Search results for: new haven


John Warner Barber, Public square or green, in New Haven

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

…provisions, the New Haven Colony ceased to exist, and instead found itself absorbed by the colony of Connecticut. The news devastated the founders of the New Haven Colony, but many…

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Mayor Lee (center) of New Haven, looking at Knights of Columbus building model

Richard Lee’s Urban Renewal in New Haven

…Church and Crown Streets, New Haven, 1959 – New Haven Museum and Historical Society New Haven as a “Model City” Richard Lee initiated and championed much of New Haven’s urban…

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Hartford and New Haven: A Tale of Two Capitals

…in the capitol building for the first time, beginning a new chapter in state politics. Razing the New Haven Statehouse The last meeting in the New Haven statehouse occurred in…

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Map of Plan of the city of New Haven - Connecticut Historical Society Museum & Library

New Haven’s Long Wharf

…however, railroad expansion and highway construction ensured the demise of the original wharf by the early 1960s. The Long Wharf is Built in New Haven S.E. view of New Haven

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Drawing from Remarkable Apparitions, and Ghost-Stories, 1849

The Ghost Ship of New Haven Sets Sail Shrouded in Mystery

…lost at sea in 1646 – New Haven Museum The New Haven residents massed along the shore knew at once what had happened. In the spirit of their pastor’s odd…

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Reverend John Davenport

Forgotten Founder: John Davenport of New Haven

…1665. Leaving the Colony of New Haven for Boston By then Davenport was over 60 and in poor health. He might have remained in New Haven, where most in his…

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Plan of the City of New Haven

The Successes and Struggles of New Haven Entrepreneur William Lanson

…he also purchased substantial acreage and houses in New Haven’s largely undeveloped New Township in the 1810s and ‘20s. Many blacks then settled in the area, where they mixed and…

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

…Benham’s New Haven Directory the New City Hall had just been completed and cast iron mains and lead pipes carried water to every neighborhood. The New Haven Water Company had…

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Portrait of Amos Beman.

The Rev. Amos Beman’s Devotion to Education, Social Activism, and New Haven

By Elizabeth Correia Amos Beman spent much of his life a religious leader and social activist in New Haven. After Wesleyan University administrators blocked him from studying at the school…

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View of the New Haven Green

A Puritan Landscape New Haven Town Green

…cities such as Boston and New Amsterdam (now New York). In 1664 New Haven united with the Connecticut Colony. In 1701 the city was granted co-capitol status with Hartford. The…

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New Haven Green

New Haven

The city of New Haven is located in New Haven County in the southern part of the state along the Long Island Sound. The English Puritans who founded New Haven

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The New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 1979

New Haven Coliseum Imploded – Today in History: January 20

On January 20, 2007, the 35-year-old New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum—better known as the New Haven Coliseum—met its end at approximately 8 o’clock in the morning as crews imploded the…

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A Plan of the Town of New Haven with All the Buildings in 1748

Why Was New Haven Divided into Nine Squares?

…The quarters were commonly known by their principal occupants: Governor Eaton, Robert Newman, John Davenport, Edward Tench, and George Lamberton. New Haven’s Nine Squares are bounded by the streets known…

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“Free Bobby, Free Ericka”: The New Haven Black Panther Trials

…chairman Bobby Seale was visiting New Haven at the time of Rackley’s murder and authorities implicated him in the crime. They also indicted Ericka Huggins, founder of the New Haven

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The Origins and Enduring Legacy of New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre

…Harlan Kleinman and Jon Jory) remained optimistic that the waterfront spot on the outskirts of New Haven was the right place for the new theater. In particular, they correctly noted…

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New Haven Harbor, US Coast Survey, 1872

Three Young Engineers: Charting New Haven

Collection: Connecticut Historical Society Object: Map – New Haven Harbor, US Coast Survey Maker: George Benjamin Chittenden, assistant Place: New Haven, Connecticut Date Made: 1872 When the United States Coast…

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Connecticut Supreme Court

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…

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Video – Unsung Heroes: The Music of Jazz in New Haven

April is Jazz Appreciation Month YouTube – CTHPrograms – Copyright 2001, Rebecca L. Abbott and Jazz Haven This documentary clip showcases the heritage of New Haven’s jazz community by weaving…

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Over Time: New Haven’s Historical Population

  City: New Haven Settled: 1638 Incorporated: 1784; Town and city consolidated, November 1895 Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes…

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Bradley Smith Co., Inc., Grand Avenue, New Haven

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

On October 13, 1931, the name “Lolly Pop” was officially registered to the Bradley Smith Company of New Haven by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The company had started…

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Aerial view of Black Rock Turnpike Bridge and Vicinity

Overland Travel in Connecticut, from Footpaths to Interstates

…that extended into every corner of the state. Well-known lines included the New York & New Haven and the Hartford & New Haven railroads, which together made up the first…

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New Haven Green

The Connecticut Town Green

New Haven Green, Air-o-graph ca. 1959 – New Haven Museum and Connecticut History Online During the 1950s New Haven became a leader in urban renewal efforts, and much of the…

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Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold Turns and Burns New London

…command and to demonstrate his newfound loyalty to King George III? Benedict Arnold house, New Haven – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Illustrated Arnold was 34, living in New

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Detail of a bed curtain attributed to Priscilla Kingsbury

The Decorative Arts of Connecticut

…widely known and able to export their wares to the nearby region. These more specialized craftsmen gathered in the port towns of New Haven, Norwich, and New London and the…

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Henry Austin, Grove Street Cemetery Entrance, 1845, New Haven

An Overview of Connecticut’s Outdoor Sculpture

…Several Connecticut towns, including New Haven, Stamford, and New Britain, have operated similar “percent-for-art” programs. One of the most endearing works created with public funding is Willimantic’s Frog Bridge, which…

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A plan of the first Society in Lebanon

Exploring Early Connecticut Mapmaking

…map engraved and published around 1827 by Alfred Daggett of New Haven was re-used in 1831, 1836, 1847, and 1858, each time with new engravers’ and publishers’ names added. Although…

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John F. Weir, Roger Sherman, ca. 1902

Roger Sherman, Revolutionary and Dedicated Public Servant

…of 1760, he resigned his political post and moved his children to New Haven. Civic Service in New Haven After arriving in New Haven, Sherman gave up practicing law, as…

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The Farmington Canal near Mount Carmel in Hamden

New England’s Grand Ambition: The Farmington Canal

…ambitious canal project undertaken in New England, the Farmington Canal extended from tidewater in New Haven north to Granby, where the route continued into Massachusetts as the Hampshire & Hampden…

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The Importance of Being Puritan: Church and State in Colonial Connecticut

…in its enforcement. The New Lights, however, preached resistance, if not open rebellion. In a tumultuous election in 1766, New Lights replaced the Old Light governor and councilors. The New

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Dr. Mary Moody sitting on her front porch

Dr. Mary B. Moody Challenges Victorian Mores About Women in Medicine

…and friend.” The Moody House, “Chetstone” Chetstone today, Fair Haven Heights, New Haven – Image courtesy of Ian Christmann The house where Moody lived on Grand Avenue in New Haven

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Headline of the Yale Daily News newspaper

The Merger That Was Not Meant To Be: Yale University and Vassar College

…dates, dances, and other social events in New Haven or at other campuses. Alternately, unofficial events such as the Yale-Vassar Bike Race pulled Yalies west—the men leaving New Haven at…

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Henry Augustus Loop, Jonathan Edwards

Connecticut Origins Shape New Light Luminary Jonathan Edwards

…find a single, central location for the college had been completed and the New Haven site was chosen along with a new name, Yale College, after a benefactor. Students from…

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Makris Diner, 1795 Berlin Turnpike, Wethersfield

A Hip Road Trip

…1900, they were joined by the new auto enthusiasts (or, as The Hartford Courant described them, “automobilists”). Originally part of the Hartford-New Haven Turnpike built in the late 18th century,…

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Engraving drawing of several buildings

John Warner Barber’s Engravings Chronicle Connecticut History

Haven Museum—recorded his daily activities and interactions with local New Haveners, such as Simeon Smith Jocelyn and Amos Beman, and famous visitors, such as the Marquis de Lafayette. Preserved by…

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Detail from a map of Hayt

Ebenezer Bassett’s Historic Journey

…continue his education, he attended classes at Yale in mathematics and classics. In 1855 he married Eliza Park in New Haven. While in New Haven he also met Frederick Douglass…

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

…Thompson, Connecticut, in 1784, he studied architecture with Asher Benjamin in Boston before moving to New Haven and opening his own architectural office. Ithiel Town in New Haven Among his…

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Oliver Wolcott Library

Modernism in Connecticut through Photographs

…Shore Apartments in Chicago – Robert Gregson New Haven as a Model City One of America’s earliest city plans was created in 1638 with New Haven’s “nine-square grid.” The framework…

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Detail from a map of Connecticut and Rhode Island, with Long Island Sound, 1776

Boston Post Road Carved out Three Travel Routes through State

…the upper post road through New Haven, Hartford and Springfield; the lower post road, running east from New Haven to New London and Providence; and the middle route, which ran…

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Quinnipiac: The People of the Long Water Land

…Island Sound: Quinnipiac (New Haven), Monotwese (North Haven), Menunkatuck (Guilford), and Totoket (Branford). Colonial Settlement Reaches Quinnipiac Territory With the settlement of New Haven in 1638, colonial authorities began to…

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Honiss Oyster House, Hartford

Oystering in Connecticut, from Colonial Times to the 21st Century

New Haven’s Fair Haven oyster shops in 1858. These Fair Haven oysters were then shipped inland to such cities as St. Louis and Chicago. By the 1890s, the world’s largest…

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Poli's Palace Theatre, Waterbury

Sylvester Poli, Negotiating Cultural Politics in an Age of Immigration

…Pennsylvania. It is no wonder, then, that his anniversary brought together so many—more than 100 in all—from New Haven and beyond. Oak Street, in New Haven’s working-class Italian section, was…

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Engine number 36 in a Hartford station

Steam Railroads Transform Connecticut Travel and Commerce

…Connecticut History Illustrated The most important of these east-west railroads was the New York & New Haven, completed from New York City to New Haven in 1848. Together with the…

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Noah Webster the schoolmaster of the republic, ca. 1891

Noah Webster and the Dream of a Common Language

…would later change) and had already established several schools including Union School in New Haven. Before leaving Amherst in 1821 to go back to New Haven, Webster would help found…

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J.O. Davidson, Battle of Port Hudson

Connecticut’s Naval Contributions to the Civil War

…seven from New London and two from Mystic, were purchased for this purpose, along with 16 others from around New England. These ships became known as “the stone fleet.” The…

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East Haven

The town of East Haven, located in New Haven County, is on the east side of New Haven Harbor in the Long Island Sound. First called East Farms, in 1638…

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Louis’ Lunch eatery at its original location on George Street

Louis’ Lunch and the Birth of the Hamburger

…urban renewal program, New Haven residents protested. The historic move in of the Louis’ Lunch building to its present day location on Crown Street – New Haven Museum and Connecticut…

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Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor

…sign from George Street, New Haven, ca. 1760 – New Haven Museum Revolutionary War Hero While in New Haven, Arnold met his first wife, Margaret Mansfield. They married on February…

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Merritt Parkway, New York to Connecticut, 1941

Merritt Parkway Creates Scenic Gateway to New England

…1), which connected the Massachusetts capital to New York City. Connecticut State Highway Commissioner John A. MacDonald proposed a solution: a new parallel route that would begin on the New

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Mead Memorial Park, New Canaan

Summer Crowds Flocked to New Canaan and Stayed

…the demographics and the landscape in New Canaan. New Canaan in the 19th Century Hanford Davenport house built circa 1820, New Canaan – National Register of Historic Places Revolutionary war…

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Armstrong Rubber Company ad, June 1953

Armstrong Finds a Niche in the Tire Market

Haven. Armstrong Rubber Company headquarters, Long Wharf redevelopment area, ca. 1969, New HavenNew Haven Museum Unfortunately for Armstrong, the tremendous upheaval of the 1970s brought an end to…

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Underground Railroad Agents in Connecticut

New Britain Plays Part in the Underground Railroad

…In New England, numerous towns and cities provided safe havens for those escaping slavery. One of the Underground Railroad’s most vital New England routes went through what is now the…

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Connecticut Courant building

The Hartford Courant: The Oldest US Newspaper in Continuous Publication

…to American independence, The Hartford Courant is the country’s oldest newspaper in continuous publication. On October 29, 1764, New Haven printer Thomas Green began publishing The Hartford Courant (then known…

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Bradley Point, West Haven by Michael Herrick

West Haven

The city of West Haven, located in New Haven County, is in the southern portion of the state and forms part of New Haven Harbor on the Long Island Sound….

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The Northern Student Movement

…on many campuses and in numerous northern cities, including New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia. In 1963, the group moved its main office from New Haven to New York City and…

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James Trenchard, View from the Green Woods towards Canaan and Salisbury, in Connecticut

Dynamic Tensions: Conservation and Development up to the 1920s

…vistas, majestic mountains, and calming lakes and streams, illustrated the West as well as the New England countryside in paintings such as West Rock, New Haven (1849). These images, as…

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Colonial currency from Connecticut Colony. Signed by Elisha Williams, Thomas Seymour, and Benjamin Payne

Connecticut’s Early Commercial Banks

…supplemented by shipping activity carried on in the seaports of New Haven and New London and the river ports of Hartford, Middletown, and Norwich. Settled by English colonists between 1633…

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Emile Gauvreau and the Era of Tabloid Journalism

…tabloid fray, convinced Gauvreau to be his new paper’s editor. The paper was the New York Evening Graphic. The Tabloids The first of the American tabloids was the New York…

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Copy of Map of Windsor, shewing the parishes, the roads, and houses by Seth Pease

Seth Pease Surveys New Lands

…Pease, New Haven: Amos Doolittle, 1798 Later Territories Though work in the Western Reserve would continue, Pease carried out surveys of the Holland Purchase in New York State in 1798-99….

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Hotchkiss & Sons Artillery Projectiles

Connecticut Arms the Union

…Company in New Haven and Savage Revolving Firearms Company in Middletown, as well established. But other Connecticut firms without gun-making experience moved into rifle production, too. For these newcomers, musket…

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Reverend James Pennington: A Voice for Freedom

…African American newspaper published in New York, revealed his concern and passion for improving the quality of the education and facilities. Members of the state temperance society considered the newspaper…

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Plan of USS monitor, 1862

Cornelius Bushnell and His Ironclad Ship

…entered into a partnership with his brother to sell marine hardware and the business proved wildly successful. Bushnell Puts New Haven and New London Railroad Back on Track In 1858,…

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The Long, Ambiguous History of Connecticut’s Blue Laws

…R. Hinman, compiled and reprinted the content of a preserved copy of the original New Haven Code under the title The Blue Laws of New Haven Colony, usually called Blue…

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Map – Connecticut Landmarks of the Constitution

…Forts: 22. Groton: Fort Griswold 23. New Haven: Fort Nathan Hale 24. New London: Fort Trumbull The Coast Guard Academy: 25. New London: Hamilton Hall, United States Coast Guard Academy…

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Map of the West Indies, 1717

Connecticut and the West Indies: Sugar Spurs Trans-Atlantic Trade

…the larger cities, such as Hartford, Middletown, New London, Norwich, and New Haven, or directly with importers in New York or Boston. When they had collected enough produce to fill…

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South view of the Hempstead House, New London

The Joshua Hempsted Diary: A Window into Colonial Connecticut

New Haven, Boston, New York City, and the eastern end of Long Island. He participated in “ventures” to the West Indies and recorded the comings and goings of ships to…

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American Whaler printed by Elijah Chapman Kellogg

New London’s Indian Mariners

…complexioned Indian…was bro’t up to the sea,” noted the New London Summary newspaper. At 22 years old, he had an alias (Thomas Ginnings), and on March 5, 1760 he had…

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The Newsies Strike Back

newspapers for pennies a copy. Unfortunately for them, in 1909 the “newsies” found their meager living threatened as a result of a brawl between the country’s most powerful newspaper moguls….

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American Mills Web Shop, West Haven

Elastic Web Expands Textile Manufacturing in West Haven

…and Julius Maltby of Waterbury incorporated the Narrow Fabrics Company in West Haven; mill construction finished the following year. By 1914, the West Haven business was three times its original…

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Gun Wheel of the First Light Battery, Connecticut Volunteers

…a memorial to the contributions and sacrifices of the men of the regiment. Historian and veteran of the First Light Battery, Herbert Beecher of New Haven, recognized that “the First…

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Constance Baker Motley: A Warrior for Justice

New Haven in 1921 to parents who were natives of the Caribbean island nation of Nevis. She attended the integrated New Haven public schools before going to college at historically…

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Detail from Map of the Farmington Canal

Farmington Canal Designed to Give Connecticut Commerce a Competitive Edge

…first stretch of the waterway, from New Haven to Farmington, opened in 1828. The canal, when completed in 1835, eventually ran from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts. More Efficient Transportation…

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Columbite

The Industrial Might of Connecticut Pegmatite

…in New Haven. You will be amazed at the riches that could well be found beneath your feet. John A. Pawlowski, Sr., a geologist and earth sciences teacher (now retired)…

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Savin Rock Amusement Park, 1930s

Connecticut’s Youngest City – Who Knew?

…a part of the original New Haven Colony. In 1719, it became the separate parish of West Haven, and in 1822, after several failed attempts at incorporation, it joined with…

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Bridge on the grounds of Gillette's Castle

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

…Gillette Castle State Park and Nathan Hale State Forest. Landscape blight, New Haven, ca. 1950s – New Haven Museum By the 1950s, Connecticut was the fourth most densely populated state,…

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Little Bethel AME Church, 44 Lake Avenue, Greenwich

Site Lines: Fortresses of Faith, Agents of Change

…housing and education. Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church before redevelopment, New Haven, ca. 1960s – New Haven Museum and Historical Society Two of Connecticut’s earliest black churches were Talcott Street (now…

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Lydia Sherman: The Derby Poisoner

…N. Sherman. She returned to Connecticut and was tried in New Haven in 1872. The jury found her guilty of second-degree murder. She was remanded to the New Haven jail…

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A family outing in the Woodmont section of Milford, September, 1887

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,…

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The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. Miss Rose Meers, the Greatest living lady rider

P. T. Barnum: An Entertaining Life

…men and women as proposed in the Fourteenth Amendment and worked to limit the power of the New York and New Haven Railroad lobby. Barnum’s successes got him reelected a…

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Rails and Paper Trails

…and farms—first to the financial centers of New York and Boston and, eventually, to points far beyond New England as the rail system spread across the country. New York and…

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The Hermitage, Peter's Rock

Peter’s Rock: North Haven History with a View

…from New Haven to Massachusetts, that offers hikers and climbers spectacular views of Connecticut and Long Island Sound. Far from being a mere recreational hotspot, however, Peter’s Rock is a…

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Edward Alexander Bouchet: The First African American to Earn a PhD from an American University

…on to New Haven High School for two years before transferring to Hopkins, a prestigious private school in New Haven, where he graduated as class valedictorian in 1870. That year,…

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Industrial scene where several men are working at a manufactured gas plant

Early Connecticut Gas Light Companies

By Edward T. Howe The first private gas light companies in Connecticut appeared just before 1850 in New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport. To light streets, businesses, and homes, the companies…

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Essex-Lyme ferry

Ferry Boats a Way of Life in Early Connecticut

New Haven; the Niantic in East Lyme; and the Thames River at Norwich and New London. Early Crossing Technologies and Hazards Bissell’s ferry, Windsor The technology utilized by early Connecticut…

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Illustration of a woman on horse, woodcut

Sarah Kemble Knight’s Journey through Colonial Connecticut

…a boarding house in Boston with some experience as a copier of legal documents. She was on her way to New Haven (and later to New York City) to act…

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John Frederick Kensett, Twilight in the Cedars at Darien, Connecticut

John Frederick Kensett Illuminates the 19th-Century Landscape

…Connecticut. He attended Cheshire Academy and studied engraving with his father, Thomas, in New Haven. After a brief apprenticeship in New York, he returned to New Haven after his father’s…

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Connecticut in the French and Indian War

…British control. New France was no more. The War’s Lasting Consequences Detail of the news from “Paris, June 19”, The Connecticut Gazette, September 18, 1756, New Haven, Connecticut The French…

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Advertisement for the Eastern line of stages, 1842

Stagecoach Sustained Commerce and Communication in 1800s

…Levi Pease established stagecoaching in New England. Pease began his career in 1783 by operating a stage service along the Upper Post Road between New York and Boston. The cost…

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Map of changing Connecticut's boundary lines

Surveying Connecticut’s Borders

…of the duke’s patent for New York, took all of Long Island. In 1650, the colony of Connecticut and the Dutch who had settled New Amsterdam (now New York City)…

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Amos Doolittle, The looking glass for 1787. A house divided against itself cannot stand

The War Connecticut Hated

…was to embolden those New Englanders who sought to form a new confederation. In September, the Massachusetts legislature called for a convention of New England states to meet in Hartford…

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Map of Farmington and Avon, indicating the Farmington Canal and its feeders

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

…with the City of New-Haven.” The canal, also known as the New Haven and Northampton Canal, was privately funded and built in the early 19th century to provide water transportation…

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Advertisement for Isaac Doolittle's bell foundry

Early Church Bell Founders

…father in business in 1762 and cast a bell for the Congregational Church in Newtown that year. Isaac Doolittle of New Haven was a bellfounder as well as a prolific…

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Patent drawing of an ironing board improvement

Sarah Boone: First Connecticut Black Woman to Receive Patent

By Edward T. Howe Originally published March 22, 2022 On April 26, 1892, Sarah Boone of New Haven became the first Black woman in Connecticut to be awarded a patent—for…

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Honor and Duty: The Life of Alfred Howe Terry

…tell me the exact truth, whether for or against him.’” In 1829, the Terry family moved to New Haven where Alfred Terry Sr. entered the book and stationary business. Terry…

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Dedication of the New State Capitol, 1876

New State Capitol 1878

…carried the day by a narrow margin and New Haven ceased to be a capital city. When the legislature appropriated funds for a new building, the city of Hartford also…

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United States Army dirigible with crowd of onlookers

Airborne Pioneers: Connecticut Takes Flight

…filled with interesting episodes that mirror the evolution of aeronautics as a whole. For example, unmanned balloon flights took place in both New Haven and Hartford as early as the…

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German American workers from the buff room

Late 19th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

new homes throughout Connecticut, the draw of particular regional immigrant networks promoted the growth of new ethnic neighborhoods in major cities such as New Haven, New London, and Bridgeport. Hartford…

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Silkworms, Cheney Brothers, Manchester

Connecticut’s Mulberry Craze

…horticulturalist. In the 1750s Aspinwall planted mulberry trees at a nursery he owned in Long Island and later in Mansfield and New Haven, Connecticut. Aspinwall also raised and distributed to…

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Piling sandbags, Colt dike

The Hurricane of 1938 Rocks Connecticut

…across the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad tracks behind the Customs House. When the Port Jefferson-Bridgeport ferry that had spent a harrowing night in Long Island Sound tried…

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New-Gate Prison courtyard

Notorious New-Gate Prison

…tourist attraction and a national historic landmark. Frequently referred to as either New Gate or New-Gate, the site operated as a prison from 1773 to 1827 and could accommodate more…

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Rocky shore in front of a white lighthouse and several white buildings.

New London Harbor Lighthouse: Connecticut’s First Official Lighthouse

…included a new stone deck, whitewashing and repointing of the exterior to prevent the entry of water, a copper dome and weathervane, a new wooden staircase, and a new outer…

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The U.S. frigate United States capturing H.B.M frigate Macedonian

Site Lines: The Mysterious Blue Lights

New London’s harbor and taken safe haven a few miles up the Thames River. Each of his stealthy attempts to escape his confined position had been thwarted by the appearance…

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Southern part of Saltonstalls Pond, East Haven

East Haven was Home to Connecticut’s First Iron Works

…Lake In 1655, with East Haven residents engaged primarily in farming, New Haven businessman Stephen Goodyear and Boston mining entrepreneur John Winthrop Jr. selected a site near the Saltonstall Lake…

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Image of Soldiers Memorial, Company B, 29th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers

Connecticut’s Black Civil War Regiment

…Norwich). On March 19, after receiving a United States flag from a group of black women from New Haven, the regiment assembled on the New Haven Green. As they paraded…

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Yale University from Colonial Times to the Present

by Patrick J. Mahoney Since its founding in 1701 as the “Collegiate School,” Yale University, located in New Haven, has earned an international reputation for academic excellence. Among the institution’s…

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Bronze Hall of Fame medal of Josiah Willard Gibbs

Josiah Willard Gibbs’s Impact on Modern Science

…statistical mechanics laid the groundwork for the development of physical chemistry as a science. Josiah Willard Gibbs’s Life in New Haven Josiah Willard Gibbs was born in New Haven on…

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Colonel William Douglas

William Douglas: A Colonial Hero’s Sacrifice

…and took part in the expedition that captured the city of Quebec in 1759. After the war, Douglas moved to New Haven and became the commander of a merchant ship…

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The Boardman Building, New Haven

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…

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The Inventive Minds of Connecticut Women: Patents in the 19th Century

…– July 1, 1890, New Haven Mathilde Schott, Die and Dice Box Patent Number 435,635 – September 2, 1890, New Haven Alice M. Hobson, Steam Cooker Patent Number 466,137 –…

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Bucks Hill: Waterbury’s Rural Holdout

…and photos courtesy of Brenda Anderson-Killer and Ken Killer, click to enlarge William H. Perkins – Commemorative Biographical Record of New Haven County, 1902, click to enlarge William H. Perkins…

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The Connecticut Poll Tax

…Connecticut and New Haven colonial governments, stipulated that “all charges of the war be born by the poll.” Although no war ensued, Massachusetts enacted a law in 1646, which included…

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Blizzard of 1888 - Hartford, corner of Main Street and State Street

Blizzard of 1888 Devastates State

…without food or supplies. New Haven, street unknown. New Haven recorded forty foot drifts – Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries…

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David Humphreys

David Humphreys, Soldier, Statesman, and Agricultural Innovator

…college friend who went on to become president of Yale, wrote of David Humphreys in his renowned Travels in New-England and New– York, a four-volume travel diary he kept of…

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Newington

…West Farms and Pipestave Swamp. In 1798, the Hartford and New Haven Turnpike was built through what later became Newington and it immediately attracted a number of new businesses. In…

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Delivery truck for The Lustron Home

Metal Homes for the Atomic Age

…Albert Frey and Lawrence Kocher for the Allied Arts and Building Products Exhibition in New York. (It currently stands on the campus of the New York Institute of Technology.) Two…

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NFL Great, Andy Robustelli of Stamford

…caught the attention of Lou DeFilipo, a scout for the Los Angeles Rams. A New Haven native who played for Hillhouse High School, Fordham University, and the NFL’s New York…

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Effect of Confederate shot on the USS Galena, 1862

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

…Cornelius Scranton Bushnell of New Haven urged Congress to allocate funds for an ironclad construction program to combat the new ironclad vessels of the Confederate Navy. On August 4, 1861,…

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Diagram of SS Savannah

Steaming Across the Atlantic

…into one of mechanical power, steamships made regular runs between New London and port cities like New Haven and New York. Consequently, it is fitting that it was two New

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Postcard of New London Bridge on Thames River, New London, Conn.

I-95 Reaches New London

By Nancy Finlay The Thames River crossing at New London has always been a critical point on the overland route from New York to Providence, Rhode Island. Initially, travelers relied…

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Civil War Memorial, North Haven

North Haven

The town of North Haven, located in the south central region of the state in New Haven County, lies on either side of the Quinnipiac River and is approximately 10…

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Black and white Logo for WDRC Radio station

WDRC AM/FM – Connecticut’s Oldest Commercial Radio Station

…in New Haven received the fifth federal AM radio license. Between April and September 1922, the federal government issued initial licenses for Greenwich’s WAAQ, Hartford’s WDAK, New Haven’s WGAH, and…

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The Black Panther Party in Connecticut: Community Survival Programs

…and sales. In a secret 1970 memo, local agents estimated that 4,000 copies sold each week in Connecticut. In New Haven, the Panthers organized against a new planned highway that…

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Detail view of the 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers

29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers Fought More than One War

New Haven. In March 1864, the men paraded through the streets of New Haven and, according to soldier J.J. Hill, “white and colored ladies and gentlemen grasped me by the…

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Henry Austin, Grove Street Cemetery Entrance, 1845, New Haven

Father of Architects Born – Today in History: December 4

…and the Willis Bristol House. His other significant works in New Haven include the Egyptian revival sandstone Grove Street Cemetery gate, Dwight Hall at Yale, the Moorish New Haven railroad…

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

New London, Connecticut. Authorities then wrongly classified the men as runaway slaves, property, and murderers and imprisoned them in New Haven. The Mende captives ultimately underwent three separate trials, including…

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Ralph Earl, A View of the Town of Concord etched by Amos Doolittle

Ralph Earl: Portrait of an Early American Artist

…University Art Gallery in New Haven, house his paintings. In addition, Southern Connecticut State University, also in New Haven, named its fine arts building Ralph Earl Hall in his honor….

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Picture of George W. Bush as a baby

Connecticut’s Only US President – Who Knew?

Originally published February 21, 2022 …that only one US president has been born in Connecticut. America’s 43rd President, George W. Bush, was born in New Haven at the Grace-New Haven

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1634-1776

…— Connecticut’s famous “Charter Oak.” The General Court Becomes the General Assembly Engraving of New Haven Meeting House In 1701, New Haven petitioned the General Assembly for status as the…

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DN-1: The US Navy’s First Airship

…contract, the company hired four engineers to assist Boyle, as well as a number of women to sew balloon envelopes in the company’s factory at 136 Haven Street, New Haven….

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Detail of A New and Correct Map of the United States by Abel Buell

An Uncommonly Ingenious Mechanic: Abel Buell of Connecticut

…the forehead. Clinton-born Engraver Puts Himself on the Map Buell moved to New Haven, where he began experimenting with the founding of printing types and the minting of coins, this…

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West view, Somers CT

Somers School of the Prophets

…associated primarily with alternative schools that arose to provide clerical education to men of the New Divinity movement. New Divinity followers were largely New England Congregationalists who associated themselves with…

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Print of a parade of a two-faced Benedict Arnold through the streets of Philadelphia

New London’s Tradition of Burning Benedict Arnold…in Effigy – Who Knew?

…troops in burning New London—destroying more than 140 homes, shops, warehouses, and other buildings. New London’s March of the Traitor – Vincent A. Scarano, Flock Theatre After betraying the Continental…

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Residence and Library of Ithiel Town, New Haven

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

…form one of the first architectural firms in the United States, and together they designed noteworthy Greek, Gothic, and Egyptian revival buildings, including the State Capitol in New Haven and…

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

On November 10, 1827 Alfred Howe Terry was born in Hartford. Educated in New Haven, he completed one year of study at Yale Law School. He was admitted to the…

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Putting History on the Map

By Nancy Finlay All maps are historical. They represent specific moments in time and very quickly become out of date as new towns are incorporated, new canals or railroads or…

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Roger Sherman

…Sherman died in 1793 of typhoid fever and was buried in the New Haven Green. In 1821, the city relocated his remains to Grove Street Cemetery, also in New Haven….

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Map of the invasion of New Haven

Ezra Stiles Captured 18th-Century Life on Paper

…the school studying theology until receiving his master’s degree in 1749. After tutoring for a number of years, Stiles resigned from the ministry and briefly practiced law in New Haven

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Pulling Down the Statue of King George II, New York City

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

…act. No record of a response survives. When (in April 1777) the Committee of Safety in New Haven told Earl to “take up arms,” face imprisonment, or “quit the Province,”…

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Timothy Dwight Provides Religious, Military, and Educational Services for a Young Country

…School in New Haven. It was at Yale that he met Watertown native John Trumbull, an aspiring poet and writer two years older than Dwight. Eventually the pair befriended two…

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Map of the Freedom Trail Sites

Site Lines: Connecticut’s Freedom Trail

…1772 At 66” – Connecticut Freedom Trail We know that Hartford, New London, New Haven, Norwich, and other towns with large African American populations held elections in May. In some…

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A photograph of a rowing shell with 8 rowers sitting at attention and one coxswain on the water

Derby Day on the Housatonic

…the New Haven and Hartford Railroad provided transportation to Derby. Several years later, a special train also came from New York to connect with the Derby Line. A 34-car observation…

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University of Connecticut main campus

Homer D. Babbidge, Leader in Education

…later moved to New Haven where he lived until his family relocated to Amherst, New York, when he was 12. Babbidge attended high school there and subsequently enrolled at Yale…

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Soldiers with cannons, 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery

The Complicated Realities of Connecticut and the Civil War

…Only three—the Sailors and Soldiers Memorial Arch in Hartford (1886), the Waterbury Soldiers’ Memorial (1884), and the Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment in New Haven (2008)—have any connection to race or…

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Early 19th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

…opening in the West created a demand for new sources of labor. Experienced Craftsmen Needed From the exhibit the “Irish Women in Domestic Service” – New Haven Museum In addition,…

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Artwork of a ship close to shore with people in rowboats. There is a large flag protruding from the mast of the ship. There is text at the bottom of the image.

Connecticut’s French Connections

…army commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, in July 1780. While most of the French army spent the winter in Newport, a detachment of French…

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Illustration of the Connecticut Charter boundary, 1662

From the State Historian: The Map That Wasn’t a Map

…contested position helped them retain Connecticut’s original lands as far west as the New York border, absorb the New Haven Colony (finalized in 1665), and later lay claim in the…

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Hope on the Wall: Connecticut’s New Deal Post Office Murals

…creative and gave local residents a voice in the creation of artwork. The WPA had an office in New Haven, with Connecticut art experts on staff. By stipulation, the WPA…

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Mayor's Council Armenian Group, Hartford, 1920

Building an Armenian Community in New Britain

…as they forged new lives as American citizens, New Britain’s Armenian Americans retained a strong ethnic identity. Many also maintained strong connections with their families in the Middle East, where…

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Stanley Works for New Britain

…a local gas light company in 1855 and, two years later, proved instrumental in helping bring the first running water to New Britain. In 1871, he even served as New

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State Street and Old Ferry Landing, New London

New London’s Ferries: A Transportation Tradition

By Nancy Finlay New London’s first ferry was chartered in 1651 and crossed the Thames River from New London to Groton. This service evolved with the times, transporting everything from…

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Over Time: East Haven’s Historical Population

  Town: East Haven Incorporated: May, 1785 Incorporated from: New Haven Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off…

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Over Time: North Haven’s Historical Population

Town: North Haven Incorporated: October 1786 Incorporated from: New Haven Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from…

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Taking on the State: Griswold v. Connecticut

…relocating to New Haven, the Griswolds lived in Europe, where Richard worked for the State Department while Estelle engaged in humanitarian work. Once in New Haven, Richard went to work…

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Benjamin Spock: Raising the World’s Children

…on May 2, 1903, in New Haven, Connecticut. His father was a corporate attorney who worked at various times for the New Haven Railroad and the Chase Brass Company in…

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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…

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The 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Flag and Display

…minister, the Reverend Dr. Mott, on March 8, 1864, in the Fair Haven section of New Haven, Connecticut. The men made no show of emotion during the formal ceremony, recalled…

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Painting of a man sitting in a chair. There is a drapery behind him. He is wearing a reddish brown suit from the 18th century

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…

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A page from a clock design booklet by Daniel Burnap

When the World Ran on Connecticut Time

…own business in Bristol. There he and his partners mechanized the production of brass movements. Jerome then opened a case factory in New Haven in 1844 and moved all of…

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Detail of the Bethany Airport Hanger from the Aerial survey of Connecticut 1934

A Busy Airfield in Bethany

…between New York and Boston. In 1930, it provided for the departure of the K of New Haven in its crew’s attempt to complete the first nonstop refueling flight between…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1888-1905

…Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury. Immigrants found urban life less attractive. Packed together in the airless tenements of Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven, hundreds of immigrants fell victim to…

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Bridgeport’s Catastrophic 1911 Train Wreck

…where Fairfield and Railroad Avenues met. The train, operated jointly by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (or New Haven Railroad, as it became…

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Elm Arcade, Temple Street, New Haven

A Beautiful and Goodly Tree: The Rise and Fall of the American Elm

…Streets; so do New Canaan, New London, and New Milford. Norwich boasts an Elm Avenue. The trees adapted well to the compacted soils—and later pavements—of these towns and not only…

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Dr. Emma Irene Boardman

Dr. E. Irene Boardman Never Stopped Serving the Public

…as a child, Boardman found her calling in relieving the pain of others. She graduated with an MD from Cornell Medical School in 1920 and practiced medicine in New Haven,…

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Black sign in front of a house

Peter Prudden: Milford’s First Minister

…way south, eventually reaching the mouth of the Quinnipiac River and what today is New Haven. While his companions, Theophilus Eaton and John Davenport, founded New Haven, Prudden traveled further…

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Death of Captain Ferrer

The Amistad

…Island, New York. There the federal brig Washington seized the ship and its cargo. American authorities charged the Mende with murder, imprisoned them in New Haven, Connecticut, and towed the…

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The Revolution of 1817

…Jonathan Ingersoll, for lieut. Governor – Connecticut Digital Archive In February 1816, a statewide convention of anti-Federalists took place in New Haven, resulting in the formation of the Toleration Party….

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David Bushnell and his Revolutionary Submarine

…was much older than other applicants, he was accepted and entered Yale in 1771. Bushnell Experiments at Yale Once in New Haven, Bushnell studied religion, mathematics, geometry, Natural Philosophy–as exploration…

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Trolley Campaigners Storm Small Towns and Votes for Women is the Battle Cry

…to March 21—the campaign held rallies at every municipality with trolley stops—46 in all—in Fairfield, New Haven, and Hartford counties. “Votes for Women Automobile Tour Through Litchfield County,” August 1911…

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Early 20th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

…unskilled positions as factory and construction workers—but as years passed, they increasingly found work as barbers, tailors, and musicians in the state’s major cities like Hartford and New Haven. Italians…

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University of Connecticut, Commencement

UConn and the Evolution of a Public University

…the New Haven Register complained that national funds were wasted in Storrs and should be returned to Yale. It contended, “Connecticut has managed to acquire an institution that is at…

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Amos Doolittle, The looking glass for 1787. A house divided against itself cannot stand

The Connecticut Ratification Convention

…When those responsible for the Connecticut Compromise—Oliver Ellsworth from Windsor, William Samuel Johnson of Stratford, and Roger Sherman from New Haven—returned to Hartford to personally implore the state delegates to…

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Railroad bridge, Norwich, ca. 1870

Combined Rail-and-Water System Makes Norwich a Key Travel Hub in Mid-1800s

…transportation to cities like New York, New Haven, and Providence, steamships operating out of Norwich allowed New England goods manufacturers to reach customers all along the eastern seaboard. By 1840,…

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Two people standing next to a large printing press

Charlton Publications: Song Lyric Printing Business to Major Player in the Comic Book Industry

…Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) on union printers. In 1934, Santangelo pled guilty to criminal infringement charges in Connecticut and received a-year-and-a-day prison sentence in the New Haven County jail. US…

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Map of the state of Connecticut showing Indian trails, villages and sachemdoms

Andover to Woodstock: How Connecticut Ended Up with 169 Towns

…there are 169 incorporated towns in the state; the newest, West Haven, was created in 1921. That number—and the modern map of Connecticut—is the end result of more than 375…

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Philip Corbin

Philip Corbin: Manufacturing A Legacy for New Britain

…the New Britain Machine Company, and the Porter and Dylon Company. He was vice president of the New Britain Savings Bank, Director of the Hartford National Bank, the Mechanics National…

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Captain James W. Buddington and crew on whaling schooner

The Rise and Fall of Sealing in Early New London Industry

…towns of New Bedford and Nantucket. In 1850 alone, over one million dollars of whale oil and bone passed through New London. What has gone largely unrecognized, however, is that,…

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The Girl in White, movie advertisement starring June Allyson as Emily Dunning Barringer

New Canaan’s Pioneering Female Physician

Long-time New Canaan resident Dr. Emily Dunning Barringer was the first female ambulance surgeon in New York City and the first female physician to work as an intern in a…

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The Sea in their Blood: The Portuguese in New London County

…Portuguese sailors chose to stay. The Portuguese Find Work in New London County St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Stonington – Connecticut Historical Society By the 1850s, New London, Stonington, and…

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Shaker advertisement to board horses, 1884

Enfield’s Shaker Legacy

…head of the Shakers. Father Joseph organized the existing New York and New England communities into bishoprics; later leaders would found new communities and bishoprics in the “western” states of…

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The Shoemakers printed by E.B. & E.C. Kellogg

The Sole of New Canaan’s Shoe Industry

New Canaan, now largely a residential suburb of New York City, was once a leading producer of US footwear. Available in a wide range of qualities and styles, New Canaan…

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The Deutschland at the Connecticut State Pier in New London

New London Harbors a German Submarine During World War I – Who Knew?

. . . that in the early morning hours of November 17, 1916, in the middle of World War I, Connecticut welcomed the German submarine Deutschland into New London. Clip…

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The Rise of the Black Panther Party in Connecticut

…storefront window. Many businesses in North Hartford were attacked during the riots, and Hartford, along with Newark, New Jersey, became a national symbol of racial unrest. Photographer Unknown – The…

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Vietnam Protests in Connecticut

Haven, for example, organized events at the Ingall’s Skating Rink protesting the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program on the Yale campus. New Haven was also the site of events…

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Inventor Charles F. Ritchel

Charles Ritchel and the Dirigible

…that summer, Ritchel’s inventiveness made no lasting contribution to the science of dirigibles. New Haven Becomes Home to State’s First Aircraft Industry It would take World War I and the…

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The Thimble Islands – Little Islands with a Big History

New Haven and New London made the trip easy for those living in nearby cities, and the islands became a popular resort area offering a respite from busy city life….

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

…to as “Mob Foot-ball,” the game’s violence resulted in numerous injuries. Yale’s freshman and sophomores traditionally held a match on New Haven‘s town green but the city banned the game…

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Selma, Not So Far Away

…Tartaglia and a handful of other clergy from New Haven and Waterbury headed for Selma, Alabama. Alabama Police confront the Selma Marchers – Federal Bureau of Investigation Photograph Father Tartaglia’s…

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Timeline: Settlement of the Colony of Connecticut

…Connecticut with the New Haven Colony. It ends up serving as Connecticut’s constitution for the next 156 years. 1665 Authorities complete the unification of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies….

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1819-1865

By funding a new state house for New Haven in 1827, the General Assembly continued the two-capital tradition. Designed by noted Connecticut architect Ithiel Town, its Greek Revival architecture was…

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Sharpe Hill Vineyard in Pomfret

Raise a Glass to Winemaking in Connecticut

Haven, New London, and Middlesex counties. The Western Connecticut Highlands area includes all of Litchfield and parts of Fairfield, New Haven, and Hartford Counties. Connecticut’s climate is one of the…

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Sign for the Temperance Hotel, ca. 1826-1842

Hope for the West: The Life and Mission of Lyman Beecher

…in 1775, Lyman Beecher was a native of New Haven, the son of David Beecher and Esther Hawley Lyman. At the age of 18, he entered Yale, where he studied…

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The “Red Scare” in Connecticut

…sweep of thousands of workers, many of them immigrants, designed to rid the country of all dangerous “Reds.” Attacks launched simultaneously in Bridgeport, Waterbury, Hartford, New Britain, and New Haven….

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Trade card for Hill’s Archimedean Lawn Mower Co

Selling Connecticut Products Abroad

…the American Clock Business (F.C. Dayton, New Haven, 1860) reported that Connecticut manufacturers, like those in other states, had been able to sell their products only domestically because European merchants…

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Hat-factory With Hose-house On The Hill, Danbury

Rivers of Outrage

…In 1886, New Haven health officer S. W. Williston reported to the General Assembly that “nearly every stream adapted to manufacturing requirements in the state is contaminated” with dyes, acids,…

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Camp of the 13th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers

What’s in a Number? Connecticut’s Thirteenth Regiment Goes Off to War

…Infantry Regiment. Though organized in New Haven, the unit boasted recruits from many parts of the state when it sailed for the Gulf Coast in March 1862. Presentation of a…

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Eighty-Five Hundred Souls: the 1918-1919 Flu Epidemic in Connecticut

…Windham and Tolland Counties and then continued on south and west to New Haven, Hartford, Fairfield, and Litchfield Counties. Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury recorded the most flu fatalities…

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Steamer City of Hartford

A Night to Remember: When the Steamboat Took on the Railroad—and Lost

…drawbridge was built connecting Middletown and Portland on the Boston & New York Air Line Railroad, which ran between New Haven and Boston. Maritime interests had long opposed bridging the…

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Nathan Hale: The Man and the Legend

…obscure and unsuccessful spy into a symbol of selfless sacrifice in the service of his country. Cities such as New Haven, Hartford, and New York erected statues of Hale. Since…

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Two Days After Marriage

Grounds for Divorce – Who Knew?

…grounds for dissolution of a marriage in An Act Relating to Bills of Divorce. The act passed after New Haven Colony joined the Connecticut Colony and established the Court of…

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A white sign in the foreground with a yellow house in the background

Miss Porter’s School in Farmington

…the Farmington Academy and the New Haven Female Institute. After teaching in Springfield, Massachusetts, and in Philadelphia, she returned to Farmington and opened a school above the village store with…

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New York and New Haven Railroad train bound from Manhattan

Misread Signal Leads to Deadly South Norwalk Train Wreck – Who Knew?

…pass over the bridge, other witnesses testified that the ball had been lowered. Two years later, the New York & New Haven Railroad settled death claims amounting to an estimated…

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Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918

…leave New London without a special physician’s permit,” The Courant reported. From New London County, the “Spanish Lady” (as it was euphemistically known) headed north and west, spreading across the…

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Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. "Take a giant step." New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Hartford’s Louis Peterson, Groundbreaking African American Playwright

…year in New Haven, he moved to Manhattan to continue his studies at New York University. Peterson studied with the noted acting teacher, Sanford Meisner, at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He…

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Illustration of "The Connecticut Courant", Oct. 29, 1764

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…

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February 2, 1902, a fire broke out at Reid & Hughes dry goods store in Waterbury

Six Cities Respond to 1902 Waterbury Fire – Who Knew?

…was likely to be burned out, called on Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Torrington, Naugatuck, and Watertown for help, and they all responded by sending hose pipe and steamers, so at…

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Norwich City Hall, Union Square, Norwich, New London County

Site Lines: Monuments to Connecticut’s Lost County Government

…Windham Courthouse and town hall. County Government in Connecticut In May 1666, the Connecticut Colony adopted county government and established four counties: Fairfield, Hartford, New Haven, and New London. By…

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Charles De Wolf Brownell, Charter Oak

The Unsteady Meaning of “The Land of Steady Habits”

…perpetual office holders were to a man members of the Federalist political party that then dominated all New England politics, the phrase was also associated with both Federalism and New

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Thomas Nason, The Leaning Silo

Thomas W. Nason, the Poet Engraver of New England

…somber observations of rural New England. Although his work appeared to stand apart from current art world trends, Nason quietly absorbed and processed influences from a broad range of sources,…

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Witamy to Little Poland! – A Thriving Neighborhood in New Britain

In the late 19th century, Polish immigrants started arriving in New Britain in large numbers to begin new lives working in the city’s many factories. Consequently, by 1930, one-quarter of…

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Portrait of Eugene O'Neill and Carlotta Monterey O'Neill

Eugene O’Neill’s Connecticut Connections

…Sound at the mouth of the Thames River, New London has been an important seaport throughout much of Connecticut’s history. The O’Neills actually owned two houses in New London built…

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Erector set

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…

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Timothy Dwight

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…

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The Hartford Wheel Club, Hartford

The League of American Wheelmen and Hartford’s Albert Pope Champion the Good Roads Movement

…As the popularity of cycling grew, bicycle clubs appeared in cities across the country, including Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. In 1880 Pope, a businessman who knew the value of…

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Ralph Earl, The Battle of Lexington, April 19th, 1775 etched by Amos Doolittle

News From Lexington: Contemporary Views of the Opening Battles of the American Revolution

By Nancy Finlay for Your Public Media A few days after the initial conflicts between the colonial militia and the British troops in Lexington and Concord, the New Haven printer…

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Drawing (on) the Connecticut Landscape: Benjamin Hutchins Coe Teaches Americans the Democratic Art

…was born, then after 1833 in New York City, where he established a large private school, and finally in New Haven, from 1854 to 1864. Among his students were the…

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Michael Joseph McGivney

Knights of Columbus Chartered – Today in History: March 29

…Mary’s Roman Catholic church in New Haven had founded the organization as a fraternal mutual benefit society. In addition to focusing on charitable works, the Knights of Columbus established a…

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Testing the camping equipment on The Gunnery’s campus in Washington

Reading, Writing, and the Great Outdoors: Frederick Gunn’s School Transforms Victorian-era Education

…school in nearby Cornwall. Gunn entered Yale in the class of 1837 and majored in botany. New Haven, then a thriving port city on the Connecticut coast, held little allure…

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The Webb Mansion, Wethersfield

Washington Didn’t Only Sleep Here: George Washington at Wethersfield’s Webb House

…cliché, it is known for a fact that he did spend the night in a number of Connecticut towns, including Norwich, New London, Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, New Haven, Ashford, and…

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Dr. Daniel Sheldon of Litchfield, painted by Dickinson in 1831

Anson Dickinson: Milton’s Painter of Portrait Miniatures

…to the Ladies and Gentlemen of New Haven, in the line of MINIATURE PAINTING. Anson Dickinson advertisement – Litchfield Historical Society The earliest known portrait by Dickinson is of his…

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Hoffman Wall Paper Company in Hartford

Tradition and Transformation Define Hartford’s Jewish Community

…formal congregations, the first Jews worshiped in private homes. It was not until 1843 that groups from Hartford (Congregation Beth Israel) and New Haven (Mishkan Israel) successfully petitioned to have…

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Leatherman in Wallingford, 1880s

The Old Leatherman Alive in Our Memories

…Fairfield, Watertown, Middletown, and New Canaan, into Westchester, New York, back to Danbury and again to New Fairfield. Clad from head to toe in a stitched leather suit, which is…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: A New State, A New Constitution, 1776-1818

new constitutions after the break with England, but the General Assembly merely dropped all references to the King from the Charter of 1662 and continued on as before. Political power…

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Captain Nathaniel Shaw Mansion, New London

New London’s Sound Defense

…and seize their cargoes. The town of New London proved particularly proficient at this endeavor. A revolutionary patriot and wealthy merchant who owned a number of ships used for privateering,…

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Peddler E.H. Farrell with his cart, 1910

New Britain’s Yankee Peddlers Boost 18th-century Economy

Around the year 1740, brothers William and Edward Patterson (or Pattison) arrived in New Britain from Scotland in search of a new life. Unable to find suitable land for farming,…

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New Netherlands and New England map

Reckoning with the Dutch: the Treaty of Hartford, 1650

…1674, when the Dutch finally ceded New Netherlands to the English. New Amsterdam, or New York. Map from The New and Unknown World, by Arnoldus Montanus, Amsterdam, 1671 – Connecticut…

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Full body painting of a woman in colonial dress holding a firearm looking outside

Abigail Hinman: Heroine of the American Revolution or Legend?

…American Revolution. Life in New London A Sketch of New London and Groton with the attacks made on Forts Trumbull and Griswold by the British Troops under the command of…

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Mark Twain with his friend, John Lewis

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

…for each of the newspaper’s stories‚ allowing Sam to read the news of the world while completing his work. Twain’s Young Adult Life At 18‚ Sam headed east to New

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Walnut Hill Park, New Britain

New Britain

…1754 the colony approved the area as a new parish and named it New Briton. By the beginning of the 19th century, New Britain had made its mark as an…

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Wallace Nutting, The Shadow of the Blossoms

Past Perfect: Wallace Nutting Invents an Ideal Olde New England

…shuttled between relatives in New England and the Midwest and spent much of his teenage years in Maine. In 1876, he attended the Philadelphia Centennial where large-scale displays of national…

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Hartford’s Les Payne, Trailblazing Journalist

…Long Island-based daily newspaper that for ten years also published a New York City edition known as New York Newsday. Growing Up in Hartford Postcard Picking Tobacco in the Connecticut…

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Map detail of H. Knecht, View of New Britain, Conn.

A Bird’s-eye View of New Britain

New Britain by illustrating private residences, churches, and the New Britain Normal School (the predecessor of Central Connecticut State University). Kate Steinway, Executive Director of the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS)…

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Pier at Savin Rock, West Haven, 1905

Savin Rock Park: “Connecticut’s Coney Island”

New Haven, Conn. 2009.27.110 – Connecticut Historical Society As was the case with other parks of this era, the Connecticut amusement also drew inspiration from the World’s Columbian Exposition of…

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Ernest Borgnine: Breaking the Hollywood Mold

…lived for a brief time in North Haven and Hamden and then settled in New Haven where they rented a house on Bassett Street. The family had a garden in…

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Union Station during the Fire of February 21, 1914

Fire and Ice: A Very Bad Week in 1914

…residential neighborhood of Asylum Hill. The station originally operated for multiple railways including the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, Hartford and Connecticut Valley Railroad, Central New England Railway, and the…

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Downed tree after the tornado at Wallingford

The Great Wallingford Tornado – Today in History: August 9

…a request for help was sent by the 7:00 train as the rails of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad remained open. The return train brought help from…

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Foreign Mission School, Cornwall

An Experiment in Evangelization: Cornwall’s Foreign Mission School

…back in their native lands. Educating a New Generation of Missionaries Henry Obookiah (Opukaha’ia) – New York Public Library Digital Gallery The school’s first student was a Hawaiian refugee named…

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German American Bund parade

Southbury Takes On the Nazis

…a nearby abandoned road for use by the New Haven Railroad. Image from the film Home Front: During World War II – Co-produced by Connecticut Public Television and Connecticut Humanities…

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Connecticut: Home to the Boxcar Children Mysteries – Who Knew?

…who built on Warner’s original titles. In 2004, The Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Museum opened in Putnam, Connecticut, which is appropriately housed in an authentic 1920s New Haven Rail Road…

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James Lindsey Smith Takes the Underground Railroad to Connecticut

…became his home. During the 1830s, ’40s, and ’50s, many other fugitives arrived by ship as he did, landing in Hartford, New Haven, Norwich, and other towns along Long Island…

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Suffragette Helena Hill Weed of Norwalk, serving a 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for picketing July 4, 1917

19th Amendment: The Fight Over Woman Suffrage in Connecticut

…meetings also allowed for far-reaching organization and, consequently, allowed CWSA leaders like John Hooker and Harriet Beecher Stowe of Hartford, the Reverend Phoebe Hanaford of New Haven, Mr. and Mrs….

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1929-1964

The New Deal Immediately upon taking office in 1932, President Roosevelt began the New Deal, a package of programs aimed at relieving the misery of the Great Depression. Connecticut officials…

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Connecticut Pin Makers

…Pyramid Pin Company of New Haven, H. Twitchell and Son of Union City/Naugatuck, the Wyoming Pin Company of Winsted, the Jewell Pin Company (which opened in Hartford in 1881), and…

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Infrared view of Philip Johnson's Glass House and Pavillion, New Canaan

Philip Johnson in His Own Words

…Rohe on the Seagram Building in New York City, the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he lived from 1950 to his death in 2005, and the AT&T building…

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USS Seawolf sails past downtown New London

New London

The city of New London, located in—and the city seat of—New London County, sits along the Long Island Sound. Incorporated in 1784 as one of the first five Connecticut cities,…

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Jared Eliot

Jared Eliot Calls on Colonists to Change their Agricultural Practices

…next American-written advice book appeared in 1790. The Reverend Samuel Deane’s The New England Farmer; or, Georgical Dictionary was published at a time when many farmers in the new nation…

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Connecticut River and Mt. Holyoke Range from Mountain Park, Connecticut

The Connecticut Valley Authority That Never Was

…CVA bill and introduced a new bill enabling the New England states to enter into interstate compacts for flood control. The Roosevelt Administration opposed this bill as a preemptive block…

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Philip Johnson's Glass House, New Canaan

New Canaan

The town of New Canaan is located in Fairfield County on the Fivemile River and borders New York State. In 1731, Connecticut’s General Assembly established Canaan Parish in northwestern Norwalk…

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Barkhamsted Hollow Church

A Valley Flooded to Slake the Capital Region’s Thirst

…their old Fords, Chevrolets, Plymouths, and rusty farm pick-ups. After selling their land, most folks had bought new farms and started over. They’d moved to Granby, Suffield, Winsted, New Hartford,…

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A Baltic Mill Helps Found a New Town

…as well, giving rise to the founding of an entirely new town. Development in the area around modern-day Sprague took hold in 1854, when the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad…

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Illumination of Old State House, Hartford, December 31, 1900

A Turn-of-the-Century New Year’s Eve

…honor of the birth of a new century,” reported the Courant of the “boisterous,” but “on the whole orderly,” celebrations. Declared one writer, “the new century ought to feel proud.”…

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Combined Telegraph Key and Sounder

Learning about the Lusitania: How Hartford Heard the News

new information to the drivers who then helped convey it to other parts of town. Back in New York City, the Cunard office continued to receive official reports. Lists of…

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Martha Graham, Connecticut College, and the American Dance Festival

…accessible to teachers and dancers in New York City, yet far enough away as to attract new audiences who were not New York regulars. Combining lectures, instruction, and performances over…

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Map of a collection of islands. There is a key in the bottom left hand corner

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

…hands before the mast Robbert Allison of New York, Alexander Collins New York, Thomas Canada New York ____ Duryea Carpenter New York, Edmund P Irvin New York Daniel OBrian New

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English barn, Ashford

Barn Design in Connecticut

…a New England barn was bi-level, with stanchions several feet below grade level on both sides and expanded feed storage above. New England barns were easily expanded by simply framing…

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Gravestones at a cemetery

Protected: New England Society for Psychic Research: Connecticut Paranormal Investigators Leave Legacy of the Occult

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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Darien

…commerce to, and through, Darien: the New York & New Haven railroad line in 1848 and the Connecticut Turnpike (I-95) in 1958. As the affluent increasingly called Darien home, either…

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Evelyn Beatrice Longman Commemorates the Working Class

…dozen labor strikes throughout the state: textile workers in Putnam and New London, fur workers in Danbury, necktie and shirt makers in New Haven, and laborers in Newtown. Even unemployed…

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Eleven men standing on the deck of a ship

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

new homes in New England—including Connecticut. Stories of Cape Verdean Sailors in Connecticut Antoine DeSant – Mystic Seaport Museum Cape Verdean sailors began showing up in New London, Connecticut, at…

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Olin Library and The Debate About Open Space at Wesleyan University

…Wesleyan chose to construct this new building in line with College Row so that the courtyard of open grass between the buildings and High Street would be preserved. The construction…

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Image showing the expanse of the Bigelow-Hartford Carpet mills

First Connecticut Carpet Mills Emerge in Simsbury and Enfield

…employing large numbers of wage earners—then slowly began to emerge between 1815 and 1824 in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Connecticut’s First Carpet Companies In 1825, the…

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Detail from A Map of the Connecticut Western Reserve, from actual Survey, surveyed by Seth Pease

New Connecticut on Lake Erie: Connecticut’s Western Reserve

by Barbara Austen If you drive through the area of Ohio still called the Western Reserve today, you will find towns named Norwich, Saybrook, New London, Litchfield, Mansfield, and Plymouth….

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God admonishing his people of their duty, as parents and masters

A Most Unusual Criminal Execution in New London

On December 20, 1786, a crowd gathered behind New London’s old meeting house to witness the execution of a convicted murderer. The condemned had beat and strangled 6-year-old Eunice Bolles…

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Lover's Leap Bridge, New Milford

New Milford

The town of New Milford, located in Litchfield County, is in the western portion of the state near New York and shares its border with the northeastern shore of Candlewood…

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Matthew Curtiss House

Newtown

The town of Newtown is located in Fairfield County in the southwestern portion of the state. Settled from the town of Stratford and incorporated in 1711, Newtown was originally a…

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P. & F. Corbin hardware shipping crate

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

…Philip Corbin, a major figure in New Britain’s industrial history, along with his brother Frank began manufacturing companies in New Britain as early as 1849. Eventually, the Corbin brothers formed…

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John Rogers, Checkers up at the Farm,1875, painted plaster

John Rogers was a 19th-Century Sculptor for the Common Man

…80,000 plaster sculptures consisting of roughly 80 different designs. He spent the latter part of his life in the quiet town of New Canaan, where in his workshop he produced…

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William Eustis plans for New London

Defending Connecticut: Fortifying New London Against the British in 1812

…works for the harbour of new London. Fort Trumbull, in New London, was in fact rebuilt in 1812. We do not know what Wood thought of the plan, nor if…

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John Trumbull, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17,1775

Revolution and the New Nation 1754-1820s

Revolution and the New Nation (1754–1820s) Connecticut played a vital role in the forging of our new nation politically, economically, and militarily. Through a period characterized by conflict, Connecticut provided…

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Cheney Brothers Mills

The Cheney Brothers’ Rise in the Silk Industry

By Patrick Skahill To be properly cultivated, silk depends on one thing: the silkworm. And silkworms depend on one food source: mulberry trees. Since the 1770s, New England farmers had…

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Detail from the map Colony of Connecticut in North-America by Moses Park

East Haven’s Revolutionary Salt Works

…of these entrepreneurs was Amos Morris of East Haven. Morris was a merchant engaged in trade with the West Indies. A direct descendant of mercantile entrepreneurs who left London for…

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North Haven: Fabricating Sculpture in the 1960s and 1970s

Lippincott, Inc., in North Haven, was one of the most highly respected fine-arts metal fabricators in the country in the second half of the 20th century. As one of the…

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Gerald Chapman: America’s First “Public Enemy Number One”

…scene. Death of Officer in New Britain Robbery Officer James Skelly identified Chapman as the assailant before authorities brought him to New Britain General Hospital. He died there 3 hours…

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Connecticut Shore, Winter by John Henry Twachtman

Connecticut and American Impressionism

…that the best of America would survive. The French Impressionists celebrated in their new modern urban and suburban lives, but the Americans looked instead to a New England countryside like…

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The Old State House, Hartford

The Hartford Convention – Today in History: December 15

…relations—with the British. Rumors abounded that the Convention would call for New England’s secession from the United States in order to achieve the Federalist’s aims. Most New England Federalists, however,…

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A Revolutionary Book Designer: Bruce Rogers of New Fairfield

…Morris and his followers. In 1925, after working in Chicago, Boston, and New York, Rogers bought an old house in New Fairfield, Connecticut. Built by David Barnum in 1771, the…

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Hamilton making adjustments to his biplane, 1911

Looking Back: the First “Aero Planes”

…this amazing new flying machine. Nels J. Nelson, a 22-year-old Swedish immigrant working as an automobile mechanic in his shop on Elm Street in New Britain, began building and flying…

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Connecticut’s Loyal Subjects: Toryism and the American Revolution

…jail in the colony held a number of political prisoners, and such was the reputation for prison discipline, that throughout the war effort, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey all…

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Alexander Calder at Stegosaurus sculpture dedication

A World in Motion: Artist and Sculptor Alexander Calder

…art. Soon after his arrival, Calder invented a new mode of sculpting in wire, a material he had used since childhood. In this radically new form of sculpture, expressive lines…

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Goshen Congregational Church

Pan-Harmonicum Strikes a New Note for Puritan Worship in Lebanon

By Donna K. Baron In 1807, the Goshen Congregational Church in Lebanon bought a barrel organ for its new meeting house. (Goshen was the third or south ecclesiastical society within…

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Squantz Pond State Park, New Fairfield

New Fairfield

This Fairfield County town shares its western border with New York State while Candlewood Lake, Connecticut’s largest body of water, lies along its eastern edge. Incorporated in 1740, New Fairfield’s…

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Torrington Recovers after the Flood of ‘55

…Litchfield. In addition to new dams, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged new channels in the Naugatuck River—making the river wider, deeper, and safer than it was in 1955. The…

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Votes for A Woman: Sara Buek Crawford

…Ideals Re-invigorate Westport In the ensuing years, local farmers, merchants, and seafaring captains noticed growing numbers of artists, writers, publishers, actors, and career-minded women among their new neighbors. These newcomers,…

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Hitchcock chairs

Built on Innovation, Saved by Nostalgia: Hitchcock Chair Company

…broke ground for a new $2 million factory located in New Hartford. This 112,000-square-foot facility boasted modern manufacturing tools and much-needed storage space. The Riverton factory continued operations as an…

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The Van Vleck Observatory: A Reflection of Environmental Conditions

…knew that it would not be easy, as New England’s cold, wet, and changeable climate is not ideal for astronomical observations. Slocum used a number of means—geographical, architectural, and technological—to…

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Venture Smith's headstone

Venture Smith, from Slavery to Freedom

…In Newport, where the slave traders landed Venture, and in the fertile New York and Connecticut farmland along the eastern end of Long Island Sound where he spent the next…

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Elias Perkins: One of Lisbon’s Most Accomplished Public Servants

…Lodge, a Deacon in the First Congregational Church, and the first president of the New London Bank. Elias Perkins died in New London on September 27, 1845, at the age…

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Connecticut River, 2011

The Connecticut River

The Connecticut River is the longest river in New England. Designated the “long tidal river” by the Algonquian peoples of southern New England, it stretches over 410 miles and passes…

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Providing Bundles for Britain and News for America

…and settled in New York. Janet Murrow went to work for the Henry Street Settlement to combat poverty in the United States, but still continued to make news broadcasts whenever…

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Hamilton Wrecks Aeroplane – Today in History: April 22

On April 22, 1911, aviation pioneer Charles Hamilton crashed his brand new, all white, biplane the “Moth” at Andrews Field in New Britain. Hamilton, a New Britain native, began his…

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Benedict Arnold house, New Haven

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

…livestock with the West Indies and Canada. In late 1774, Arnold joined the New Haven Militia and as news of conflict with the British at Lexington reached Connecticut, he seized…

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Publicity photo of The Doors

Jim Morrison Arrested – Today in History: December 9

…later immortalized the event in the song “Peace Frog,” released in 1970. The New Haven Coliseum, completed in 1972, replaced the iconic New Haven Arena which was demolished in 1974….

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1956 St. Patrick’s Day parade

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…

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Yale charter, October 9, 1701

When Old Saybrook Was a College Town

…but New Haven outbid them all, and despite Saybrook’s residents taking to the streets in protest, the Collegiate School moved to New Haven. Two years later, the school received a…

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Over Time: West Haven’s Historical Population

  City: West Haven Incorporated: June 24, 1921; As a city June 27, 1961 Incorporated from: Orange Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries…

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Impressionist painting of shaded trees next to a pond

Julian Alden Weir: The “Heart” of American Impressionism

By Emily Clark Though he was born in West Point, educated in Europe, and died in New York City, artist Julian Alden Weir called rural Connecticut home. From the serenity…

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1938 ad for Sperry Topsider

Boat Shoes Have Ties to Connecticut – Who Knew?

…that during a cold Connecticut winter in 1935 Paul Sperry watched his dog run across ice and snow without slipping and got inspired to create a shoe that would help…

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Connecticut Turnpike Opens – Today in History: January 2

New York to Rhode Island. This new route was to run east along Long Island Sound from Greenwich to East Lyme, then northeast to Killingly. Construction on the renamed Connecticut…

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Lake McDonough, New Hartford

New Hartford

The town of New Hartford is located in eastern Litchfield County, in the northwest corner of the state. Settled in 1733 and incorporated in 1738, the town was part of…

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Henry Deming: Mayor of Hartford and New Orleans

…writer and public speaker) and then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1839. After graduation, Deming moved to New York where he took more of an interest in writing and…

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Detail from a glass plate negative showing the rear of one of the tenements that lined the Park River

Hartford’s Sex Trade: Prostitutes and Politics

…the Hartford Courant. “All the police force in the world cannot suppress the tide of immorality that is setting upon us” without the new court powers, the newspaper argued. Newspaper…

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Lantern Hill

Breaking the Myth of the Unmanaged Landscape

…Emeline “Aunt Liney” Williams, Eastern Pequot Basket maker, ca. 1940 – Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation By the close of August (Micheenee kesos), Indians knew that “the corn had become edible,”…

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New England burst its boilers off Essex, October 8, 1833

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

One of Connecticut’s worst steamboat disasters occurred on the dark and stormy night of October 8, 1833, on the Connecticut River. According to Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents, the New

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Are you a goop? by Caroline Hewins

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

…went to New York City to participate in Halloween festivities at the children’s department of the New York Public Library. The visit was a tradition of long standing between Hewins…

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G. Fox and Co. Delivery Fleet, ca.1910-1950

G. Fox and the Golden Age of Department Stores

…the business afloat. In 1918, a new 11-story G. Fox building opened on Main Street. Designed by New York architect Cass Gilbert, the new building provided 500,000 square feet of…

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Dr. Sheffield's creme dentifrice box

Aristocratic Dental Cream Gets Squeezed

New York City and then returned to New London, where he changed the future of dental care. Taking advantage of his skills as a dentist and chemist, Dr. Sheffield, in…

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Over Time: New Fairfield’s Historical Population

  Town: New Fairfield Incorporated: May, 1740 Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from larger town-tracts, and…

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Over Time: New Milford’s Historical Population

Town: New Milford Incorporated: October 1712 Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from larger town-tracts, and the…

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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….

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Advertisement with a drawing of a silk spooler and text

L.D. Brown and Son Silk Mill: A Staple in Middletown’s South Farms District

…of Middletown experienced a new wave of industrial development. In 1871, Lewis and Henry Brown moved their business to Middletown and opened a new silk mill. The company started with…

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Am I not a man and a brother?

Early Anti-slavery Advocates in 18th-century Connecticut

…Jonathan Edwards, Jr. Both men were strongly influenced by Congregational minister Samuel Hopkins, who lived in Newport, Rhode Island. Newport was one of the most important centers in North America…

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Driving and Braking Mechanism for Cycles

The Coaster Brake – Today in History: April 9

…bicycle design. New Departure’s Coaster Brake in Illustrated Bicycle News – Connecticut Historical Society Townsend filed the application in October of 1898 and assigned it to the New Departure Manufacturing…

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Nathan Hale Statue, Hartford

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

…under Charles Webb of Stamford. Hale was promoted to captain, and in early 1776, he commanded a small unit defending New York City. The British captured New York City during…

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Chinese Educational Mission: the college, Hartford

Yung Wing, the Chinese Educational Mission, and Transnational Connecticut

…to create new conditions, if I found old ones were not favorable to any plan I might have.” One of the “new conditions” he went on to create became the…

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Caleb Brewster and the Culper Spy Ring

…under British suspicion. In Brewster’s case, the British knew his name, they knew he lived and operated in and around Setauket, and some accounts indicate they knew he was the…

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Trolley interior, Branford Electric Railway - Trolley Museum

Branford Gets On the Trolley

…Street railways first began operations in New York City in 1832. Twenty years later, other major cities began recognizing the benefits of this new mode of transportation. By 1880, there…

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Over Time: New Britain’s Historical Population

Town: New Britain Incorporated: May, 1850; Incorporated as a city, 1871; Consolidated, April, 1905 Incorporated from: Berlin Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries…

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Large ornate building

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Captures the Gilded Age in Norwalk

…the Gilded Age when New York’s railroad tycoons built summer homes along the New England shoreline. Constructed between 1864 and 1868, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a significant model of Second…

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Florence Wald

The First Hospice – Who Knew?

…that the first hospice home-care program in the United States opened in Branford. Founded by Florence Wald, a former dean of Yale University School of Nursing, Connecticut Hospice opened in…

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Interior West Cornwall Covered Bridge

West Cornwall Covered Bridge: An Icon of New England Craftsmanship

…to paint the grey, weathered bridge its distinctive red color that has come to define its rustic mystique. In fact, the bridge has become such an important symbol of New

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Hazard Powder Company gunpowder barrel

One-Legged Stools – Who Knew?

…of 1913, destroyed so much of the Hazard Company’s operation that company officials opted to relocate the business to Valley Falls, New York, rather than attempt to rebuild in Enfield….

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First Company Governor’s Horse Guards escorting President Taft

Oldest Cavalry Unit – Who Knew?

….that the First Company Governor’s Horse Guards is the oldest, continuously active, mounted cavalry unit in the United States. Chartered in 1788 as the Governor’s Independent Volunteer Troop of Horse…

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Hazard's Electric Gunpowder, Hazard Powder Company

Colonel Augustus G. Hazard, Gunpowder Manufacturer – Who Knew?

…century, Augustus George Hazard moved at the age of six with his family to Connecticut. In his early 20s, Hazard established himself in New York City’s shipping and wholesale businesses…

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Charcoal Kiln, Union

1938 Hurricane Fuels Charcoal Business – Who Knew?

…doors flying. By 1946, the Connecticut Charcoal Company was Union’s only industry. It primarily served Southern New England’s large industrial users of charcoal, especially in the copper and brass industries….

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Landscape Architect Frederick Law Olmsted, early 20th century

Landscape Architecture Helps in Healing – Who Knew?

…landscape architecture in America, Frederick Law Olmsted was born in 1822 in Hartford. His younger years were filled with family vacations through northern New England and upstate New York and,…

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Replicas of the 1636 church and house built by Reverend Thomas Hooker

What’s a Puritan, and Why Didn’t They Stay in Massachusetts?

…Royal and ecclesiastical persecution led to what has been called The Great Migration, which saw some 20,000 Puritans leave England for New England between 1620 and 1640. Most of them…

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Shaker women and buildings, Enfield, 1890s

Shakers Revolutionize Garden Seed Business – Who Knew?

…century, Shaker leader Mother Ann, her husband, and seven others left England for the Colonies. On a trip through New England, Mother Ann and her followers held services in Enfield,…

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Elisha K Root, President of Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company

Elisha Root Changes Industry – Who Knew?

…to Hartford to supervise the creation of a new factory and set up its machinery. Colt encouraged Root to mechanize factory operations. He designed advanced drop hammers, boring machines, gauges,…

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Ensign, Bickford & Company fuse factory campus, ca. late 1800s

The Steady Evolution of a Connecticut Family Business

By Dawn Byron Hutchins Joseph Toy, his wife, and their three children arrived in New York City from England on a mid-August day in 1839 on a mission for his…

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Detail of Connecticut and Parts Adjacent, 1780

Levi Pease, Stage Route and Transportation Innovator

…so successful that he expanded his service so that it reached from Boston, through Worcester, Springfield, and Hartford, and down to New York. American Stage Coach, ca. 1795 – New

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Umbrella Elms in Connecticut Meadow by Aaron Draper Shattuck

Connecticut Transforms Aaron Draper Shattuck

…to New York City in 1852, he continued his art education at the National Academy of Design. Initially, he painted portraits, a secure way for an artist to make a…

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Ingersoll Mickey Mouse Wrist Watch, 1933

Waterbury Clock Company Saved by Mickey Mouse – Who Knew?

…rise to a new form of timepiece—the wristwatch. Civilians soon wanted them too and the wristwatch became part of the company’s regular product line. Detail from a June 22, 1933,…

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Amos Shepard, Plantsville, Design for a Wrench Member

The “Perfect Handle” Hatchet – Who Knew?

…that in the early 1900s, H.D. Smith and Company of Plantsville began the manufacture of a line of “Perfect Handle” hand tools. “Perfect Handle” hatchet, ca.1910 – The Museum of…

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Lake Compounce entrance, Bristol

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

…presented new options for leisure time. With this new competition, amusement parks closed all across the US. At Lake Compounce, the number of visitors sharply declined and the park’s popularity…

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Over Time: New London’s Historical Population

  Town: New London Settled: 1646 Incorporated: January, 1784; Town and city are co-extensive Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes…

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Jens Risom and a selection of his furniture

The Answer Is Risom!

…thousand people jobless. Consumers Captivated by Sleek, Scandinavian-inspired Design Furniture designer Jens Risom arrived in New York City from Denmark at the age of 23 in 1939. It would not…

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Flood damage to railroad tracks, Derby, 1955

Hurricanes Connie & Diane Deliver Double Hit – Who Knew?

…Food drops were facilitated by C-47 planes from the New York Air National Guard and the Connecticut Air National Guard. When the event was over, according to the National Weather…

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Machine for Paring Cocoa Nut Meats

North Branford Vied for the Title of “Shredded Coconut Capital of the World” – Who Knew?

…that patents granted to North Branford residents included one for a device used for paring coconut meats in 1875. An industrial invention rather than a tool for the home kitchen,…

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Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, December 1947

The Atheneum Joins War Effort – Who Knew?

…that the Wadsworth Atheneum contributed to home front morale and fundraisers during World War II. In December 1940, The Wadsworth Atheneum News Bulletin reported that a two-day British Relief Sale…

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Litchfield Law School

The Litchfield Law School: Connecticut’s First Law School

…of the country, with about one-half of the combined total coming from New England. The proximity of the schools facilitated various social activities for making new friends and enhancing more…

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Aetna Helps Make Hartford “The Insurance Capital of the World”

…from New York City and entered the Aetna offices (then located on State Street) frantically announcing that New York City was completely engulfed in flames. Summing up a near apocalyptic…

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A fire swept through the tent at the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, July 6, 1944

Hartford Circus Fire: “The Tent’s on Fire!” – Who Knew?

…away. The Bristol Press reported that neighboring homes had “lines of men, women and children from the sidewalks to the telephone, patiently awaiting their opportunity to convey the good news…

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Steam-powered cider press at BF Clyde's in Mystic

BF Clyde and the Steam-powered Cider Mill – Who Knew?

…that the oldest steam-powered cider mill in the US still operates in Mystic. Apple cider, traditionally a mildly alcoholic drink, and its production date back to the earliest days of…

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Over Time: Newtown’s Historical Population

  Town: Newtown Incorporated: October 1711 Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from larger town-tracts, and the…

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Memorial Sculpture, 1988. Mark Rabinowitz, sculptor

Monument to Hero of the Greenwich Police Department – Who Knew?

… that a memorial in Byram Park honors the town’s first police dog. Yogi became the first police dog of the Greenwich Police Department in 1988. Less than one month…

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The wreck of Major Lufbery's machine, May 19, 1918

World War I Flying Ace Raoul Lufbery

…care of their maternal relatives and in 1890 remarried and emigrated to the United States. The Lufbery family lived in New York and New Jersey before settling in Wallingford, where…

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Signpost, Harwinton

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…

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Typing History

…of the 20th century, demand for typewriters soared and Connecticut became an important manufacturing center for this revolutionary new business machine. Underwood Typewriters (with its factory in New Jersey) first…

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

…of New Connecticut in northeastern Ohio, where he endured torrential summer downpours, deep winter freezes, and a variety of temperamental fevers and chills. That experience—a long three years—broke his health,…

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Mark Twain's Interactive Scrap Book

Samuel L. Clemens Receives Scrap-book Patent – Who Knew?

…that writer and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, invented more than tall tales and novels. In 1871, Clemens moved his family to Hartford,…

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Martha Graham Dance Company, 1937 - The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Library Digital Collections

Hartford’s Anna Sokolow, Modern Dance Pioneer

…the New Players Project, also performed in the state under her direction. One such event took place in Hartford in 1981 when the New Players Project staged a new Sokolow…

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D-Day – Today in History: June 6

Naugatuck, Tuesday, June 6, 1944 Night watchmen in Naugatuck’s factories heard the news first. A lively march on NBC radio was interrupted at 12:41 am with the news flash that…

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Perry Memorial Arch, Entrance to Seaside Park, Bridgeport

The Park City – Who Knew?

…that Bridgeport’s nickname is the “Park City” due to its public parks. These parks include Seaside Park and Beardsley Park, both designed by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Seaside…

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Julian Alden Weir, The Farm, etching

Weir Farm the Result of a Trade – Who Knew?

…that Weir Farm located in Ridgefield and Wilton, Connecticut resulted from the trade of a painting and ten dollars. Erwin Davis, New York collector and friend to impressionist painter, printmaker,…

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Paper dresses

Get Out Your Paper Dress, Gal! – Who Knew?

…that in 1966 the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford was featured on the popular TV show I’ve Got a Secret. Actress Arlene Dahl appeared on the show in a dress made…

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Portland Passenger Bridge, ca. 1906

The Longest Highway Drawbridge – Who Knew?

… that in 1896, when the Middletown and Portland Bridge over the Connecticut River opened it was the longest highway drawbridge in the world. Built by the Berlin Iron Bridge…

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Rockwell Park Lagoon, Bristol

Mr. & Mrs. Rockwell’s Park

…Pequabuck River. New parking areas and sidewalks emerged, along with new ornamental stonework and period-style lighting. The lagoon was partially restored, but the wetland was retained and an elevated boardwalk…

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The 1909 seven passenger limousine

The Hardware City Could’ve Been the Motor City – Who Knew?

…that New Britain could add automobile manufacturing to its long list of industrial production. Corbin Motor Car logo In 1903 the Russell & Erwin Company and the American Hardware Corporation…

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Elizabeth Park, Hartford

Oldest Rose Garden – Who Knew?

…that the Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Hartford is the oldest municipally operated rose garden in the country. Established in 1904, the park was once the residence—and grounds—of industrialist Charles…

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Monument to Capewell, the inventor of the famous horseshoe nail

Horseshoe Nail Capital of the World – Who Knew?

…that Hartford, famous as the Insurance Capital of the World, was also once known as the Horseshoe Nail Capital of the World. In the late 19th century, George Capewell formed…

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The boiler that fed the machinery at the Fales & Gray Car Works in Hartford exploded

100 Years of Workers’ Compensation

…February 1910 among New York City garment workers, the New York legislature enacted a “compulsory” industrial accident compensation act. On March 24, 1911, the New York Court of Appeals (the…

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The Gilbert clock model is on the right

Papier-Mache Clocks – Who Knew?

…that the William L. Gilbert Clock Corporation of Winsted was one of the few clock-making firms in Connecticut allowed to continue the manufacture of clocks during World War II. Why?…

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Over Time: New Hartford’s Historical Population

Town: New Hartford Incorporated: October, 1738 Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from larger town-tracts, and the…

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Courtyard at New-Gate Prison

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…

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Souvenir Book of the Hippodrome to show the connection to theater world

Hartford’s Charles Dillingham Discovered Broadway Stars

…Entertainment The Streets of New York sheet music, a play produced by Charles Dillingham – The New York Public Library Digital Collections Prior to Frohman’s death, Dillingham began representing English…

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Newspaper coupon with a decorative border and a drawing of a baby in the middle

Birthplace of the Gerber Baby – Who Knew?

…1928, the new baby food company, Gerber, held a contest to find a face for their advertising campaign. Westport portraitist Dorothy Hope Smith submitted an unembellished charcoal drawing of a…

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Benjamin Silliman and Soda Water – Who Knew?

…at Ballston Spa in Saratoga County, New York, was famous for its healing powers. Unable to find glass bottles or containers capable of standing up to the pressure or containing…

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Deep River Drum Corps

The World’s Record for the Largest Muster – Who Knew?

…that Deep River holds the distinction of hosting the largest Ancient Fife and Drum Muster. The record was set in 1976 and recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records….

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A Fair to Forget – Who Knew?

…send in the cops to stop all the fun. From the postcard collection at the Danbury Museum and Historical Society In 1899, the citizens of Danbury petitioned the State Law…

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Henry Davis

Cleopatra’s Needle and Groton’s Captain Davis – Who Knew?

…used to avoid the city’s streets. Cleopatra’s Needle sailed from Alexandria on June 12, 1880, and arrived in New York on July 20. Davis went on to serve as the…

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The entrance to Luna Park, ca. 1907

Luna Park – Who Knew?

… that Luna Park in West Hartford, a popular attraction at the turn of the 20th century, was demolished in the 1930s to make way for a Pratt & Whitney…

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Team Photo of the Danbury Alerts

Danbury Baseball History Covers All the Bases

…Hometown boy, Kenneth Danforth Smith, served as bat boy in 1912 for the Hatters, Danbury’s New York-New Jersey minor league team. In 1920, he was the manager of the Danbury…

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There’s No Place Like Home for the Designer of Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers – Who Knew?

…1939 Adrian supervised the design of hundreds of costumes for The Wizard of Oz, including the famous slippers. The ruby color was Adrian’s design decision for the relatively new Technicolor…

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Ellis Ruley: Art that Celebrated Life

…prospered as a convenient rail stop between Boston and New York City, until 1889, when the new rail bridge over the Thames River at New London bypassed Norwich. The Ruley…

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Mohawk Ski Area

Mohawk Mountain Made Snow for Winter Sports Lovers – Who Knew?

…that in the early 1950s innovative Connecticut minds created the first documented artificial snow for the state’s skiers and sports lovers. In the 1930s skiing became a popular pastime at…

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The White Pine Acts – Who Knew?

…of New England by 1711. The act prohibited the harvesting of white pine trees larger than 24 inches in diameter. Being relatively resistant to rot, soft and easy to carve,…

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Over Time: Newington’s Historical Population

Town: Newington Incorporated: July 10, 1871 Incorporated from: Wethersfield Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from larger…

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Hazardville Powder Company

Powder Hollow in Hazardville – Who Knew?

…that 40% of all the gunpowder consumed in the Civil War came from Powder Hollow in Hazardville (a part of Enfield, Connecticut). Not only that, but during the attack on…

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Mounds Candy Bar Involved in Espionage – Who Knew?

…were gathering valuable intelligence about the German fleet’s movements and sharing it with the American armed forces. This article is excerpted and originally appeared in the Naugatuck Historical Society’s Newsletter….

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Side of a house with a painting on one wall

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…

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View on the Erie Canal

Benjamin Wright: The Father of American Civil Engineering

…Wrights moved to Rome, New York, where Benjamin’s father farmed and Benjamin took up surveying. The vast terrain of the West drew Euro-Americans and others seeking land holdings. This created…

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Clock tower and Sharon Inn, Sharon, ca. 1930s

The Rise of the “Second Home” Community in Sharon – Who Knew?

…several older homes or built Colonial Revival-style mansions on the South Green. New residents included diplomat Paul Bonner, editor and architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler, financier C. Stanley Mitchell, and Dr….

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Pope Automobile Model S, Seven Passenger Car, 1909

Albert Augustus Pope, Transportation Pioneer

By Gregg Mangan By 1895, Albert Augustus Pope’s Columbia bicycles were a national phenomenon and his Hartford-based Pope Manufacturing Company was the largest employer in New England. Not only had…

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Drawing of a man's profile turned to the left. He has a long beard and is wearing glasses.

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…

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First American Medicine Patent – Today in History: April 30

…the time: A certain H. P. Lee, a young man, residing in New-London, has formed a Pill of a different composition, calling them “Lee’s New-London Bilious Pills,” which from the…

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Borden's Evaporated Milk Crate Label

Evaporated Milk’s Connecticut Connection – Who Knew?

…Torrington), which opened in 1857; this also failed. Undeterred, Borden found another investor in Jeremiah Milbank of New York. The two became partners and founded the New York Condensed Milk…

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A Shipping and Railroad Magnate Remembers His Connecticut Roots

…the building of a new high school in Clinton, Connecticut. Born April 21, 1795, in Killingworth (now Clinton), Connecticut, Charles Morgan moved to New York City at the age of…

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Over Time: New Canaan’s Historical Population

  Town: New Canaan Incorporated: May, 1801 Incorporated from: Norwalk and Stamford Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set…

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Eleanor: The Maltese Port painting by Vincenzo D'Esposito

The Slaters Go Round the World

…his own Grand Tour for the San Francisco newspaper Alta California. Twain later turned his dispatches into the 1869 book The Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrim’s Progress. With more…

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Connecticut Attorney General John H. Light and His Fight for Woman’s Suffrage

New York abolitionist judge. Connecticut Men’s League for Woman Suffrage Dinner Program, Greenwich Country Club, Friday, April 17, 1914. Courtesy, Dr. Kenneth Florey. The Lights moved to New Canaan, Connecticut…

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A group of people standing on a pier with the mast of a ship in the background. One person in the foreground is holding a drum and another person is holding a folder

Connecticut’s First Known Juneteenth Celebration in Norwich – Who Knew?

…that the Norwich Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized the first known celebration of Juneteenth in Connecticut in 1989. Juneteenth is a holiday…

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Conjectures upon the Nature and Motion of Meteors by Thomas Clap

America’s First Planetarium – Who knew?

…that in 1744 Thomas Clap, Rector and Yale College president for 26 years (1740-1766), constructed the first orrery, or planetarium, in the American colonies. Clap transformed Yale’s curriculum, ushering in…

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Sharon Baseball Team

Semi-Pro Baseball in Sharon – Who Knew?

…moved to the newly created and dedicated Veterans’ Field in Sharon Valley. The Interstate Baseball League Usually an A-team league, the IBL’s semi-pro status was due to the presence of…

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Historic photo of the Ebenezer Avery House, Groton

The Ebenezer Avery House – Who Knew?

…that the Ebenezer Avery House on the grounds of Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park in Groton once served as a hospital and refuge for the wounded after the Revolutionary War’s…

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Almira Ambler, Civil War Nurse

A Voice for Veterans: A Civil War era ‘Whistle-Blower’ – Who Knew?

…obituary in The Danbury Evening News printed on June 29, 1891, stated that “Mrs. Ambler was always expected to say something,” a remark made in regard to her role as…

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Large building in the background across from a green lawn and walking path

Connecticut College for Women: The State’s First All-Female Institution of Higher Learning

New London as a prime and picturesque location. Financial assistance followed from local businesses, surrounding towns, and the city of New London, which raised $135,000. An endowment of one million…

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African American baseball team, Danbury

Swinging for the Fences: Connecticut’s Black Baseball Greats

…neighborhoods, factories, and churches all had their own teams, from the Hartford Dark Blues (one of the first major league clubs), to the semi-pro New Britain Aviators, to the pick-up…

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Detail from the broadside an "Address to Miss Phillis Wheatly" composed by Jupiter Hammon

Hartford Publishes the First Literary Work by an African American – Who Knew?

…that Jupiter Hammon, who endured life-long enslavement became the first African American writer to be published in America when his 88-line poem, “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential…

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Drawing of a town common with a church on the right side, a building in the center and a couple buildings on the left. There are a few trees and a few people

Lee’s Academy: An Icon of Education for 200 Years

…at Lee’s Academy had 82 students. These students—including both boys and girls—came from all over Connecticut, in addition to other places such as New York City, Georgia, and New Orleans….

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The Living Actually Haunted Many Connecticut Taverns – Who Knew?

…that “haunting” a tavern was once a crime in Connecticut. During the colonial era and into the 19th century, the Connecticut legislature designed strict laws around the amount of time…

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World War I Poster

War and the Fear of Enemy Aliens – Who Knew?

…strategic position between New York and New England required it to take precautions against the possibilities of attack and of hidden enemies within the community. In 1918, fear of enemy…

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John Warner Barber, Public square or green, in New Haven

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

On April 22, 1775, Benedict Arnold demanded the key to New Haven’s powder house. After hearing the news of the fighting at Lexington, Massachusetts, Arnold, as the commander of the…

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Over Time: Branford’s Historical Population

  Town: Branford Settled: 1639–1644 under New Haven jurisdiction Land set off from: New Haven, 1685 Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed…

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Henry Whitfield State Museum, Guilford

Guilford

Guilford, in New Haven County, is located in southern Connecticut on the Long Island Sound. Originally called Menunkatucket, the Quinnipiac sold it, along with land stretching from present day Niantic…

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Machine for crushing stone, E.W. Blake

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…

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Benjamin Silliman

Benjamin Silliman and the Collection That Inspired the Yale Peabody Museum

…after resuming his teaching duties in New Haven, Silliman published the first American study of a meteor—having acquired access to one that fell near the town of Weston. In 1818,…

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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…

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

…Company Governor’s Horse Guard, New Haven, Putnam Phalanx, and Gideon Welles Naval Veteran Association No. 3 of Connecticut, New Haven. Although the USS Hartford’s glory days are behind her, her…

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John Davenport

…until the Charter of 1662 combined New Haven with the Colony of Connecticut. Shortly after, Davenport left New Haven to accept an appointment at the highly influential First Church in…

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Video – Augusta Lewis Troup Tribute Film

…the first woman to hold office in an international trade union, and upon moving to New Haven, helped to establish the New Haven Union, a daily newspaper that became a…

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

…Summer Olympics. In 1911, Gilbert began designing a toy construction set based on steel building girders he observed while on a train ride between New Haven and New York. Confident…

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J. Frederick Kelly: Constructing Connecticut’s Architectural History

…brother Henry Schraub Kelly formed the architectural firm Kelly & Kelly, located in New Haven. Among the buildings designed by their firm was the New Haven Museum on Whitney Avenue…

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Amasa Preston House

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

…a mystery, her renown is not, as more than 80 of her 90-plus homes still remain in the greater New Haven area. These “Washburn Colonials,” as locals often call them,…

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Somoff Cottage

A Russian Village Retreat in Southbury

…could afford such luxuries on the salaries they drew after arriving in America. Churaevka, a Haven for Russian Culture Grebenstchikoff also envisioned his new settlement as a home for artists…

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Starr Mill

Buckling Up For Auto Safety

…United States began when Edward J. Claghorn secured a patent on February 10, 1885, for “hooks and other attachments” in order to keep tourists secure in New York City taxis….

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Heart Pump out of an Erector Set – Who Knew?

…that William Sewell Jr., a Yale Medical School student, built the first “artificial heart” out of Erector Set pieces (including the motor and metal beams), readily available laboratory supplies, and…

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Unitarian Church, Brooklyn

Celia Burleigh, Connecticut’s First Female Minister

…Henry Burleigh, a reformer and publisher who, at the time, worked as a harbor master in New York City. With the support of her new husband, Celia Burleigh made a…

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Connecticut Agricultural College coeds gathering maple sap for war effort

A New Source of Farm Labor Crops Up in Wartime

…the farm, women also drove tractors, operated corn planters, and milked cows. For this, the women working in towns like Middletown, New Canaan, Redding, and Greenwich made $2.00 per day….

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Thomas Cole, View of Monte Video, Seat of Daniel Wadsworth Esq., 1878

Talcott Mountain: A View of Early New England

…that reach as far as New Hampshire’s Mount Monadnock to the north and Long Island Sound to the south and encompass more than 50 cities and towns in the surrounding…

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Apostle of Peace: Elihu Burritt’s Quest for Universal Brotherhood

…movements, and the 19th century was no exception. Elihu Burritt, the “Learned Blacksmith” of New Britain, Connecticut, was one of those who believed that nations should—and could—coexist in peace and…

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Laboring in the Shade

…to increase humidity, protect the tender plants from direct sunlight, and maximize the short New England growing season. The remainder of cultivation takes place by hand. Field workers spend weeks…

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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: New Britian Museum of American Art

YouTube – CPTV – Created by the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and the Department of Economic and Community Development….

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Detail from A mapp of New England by John Seller

Lion Gardiner Helps to Fortify Early Old Saybrook

…and children. Among these new arrivals was Gardiner’s wife, who gave birth the following spring to the first European child born in the new colony. Illustration of Saybrook Fort in…

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Photograph of a brown two story house with an attic and two chimneys. There is a white fence in front of the house

The Welcoming Warmth of Kent’s Seven Hearths

…and living spaces. In the small town of Kent, Connecticut, however, repurposing old buildings is not a new concept. The present home of the Kent Historical Society—Seven Hearths—has satisfied the…

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Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Baltic

Map – Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Baltic, New London County

…the US, the Sanborn Map Company, founded in Pelham, New York, became one of the best known producers of these large-scale maps. Beginning in 1867, Sanborn issued fire insurance maps…

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Charles H. Dow

Humble Beginnings of the Dow Jones: How a Sterling Farmer Became the Toast of Wall Street

…Walker Barron, the head of Dow’s news bureaus in Boston and Philadelphia, purchased Dow, Jones & Company, and its newspaper, for $130,000. The investment paid astronomical returns. In 2007, News…

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A car with one person driving and a man with a camera standing on the back bumper and a woman kneeling on the roof with a camera.

Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White: “No Picture Was Unimportant to Her”

…home in Darien, Connecticut. An Early Start in Photography Margaret Bourke-White in 1955 – Wikimedia Commons Born in New York City in 1904, Bourke-White grew up in rural New Jersey…

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Interior of Otto Henning's Cafe

Union Brew

…meantime, the four beer companies were making plans of their own. It was 1902–a new century, after all–and the growing power of unions called for new strategies by bosses. So…

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St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland

The Wearing of the Green: 19th-century Prints of Irish Subjects by Hartford’s Kellogg Brothers

…prints, viewed these new Americans as potential customers. “St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland” is one of a large number of prints with Catholic subject matter issued by these New

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Two picture books propped up against a shelf that has more books

Lillian Hoban: Beloved Illustrator of “I Can Read” Books

…a young age she knew she wanted to be an illustrator, busying herself with crayons and pastels and imitating the comics from the Sunday newspapers. Hoban attended the Philadelphia High…

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Hartford Whalers Logo

The Hartford Whalers: Connecticut’s Last Major League Sports Franchise

New England Whalers Championship Banner The team began as the New England Whalers in 1972, playing in Boston as one of the original franchises of a new hockey league, the…

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Detail of the South Part of New London Co.

The Rogerenes Leave Their Mark on Connecticut Society

…Day Baptists of Newport. John Rogers began to split from that religious body when two of its elders heeded the request of New London town authorities not to baptize a…

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Products from New Britain’s Past

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The Old State House, Hartford

Where It All Happened: Connecticut’s Old State House

…museum in 1961, at which time it also became a National Historic Landmark. The Building in Hartford The Connecticut General Assembly ordered the construction of a new state house in…

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Governor Ella Grasso

The Education of Ella Grasso

…had preceded them. Many years later Ella recalled a story her father often told. Like many other newly arrived immigrants he arrived in Hartford by boat from New York City…

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John Warner Barber, Groton Monument and Fort Griswold

Blood on the Hill: The Battle of Groton Heights, September 6, 1781

…ordered to attack the port of New London in an attempt to divert some of General George Washington’s army away from the developing Virginia campaign, punish New London for its…

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Section of a handwritten document

Black Loyalist Refugees: Toney Escapes During the Burning of Fairfield

…As early as 1711, The Boston News-Letter, the country’s first published newspaper, advertised for the recapture of runaway enslaved people from Connecticut. Importantly, the first two such ads came from…

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Globe Onion

The Many Layers to Onion Farming in Westport

New York City. Many attributes that make Westport a desirable residential community, however, once made it home to a thriving onion farming industry. Boats and railroad cars full of onions…

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Courtyard at New-Gate Prison

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

A view of the guard house and mines, East Granby, 1781 – Connecticut Historical Society On December 22, 1773, John Hinson the state’s first inmate arrived at New-Gate Prison. Ironically…

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James Mars

James Mars’ Words Illuminate the Cruelty of Slavery in New England

…the enslaved in New England. Mars’ later life as a free man, political activist, churchman, and autobiographer speaks to the importance of historical memory—of remembering the ugly truths as well…

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Elihu Burritt

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,…

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Anna Hyatt Huntington

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

By Diane Hassan for the CTPost.com On October 20, 1963, Danbury citizens and dignitaries gathered at 43 Main Street for the dedication of Huntington Hall, a new and then-modern building…

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Florence Griswold’s Home: A Story of Perseverance and Community

New-York Tribune, September 8, 1888 – Library of Congress, Chronicling America, Historic American Newspapers By the 1890s, Florence Griswold was in her 40s, and as the only family member still…

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Manumission document for slave Bristow, from Thomas Hart Hooker, Hartford

Gradual Emancipation Reflected the Struggle of Some to Envision Black Freedom

…In 1780, Pennsylvania passed a gradual emancipation law, and Connecticut and Rhode Island followed suit in 1784. New York and New Jersey, each of which had an enslaved population of…

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Two photos stitched together. Left photo is a three story house with an extension. Right photo is an Italianate Victorian building.

The Amos Bull House and Sterling Opera House: The First Connecticut Listings on the National Register of Historic Places – Who Knew?

…that the 18th-century Amos Bull House in Hartford and the 19th-century Sterling Opera House in Derby are tied for Connecticut’s first listing on the National Register of Historic Places? The…

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Chief G’tinemong/Ralph W. Sturges

By Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel Mohegan Chief G’tinemong/Ralph W. Sturges was the great-grandson of Tribal Chair and Medicine Woman Emma Baker. Born December 25, 1918, in New London, Ralph pursued studies…

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Receiving end of the first successful pipe-line built in 1865

William Hawkins Abbott Finds the Energy to Power the Northeast

new windfall. Abbott’s first shipments to New York arrived in oil barrels, as well as molasses and whiskey barrels, all of which leaked excessively along the journey, but still, this…

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Black and white drawing of a man from the waist up. He is wearing a collared jacked with a neck covering

Lemuel Haynes: America’s First Black Ordained Minister

By Alex Gerrish Last Updated: April 17, 2023 Known as “one of colonial New England’s finest minds,” Lemuel Haynes was a father, husband, pastor, and patriot. Haynes is widely considered…

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Courtyard at New-Gate Prison

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

A view of the guard house and mines, East Granby, 1781 – Connecticut Historical Society On December 22, 1773, John Hinson, the state’s first inmate, arrived at New-Gate Prison. Ironically…

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Oakwood Acres temporary housing

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

…Aircraft Company. As a result, housing options were limited in the Hartford area. By August of 1943, 8,000 new housing units had been developed in Hartford and New Britain to…

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Seymour was Chusetown – Who Knew?

…that this small but thriving town had many names before 1850, when residents decided to name their home Seymour after Connecticut governor Thomas H. Seymour. Originally named Chuseville, the area…

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Hannah Bunce Watson: One of America’s First Female Publishers

…from her late husband, Ebenezer, and operated it until she married Barzillai Hudson in 1779. She used the paper to spread news on the American Revolution across the 13 colonies,…

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Newspaper clipping featuring text and an image of two men

Connecticut Discovered Lyme Disease – Who Knew?

…describe the new disease. The similarities between the unknown disease and erythema migrans (EM)—a known disease in Europe sometimes associated with tick bites—made Steere and his colleague, Dr. Stephen Malawista,…

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Jack Brutus, Connecticut War Dog – Who Knew?

…returning to Portland in due time.” In his travels, Thayer claims Jack Brutus visited Boston, New Brunswick, and New York, as well as many other cities on the steamer lines….

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Detail from View of Essex, Centerbrook & Ivoryton, Conn. 1881

The British Raid on Essex

…Pettipaug was already a well-known shipbuilding center. That several vessels were now being armed and new privateers were being built there did not escape the Royal Navy’s attention. Going In…

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Vera Buch Weisbord’s “Radical” Life

…century. Buch was born in Forestville, Connecticut, on August 19, 1895. At a young age, she moved to the Bronx, New York, with her parents, John Casper Buch and Nellie…

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

Andre Schenker – Andre Schenker Papers, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Libraries On December 7, 1941, Andre Schenker, a Mansfield resident and a professor of history at the…

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Just Pour Over Ice – Who Knew?

…that beginning in the late 1800s, the Heublein Restaurant in Hartford served its thirsty customers pre-mixed cocktails that became so wildly popular they had to build a distillery just to…

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U.S. Frigate Constitution, Isaac Hull, Esqr., commander

Fame and Infamy for the Hulls of Derby

…June, General Hull advanced on Detroit by cutting a new road, a task that took most of the month. He arrived at Fort Detroit on July 5. Fort Detroit covered…

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View in Batterson, Canfield & Co.'s Monumental Works

James G. Batterson, Stone Contractor

By Anthony Roy James Goodwin Batterson was the son of a stoneworker. Following his birth in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1823, Batterson moved to the town of New Preston where his…

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President Richard Nixon visits Hartford

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…

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Lithograph depicting two steamboats crashing into each other with people jumping over the sides into the water. There is text at the bottom.

Disaster on the Sound: The Collision of the Steamboats Stonington and Narragansett

…steamer Atlantic in 1846 are notable exceptions. The public appetite for news and images of such disasters was apparently insatiable, however. For weeks, newspapers were filled with lurid accounts of…

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Killingworth’s Automated Attraction – Who Knew?

…a lute, a mother rocking an infant in a cradle, 22 small dolls riding a Ferris wheel, a man riding a runaway hog, and, according to one news report, “Mammy”…

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Lucy Gallup Eldredge

A Connecticut Painter Finds His Voice through Colonial Folk Art

…provide useful insight into the lives of New England’s elite classes during the colonial period. His achievements appear all the more remarkable when considering Brewster’s success came despite his being…

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

Every year, the state of Connecticut observes Veterans Day on November 11. This was not always the case, however. In 1968 a new federal law moved Veterans Day from November…

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John Howard Hale: Glastonbury’s Peach King

…for warmer weather, but Hale discovered a few hardy trees on his grandfather’s farm and developed a new type of peach that more capably endured the harsh New England climate…

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Man sitting at a piano, turned away from the piano, facing the photographer. He is wearing a white shirt. There is a potted plant to his left and lots of music books on the piano

James Merrill: Connecticut’s First Poet Laureate

New York, New Canaan, Connecticut, and Southampton, Long Island. His financial position allowed him the freedom to write without the worry of supporting himself. He was already writing stories by…

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The Smith-Worthington Saddle Company

Saddles Fit For a Shah

…by 1842 the company opened a satellite facility in New York City. The company changed partners and names many times and finally became Smith-Worthington when the Hartford and New York…

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Walnut Grove, Hammond Estate, Waterford

“Gentleman’s Farming” Comes to Waterford

…this Waterford, Connecticut, landmark received a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 for its contribution to furthering the understanding of nearly 200 years of New England…

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Large room with many people sitting in rows facing a man speaking at a podium

Connecticut and the Armenian Genocide

By Nancy Finlay While the Middle East is thousands of miles from New England, the Armenian genocide during the early 20th century had a profound impact on Armenian communities in…

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Walt Dropo, Boston Red Sox

Walt Dropo Stars Throughout New England

By Andy Piascik Few Major League Baseball players have had rookie seasons as good as Walt Dropo’s. Playing in 1950 for the Boston Red Sox (his favorite team growing up)…

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A Monument Memorializes the Fallen

…to the attention of the Hartford Courant in 1958. Their September 28th issue ran an article which referred to a mortar in Oneonta, New York. The local newspaper, The Star,…

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Illustration of Lorenzo Carter's first cabin

Putting Cleveland on the Map: Lorenzo Carter on the Ohio Frontier

…of many Connecticut residents who left New England in search of adventure and the opportunities that awaited them along the frontier. Lorenzo Carter – A History of Cleveland and Its…

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Governor Ribicoff

Abraham Ribicoff dies – Today in History: February 22

…Welfare to the John F. Kennedy administration. Born in 1910 in New Britain to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland, Ribicoff attended local schools and, after graduation, worked in a New

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J. P. Morgan’s Connecticut Roots

By Nancy Finlay The name John Pierpont Morgan summons up images of the Gilded Age in New York City. Financier to the robber barons, Morgan built a palatial mansion on…

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WPKN blocks on top of an on the air sign in the WPKN radio station

Bridgeport’s WPKN: Going Strong After Half a Century

…honors in its decades on the air. For example, Connecticut Magazine once named WPKN the best radio station for music in the state of Connecticut. More recently, The New Yorker…

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Trail in the woods. There are trees lining a gravel/dirt path and in the foreground there is a sign that points towards the trail and reads "Tree I.D. Trail"

Saving Sessions Woods

…in Burlington acquire a new organ and planned the program for its dedication. The family played a prominent role in Burlington’s Old Homes Days and they opened the family homestead…

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An example of two different Kewpie dolls

The Kewpies Buy A House in Westport

…highest-paid female illustrator in the United States. Rose O’Neill, illustrator and originator of the “Kewpie” doll, posed in the photographer’s New York City studio, ca. 1907. Photographer Gertrude Käsebier –…

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A Remarkable Signature – Who Knew?

…to the heated debate between larger and smaller states over their representation in the newly proposed Senate. A life-long public servant, Roger Sherman went on to serve in the Congress…

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Portrait painting of a man from the chest up wearing a red shirt, light colored coat, a hat, and glasses

George Laurence Nelson: Artist of Kent’s Seven Hearths

…studied under Cabael in Paris and was the founder of the Salmagundi Club in New York. Alice was a watercolorist and collaborated on paintings with William Merritt Chase and Charles…

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American Actor Changes 19th-Century Theater – Who Knew?

…helped usher in a new style of theater in the late 19th century. His 1886 Civil War drama, Held by the Enemy, epitomized this shift. This entirely American play earned…

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Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted Born – Today in History: April 26

…especially in regard to free labor. In 1858, New York City’s new Central Park Commission appointed Olmsted the architect-in-chief and superintendent, and he oversaw the new park’s design and construction,…

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Joseph Bellamy Monument

Hidden Nearby: Bethlehem’s Joseph Bellamy Monument

…four shillings a day to construct a new meetinghouse, with dimensions of 60 by 43 feet. The new meetinghouse would have a “good decent bell,” a “lightning-rod,” and the interior…

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Newspaper clipping titled "For Orphans of Cuba"

Children of the Reconcentrados: Caroline Selden’s Cuban School

…children were born in Cuba or have a Cuban parent—the rest were from Puerto Rico, Mexico, New York, and an unidentified Central American country. In addition, the census also includes…

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Detail of a land point on a map labeled "Cornfield Point"

Cornfield Point: Old Saybrook’s Forgotten Scenic Alcove

…of the 20th century, Elizabeth Colt Jarvis Beach (niece of the gun manufacturer, Samuel Colt) and her husband George Watson Beach (a wealthy New England businessman) owned hundreds of acres…

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Daniel J. Hoffman, St. Louis Browns

A Real Connecticut Yankee’s Baseball Career Cut Short

New York Highlanders (who later changed their name to the New York Yankees). He spent two relatively unproductive years in New York before joining the St. Louis Browns in 1908…

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Connecticut Revolutionized Geography – Who Knew?

…that in 1828 Jesse Olney published A Practical System of Modern Geography, which revolutionized the way the subject was taught in schools during the 19th century. Olney’s method was to…

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Amusement Park Rides, Danbury Fair

The Danbury Fair, 1869-1981

…shellfish commission in the late 19th century to stock car races in the mid-20th century, that changed over time to meet popular trends. Heavily advertised in newspapers throughout Connecticut, New

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Israel Putnam: A Youthful Trailblazer Turned Colonial Militiaman

…start a new life in Connecticut. In the years that followed, the young Putnam quickly gained a reputation for resilience, building a comfortable new residence for his rapidly growing family…

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Advertising label for Fine Old Bourbon Whiskey, 1855

Video: No Booze for You – Who Knew?

…that the era of Prohibition began January 17, 1919. Though Connecticut residents could legally get alcohol in a pharmacy for medicinal purposes with a doctor’s prescription, many found it easy…

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Detail of a fire insurance map with outlined and labeled structures

Connecticut’s First Roman Catholic Church

…the congregation moved to a new building in 1851. A fire claimed the original church two years later. Religion in Colonial Connecticut Bishop Benedict Joseph Fenwick, Bishop of Boston who…

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Prudence Crandall

Prudence Crandall Fights for Equal Access to Education

By Diana Moraco Named Connecticut’s State Heroine in 1995 for her efforts to establish the first school for African American women in New England, Prudence Crandall stood apart from 19th-century…

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Blue background with a seal in the middle. Banner under the seal with Latin words.

Connecticut’s Official State Flag – Who Knew?

…standard version. In 1895—after asking the legislature for a state flag to decorate their new meeting space—the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) from…

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A 1908 reenactment of Thomas Hooker’s 1636 landing in Hartford

Colonial Revival Movement Sought Stability during Time of Change

…wider public. Writers such as Harriet Beecher Stowe set stories in puritan New England. Similarly, Impressionists Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf and Adelaide Deming created bucolic scenes based on New England…

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Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys

Ethan Allen Born – Today in History: January 10

…say, notoriety as founder of the Green Mountain Boys in 1770. This militia formed in response to competing land grants that the provinces of New York and New Hampshire issued…

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View of the Colt Factory from Dutch Point

The Colt Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company

…Samuel Colt filed a patent for his design and, after receiving funding from his family, opened the Patent Arms Company in Paterson, New Jersey. The company originally produced three revolving…

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The Story Trail of Voices

…(in New York) and by the Revolutionary War. Records show Mohegan heads of households equaling 35 and the grand total of individuals numbered 84. However, when considering these numbers, it…

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Trinity College, Hartford, CT

Trinity College – Scholarship and Community Engagement

…attracted new students from outside the Hartford area. The new century also brought new ways of thinking and the curricula expanded to include areas of study such as biology and…

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Somers' prison opening day

Osborn Correctional Institution

…to rehabilitation. Prior to 1827, the infamous New-Gate prison site in East Granby had served the state. New-Gate had been in operation since before the Revolutionary War, but as Connecticut’s…

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Horses crossing the finish line at Charter Oak Park

Sunday Funday? We Think Not – Who Knew?

…that amusements and morals don’t mix. At the start of the 20th century, authorities banned Luna Park in West Hartford from operating on Sundays, as it defied long-standing puritan laws….

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City of Hartford, Connecticut

Bird’s-eye Views Offer Idealized Portraits of Progress

…1900s, thousands of American communities, including 77 in Connecticut, posed for this new kind of urban/town portrait. The O.H. Bailey & Co., a prolific Boston-based publisher of bird’s-eye views from…

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Holmes at Home: The Life of William Gillette

…every line, Gillette spoke his lines more conversationally, a style of relative underacting that appealed to audiences ready for something new. Early Life and Acting Gillette set his sights on…

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Free Speech for Some – Who Knew?

…that the IWW defied laws and filled jails! In 1919, the Connecticut General Assembly enacted laws aimed at the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) (a.k.a. the Wobblies). The laws…

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Rockwell hardness tester

Rockwell Hardness Tester – Today in History: February 11

…Stanley worked as a metallurgist. Founded in 1888, the New Departure Bell Company began by making doorbells. It then patented a new type of coaster brake and by 1908 had…

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Stubby

A True Dog of War: Sergeant Stubby

In 1917, as the 102nd Infantry, 26th Yankee Division of the US Army trained and camped around the Yale Bowl in New Haven, a stray dog wandered into camp. Private…

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World War II scrap metal drive, Hartford, ca. 1941-1944

Women and Defense: World War II on the Connecticut Home Front

New Haven to hear speakers on topics such as “Mobilizing the Volunteer” and “The Consumer’s Part in Defense.” The conference was sponsored by the Connecticut Defense Council, which had been…

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Sleeping Giant, Mount Carmel, Hamden

A Volcanic Giant Sleeps in Hamden

…to the south, Hamden’s most famous geological landmark lies to its north. The unique ridge that runs east-west just six miles north of New Haven is known as “Sleeping Giant”…

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Dedication

…for children and adults have appeared in every public library in the state and serve in afterschool programs in Hartford, New Haven, and New London. Dr. Fraser’s career-long devotion to…

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Electromagnetic Signal Apparatus for Railroads

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

…electric current to turn on the “danger” signal until a train had moved out of the block. Hall’s Electric Railway-Switch and Draw-Bridge Signal Company was located in New Haven, Connecticut….

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Miniature Boots, Wales Goodyear Shoe Company, Naugatuck

Charles Goodyear and the Vulcanization of Rubber

…improvement of rubber. “Miracle Material” has Fatal Flaw Born in 1800 in New Haven and raised in Naugatuck, Goodyear was 33 years old when he decided to venture into rubber…

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Triceratops prorsus skull

Paleontologist Othniel Marsh dies – Today in History: March 18

On March 18, 1899, America’s first professor of paleontology, Othniel Charles Marsh, died at his home in New Haven. Marsh is credited with discovering extinct birds with teeth, tracing the…

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Stone-Otis House

Orange

The town of Orange, located in New Haven County, is in the state’s southern region near the Long Island Sound. Settled in the early 18th century and known as Bryan’s…

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Major General Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold

…a young man, Arnold settled in New Haven and established himself as a merchant-sea captain in the West Indies’ and Canadian trades. By 1774, he served as a captain in…

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Commissary Sergeant 29th Regiment

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

…year when the volunteers were encamped in the Fair Haven section of New Haven. By January 1864, more than 1,200 men had enlisted and the regiment had met the quota…

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Elizabeth T. Bentley, 1948

Elizabeth Bentley Born – Today in History: January 1

…problem, and continued pressure from her Soviet counterparts. In August 1945, Bentley went to the FBI headquarters in New Haven and turned herself in and, over the next few months,…

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Fort Trumbull Beach

Milford

The city of Milford, located in New Haven County, is in the southernmost part of the state on the Long Island Sound. The land, purchased by English settlers in 1639,…

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Bethany

The town of Bethany is located in the south central region of the state in New Haven County. First settled in 1717 as part of Woodbridge, Bethany was incorporated as…

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Moses Yale Beach House, Wallingford

Wallingford

The town of Wallingford, located in New Haven County, is in the south-central region of the state—positioned half-way between New Haven and Hartford. Planters and freemen established the village in…

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Gifford Pinchot, ca. 1890-1910

Gifford Pinchot: Bridging Two Eras of National Conservation

…Born in Simsbury in 1865 and educated at Yale University in New Haven, Pinchot was the first chief of the US Forest Service, a founder of the Yale School of…

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Sleeping Giant State Park

Hamden

Hamden, in New Haven County, is located in southern Connecticut. Originally settled by the Puritans as part of New Haven Colony, it was incorporated as its own town in May…

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The Thimble Islands, Branford

Branford

The town of Branford, located in New Haven County, lies next to the Long Island Sound and includes the Thimble Islands. The first settlers of New Haven bought land from…

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Dr. Eli Todd

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

On July 22, 1769, Eli Todd was born in New Haven. A Yale graduate, Todd was a pioneer in the treatment of the mentally ill and believed that humane care…

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Former Prospect Library, Prospect

Prospect

Prospect, in New Haven County, is located in southwestern Connecticut near Waterbury. Formerly Columbia Parrish, Prospect was incorporated in 1827 and was formed from the neighboring towns of Waterbury and…

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Obookiah’s gravesite, Cornwall

Hidden Nearby: Henry Obookiah’s Cornwall Grave

…as a 15- or 16-year-old, Henry was taken aboard the merchant ship Triumph, commanded by Captain Britnall and bound for New Haven. While on board the ship, Henry befriended Thomas…

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Detail from a New York Times article August 11, 1886

The Shoe Box Murder Mystery

…article “Wallingford’s Last Mystery,”The New Haven Evening Register, August 9, 1886. A medical examination determined that the remains belonged to an unknown man of 20 to 40 years old who…

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State Tuberculosis Sanitarium, Norwich, Conn.

The White Plague: Progressive-Era Tuberculosis Treatments in Connecticut

…Florida, the American Southwest, or Switzerland, while the poorer victims relied on a statewide system of sanatoriums. Hartford County Sanatorium in Newington, the New Haven County Sanatorium in Meriden, and…

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Graphic of multi colored lines spinning around a gold circle that reads "National History Day 2024 Turning Points in History"

Connecticut History Day 2024: Turning Points in History

…in New Haven became the site of the world’s first commercial telephone exchange, forever changing how communication and long-distance commercial operations worked. While Hartford’s Samuel Colt is known best for…

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Black and white photograph of a ship at port

They Also Served: Chinese, Southeast Asians, and Hawaiians in the American Civil War

…he lived in downtown New Haven where he worked as a tinsmith. Unlike Pierce—who does not appear to have joined any veterans’ organization—Dardelle faithfully attended his regiment’s annual reunions and…

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

…many improvements” [Commemorative Biographical Record of New Haven County, Connecticut, 1902] Sometime after Nichols’ death four years after this map was published, and before 1902, his Town Plot land was…

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Danbury’s Sandemanian meeting house, built in 1798 next door to the “eating house,” on a rise above Main Street.

The Sandemanians

…who wrote to him. Encouraged by this response, Sandeman did a grand tour of the American colonies, leaving congregations in his wake in several Connecticut towns including Newtown and New

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Uniform of the first rugby team at Yale

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…

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US District Court, New Haven

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

On November 1, 1961, Estelle Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, an obstetrician at Yale University’s School of Medicine, opened the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut in New Haven. Griswold,…

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Advertisement for July 4th balloon flight

Silas Brooks, Balloonist

New Haven Gazette, constructed and flew several unmanned balloons above the town green in New Haven. According to the diary of Yale President Ezra Stiles, the third balloon Meigs sent…

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Ad for Goodyear's patented Hay & Manure forks

Amasa Goodyear and Son Re-Invent Naugatuck

Amasa Goodyear was an inventor, manufacturer, merchant, and farmer. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 1, 1772, he spent most of his early career engaged in the West Indies…

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Judges' Cave, West Rock Ridge State Park

Woodbridge

This New Haven County town is located in the southern portion of the state. Originally known as Amity parish, Woodbridge incorporated parts of New Haven and Milford in 1784 and…

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Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) Born in New Haven, Charles Goodyear attended school in Naugatuck and, in 1826, started the first retail domestic hardware store in the US with his father, inventor…

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Francis Ingals, Chaffinch Island, Guilford

Guilford’s One-Man Fire Department

Haven Fire Department with having some of the best equipment found between New Haven and New London, the Chaffinch Island department ignored town borders to help extinguish fires all along…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1866-1887

…legislature rejected. By the 1870s, the existence of two capital cities was viewed as awkward and ineffective. Hartford won out over New Haven by offering $500,000 to build a new

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Detail of an advertisement for Connecticut Pies, 1913

The Pie Man from Georgetown and the Connecticut ~ Copperthite Pie Company

…He also became a firefighter with the New Haven Steamer Company No. 5 where he drove a horse-drawn wagon. An illustration of Henry Copperthite from the Official program and pictorial…

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Private Henry Cornwall

Private Henry Cornwall 1862

…Cornwall was a member of the 20th Connecticut Infantry Volunteers. He served from September 8, 1862 to June 13, 1865. The regiment was organized in New Haven and left the…

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Ithiel Town

Ithiel Town

…studied architecture in Boston with renowned architect and builder Asher Benjamin. Soon after, Town moved to New Haven and began his own business. In 1820, Town received a patent on…

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John F. Kennedy campaigning in New Haven, 1960

The Kennedys in Connecticut – Today in History: November 6

By Nancy Finlay for Your Pubic Media On November 6, 1960, forty-eight hours before the Presidential election, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts addressed a street rally in New Haven….

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Trumbull Gallery

Yale University Art Gallery – Today in History: October 25

…paintings traveled aboard a steamboat to New Haven on September 27, 1832, so that Trumbull could personally direct the hanging of his works. When Trumbull’s wife Sarah died in 1834,…

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General Mansfield's uniform epaulets

One of the Honored Dead: General J. K. F. Mansfield

By Nancy Finlay Joseph King Fenno Mansfield was born in New Haven on December 22, 1803. He grew up in his grandfather’s house in Middletown, and at 15 earned admission…

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Improvement in Cards for Hooks and Eyes

Family Ties Bring Together North Branford Industry

…a steady economic decline in the area. Northford did not begin recovering until the early 20th century when it found new life as a prosperous residential suburb of New Haven….

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Total eclipse by Frederick E. Turner, Willimantic, January 24, 1925

The Astronomical Event of the Century

…Society Total Eclipse of the Sun For weeks in advance, newspapers had advised the use of smoked glass when viewing the eclipse and had recommended limiting the amount of time…

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Over Time: Milford’s Historical Population

  City: Milford Settled: 1639 as part of New Haven Colony Incorporated: City, June 15, 1959; Town and city consolidated, 1959 Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct…

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Pomp and Circumstance: Civil War Commemoration

…war shall do likewise. The thought that this would be done lightened the dying hours of many a brave soldier.” Soldiers’ Monument, New Haven – Courtesy of Anthony Roy Monument…

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Over Time: Hamden’s Historical Population

  Town: Hamden Incorporated: May, 1786 Incorporated from: New Haven Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from…

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Over Time: Orange’s Historical Population

  Town: Orange Incorporated: May 1822 Incorporated from: Milford and New Haven Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set…

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

…state (regimental) flag in Fair Haven. According to The New Haven Daily Palladium, a local black woman presented the dark blue silk flag made by the Ball, Black & Co….

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Detail of the Town Hall, Public Library, and Fire Department and the Bristol Manufacturing Company

The Plainville Town Hall Catches Fire

…Machine Gun Battalion of the local Home Guard. As fire departments from Bristol and New Britain arrived to help douse the flames, local factories shut down to provide increased water…

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Willimantic Bridge

Bridge Ornaments Help Tell the Legend of the Windham Frog Fight

…and is the author of three books on New England history and culture, including, most recently, New Israel/New England: Jews and Puritans in Early America (University of Massachusetts Press, 2011)….

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Bridgeport’s Walt Kelly, Creator of Pogo

…Kellys soon moved to New York City, however, and Walt shifted his focus to comic books, where Pogo made its first appearance. The New York Star and the Emergence of…

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John Brown: A Portrait of Violent Abolitionism

…in Torrington, Connecticut, on May 9, 1800. His father, Owen, having struggled in New England as a tanner and a farmer, moved his family to Hudson, Ohio, in 1805. The…

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Advertising card of the Dr. Warner’s Caroline Corset

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

…allowed women to embrace newfound freedom with a bra. The evolution of the bra all began when Mary Jacob refused to wear a typical 20th-century corset. Warner Company’s “Redfern” corset,…

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Bridgeport, Conn., 1882

A Bird’s-eye View of Bridgeport

…from Bridgeport, Conn., 1882, tinted lithograph, Wils Porter, artist, Charles Hart, New York, lithographer, New York: W.O. Laughna, 1882 – Connecticut Historical Society This 1882 example is somewhat atypical in…

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Connecticut’s Chickamauga Tree: An Investigation

…tree had gunpowder residue might confirm its presence at the battlefield of Chickamauga: In fact, there was an article in the New York Times dated June 14, 1898, that wrote…

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Detail of a map of Middletown, Connecticut

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

…Cross Street A.M.E. Zion Church. (The first African Methodist Episcopal Zion church, Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, began in New Haven in 1818). In 1828, the A.M.E. church-leading Jeffrey family…

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Levi B. Frost House, Southington

The Frost House Once Offered Travelers a Warm Welcome

…Guests Around 1765, Asa Barns began operating a tavern out of his home on the Marion road—a thoroughfare important for connecting Bristol to New Haven. Known as the Barnes Tavern…

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The Honorable John Winthrop, Esq

John Winthrop Jr.

…death in 1676. During this time, Winthrop acquired a charter that united the Connecticut and New Haven colonies, and he became a commissioner of the United Colonies of New England….

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Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford

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

…edge, bordered by Farmington Avenue, Sigourney Street, and the Hog (or Park, as it was later renamed) River. The Hartford and New Haven Railroad, built in the late 1830s, cut…

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Andover Lake: A Lesson in Social Change

…a prosperous resort area. Resort Area Becomes Battleground for Civil Rights In 1955, William M. Philpot, an African American minister at the New Haven Baptist church, bought a cottage on…

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The House That Hoadley Built

…received a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Additionally, a 1982 dig by the Greater New Haven Archaeological Society on the Wheeler-Beecher grounds uncovered more than…

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Howard Chandler Christy, Signing of the Constitution

The US Constitutional Convention: America Forms a Bicameral Legislature

…were not ratified by all 13 states until 1781). So when delegates such as Oliver Ellsworth from Windsor, William Samuel Johnson of Stratford, and Roger Sherman from New Haven, entered…

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PROJECT CONCERN youngsters, 20 of them from Hartford, arrive at Spaulding School, Suffield

Connecticut Takes the Wheel on Education Reform: Project Concern

…of urban and suburban students in the areas neighboring Connecticut’s three largest cities: Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven. Early Student Participants of Project Concern Project, 1968 – Hartford Public Library,…

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Sandbags in Rockville. September 22, 1938

Hurricane of 1938: Connecticut’s Worst Disaster

…just east of New Haven. There was little warning. Winds and storm surge flattened cottages and other buildings all along the shore. In some places, the remains of beachfront cottages…

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Catherine Roraback

Catherine Roraback

Catherine G. Roraback (1920-2007) A lawyer who successfully tried a number of high-profile cases in Connecticut (including the New Haven Black Panther murder trial of 1971), Catherine Roraback is perhaps…

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St. Anthony Comstock, the Village nuisance

Connecticut and the Comstock Law

…February 7, 1879, Senator Carlos Smith of New Haven introduced a bill to the Connecticut state legislature entitled, An Act to Amend an Act Concerning Offenses against Decency, Morality and…

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David Hotchkiss House, ca. 1980

The Prospect Green as a Historical Narrative

…trips to churches in Cheshire and Waterbury. Upon receiving approval in 1778, residents chose the highest inhabited elevation in New Haven County as the site for their new Congregational Church….

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Defenders of the Flag Monument, Soldiers Monument, Plainville

A Special Place to Honor Military Veterans in Plainville

…to appropriate sufficient funds for the statue’s completion. The monument originally resided on property owned by the New Haven Railroad, but when the railroad sold the land for development, town…

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Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Fighter Wing fly in formation behind a KC-135

Connecticut’s “Yankee Watch” Squadron Protects the Skies Here and Abroad

…intervene in the Berlin crisis. Men from the areas surrounding Stratford, Bridgeport, New Haven, New London, and Hartford answered the call. Ordered to active duty on October 1st, the 103rd…

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Thanksgiving Proclamation, Matthew Griswold, New Haven, 1785

Governor Griswold’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

This broadside (a large piece of paper printed on only one side) issued by Thomas and Samuel Green of New Haven announced the Proclamation of Governor Matthew Griswold naming Thursday…

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Everett B. Clark seed barn, Orange

Orange Seeds Yield Corn, Alfafa, Soy, and More

New Haven and by 1957, accounted for 5 million acres of plantings in 18 states. Homestead and seed barns of Everett B. Clark, Orange – Orange Historical Society The mergers…

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The White Mountain Express, traveling 50 miles per hour went off the track in Greenwich

The White Mountain Express Derails in Greenwich

…of the worst accidents on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The White Mountain Express, which passed through Greenwich every morning at 9:20, had derailed. The train, traveling…

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Oakdale Musical Theatre, Wallingford

The Story of the Oakdale Makes Great Theater

…“out of style,” and with high-profile acts demanding huge paydays affordable only to larger venues like the Hartford Civic Center and New Haven Coliseum, the Oakdale faced financial ruin. A…

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First Meetinghouse in Hartford

The Free Consent of the People: Thomas Hooker and the Fundamental Orders

…them and the power to establish limitations on those individuals. Page from Henry Wolcott Jr.’s shorthand notebook of sermons delivered in Hartford, Windsor, and New Haven between 1638 and 1641…

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Detail of Warwick patent copy by John Winthrop, Jr., 1662

The Charter of 1662

…people of Connecticut a clear legal basis for their colony, provided for the absorption of New Haven Colony, and, most importantly, granted the “Governour and Company of the English Colony…

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The crew and passengers of the steamboat Sunshine

Rising Tide: Steamboat Workers on the Connecticut River

…to all the workers on the Hartford Line. And when the workers on the New Haven Line heard about the Hartford action, they demanded and won the raise too. While…

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Charles G. Finney

Charles Grandison Finney Spreads Revivalism and Education throughout the Mississippi Valley

…to preach in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. Frustrated by the limits of Presbyterianism, Finney became a Congregationalist and served New York City’s Broadway Tabernacle in the early 1830s. Oberlin…

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Faulkner’s Island

Improving Sea Transportation: Guilford Goes About it the Light Way

…a group of drunken visitors from New Haven became unruly, damaging the island’s facilities and provoking an altercation with the lighthouse keeper. From Smithsonian Test Site to McKinney National Wildlife…

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Portrait detail of Frederick Douglass

“An Admirable Portrait” of Frederick Douglass

…Colored Volunteers. In January 1864, Douglass had addressed the men of the 29th encamped in New Haven, waiting to be mustered in. Congress finally granted equal pay to African American…

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Thomas Darling House and Tavern, Woodbridge

The Darlings Make Preservation a Family Affair

…the first printing press in New Haven, served as a deputy to the General Assembly, and as a judge of the county court. In 1774 he took possession of a…

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Guyton flying the V-173, November 23, 1942

Boone Guyton Tested the Limits of World-Famous Aircraft

…in the skies over New Haven when the plane’s engine died and he lost power. Using the wind to glide the plane to an airfield in Bridgeport, Guyton ended up…

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Merritt Hat Factory, Danbury

Ending the Danbury Shakes: A Story of Workers’ Rights and Corporate Responsibility

…shake continually, while many of the men who have served longer at the trade cannot even feed themselves. New Haven-born Grace Mailhouse Burnham, who had established the workers’ health bureau,…

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Eli Whitney

…boosted local cotton production and fostered the creation of large slave-based cotton plantations. Whitney returned to Connecticut in 1793 and began manufacturing firearms in New Haven in 1798. Here his…

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Anna Louise James seated, with a cat on her lap

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

…to have supplies available for travelers, the small store served as a stop for the Boston to New Haven stage. The popular soda fountain was not added until 1896 by…

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Detail of Map exhibiting the route of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad

Iron and Water: The Norwich & Worcester Railroad Story

…owned a succession of fine passenger steamers like the City of Worcester and City of Lowell. The New Haven Railroad inherited a substantial operation when it took control of the…

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Meriden Silver Plate Company, nut dish

Meriden

Meriden, in New Haven County, is located in south-central Connecticut, with the Quinnipiac River cutting through its southwestern portion. Formerly known as North Farms, the area was incorporated as a…

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Hardcore Connecticut: Documenting the State’s Punk Rock Scene

…West Haven-based recording label started by members of the band Lost Generation. So, what can a collection like this tell us about Connecticut history? Seen within the larger context of…

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Oil painting of numerous men gathered around a table listening to one man reading

Linonian and Brothers in Unity: The Societies that Built Yale University’s Library

…library. In doing so, their actions inspired a new wave of interest towards collegiate library development across American higher education. Two Early Literary and Debating Societies Linonian Society Bookplate –…

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Waterbury, Bank Street. After the Great Blizzard

The Blizzard of 1888 – Today in History: March 11

…three days. Connecticut received between 20 and 50 inches in various parts of the state, with snow drifts measuring 12 feet and higher. (New Haven, for example, recorded drifts measuring…

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Navy Steamship Galena, 1861

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…

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Flying Machine patent

Flying High with Early Dirigible

…the June 12 flight, but the promise of Ritchel’s invention would not be realized for decades. The Connecticut Aircraft Company of New Haven would later build balloons, dirigibles and even…

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Connecticut Valley R. R. schedule

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

…took 2½ hours. Connecticut Valley Railroad was taken over in 1880 by the Hartford & Connecticut Railroad and eventually leased to the New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad Company….

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Railroad Trestle over the Housatonic River, Derby

Derby

The city of Derby, located in New Haven County, is in southwest Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. Settled as a Native American trading post in…

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Ansonia

The city of Ansonia, located in New Haven County on the Naugatuck River, is in the lower Naugatuck Valley region. Though its development as a village center started in the…

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Beacon Falls

Beacon Falls, in New Haven County, is located in the southwestern portion of Connecticut. Among the state’s smallest towns in population and area, it is bisected by the Naugatuck River…

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Putnam Cottage (Knapp Tavern), Greenwich

Greenwich

…the area now known as Old Greenwich from Native Americans for twenty-five coats. At first a part of New Netherlands (now New York City), in 1650 it became part of…

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Deacon John Graves House, Madison

Madison

Madison, a part of New Haven County, lies in south-central Connecticut adjacent to the Long Island Sound and between the East and Hammonasset Rivers. Formerly East Guilford, it was settled…

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World War Monument, Naugatuck

Naugatuck

The town of Naugatuck, located in New Haven County, spans both sides of the Naugatuck River and lies just south of Waterbury. Incorporated as a town in 1844, it became,…

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Tomb of Lady Fenwick, Saybrook Point

An Old Saybrook Borough has a Stately History

…the Saybrook colony’s founding, Englishmen undertook efforts to simultaneously settle the areas around modern-day Hartford and New Haven. The founding of these colonies was a response to early Dutch settlements…

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Stevenson Dam, Oxford

Oxford

The town of Oxford is in New Haven County, located in southwestern Connecticut. The Pootatuck and Paugussett (the first peoples to inhabit the area), were followed by English settlers around…

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Little-Laurel Lime Ridge, Seymour

Seymour

The town of Seymour, located in western New Haven County, lies in the Naugatuck Valley region of Connecticut at the confluence of the Naugatuck and Housatonic Rivers. First known as…

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Union Station Clock Tower, Waterbury

Waterbury

Waterbury, in New Haven County, is located in west-central Connecticut on the Naugatuck River. It was settled in 1674 as a part of Farmington (in what is now known as…

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Westover School, Middlebury

Middlebury

Incorporated in 1807 from former Southbury, Waterbury, and Woodbury lands, the town of Middlebury located in New Haven County town took its name from its location in the midst, or…

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War Memorial Boulder, Northford

North Branford

Bordering on the Lake Gaillard reservoir, North Branford is a town in southeastern New Haven County. This early mill and farming community incorporated from Branford in 1831. The year prior,…

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Pinnacle Rock, Plainville

Plainville

…flourished with the 1828 opening of the Farmington Canal, which ran through town and linked New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts. By the time Plainville incorporated in 1869, warehouses, factories and…

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New Haven Hospital ward

Health and Medicine

…In the 1800s, medical training and care became increasingly institutionalized. New London opened the first US eye infirmary, Yale issued the state’s first MD degrees, and Hartford Retreat initiated new

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Bus departing for March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs, Hartford

Social Movements

…for recognition and land rights. And sometimes it is violent, as seen in the Hartford and New Haven riots of the Civil Rights era. Noted Connecticut reformers include abolitionist Roger…

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Connecticut's Whig party candidates for Congress, 1834

Politics and Government

…one in Hartford and one in New Haven, with legislative meetings alternating between the two.) Notable figures include William A. Buckingham, one of only four Union governors to serve throughout…

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Greased pole, Labor Day picnic, Colt Park, Hartford

Labor Day at the Turn of the 20th Century

…an estimated 3,000 people and factory closures in New Haven. Elsewhere, observers reported that the day passed without much notice. Leisure Marks Tribute to Workers By the early 1900s, Labor…

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Thornton Wilder

Hamden’s Literary Legend

…Far East where his father served as the United States Consul General to Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 1917, his family moved to New Haven and Wilder enrolled at Yale….

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Whitneyville Armory, Whitney's Improved Fire-Arms, from an advertisement, ca. 1862

The Whitney Armory Helps Progress in Hamden

…Whitney bought the land where the New Haven colony‘s first grist mill had been erected 150 years earlier, and he decided to go into the small arms business. At a…

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

…Center, Hartford Public Library and Connecticut History Online Maria C. Sanchez by Tanisha Pino Maria opened up her News Stand, “Marias News Stand,” in the late 1950s. She used this…

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Detail from a broadside circa 1899

Food and Drink

…numerous corporations, including the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing company in New Haven in 1919, the founding of Pepperidge Farm in Fairfield in the 1930s, and the opening of the first…

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Platter with View of New Haven Green

Setting the Table in Historic Style: Connecticut Views on Staffordshire China

…Cole’s earliest patrons. Views of the Samuel Russell House in Middletown and the New Haven Green are by Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), then a young architect at the beginning of…

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Lock 12 Farmington Canal, Cheshire

Cheshire

The town of Cheshire is located in New Haven County in the Central Naugatuck Valley. Once part of Wallingford and known as North Farms, Cheshire separated from Wallingford in 1780…

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Litchfield's Constitution Oak

The Constitution Oak

…a population of 1,000, had the same number of representatives as New Haven, with more than 100,000 residents. In 1901, Connecticut voters called for a constitutional convention by a 2-1…

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Locomotive number 14 from the Central New England Railway Co

The Industrial United States 1870-1900

New Haven opening of the country’s first telephone exchange in 1878, while Connecticut writers and reformers such as Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe sought to entertain while also informing…

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Blue button with a tan colored moose profile with the word "progressive" over the moose

The Bull Moose Party in Connecticut

…as in Stamford, Bridgeport, New Haven, and Meriden, where his train stopped along the way. Connecticut, however, is the Land of Steady Habits. Many voters did not approve of Roosevelt’s…

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Excelsior Cutlery

Connecticut Pocketknife Firms

…entered the industry. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven and the Remington Arms Company of Bridgeport began pocketknife production in 1919 and 1920, respectively, to offset a decline…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Establishing Self Government, 1634-1776

…document putting in practice the principles of self-government. New Haven’s protective palisade Connecticut’s founders came on a religious mission. Bitterly persecuted for their beliefs in England, they created a “Bible…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1776-1818

…created the office of the Senate President Pro Tempore, and mandated one Assembly session a year, alternating between Hartford and New Haven. At the same time, it retained Connecticut’s unusual…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1819-1865

…advantages, while canal builders and railroads lobbied to supplant them. The legislature balanced regional interests by chartering the Farmington Canal in 1822 to serve New Haven and the Windsor Locks…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1866-1887

The Rise of the Factory The Civil War propelled Colt, New Haven‘s Remington Arms, and other Connecticut weapons producers to new heights of production. The state’s munitions industry maintained its…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1965-Now

…House district represented about 20,000 people. Only 20 were rural. Urban districts numbered 80, suburban ones 77. The Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford delegations in the House grew from two…

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Rediscovering Albert Afraid-of-Hawk

…Native American equestrian and marksmanship skills, as well as ceremonial dances. In the summer of 1900, after performances in Hartford, New Haven, and South Norwalk, the show came to Danbury….

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Nuttinghame, Southbury

Southbury

Located in western New Haven County, Southbury is bisected by the Pomperaug River, which flows into the Housatonic River along the town’s southern border. Paugussetts and other native groups populated…

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Red Cross Headquarters, Hurricane of 1944

The Great Atlantic Hurricane Hits Connecticut

…of 1938 Southern New England Telephone Company switchboard operators, Hurricane 1944, New Haven, Connecticut – Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries…

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The Old Stone Schoolhouse, Wolcott

Wolcott

Located at the northern tip of New Haven County, the town of Wolcott, originally known as Farmingbury, incorporated from Southington and Waterbury in 1796. Its name honors Governor Oliver Wolcott,…

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Norwich Free Academy, School Architecture: Pt. II. Plans for Graded Schools by Henry Barnard

Henry Barnard Advances State and National Education Initiatives

…Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven for a year in preparation for college. In 1826, at the age of 15, Barnard entered Yale University. At Yale, Barnard earned a reputation…

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Vietnam Veterans Against the War

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

Vietnam Veterans Against the War – Operation Dewey Canyon III On April 19, 1971, Vietnam veterans groups from Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford joined demonstrations in Washington, DC. Calling for…

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Early Civil Rights and Cultural Pioneers: The Easton Family

…Easton, “a colored citizen of this city,” and his white companion from New Haven, Charles Boyle. But Easton and Boyle had completed their objective, “draping the figure of Justice upon…

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The Minute Man, Westport CT

…Connecticut General Assembly. To sponsor this monument and The Defenders’ Monument (1910) at New Haven, lawmakers expanded the role of the State Commission on Sculpture. This act made Connecticut the…

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The Hartford Insurance Investigator With the Action-Packed Expense Account

…belonging to the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad line. One of the episodes that did take place in Hartford concerned arson at the Hartford Alliance Loan Company (also…

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Cosntance Baker Motley

Constance Baker Motley

Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005) Constance Baker Motley was an attorney, and later, federal judge, who became a leading figure in the civil rights movement. Born in New Haven, she became…

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Seaside Sanatorium, Waterford

Seaside Tuberculosis Sanatorium: Waterford’s Contested Oceanfront Gem

…sanatoriums in Connecticut by 1930—one each in Hartford, Norwich, Shelton, and Meriden. Around 1905, Dr. Stephen J. Maher, head of Connecticut’s Tuberculosis Commission and a New Haven physician, campaigned to…

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Gold Hall circa 1900, a men's dormitory named in honor of UConn trustee T. S. Gold. The building burned down in 1914

The First University of Connecticut Trustees

…of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railway Company. Josiah Meigs Hubbard (served 1881–1896) was a rich farmer from one of the leading families of Middletown. He represented Middletown…

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Grey plaque dedicated to Moses Wheeler with the names of the Connecticut governor and state highway commissioner in 1962

Moses Wheeler: Legendary Housatonic Ferryman

…Boston before making his home in New Haven and eventually in Stratford. He married Miriam Hawley and became a farmer and one of the town’s largest landowners after purchasing tracts…

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Two women sliding on a toboggan down a ramp. There is the remnants of snow on the ground.

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

…rail travel decreased, and competition arose from other amusement centers like Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport and Savin Rock in New Haven. By 1908, the company had dismantled Parlor Rock Park,…

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Danbury Hangings: The Executions of Anthony and Amos

…the Connecticut Journal, New Haven, Connecticut, November 25, 1817. There was an immense crowd gathered for the execution. Some of the spectators arrived in Danbury early in the morning, but…

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Postcard of Charles Island, Milford, CT

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

…by carriages and wagons connected it to the mainland. Visitors arriving by train had the option of reaching the hotel either by carriage or by boat. Excursion steamboats from New

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The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Tablet

…and authorized the committee to raise money to fund the tablet. At the 1916 Division Encampment at New Haven, the committee reported that they had raised half of the money…

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Suburban Development, Lower Litchfield County

Suburban Development in Litchfield County 1982

…the outlying areas. Between 1945 and 1960 Connecticut’s cities, such as Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, all lost population while suburbs like Bloomfield, Woodbridge, and Trumbull more than doubled their…

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The Surprising Prevalence of Earthquake Activity in Connecticut

…and people running into the streets in Hartford, and a quake that some say sounded like “carriages crossing a bridge” struck New Haven around 10:45 pm on June 30, 1858….

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

…returned to Hartford at least twice in January 1957. By this time, the FBI and its local office in New Haven tracked and recorded his every move. Temple 14 moved…

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Carl Sandburg, Poet from the Grassroots, Reaches Connecticut Audiences

…Sandburg was a regular contributor of news and poetry to the International Socialist Review (ISR) and other prominent liberal and radical magazines. With his work for the Chicago Daily News,…

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A Metal Giant in Wilton

…Center. A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Lynch took to metalworking at an early age, heating a piece of pipe in the family furnace to make ice tongs at the…

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Education/Instrucción Combats Housing Discrimination

…against the Real Estate commission in New Haven Federal District Court. The complaint, entitled the “Title VIII Open Housing Complaint,” argued that real estate insiders in the state of Connecticut…

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Indian Hill Cemetery and the Vernacular of the Times

…and Manitowese, nephew of Sow-Heage, who gave up the deed of New Haven. By commemorating Native Americans who signed deeds of land transference, they portray peaceful interactions between whites and…

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Circus Parade, Main Street, Hartford

A Legacy of Thriving Cities 1905

…boosting the cities’ populations. More middle class professionals were drawn into the cities as well. Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury all saw drastic increases in their population. These newly…

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Rock and Roll vs. Racism

…roll took place on March 19, 1955. Police halted a New Haven festival “when it seemed the dancers were getting out of hand.” Concert goers were all over 21 and…

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When the NFL Played in Connecticut: The Hartford Blues

…the Yale Bowl in New Haven while renovations took place at Yankee Stadium (their former home) and workers finished construction on Giants Stadium, (their future home). The arrangement was strictly…

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Patent Model for the Manufacture of Rubber Fabrics, Charles Goodyear, 1844

Charles Goodyear’s Machine for Making Rubber Fabrics

Collection: National Museum of American History Object: Patent Model for the Manufacture of Rubber Fabrics Maker: Charles Goodyear Place: New York, New York Date Made: 1844 On March 9, 1844,…

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Samuel A. Foote

Samuel Foot: A Trader Turned Governor

…to New Haven and found employment in the West India trade, traveling on numerous voyages before the War of 1812 brought an end to his commercial prosperity. Cheshire Politician Becomes…

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Witchcraft in Connecticut

…Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Prior to the Union with New Haven Colony May 1665…, showing the law against being a witch established in December, 1642. For its part,…

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North and South: The Legacy of Eli Whitney

…a factory in Hamden, Connecticut, just north of New Haven (in an area that became known as Whitneyville), and began making thousands of interchangeable parts for his muskets. Progress was…

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Leroy Anderson at home in the 1950s

Leroy Anderson Composed Iconic Music in Woodbury

…the boards of the New Haven and Hartford symphonies. In addition, he served as acting manager for the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra before passing away in 1975 at the age of…

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Yale Daily News

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…

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Elevated view of Storrs Agricultural College

The Yale-Storrs Controversy

…and $32,000 per year to the school. The lawsuit dragged out in U.S. circuit court, while Yale and Storrs supporters debated the question in the newspapers. The case went to…

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The First Yale Unit: How U.S. Navy Aviation Began

By Elizabeth Correia When recalling the important role of air power during World War I, U.S. Navy Admiral William S. Sims once noted that “the great aircraft force which was…

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Map detail of an island

The “Welcoming Beacon” of Sheffield Island Lighthouse

…it for illicit activity. It also became a haven for mothers and children throughout the years of the cholera epidemic that hit New York City. Additionally, destruction caused by the…

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Senator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut

From the State Historian: Discovering the Explorer Hiram Bingham III

…III. Born in 1875, this scion of two generations of New England missionaries to Hawaii accomplished much in his 81 years. He was an explorer, a best-selling author, an aeronautics…

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Hard Times: Governor Wilbur Cross and the Great Depression in Connecticut

…of a third-party candidate—a Socialist with strong support from labor. On November 14, 1947, Cross cut a ribbon stretched across the highway near the North Haven–Wallingford line, opening the Hamden…

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Over Time: Derby’s Historical Population

…East Haven. The independent town has been the foundation of Connecticut government from the arrival of the earliest English settlers. After the American Revolution the first United States Census was…

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

…at the State Arsenal. The new capitol building opened in January 1879. During the January session of the General Assembly, legislators passed House Joint Resolution No. 141 that stated: “Resolved…

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Windsor brickmakers

Building a Nation Brick by Brick

…urban centers throughout Connecticut and New York during this time. Brick architecture remained in style throughout much of the early 20th century until the presence of new building materials, mainly…

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Over Time: Madison’s Historical Population

…a town at all. A great example of this is Foxon, which is a community within the town of East Haven. The independent town has been the foundation of Connecticut…

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Soldier, Patriot, and Politician: The Life of Oliver Wolcott

…Service Oliver Wolcott, a native of Litchfield, Connecticut, attended Yale College and graduated in 1747. Immediately upon graduating, he received a captain’s commission from New York Governor George Clinton. In…

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Over Time: North Branford’s Historical Population

…not actually a town at all. A great example of this is Foxon, which is a community within the town of East Haven. The independent town has been the foundation…

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Football practice at Yale University, ca. 1912

Sports and Recreation

…teams of workers in competition with one another. In addition, towns like Brooklyn and Danbury hosted annual fairs, which received visitors from all over New York and New England. Today,…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: A Society in Ferment, 1819-1865

…migration of European immigrants into the state to feed these new factories’ need for manpower. The third was the rise and spread of cities across the Connecticut landscape. Within a…

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Joel Barlow

The Hartford Wits

…the Wits turned their sights on new targets, including the colonial government, King George III, and, most notably, colonial residents with loyalties to the British crown. They were hardly armchair…

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Photo of Jim Henson, creator, The Muppets (1979)

Jim Henson, the Muppets, and Greenwich

…late 1990s). The family sold the house in 1971 and moved to nearby Bedford, New York, but Greenwich remained a Henson haven until the 1990s. Henson’s Later Years By 1976,…

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Hartford Jai Alai players, 1976

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

…sporting spectacle grasped the American public’s interest and new, permanent frontons soon emerged in Chicago and New Orleans. More than half a century later, in the era before legalized casino…

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A US Army Air Force Waco CG-4A-WO glider

Daring World War II Escape of a Bethany Soldier

…in Newbury, England. Captured and made a prisoner of war after crash landing in Normandy, Fowler made a remarkable escape and became a celebrity in his Connecticut hometown. Fowler Joins…

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Over Time: Guilford’s Historical Population

…all. A great example of this is Foxon, which is a community within the town of East Haven. The independent town has been the foundation of Connecticut government from the…

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