleyan Hills today, it is clear that the developers took great care to preserve the feel of the land’s agrarian roots. The most notable landmarks are the original barns, silos,…

Andrus Field 1831–1911: Athletics and the Environment

…university community is one that is still in use today. Sage Marshall authored this piece while a student at Wesleyan University as part of a class project in environmental history….

Connecticut’s First Roman Catholic Church

…early 19th century—in part, to help build the Farmington and Enfield canals—there was an increasing need for a permanent location to worship. The parish continues today as St. Patrick –…

Middletown’s Beman Triangle: A Testament to Black Freedom and Resilience

…1921 after Wesleyan University purchased the original church site—remained as a direct link to the former property-owning, antislavery Black neighborhood. The Beman Triangle Today Today, a coalition of historians, historic…

The Unsteady Meaning of “The Land of Steady Habits”

…worse than that of France during the anything-goes days of the French Revolution. With time, though, Connecticut reversed this trend. In 1946, the press (Hartford Courant, September 29, 1946, “No…

Africans in Search of the American Dream: Cape Verdean Whalers and Sealers

…Bank Street buildings. He became a naturalized citizen in 1872 and died in 1886. He and Susan had several children, and some of their descendants still live in Connecticut today.…

The Debate Over Who Could Occupy World War II Public Housing in West Hartford

…history. Today, West Hartford remains a predominately white community. One can argue that its demographics have been shaped, in part, by discriminatory housing practices of which the standoff over Oakwood…

Ezra Stiles Captured 18th-Century Life on Paper

Educator and theologian Ezra Stiles authored numerous scholarly publications and went on to serve as president of Yale University. Among his greatest contributions to history, however, are the journals and…

North Stonington Fairs Preserve Connecticut’s Agricultural Heritage

Despite brief success as a mill town in the early 19th century, North Stonington is ultimately tied to its agricultural history. For over 350 years, residents tended to the fields…

Looking Back: How the Vote Was Won

By Tedd Levy for the Shoreline Times Today it is the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (The Kate) but it began as the Old Saybrook Musical and Dramatic Club. Its…

Suburban Development in Litchfield County 1982

Few other states felt the lure of the suburbs as strongly or as early as Connecticut. We have become a state of suburbs, with those suburban forces shaping the culture…