The Danbury Fair, 1869-1981

…observed as Danbury Day at the fair. By noon, the school superintendent closed the schools and the fair’s owner admitted students to the fair for free. Danbury Fair in the…

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

…Game Refuge in 1933 to serve as a public “wilderness recreation” area. McLean’s idealistic wishes challenged the ecological practicality of preserving wilderness alongside agricultural and recreational uses. The state chapter…

Goshen Fairs Well with Agricultural Enthusiasts

…Agricultural Fair remained in Goshen until 2006, when the fair’s board of directors voted to discontinue operations. Despite the loss of the Connecticut Agricultural Fair, the local Goshen agricultural fair…

A Fair to Remember in Brooklyn

…visitors at the fair. The fair still emphasizes agricultural and domestic manufacture but has expanded its focus far beyond livestock, needlework, and jarred preserves. Recent fairs offered visitors the opportunity…

North Stonington Fairs Preserve Connecticut’s Agricultural Heritage

…the modern version of the North Stonington Agricultural Fair took shape, eventually becoming one of the most important fairs in the state and often being the first to kick-off “Fair…

Black Loyalist Refugees: Toney Escapes During the Burning of Fairfield

…Thousands of enslaved people in the American colonies accepted the offer. The Burning of Fairfield Presents Opportunity to Escape Burning of Fairfield – Connecticut Historical Society July 7, 1779, presented…

The Great Danbury State Fair & Early 20th-Century Outdoor Advertising

By Diane Hassan for the CTPost.com The origins of the Danbury Fair began in 1821 when the Fairfield Agricultural Society held gatherings in Elmwood Park on Main Street. The event…

Sports and Recreation

Connecticut has traditionally offered a diverse array of sports and recreational opportunities to visitors and residents alike. Attractions like Bristol’s Lake Compounce and West Haven’s Savin Rock Amusement Park provided…

Fairfield

…eventually annexed to form the town of Westport. Today, Fairfield is a suburban residential community and home to Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, and the Fairfield Museum and History Center….

The Park Movement in Hartford

By Brenda Miller Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Hartford played an important role in the national movement to establish outdoor recreation spaces within cities. Building on the…

Caleb Brewster: A Patriot Against Freedom

…the cause of liberty did not apply to all. Alec Lurie is a Columbia University graduate, educator, and the historical research lead for the Fairfield Slavery Project through Fairfield University….

The Road to Busytown: Richard Scarry’s Life in Fairfield County

…fairfieldhistory.org. Chelsea Garth is Curator at the Fairfield Museum, and worked closely with Huck Scarry, the University of Connecticut Special Collections and Archives, and Random House Children’s Books to develop…

Merritt Parkway Creates Scenic Gateway to New England

…life on Route 1, and contributing to Fairfield County’s economic development, the Merritt Parkway did not evolve without problems. The extension to the Hutchinson River Parkway polarized Fairfield County residents….

Pope Park – Yesterday and Today

…brothers completed the park design in 1898 and, in its original form, it contained ponds, recreational open space, tennis courts, and outdoor gymnasiums. While Pope Park served its Frog Hollow…

Hammonasset State Park Serves the State and its Residents

…or strolling along the park’s meandering boardwalk. Hammonasset’s peaceful recreational setting, however, belies its history as a land serving the public in a variety of different ways. Humans first made…

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…

Take Me to the Fair: Connecticut Exhibits at the International Expositions

…of the State Building. That grandchild of the Charter Oak is one piece of evidence that symbolizes Connecticut’s participation in World’s Fairs from the late 19th century through the early…

British Burn Fairfield – Today in History: July 7

On July 7, 1779, during the Revolutionary War, the British anchored a fleet of warships off the coast of Fairfield, Connecticut. The British soldiers waited for the fog to lift…

The Decorative Arts of Connecticut

…of Culture and History. Used through Public Domain and Fair Use. Before 1740, most homes had only a few pieces of furniture and only the most essential textiles, as well…

A Fair to Forget – Who Knew?

…the lookout for those selling illegal liquor or performing racy shows, and for gambling of all kinds. Read more about the history of the Danbury Fair: The Danbury Fair, 1869-1981….

A Revolutionary Book Designer: Bruce Rogers of New Fairfield

…designed by Bruce Rogers of New Fairfield, Connecticut, this particular bible was the culmination of the private press movement that began in England in the late 19th century under the…

Sanitary Fair – Today in History: July 25

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

Bridgeport’s Catastrophic 1911 Train Wreck

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

Spring Training Baseball Comes to Wallingford

Spring training baseball is a tradition in the United States unlike any other. Every February and March major league clubs send their players to warm, sunny locations in Florida and…

Andover Lake: A Lesson in Social Change

Constructed in the early 20th century, Andover Lake is a man-made recreation area. While residents of Andover and other nearby towns enjoy swimming and boating on the property’s 159 acres,…

Lake Pocotopaug Shapes the Growth of East Hampton

…has a history of serving the community through a variety of different functions—from natural resource for early inhabitants and later recreational uses to powering industry and supporting economic development in…

The Story of Connecticut’s Largest State Forest

…Recreation and Natural Heritage Trust Fund—a state effort to acquire lands necessary for expanding Connecticut’s park system. Laborers from New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration and the…

Quassy: One of the Last of the Old-Time Trolley Parks

…evolving to meet the changing demands of its constituency. Its history details the services and experiences valued by recreation seekers in Connecticut over the past century. Boulder Cove, Lake Quassapaug,…

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

By Paula Gibson Krimsky Frederick Gunn is recognized today not only as an abolitionist and educator but also as the “father of recreational camping” in the United States. In fact,…

Abundant Wildlife Drives the History of Rocky Neck State Park

Rocky Neck State Park is located on Long Island Sound in East Lyme. Consisting of 710 acres of camping and recreational areas, the park’s western edge is bound by a…

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

…residents sought respite from their rapidly industrializing surroundings. They sought access to parks and shared a growing fascination with amusements. Unfortunately, this increased focus on leisure and recreation often clashed…

Dynamic Tensions: Conservation and Development up to the 1920s

…and Photographs Division. Used through Public Domain. In 1898, a Connecticut landscape writer and Fairfield resident, Mabel Osgood Wright, founded the Connecticut Audubon Association, one of the first state chapters,…

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…

Map – Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Bethel, Fairfield County

…the location of water supplies. Page 1 – Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Bethel, New Fairfield County, Connecticut – Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Page 2 Page 3…

Trouble in the Connecticut Suburbs: Revolutionary Road

By Andy Piascik For many years Connecticut’s Fairfield County has been a place of contrasts. It has cities that, even in times of economic boom, were often places where poverty…

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

Harkness Memorial Park is a beautifully landscaped recreation area along the shoreline in Waterford, Connecticut. With gorgeous views of Long Island Sound, the site offers visitors over 230 acres of…

Preserving Connecticut’s Natural Beauty: Connecticut’s First State Parks

…be used by the public for hiking, swimming, picnicking, and other forms of outdoor recreation. Five waterfront acres in Westport, given to the State in 1914, would eventually become Sherwood…

Mr. & Mrs. Rockwell’s Park

…festivals, marriage ceremonies, and sports activities. The 21st century has witnessed a resurgence of interest in outdoor recreation there, and the park now offers a BARC Park for dog walkers…

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

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

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

…that after the Civil War and through the 1930s, recreational pursuits attained ever-greater importance, until they ranked among the region’s most significant characteristics. Such activities included amenities that served local…

Derby Day on the Housatonic

…Derby resident, entrepreneur, and benefactor, realized the immense recreational potential of this placid body of water above the dam. Gates was instrumental in convincing Yale University authorities to make the…

Mad about Shad: Connecticut’s Love Affair with an Oily Fish

By Richard Malley for Your Public Media Why would the State of Connecticut go to the trouble of naming the American Shad the official “state fish”? Historically, the spring shad…

The Darlings Make Preservation a Family Affair

Thomas Darling was an 18th-century merchant, farmer, and politician and a member of the colonial elite. Counted among his friends and associates were such renowned figures as Benjamin Franklin, Roger…

A Woman Ahead of Her Time: Mabel Osgood Wright

…was while enjoying the family home, Mosswood, in Fairfield, Connecticut, that Mabel honed her skills of observation and learned to appreciate nature. She shared that appreciation through her books, including…

Katharine Hepburn’s Love Affair (with Connecticut)

by Andy Piascik Katharine Hepburn was one of the great icons of American film, but also a lover of Connecticut life. She was born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford…

Early Church Bell Founders

…new Anglican Church in Fairfield in 1739, for Christ Church in Stratford in 1743/44, and for the Congregational Church in Fairfield in 1751. His son, John Whitear Jr. succeeded his…

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

…imported 2 million bushels of oysters to New Haven’s Fair Haven oyster shops in 1858. These Fair Haven oysters were then shipped inland to such cities as St. Louis and…

Selling Connecticut Products Abroad

…of the industrial, artistic, and agricultural products of many of the world’s nations. Colt set a precedent for Connecticut manufacturers who would show their wares at European expositions and fairs….

And They’re Off!: Harness Racing at Charter Oak Park

…to include Luna Park, a popular amusement area, and the grounds served as the venue for the Connecticut State Fair, an annual two-week event. The mile-long race track at Charter…

Waterford’s Need for Speed

…played host to the 1969 State of Connecticut Bicycle Track-Racing Championships and the 1980 Southern Connecticut State Fair. While a 1975 attempt to bring jai alai to the Speedbowl fell…

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

…throughout Latin America and in the United States. The first jai alai fronton in the United States opened outside the grounds of the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The…

The Battle for Cockenoe Island

…the fledgling town of Norwalk. Just over 180 years later, in 1835, the island became a part of Westport, when that municipality emerged from parts of Norwalk, Fairfield, and Weston….

Wiffle Throws a Curve in American Leisure Time

By Jeannine Henderson-Shifflett When Fairfield resident David N. Mullany created the concept for the Wiffle Ball, he didn’t know his invention would change the way children across the United States…

Skating Through Winter

…was designed to be emptied and covered in summer and autumn allowing for the hosting of large city meetings, or fairs. It could even be fitted with a floor for…

Overland Travel in Connecticut, from Footpaths to Interstates

…1897 – Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, CTDA. Used through Public Domain and Fair Use. Following the Revolution, the poor road conditions that existed in Connecticut, and the new…

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…

Slavery and the Pequot War

…enslaved. Diaries, letters, and other sources from the early colonial era document cases of Native enslavement. One of the most notorious incidents followed the Fairfield Swamp Fight of July 1637….

Living Rituals: Mohegan Wigwam Festival

…was a fair tree where Mohegan Church now stands and the Green Corn Festival was held there.” At the time of the breakup of the Mohegan reservation in the mid-19th…

Navigating Connecticut Safely: The Green Book’s Role in African American Travel

…of the business owners and the people they served during the era of the Green Book. Fairfield County Arcade Hotel, Bridgeport, Conn. – Boston Public Library. Used through Fair Use….

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

By Richard DeLuca During the last decades of the 19th century, as the railroad established itself as the dominant form of overland transportation in Connecticut, events were in motion that…

Re-creating Our National Pastime

By Gregg Mangan In an era before the Internet, television, or even live radio broadcasts, fans of professional baseball watched re-creations of games around the country thanks to the Baseball…

Savin Rock Park: “Connecticut’s Coney Island”

Savin Rock Park was a seaside resort constructed in the late 19th century in the modern-day town of West Haven. Known as “Connecticut’s Coney Island,” Savin Rock Park brought together…

Semi-Pro Baseball in Sharon – Who Knew?

…that from the 1930s until about the early 1970s, Sharon fielded a team in the semi-pro Interstate Baseball League (IBL). Playing out of Adams Field just north of town, the…

Summer Crowds Flocked to New Canaan and Stayed

Like many towns in Connecticut, New Canaan owes much of its modern character to the evolution of industry and transportation in the Northeast. Unlike more industrialized areas, however, a secluded…

Diamonds of the Past: Hartford’s Lost Ball Parks

By Mike Messina for Your Public Media There’s something magical when you first step out from the tunnel of a baseball stadium on a summer night. The field, as a…

Plainville Has Been Flying High for Over 100 Years

The town of Plainville claims a special relationship with aviation culture that dates back to the earliest days of flight in the state. Pilots and aviation enthusiasts of all varieties…

Elizabeth Park’s Rose Garden: June is Busting Out All Over

By Mary Muller for Your Public Media For more than a century, the month of June has drawn visitors to Hartford’s Elizabeth Park to enjoy the amazing spectacle of the…

The Story of the Oakdale Makes Great Theater

The legendary Oakdale Theater in Wallingford reflects over 60 years of evolution in American pop culture. From its earliest days as a modest show tent, the Oakdale played host to…

Almost a Tragedy: The Collapse of the Hartford Civic Center

By Ben Gammell for Your Public Media Talk about close calls. It could have been the worst disaster in Connecticut history. On January 17, 1978, a Tuesday evening, 4,746 basketball…

Paradise on the Sound: The Summer Colony at Fenwick

By Anne Guernsey for Your Public Media John Warner Barber’s 1834 drawing of Saybrook Point shows the area that would later be known as Fenwick, located where the Connecticut River…

A Unique Island Attraction in Bridgeport

When Bridgeport annexed the borough of West Stratford in 1889, the acquisition came with a a small 37-acre parcel of land on a barrier island at the mouth of Bridgeport…

Danbury Baseball History Covers All the Bases

By Diane Hassan for the CTPost.com Finding an early mention of the game in an 1867 issue of The Danbury Times—the local newspaper at the time—was jaw dropping. In the…

Park Street Festival, Hartford 1978

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

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…

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…

A Real Connecticut Yankee’s Baseball Career Cut Short

Danny Hoffman’s story reminds sports fans of the fragile nature of a professional athlete’s career. An up-and-coming baseball star discovered playing on the lots of Collinsville, Connecticut, Hoffman played in…

Battling Bat Battalino: One of Hartford’s Heroes

By Mike Messina From the streets of Hartford to Madison Square Garden was a giant leap for featherweight boxer Christopher “Bat” Battalino. Born in Hartford in 1908, Battalino quit Brown…

A Pie Tin’s Soaring Sales

William Frisbie opened the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1871. As much as locals enjoyed Frisbie’s delicious baked goods, one entertaining (but unproven) story claims people enjoyed some…

Swinging for the Fences: Connecticut’s Black Baseball Greats

By Steve Thornton Former Negro League baseball player John “Mule” Miles visited Connecticut some years back. He told an audience that despite the adversity African Americans faced playing segregated ball,…

When the NFL Played in Connecticut: The Hartford Blues

by Andy Piascik In its early, freewheeling years during the 1920s, the National Football League (NFL) primarily located teams in small and medium-sized cities. Toledo, Akron, Providence, and Decatur all…

NFL Great, Andy Robustelli of Stamford

by Andy Piascik While playing professional football on two coasts, legendary defensive end Andy Robustelli won championships and earned personal accolades as a member of both the Los Angeles Rams…

Andrus Field 1831–1911: Athletics and the Environment

by Sage Marshall In the center of Wesleyan University’s campus lies a rectangle of deep green grass named Andrus Field. Today, it contains a football field, a baseball diamond, and…

The Thimble Islands – Little Islands with a Big History

The Thimble Islands are a chain of 365 islands in Stony Creek Harbor off the southeast coast of Branford in Long Island Sound. This archipelago was first recorded as “Thimble…

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

On April 7, 1859, Walter Chauncey Camp, the “Father of American football,” was born in New Britain, Connecticut. Camp was a gifted athlete who participated in baseball, crew, swimming, tennis,…

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

By Nancy Finlay The Native Americans who lived along the shores of (what became) Milford, Connecticut, named a prominent nearby island “Poquahaug” or “Eaguahaug,” probably meaning “cleared land.” Other people…

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

By Carl Kirchner Bristol’s Lake Compounce is the oldest continually operating amusement park in the US and has been open every summer since 1846. The park continues to operate despite…

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

On November 13, 1875, Yale and Harvard wore the first team uniforms in an American intercollegiate football game. This represented a significant departure from custom at a time when team…

Jimmy Piersall’s Public Struggle with Mental Illness

By Andy Piascik If Jimmy Piersall accomplished nothing else in his long, colorful life, he drew a great deal of attention to issues of mental health. Because he was a…

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

By Andy Piascik Major league hockey debuted in Hartford in 1975 with the arrival of the New England Whalers. During their time in Hartford, the Whalers featured one of the…

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)…

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

By Emily Clark The expansion of train travel to cities and towns throughout Connecticut in the mid-1800s brought important developments to both the economy and local transportation. In Trumbull, a…

Banner Lodge: A Vacation Playground for an Excluded Population

By Nancy Finlay The Roaring Twenties are often depicted as an era of hedonistic pleasure-seekers attending extravagant parties at exclusive private clubs and grand hotels. It was also an era…

Artist Roger Tory Peterson, a Champion for the Natural World

…Peterson came along, field guides were largely the work of ornithologists whose highly technical descriptions were only marginally helpful to the small numbers of recreational birders at the time. Suddenly,…

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

…existed in most urban areas by the 1870s. Recreational amenities, too, were highlighted in bird’s-eye views. Paralleling the development of parks in cities, recreation areas, such as Snipsic Lake in…

Pepperidge Farm Opens Bakery – Today in History: July 4

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

Colonial Revival Movement Sought Stability during Time of Change

…with the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official world’s fair in the United States, held in Philadelphia, a city with its own rich colonial past. With displays of…

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…

The 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Flag and Display

…CVI 33-star US “National” flag was presented to the unit March 8, 1864, in Fair Haven, CT – Courtesy of the Connecticut Office of Legislative Management, from the book Qui…

Caleb Brewster and the Culper Spy Ring

…intricacies of the northern Long Island coastline, as well as the 18-mile stretch north to Connecticut, particularly Fairfield and what is now Bridgeport. Benjamin Tallmadge Benjamin Tallmadge, painted by E….

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

…in Fairfield. He established and taught at an academy there that quickly earned a reputation as one of the finest in the region. It was also in Fairfield that Dwight…

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

…of her career, from 1890 to 1903, she used her home in Fair Haven Heights as her medical office. Moody also made house calls to her patients in a horse-drawn…

Early Anti-slavery Advocates in 18th-century Connecticut

…from the Connecticut Society defended them in court. Kidnapping remained a serious threat for African Americans in Connecticut and nowhere more so than in Fairfield County, which was close to…

Education/Instrucción Combats Housing Discrimination

…bridging gaps within the Hartford community to promote unified, multicultural cooperation for the common good. Housing Market Testing Collects Evidence of Bias To expose unfair housing practices in the Hartford…

Bethany: Small-town Perseverance in the Face of Growing Industrialization

…series of popular agricultural fairs. The population steadily grew from 480 in 1930 to 706 in 1940 and 1,318 in 1950. Embracing its residential draw, the town continued to offer…

Creating Candlewood Lake – Today in History: July 15

…Jerusalem on land belonging to the towns of Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford and Sherman. The project also required that 4,500 acres of woodland be hand cleared. Some of…

Brooklyn

…students. Brooklyn was also home to Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam and abolitionist Reverend Samuel May. America’s oldest continuously operating agricultural fair, the Brooklyn Fair, is held to this day….

Durham

…a settlement, Durham was largely a farming community. Every year since 1916, Durham has displayed its agricultural roots at the Durham Fair, the largest volunteer-managed fair in the United States….

Redding

Redding, in Fairfield County, is located in southwestern Connecticut. Incorporated from Fairfield in 1767, the original name of the town was Reading, after John Read. The name was officially changed…

Sarah Kemble Knight’s Journey through Colonial Connecticut

…Further on, at a public house in Fairfield, Ms. Knight was likewise unable to eat the meal prepared for her and went to bed supperless. On being shown to her…

Henry Ward Beecher, a Preacher with Political Clout

…story that accused Beecher of having an extramarital affair with Elizabeth Tilton, wife of Theodore Tilton of The Independent, and a friend of Beecher’s. The accusation first came about in…

Connecticut’s Black Civil War Regiment

…white soldiers. The 29th and 30th regiments were encamped near Fair Haven, and by the end of January, as the regiments’ officers—all of them white—were chosen, daily drills and a…

Senator Oliver Ellsworth’s Judiciary Act

When the United States Senate first convened in 1789, many expected it to be a fairly passive body, similar to the state senates on which it was partly modeled. Aside…

Philip Corbin: Manufacturing A Legacy for New Britain

…made a member of the State Senate. Reminders of the Past: Corbin’s Corners and Corbin Avenue The grave marker of the Philip Corbin family. Fairview cemetery, New Britain – Amy…

P. T. Barnum: An Entertaining Life

…the hands of people.” Taking this philosophy to heart, Barnum won election to the Connecticut Legislature from the town of Fairfield in 1865. He fought for the citizenship of black…

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

…trees in his preliminary drawings. Elms are noted in Canterbury, Cheshire, Ellington, Fairfield, Guilford, Norfolk, Sharon, Somers, Southbury, Windsor, and appear in other towns, most notably in several views of…

The Effects of “Redlining” on the Hartford Metropolitan Region

…were 15 to 20 years old, in fair-good condition, and in a comparable price range. Even the socioeconomic breakdown of the two neighborhoods was close; B-5 had an estimated annual…

Merritt Parkway 1939

As early as 1919 the Connecticut Department of Transportation recognized the need for an alternate road to Route 1 (also known as the Boston Post Road) through Fairfield County. Many…

100 Years of Workers’ Compensation

…from the laissez faire economic theory embraced by industrialists and a majority of the justices on the United States Supreme Court. One of the hallmark examples of the Court’s laissez…

Samuel Colt…and Sewing Machines?

…the tools and techniques of precision manufacturing across Hartford’s burgeoning industries. It was a tight-knit community, filled with overlapping relationships. For example, a former Colt machinist named George Fairfield left…

Ellis Ruley: Art that Celebrated Life

…newly retired Ruley introduced the director to his work, Gualtieri invited the painter to be part of the school’s art fair in December 1952—Ruley’s only exhibit during his lifetime. Gualtieiri…

An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1634-1776

Exploration & Conflict Fairfield Swamp Massacre engraving Bitter conflicts with Connecticut’s native peoples occurred almost immediately. Defeated in a merciless attack on their main village in Mystic in 1637, the…

Bigelow Tea–A Connecticut Tea Party

…caused by the Flood of 1955. Today, R. C. Bigelow Inc. operates out of Fairfield, Connecticut, and is a widely recognized leader in the specialty tea market. Learn More in…

Pepperidge Farm: Healthful Bread Builds a Business

…foods might be exascerbating her son’s asthma. The Fairfield resident and mother of three immediately began poring through old recipe books to teach herself bread making. She used her kitchen…

Weston

An affluent residential town, Weston is home to a large portion of the Lucius Pond Ordway/Devil’s Den Preserve, Fairfield County’s largest tract of protected land. The area retains signs of…

Timothy Dwight Dies – Today in History: January 11

…God.” This contrary view to the dogma of the time gained Dwight national recognition as a preacher in Fairfield. He also became known for establishing Greenfield Academy, a school that…

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

…fighting for the civil rights and fair treatment of her community—from voting rights for women to anti-segregation advocacy to honest wages for Black factory workers and so much more. Founder…

Discovering the Mysterious Identity of the “Kent Limner”

…New York/Massachusetts border). Identifying the “Kent Limner” Helen Nelson at the Kent Street Fair of 1924 – Courtesy of the Kent Historical Society The identity of the “Kent Limner” began…

John Warner Barber’s Engravings Chronicle Connecticut History

…Fair Use. John Warner Barber was born in East Windsor in February 1798. His parents, Elijah and Mary, struggled to make a living on their northern Connecticut farm. After the…

Jonathan Trumbull’s Lebanon War Office: The “Pentagon of the Revolution”

…Lebanon, 1890 – Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, used from through Fair Use and Public Domain A former member of the Connecticut General Assembly, Jonathan Trumbull held the position…

Tell Inclusive Stories | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

Airborne Pioneers: Connecticut Takes Flight

…craft above Charter Oak Park in West Hartford as part of that year’s Connecticut Fair. Similar barnstorming exhibitions were held at the Berlin Fairgrounds in 1912 and at Brainard Field…

Ebenezer Bassett’s Historic Journey

…period, Bassett later said, “My success in life I owe greatly to that American sense of fairness which was tendered me in old Derby, and which exacts that every man…

Race Restrictive Covenants in Property Deeds

…Unfair Realty Practices The Great Migration of black people from the rural South to work in industrial factories in the North increased the minority population in Hartford beginning in the…

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…

Metal Homes for the Atomic Age

…recognition. If you’ve ever come across one of these odd little homes, you’ll know that you’ve met up with your first Lustron—a house that once embodied the fairy-tale promise of…

Clare Boothe Luce Changed Perceptions about Women in Business and Politics

…penning articles for Vogue and later, Vanity Fair (the latter of which she became the managing editor of in 1934). Second Marriage and Success as a Playwright In the autumn…

Financing a Free Puerto Rico: The Great Wells Fargo Heist of 1983

…from all over Connecticut. One of the defendants, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a leader of Los Macheteros, skipped bail because he believed he would not get a fair trial. A jury…

Brass City/Grass Roots: The Pierponts of East Farms

…agriculture, the Connecticut Dairymen’s Association, and the Connecticut Pomological Society. Their apples and livestock routinely won prizes at Connecticut’s agricultural fairs. In the early to mid-20th century, Pierponts were active…

Kalos Society: Connecticut’s First Modern LGBTQ+ Activist Organization

…of their political activism was to obtain equal rights and fair treatment through education of the public. According to Keith Brown, both Bland and Melvin “worked very hard to make…

Ivoryton Playhouse Opens – Today in History: June 17

…in 1911 as a recreation building for employees of the Comstock & Cheney Company, a hugely successful ivory-cutting firm founded in the 1800s, but was no longer being used for…

East Lyme

…railroad came through in 1851 and East Lyme’s shoreline and beaches became attractive places for summer homes and recreation—an attribute the area still retains today. Rocky Neck State Park and…

The Education of Ella Grasso

…met management people and “attended trade union meetings with workers.” In her free time Ella also worked as a volunteer at the Holyoke YWCA planning “educational and recreational projects with…

The Coaster Brake – Today in History: April 9

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

The Cheney Brothers’ Rise in the Silk Industry

…Village. From 1929 to 1933 the company sold their high school building, gas and electric firms, several schools and recreation buildings, the South Manchester Water Company, the South Manchester Sanitary…

Tradition and Transformation Define Hartford’s Jewish Community

…the suburbs. Just as had happened in the past, as the Jewish population moved from one neighborhood to another, the institutions—synagogues, social service agencies, clubs, and recreational facilities—followed them, in…

The Slaters Go Round the World

…York, who took her on her own Grand Tour. Later owners included railroad magnate James J. Hill, who renamed her Wacouta and used her for recreational salmon fishing on the…

Breaking the Myth of the Unmanaged Landscape

…for burial, recreation, and ceremony. The tribes’ continuing challenge has been to meet those needs within the boundaries of a greatly reduced land base and in compliance with complex federal,…

A New Source of Farm Labor Crops Up in Wartime

…of some local high school boys) picked 50,000 quarts of strawberries in Bolton. The ladies then utilized a deserted ice cream parlor for a recreation and dining hall while they…

Bradley Airport’s Military Origins

…base, to house the growing number of surrendering German soldiers in the waning months of the war. The enclosure included a barracks, mess hall, hospital, recreation and study hall, and…

A Busy Airfield in Bethany

…but, instead, local residents found the former-airport’s grounds to be a great place for recreation. Providing open space for hosting horse shows, playing soccer, or driving golf balls, the airport…

A Bird’s-eye View of Moosup

…tenement houses. In addition to providing employment for many local residents and French Canadian immigrants, Aldrich and Milner were responsible for endowing the town’s library and a recreation hall (#8,…

Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company Puts Best Foot Forward

…by the Beacon Falls Centennial Committee, the people of the village also came together through such activities as the community band and a baseball team. For outdoor recreation, they turned…

Farmington’s Hospital Rock Dates Back to 18th-Century Smallpox Inoculation

…In 2002, however, the Connecticut Historical Commission declared Hospital Rock an Historic Archeological Site. It is now part of a popular hiking and recreation area in the town of Farmington….

The Great River: Connecticut’s Main Stream

…Connecticut River Valley, and much of New England, has entered a post-industrial phase, redefining our relationship with the river. Recreational fishing, rowing, and sailing are now enjoying a popular resurgence…

Gifford Pinchot: Bridging Two Eras of National Conservation

…trees in the US. It is dedicated to the memory of native son Pinchot. Steve Grant is a longtime Connecticut journalist specializing in natural science, environmental, and outdoor recreation topics….

“Gentleman’s Farming” Comes to Waterford

…1960. Edward died in 1940 and his children sold the property to the Town of Waterford a little over 20 years later. The estate became part of a town-owned recreation…

Thanksgiving and Christmas at Long Lane, 1874

…pie & cakes was provided, and enjoyed by the girls as only children can enjoy such food. Dinner at – 2 PM. – recreations, games & etc., until 5 PM…

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

…6,800 acres and had mapped topographic and recreational features and catalogued trees on the property. Their work was not without danger, however, as one corpsman was reportedly injured by a…

The Day Four Trains Collided in East Thompson

…rail traffic around the scene. Authorities eventually razed the station facilities in East Thompson and today the rail line serves as a nature trail for hiking and other recreational activities….

The Long, Ambiguous History of Connecticut’s Blue Laws

…in an effort to regulate the populations’ Sunday activities. As a result, many Americans found themselves fined or arrested for working, consuming alcohol, traveling, or partaking in recreational activities on…

Map – Connecticut Landmarks of the Constitution

…structures for recreation and maintenance in Connecticut state parks. They excelled in log construction, hand-forged iron fittings, and rough masonry work using boulders found on site. Among their work here,…

Looking Back: How the Vote Was Won

…including birth control, laws governing child labor, increased spending for hospitals, and improved recreational facilities for immigrants. She is little known today for more than having a daughter of the…

Continuity and Change along the Eightmile River

…more recent times, the Eightmile River is prized for its role in sustaining local ecosystems and the respite that it provides to those seeking scenic vistas and recreation, such as…

Saddles Fit For a Shah

…duty. When the World War I ended, however, production sharply dropped. Smith-Worthington retooled, scaled back production, and refocused its energy on making saddles—catering to recreational horse riders—while gingerly branching out…

The Wallingford Oneida Community

…side of town in 1851 on farmland donated by Henry and Emily Allen, also became a recreational and educational retreat for its members. It had a small population during its…

Rivers of Outrage

…followed suit, particularly in the Naugatuck Valley. A sea of change occurred during the Progressive Era. The press and public opinion, dismayed by the compromise of recreational opportunities and the…

Brass City/Grass Roots: From Farmers to Developers: The Rasmussens of Town Plot

…hilly and swampy area provided a life that intertwined work and recreation. Water flowing down surrounding hills fed a pond for swimming in summer and ice in winter to keep…

Middletown’s Arrawanna Bridge

…John W. Paton, Middletown Mayor Anthony Sbona wrote to state transportation Commissioner Joseph B. Burns, asking to preserve the bridge, scheduled for demolition, because of historic and recreational value. Although…

Larry Kramer: Gay Rights and HIV/AIDS Activism

…denounced promiscuous sex and recreational drug use. The book was originally condemned because of the recent growth of the gay liberation movement and its negative portrayal of New York City’s…

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

…was billed as “a fairy wedding,” perhaps because there was something magical, to the public, about these child-sized adults having an all-out celebrity wedding. In an era when physical oddities…

Flying High with Early Dirigible

…the viewer, the fun-house mirror was once a classic feature of carnivals and fairs. By several accounts, Ritchel died in Bridgeport in 1911, and despite his many inventions, was impoverished…

The Connecticut Compromise – Today in History: July 16

…should be based proportionally on the contribution each state made to the nation’s finances and defense, and the smaller states believed that the only fair plan was one of equal…

The Charter Oak Fell – Today in History: August 21

…great-grandchildren of the Charter Oak exist all over the state of Connecticut. These relatives can be seen in places like Bushnell Park in Hartford and Fairview Cemetery in New Britain….

Danbury

Danbury, in Fairfield County, is located in southwest Connecticut, on the Still River. It was named in 1687, incorporated in 1702, and chartered as a city in 1889. During the…

Greenwich

The town of Greenwich, located in Fairfield County, is at the southernmost and westernmost tip of Connecticut—between Stamford and New York City. In 1640, founding families purchased the land in…

Ridgefield

The town of Ridgefield, located in Fairfield County, is in the southwestern portion of Connecticut and borders the state of New York to its west. Founded in 1708 by colonists…

Shelton

Shelton, in Fairfield County, is located in western Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. Settled in 1639 as part of the town of Stratford, the area…

Stamford

The city of Stamford, located in Fairfield County at the southwestern tip of the state, is the fourth-largest city in Connecticut and is considered a part of the Greater New…

The Industrial Might of Connecticut Pegmatite

…species were discovered in a quarry in the Branchville section of Redding that was being mined for mica and feldspar. The mine owner sent these minerals—dickensonite, eosphorite, fairfieldite, fillowite, lithiophylite,…

Connecticut’s Mulberry Craze

…the nation’s most influential newspapers of its time, reported that at one agricultural fair more than 70,000 mulberry trees had been entered for various prizes. As the 1830s progressed prices…

Enfield’s Shaker Legacy

…his companions were served: “Everything was of the most genuine and substantial make. The bread, and cake, and cheese would have taken premiums at a county fair; and they also…

Steam Railroads Transform Connecticut Travel and Commerce

…wooden railroad bridges were built as covered spans to increase their useful lives. One of the more unusual was to be seen in Fair Haven, where trains on the Shore…

Brookfield

The town of Brookfield is located in the Housatonic Valley region of Fairfield County near the New York border. Incorporated in 1788, the town was formed from parts of New…

Bethel

Set in hilly terrain, the town of Bethel in Fairfield County lies near Connecticut’s border with New York. Settled as part of Danbury in 1685, the parish of Bethel, which…

Bridgeport

The city of Bridgeport is located in Fairfield County in the southern part of the state on the Long Island Sound. It is Connecticut’s most populous city. Settled in the…

Darien

Located in lower Fairfield County on Long Island Sound, Darien, which incorporated in 1820, was originally the Middlesex Parish area of Stamford. Coastal trading and agriculture supported the early community;…

Monroe

The town of Monroe is located in the eastern region of Fairfield County in southern Connecticut. Originally part of Stratford, it was included in the “White Hills Purchase” that transferred…

Norwalk

The city of Norwalk, located in Fairfield County, is in the southernmost part of the state on the Long Island Sound. Settlers from Massachusetts purchased the land in two separate…

Sherman

The northernmost town in Fairfield County, Sherman shares its western border with New York State. Incorporated in 1802, the town took its name from founding father Roger Sherman. Early industry…

Elihu Burritt Born – Today in History: December 8

…in Skibbereen, a pamphlet outlining the devastating potato famine in Ireland. Elihu Burritt is buried in New Britain’s Fairview Cemetery and the library on the campus of Central Connecticut State…

29th Connecticut Colored Infantry Regiment

…the 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Through the remaining months of 1863, African American men from across the state poured into the training camp in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New…

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

…visit several islands to sell the entire cargo. A profitable voyage depended on unknown market conditions, speed of delivery, local contacts, safe passage through often-fierce storms, fair prices, and reputable…

Ivory Cutting: The Rise and Decline of a Connecticut Industry

…ca. 1900 – Ivoryton Library Association and the Treasures of Connecticut Libraries Tusks on a Fairbanks scale, Africa, ca. 1910 – E.D. Moore Collection, Ivoryton Library Association and the Treasures…

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

…Most of the men joined the regiment in the last three months of the year when the volunteers were encamped in the Fair Haven section of New Haven. By January…

Little Sorrel, Connecticut’s Confederate War Horse

…then the Confederate Soldiers Home at Richmond’s Robert E. Lee Camp. After years of making appearances at county fairs and Confederate soldiers’ reunions, Little Sorrel passed away in March of…

Raise a Glass to Winemaking in Connecticut

…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 best in…

Hartford’s Nook Farm

…affair with the city, a banking and insurance center that was one of the wealthiest towns in the United States. The writer stayed with John and Isabella Hooker, whom he…

Helen Keller Dies – Today in History: June 1

…Fairfield County for almost 30 years in a house she called Arcan Ridge. In 1946 the home, with all its contents and many of her personal papers, burned while she…

Work

…child labor, the length of work days, the safety of work environments, and minimum and fair wages for the state’s workforce. Laborers, themselves, were instrumental in agitating for such changes….

Ferry Boats a Way of Life in Early Connecticut

…11 well-used ferry crossings. These were located on the Connecticut River at Windsor, Hartford, Wethersfield, Haddam, and Old Saybrook; the Saugatuck in Fairfield; the Housatonic in Stratford; the Quinnipiac in…

The Smith Sisters, Their Cows, and Women’s Rights in Glastonbury

…The sisters came to national attention when they refused to pay what they regarded as an unfair land assessment and, as a result, saw the tax collector seize seven of…

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918

…masks to cover their noses and mouths while attending public gatherings. By the first week of October, local officials in several communities had cancelled fairs, football games, and theater performances….

Labor Day at the Turn of the 20th Century

…Day had become a much grander affair and an occasion for family fun. In addition to a parade, Hartford boasted festivities in Colt Park. In 1913, for example, organizers of…

The Lebanon Grange Followed a Different Tune than National Movement

…events such as the town’s first agricultural fairs in the 1860s. Thus, the Grange movement found a ready base within Lebanon. In March of 1884, the Club invited a Grange…

Establishing Roots in Oxford

…their labor at local agricultural fairs. It was also around this time that the grange movement took hold in the United States. The grange movement began when President Andrew Johnson…

Connecticut Lawyer Prosecutes Nazi War Criminals at Nuremberg

…wartime actions while also endeavoring to uphold their rights to a fair trial. Dodd, as the second-ranking lawyer for the US prosecution, supervised the team’s day-to-day management. He, along with…

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

…read to her younger siblings and as she progressed to reading folk and fairy tales, the English classics, and the stories from Greek, Roman, and European literary traditions. She wrote…

Connecticut Arms the Union

…a fair profit on them.” Metaphorically beating plowshares into swords, the company drew on its considerable expertise in metallurgy, forging, drawing, grinding, sharpening, and polishing to immediately and seamlessly go…

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

At the break of dawn on December 14, 1807, a meteoroid exploded over Fairfield County. Shards of rock were witnessed to have fallen from the sky in Weston and a…

Exploring Early Connecticut Mapmaking

…the way. Kristen N. Keegan is an adjunct professor at Fairfield University and a PhD candidate in geography at the University of Connecticut. William F. Keegan is an independent scholar…

Laboring in the Shade

…more strenuously for reform and fair labor practices than the students ever would. Child labor (employing children as young as eight), which became an increasing problem in the 1940s, was…

Site Lines: Fortresses of Faith, Agents of Change

…worship, discuss issues, and hold meetings. Issues of great importance to these congregations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries included suffrage, lynching, the Ku Klux Klan, and access to fair…

Connecticut’s Naval Contributions to the Civil War

…– Mystic Seaport and Connecticut History Illustrated Although Mystic led the way in Connecticut shipbuilding, many other shipyards in the state added to the sometimes-frenetic production. Shipyards at Fair Haven,…

The Unsteady Meaning of “The Land of Steady Habits”

…stand for—or has been used as a foil against—a remarkable list of subjects: Whig principles (for); blue laws (against); locofocoism (radical Jacksonian Democrats against monopoly and for laissez-faire economics; against);…

The Most Famous American in the World

…widely published and the volumes themselves exhibited at the Boston Antislavery Fair. Problems with Traveling Abroad A popular souvenir print of Stowe sold in England, 1861 As Stowe and her…

Nathaniel Lyon: Colorful Commander from Connecticut

…in the Seminole and Mexican Wars, against American Indians in various western posts, and against Missouri border “ruffians” in the Bleeding Kansas affair. On the eve of the Civil War,…

The Sole of New Canaan’s Shoe Industry

…Benedict from History of Fairfield County, Connecticut with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers Prior to the Civil War and the growth of machine stitching, little…

Connecticut Takes the Wheel on Education Reform: Project Concern

…In spite of the documented gains, Project Concern also received its fair share of criticism. Some argued that the one-way busing program did not produce true or lasting integration. In…

New London’s Indian Mariners

…or “Negro” and in categories typically associated with European ancestry such as “fair” and “light.” Further complicating this picture is the inconsistency with which many individuals were perceived and labeled….

Nancy Toney’s Lifetime in Slavery

…to Reverend Andrew Eliot, minister of the First Congregational Church in Fairfield (then called Christ’s Church). Her father, Toney, belonged to Jeremiah Sherwood in nearby Green Farms. Church records show…

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…

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

…groups such as “Banish All Tolls” began pressuring the legislature. The tolls were seen as an unfair barrier to commuters; they wasted gas, caused congestion, and created noise and hazardous…

The Bryan-Andrew House: Still Standing After All These Years

…Fairlea Farms, a dairy enterprise, and the company used the building to house several of its employees. Thirty years later, developers subdivided the farm and the home began a transition…

A World in Motion: Artist and Sculptor Alexander Calder

…several months. While staying in Paris, Calder created Mercury Fountain for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair, where it was displayed in front of Pablo Picasso’s famous protest…

Health Department Fights Unseen Enemies During World War I

…schools were vaccinated as a precaution. People were asked to wear face masks, to carefully dispose of handkerchiefs, to not spit in public places, and, finally, “be fair to others.”…

Wallingford Native Son Signed the Declaration of Independence

…became ordained as a minister. Hall’s short-lived career as preacher began in Fairfield in 1749, but he soon abandoned the ministry, undertook an apprenticeship in medicine, and returned to Wallingford…

Rising Tide: Steamboat Workers on the Connecticut River

…promptly went on strike to win their fair share, too. Steve Thornton has been a labor union organizer for 35 years and writes on the history of working people. This…

Women Win the Right to Vote

…women argued that equal participation in government was a natural right, and they showed interest in a wide range of issues including child labor, prostitution, political corruption, and fair work…

New Connecticut on Lake Erie: Connecticut’s Western Reserve

…British burned Fairfield, Danbury, and New London in the Revolution and was known as the Firelands. The State sold the eastern portion of the Reserve to the Connecticut Land Company….

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

…the country through places such as grocery stores, school assemblies, carnivals, and state fairs with the Quaker Oats Company. In 1955, she was awarded for Outstanding Accomplishments in the Sales…

Mohegan Sacred Sites: Moshup’s Rock

…an MA in history from the University of Connecticut Connecticut and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University; she has authored several books, including Medicine Trail: The Life and…

Mohegan Federal Recognition

…in history from the University of Connecticut Connecticut and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University; she has authored several books, including Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of…

The Story Trail of Voices

…holds an MA in history from the University of Connecticut Connecticut and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University; she has authored several books, including Medicine Trail: The Life…

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

…but so well judged the efforts which he put forth that he is fairly entitled to a large share of the credit. Karen Frederick, Curator and Exhibitions Coordinator, and Anne…

Cornelius Bushnell and His Ironclad Ship

…Include USS Monitor The navy approved three designs for construction, one submitted by Bushnell (now the operator of a shipyard in the Fair Haven section of New Haven). Bushnell’s ship,…

Frank Duryea Drives the First Automobile in Connecticut

…In 1886, Frank’s brother, Charles, witnessed the operation of a gasoline engine at the Ohio State Fair and began designing an engine of his own. Over the next 7 years…

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…

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

…allowed to live, were still run out of the colony, and in the early 1660s Hartford hanged more than its fair share of witches. And as Connecticut grew, people still…

Union Brew

…beer was upset that a scab would now be handling his horses. And the beer workers decided that any pre-strike beer was “unfair” and should not be bought. This put…

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…

Actress Gwen Reed Best Remembered for Dedication to Childhood Literacy

…stereotype in American culture. From 1946 until 1964, Reed traveled promoting the brand at pancake festivals, grocery stores, state fairs, and school assemblies. In the many newspaper clippings of her…

A Valley Flooded to Slake the Capital Region’s Thirst

…had a fairly large feed and grain department and housed the local post office. When they started out in 1918, the LeGeyt family lived over the store, but a few…

Benjamin Silliman and the Collection That Inspired the Yale Peabody Museum

In early July of 1779, a pregnant Mary Silliman watched from her home as British troops landed in Fairfield, Connecticut. Having recently lost her husband, a militia general, to capture…

Timeline: Settlement of the Colony of Connecticut

…Davenport, Theophilus Eaton, and a group of fellow Puritans. 1639 The towns of Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor adopt the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. Settlers establish the towns of Fairfield, Guilford,…

Workers at the Colt Armory, Hartford 1867

…with gold. These pieces consistently won prizes in international trade fairs, and were often presented to notable world personalities. During the Civil War, Colt Firearms officially supplied only the Union…

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

…town of Hannibal‚ Missouri‚ on the banks of the Mississippi River. Missouri, at the time‚ was a fairly new state (it had gained statehood in 1821) and comprised part of…

One Powerful Family in Bozrah

…to all the homes and farms in the surrounding area. The operation of BL&P began strictly as a family affair with a focus on providing exemplary service to the local…

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….

A Metal Giant in Wilton

…the Statue of Liberty, Lynch further enhanced his reputation by fabricating pieces for display at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. Turning Metalworking into Commercial Success Lynch released his…

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

…these items gave designers and craftsmen plentiful opportunities to demonstrate their skill. Products of the Meriden Britannia Company received premiums at the American Institute Fairs in 1873, 1874, and 1875,…

Hamilton Wrecks Aeroplane – Today in History: April 22

…to one side and crashed. Hamilton, who had just recently recuperated from a serious crash at the California State Fair in Sacramento in September and an illness after a brief…

The Colt Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company

…displays of Western heroism, and also by designing rich ornamental pieces for display at international fairs. It was a strategy that proved very successful. Elizabeth Colt Takes Charge By the…

A Memorial to General Hawley at the State Capitol

…without distinction of race or color. These things were fairly won.” Recognizing the power of elected office, Hawley sought and won a seat in Congress, first as a representative and…

Patents – Stafford’s Inventive Minds

…growth of the state’s business and industry, further contributing to the broader national economy. Stafford Ethan S. Chapin, Fire-Arm Lock Patent Number 274 July 17, 1837 Elijah Fairman, Power-Loom Patent…

Connecticut in the French and Indian War

…the New London Summary, also known as the Weekly Advertiser, started publication in August 1758, also as a vehicle for war reporting. Because enlistments were an annual affair and many…

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

…reparations for slavery, the end of police brutality against black people, the release of black prisoners from jails, fair trials, and black nationalism. In practice, the Panthers focused much of…

Washington’s Sister Susie Society

…Susie Society’s second fundraiser fair on the Washington Green, August 16, 1917 – Gunn Memorial Museum In total, the Sister Susie Society raised in excess of $3,500 to aid the…

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

…The decorative terra-cotta panel that he created illustrated “The Tinder Box,” a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen in which three gigantic dogs help a poor soldier to overcome his…

Connecticut’s Loyal Subjects: Toryism and the American Revolution

…50, of whom about 2,000 identified themselves as Tories. Nowhere was the presence of these individuals stronger than in the southwestern portion of the state, particularly in Fairfield County. Elkanah…

A 1947 Movie Details the Unsolved Murder of a Bridgeport Priest

…he owned a .32 caliber revolver. Israel eventually confessed to the crime. Homer Cummings Shocks the Court Homer Cummings, State Attorney for Fairfield County, later stated that the case against…

Connecticut’s Black Governors

…several black governors in the state. The election of black governors was a formal affair with meetings, dinners, and a parade complete with dress clothes provided by white masters. Some…

Evelyn Beatrice Longman Commemorates the Working Class

…work appeared at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, she became the only artist for whom Thomas Edison agreed to sit, and around 1920, she began a commission to work…

The American Brass Company: Leading the Way in the “Brass Valley”

…conditions, a fair degree of solidarity existed between workers, solidarity that, during strikes for example, transcended the differences between the many ethnic nationalities employed at ABC. Signing Contract Between The…

The Burning of Danbury

…Selleck Silliman, the commanding militia general in nearby Fairfield, learned of the British invasion almost immediately, but failed to assemble enough men to move forward before early the next morning….

Child Labor in Connecticut

…House of Representatives, Roosevelt’s later appeal passed and eventually formed a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. In addition to the introduction of the 40-hour work week,…

The Hartford Wheel Club: Disparity in the Gilded Age

…the Wheel Club members regularly dined on steak and champagne, but for this meal they were only offered hardtack, dried herring, cold pork, and cider. The Wheel Club affair could…

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

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

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

…Not speaking would be fairly typical, but nothing in Ralph Earl‘s portrait of Mariann Wolcott conveys silence. Earl’s likeness of Wolcott suggests an easy rapport and admiring respect. In the…

Waterbury Clock Company Saved by Mickey Mouse – Who Knew?

…World’s Fair and on the first day of sales at Macy’s the store sold 11,000 of these highly sought-after watches. The 1933 Sears Christmas Book also offered the watch and…

The Bull Moose Party in Connecticut

…arrived by train at Hartford’s Union Station to deliver an address at the Connecticut State Fair in Charter Oak Park. He was greeted by huge crowds in Hartford as well…

The White Plague: Progressive-Era Tuberculosis Treatments in Connecticut

…the Fairfield County Sanatorium in Shelton were all established in 1910; the New London County Sanatorium in Norwich opened in 1913. Hartford Hospital operated Wildwood Sanatorium on Cedar Mountain and…

Connecticut Pocketknife Firms

…notably, this company won awards at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876, the Paris World’s Fair in 1878, and the Columbian Exhibition in 1893 in Chicago for its trade-marked “UN-X-LD”…

An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1776-1818

The General Assembly Wages War Loyalists were numerous in Connecticut, especially in Fairfield County, and posed a real threat to the war effort. The General Assembly responded with laws punishing…

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

…before entering politics. A leading Fairfield County Democrat, he served as a state representative (1903-1904), a state senator (1905-1909), a United States congressman (1913-1914) and the mayor of Norwalk (1917-1921)….

An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1929-1964

…jobs brought over 18,000 African Americans to Connecticut. In 1947, the legislature outlawed hiring discrimination, but fairness in education and housing remained elusive. African Americans settled almost exclusively in the…

An Orderly & Decent Government: A Co-Equal Branch of Government, 1965-Now

…in the late 1980s intensified long-standing debates over the adequacy and fairness of state financing. Finally, in a historic session in 1991, the General Assembly adopted a state income tax…

An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1965-Now

…long dissatisfied with Connecticut’s unbalanced and often paralyzed political process, the League of Women Voters sued the state in federal court. The court found Connecticut’s system grossly unfair and ordered…

Senator Brandegee Stonewalls Women’s Suffrage

…fairly reclusive in his private life, Brandegee was known as a skilled debater on the Senate floor and a fierce opponent of progressive legislation. This included opposition to federal anti-child-labor…

Connecticut’s First Municipal Electric Utility

…in Hartford in 1882 when a private electrical generating plant began operating. Meanwhile, the first municipal electric plant in the nation opened in Fairfield, Iowa in the same year. Article…

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…

Easton

This Fairfield County town is located near the New York border and close to the Long Island Sound. First settled in 1757, it was not until 1845 that Easton separated…

Harwinton

…Hopkins and Augustus Alfred, Harwinton’s businesses included producers of barrels, brick, tinware, and other goods. Today, the annual Harwinton Fair, established in 1853, honors the town’s agricultural past and present….

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…

Stratford

Located on Long Island Sound, the Fairfield County town of Stratford is bounded by the Housatonic River on its eastern border. Europeans settled the area known as Cupheag, or harbor,…

Wilton

The town of Wilton is located in Fairfield County in the southwestern portion of the state known as the Norwalk River Valley. In 1802 the General Assembly declared Wilton a…

Westport

The Fairfield County town of Westport is located in the southern part of the state on the Long Island Sound. The first white settlers to the area were farming families,…

Trumbull

The town of Trumbull is located in Fairfield County in the southwestern part of the state near the Long Island Sound. Settled in 1639 as part of the town of…

Revolutionary War

…tens of thousands of troops to the Continental army. While largely spared from British occupation and major battles, Connecticut still experienced British raids and town burnings—most notably in Danbury, Fairfield,…

Death and Mourning in the Civil War Era

…very public affair. For the Connecticut families that could afford to travel to recover their dead, the trip was often stressful. One Connecticut father remarked to a local newspaper that…

Looking Back: the First “Aero Planes”

…the air floating in hot-air balloons and parachute jumping at circuses and fairs. He made the first public flight in Connecticut, which was witnessed by an estimated 50,000 people in…

A Tale of Shad, the State Fish

…staffers and video cameras provide a fairly accurate count of adult shad returning to spawn. In 2004, the river shad estimate was only about 351,000 (192,000 passed Holyoke). Since then,…

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

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

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

…fair. Unfortunately, the Patent Office found the term lollipop used in an English dictionary published in the early 1800s, where it was described as “a hard sweetmeat sometimes on a…

Chief G’tinemong/Ralph W. Sturges

…history from the University of Connecticut Connecticut and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University; she has authored several books, including Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys…

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

…was billed as “a fairy wedding,” perhaps because there was something magical, to the public, about these child-sized adults having an all-out celebrity wedding. In an era when physical oddities…

Rosamond Danielson: Windham County Suffragist and Community Leader

…Connecticut’s voters—and served as a member of the Putnam Republican Town Committee. She joined the women’s section of the state’s Fair Price Committee to decrease the cost of essential goods,…

Votes for A Woman: Sara Buek Crawford

…one-quarter of the seats; of these, seven represented Fairfield County, historically a pro-suffrage stronghold. The path to Crawford’s own notable local victory had been primed in 1922 by Ann Boylan…

Hartford’s Les Payne, Trailblazing Journalist

…got fair opportunities for promotion. Payne himself was eventually promoted to editor. “He has a perfect sense of equality,” said Murray Kempton, the legendary New York journalist who worked with…

USS Confederacy: The Life and Service of Connecticut’s Continental Frigate

…cruise of the West Indies together with the Continental ships Deane, Saratoga, American privateer Fair American, and the French naval brig Cat. This cruise yielded the capture of the British…

The Connecticut Valley Authority That Never Was

…there should be a fairly unanimous sentiment in the area affected,” including the need for support in all four states on the Connecticut River. Sentiment was indeed against the bill…

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

…unfair criticism from whites about supposed alcoholic tendencies. Despite it all, Beman knew, as he stated during an 1839 address in Hartford, that “the day will come, when we shall…

Beechmont Dairy: Bridgeport’s Ice Cream to Die For

…roots, opened a restaurant in Fairfield—just a half mile away across the town line. Marsh Dairy did not offer any food other than ice cream and, like Beechmont, its ice…

Brass City/Grass Roots: Struggles and Decline

…David Perrier, click to enlarge Local food production was part of Waterbury daily life until fairly recently. City residents expected locally available fresh eggs, meat, milk, and vegetables. Not until…

Moses Wheeler: Legendary Housatonic Ferryman

…River—desired ferry service between the small communities of Stratford and Milford. In 1648, the General Court in Fairfield granted Wheeler, who had already built his own ferry, a contract to…

The Connecticut Houses that Ended Up in Massachusetts

…miles away, Thompson’s Makers Fair has a booth that is loosely based on the bank’s structure—an homage to the town’s lost history. McClellan Law Office McClellan Law Office in Woodstock…

Willimantic’s American Thread Plant–A Multinational Corporate Takeover

…disruptions. In 1912, workers protested unfair wage increases in a successful strike led by Industrial Workers of the World organizers. Then, in 1914, a federal anti-trust suit forced the American…

Alexander Calder and Making Art Political

…Shepard Fairey’s iconic Hope poster was pivotal to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign brand. Calder and his contemporaries paved the way for future artists to get involved in political campaigns…

Connecticut’s French Connections

…of the United States, Lafayette—the last surviving major general from the American Revolution—made stops in Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield, New Haven, Old Saybrook, Tolland, Hartford, and Middletown. French Descendant…

Alan L. Hart: Pioneer in Medicine and Transgender History

…at the event of his death to destroy certain documentation of his life (including letters and photographs), a fair amount of historical sources about Hart’s life—both in his own words…

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

…the time she was a little girl. Listening to her grandfather read fairy tales interspersed with details of current events and news stories, she developed a love for language and…

Army-Navy “E” Award Honors Connecticut for Support Against the Axis Powers

…facilities.” Other factors included: overcoming of production obstacles, avoidance of stoppages, maintenance of fair labor standards, training of additional labor forces, effective management, record on accidents, health sanitation, plant protection,…

Ridgefield’s Keeler Tavern

…Tryon’s return march to Long Island Sound and, along with Brigadier General Gold Selleck Silliman, commander of the militia from Fairfield, took up positions en route to Ridgefield with roughly…

Sarah Harris Fayerweather

…a “G. Fairweather” – J.C. Sidney, American Geographical Society Library, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries. Used through Public Domain. By time of the school’s closure, Sarah Harris had married George Fayerweather,…

Reusing ConnecticutHistory.org Content

…from one of our partners, or otherwise usable through copyright fair use principles. We are in the process of improving the captions and attributions on all the images we use….

Content Takedown Policy

…permission from one of our partners, or otherwise usable through copyright fair use principles. When reusing images, we aim to provide proper attribution and, if possible, link back to the…