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Drawing (on) the Connecticut Landscape: Benjamin Hutchins Coe Teaches Americans the Democratic Art
Benjamin Hutchins Coe helped teach Americans how to draw through the publication of numerous art manuals, many focused on Connecticut-inspired landscapes.
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Amy Johnson: A Mohegan Woman Who Survived Colonialism
Amy Johnson was a Mohegan woman who resisted living the life European settlers wanted her to live.
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New Haven’s Long Wharf
From the 17th through the 19th centuries, the economic prosperity of New Haven significantly depended upon Long Wharf.
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How the Wobblies Won Free Speech
Denied the right to free assembly in public spaces, Connecticut workers joined in a larger national movement of civil disobedience.
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Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut – Today in History: November 1
On November 1, 1961, Estelle Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton opened the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut in New Haven.
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Past Hallowe’en Pranks Bemused Some and Frustrated Others
Jack o’ lanterns, witches, and ghosts—many of the holiday staples that we still associate with Halloween were familiar to Connecticut residents in the early 1900s.
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The White Plague: Progressive-Era Tuberculosis Treatments in Connecticut
Treatments for tuberculosis included everything from exposure to extremes in temperature to regimens involving access to the outdoors.
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West Indians in Hartford
A significant wave of immigration to the United States from the West Indies began in the 1940s, spurred by labor shortages during World War II.
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Yung Wing’s Dream: The Chinese Educational Mission, 1872-1881
In all, 120 Chinese students came to live and study in New England. When they returned home, they served as diplomats, engineers, naval officers, physicians, educators, administrators, and magistrates.
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Caleb Brewster: A Patriot Against Freedom
Caleb Brewster—Fairfield, Connecticut’s resident member of the Culper Spy Ring during the Revolutionary War—was also an active participant in the African Slave Trade.
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Yale University Art Gallery – Today in History: October 25
Also known as the Picture Gallery, the Trumbull Gallery holds the distinction of being the first art museum at an educational institution in the United States.
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A Memorial to General Hawley at the State Capitol
Although not a native of Connecticut, one would be hard pressed to find a man more committed to the people of Connecticut than Joseph Roswell Hawley. He became Brigadier General of the 1st Connecticut Infantry during the Civil War and served the state as both a senator and as Connecticut’s 42nd governor. Within months of his death, the Connecticut legislature authorized construction of a memorial in his honor.
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Old Saybrook Faces Down Threats to Its Water Supply
Shallow waterways and shifting sandbars made water navigation hazardous and prevented Old Saybrook from ever becoming a major port city.
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Notorious New-Gate Prison
A failed Simsbury copper mine is now a national historic landmark in East Granby.
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A Celebrated Artist and a Meaningful Space – Today in History: October 20
The Danbury Museum & Historical Society’s Huntington Hall honors the memory of a famed US sculptor, Anna Hyatt Huntington.
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A Revolutionary Book Designer: Bruce Rogers of New Fairfield
Bruce Rogers was a book designer who settled in New Fairfield. Considered one of the great typographers of his time, his masterpiece was the 1936 Oxford Lectern Bible.
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Map – Rochambeau’s Camp at Canterbury
This map, “Camp à Contorbery, le 7 Novembre, 10 milles de Windham,” is a page from the manuscript atlas Amérique Campagne 1782.
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Late 19th-Century Immigration in Connecticut
Immigration to Connecticut in the second half of the 19th century proceeded much as it had in earlier decades.
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Goshen’s Asaph Hall Becomes an Astronomical Success
Credited with discovering the moons orbiting the planet Mars, Asaph Hall became an international science celebrity in the 19th century.
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Byram River Flood – Today in History: October 15
A few minutes before 11:00 pm on October 15, 1955, Greenwich officials pulled the alarm signal and declared a state of emergency.
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The Storied History behind Connecticut’s Nicknames
Though Connecticut’s official nickname is the “Constitution State,” it has been known by many names throughout the centuries.
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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.
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Reckoning with the Dutch: the Treaty of Hartford, 1650
Hartford place names, such as Dutch Point, Huyshope Avenue, and Adriaen’s Landing, are reminders of a time when Connecticut was part of New Netherlands.
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Timothy Dwight Provides Religious, Military, and Educational Services for a Young Country
Timothy Dwight was an influential preacher, poet, and educator who served as a chaplain during the Revolutionary War and later as the president of Yale College.
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Calder’s Stegosaurus Dedicated – Today in History: October 10
On October 10, 1973, Alexander Calder’s sculpture, Stegosaurus, was dedicated in Hartford.
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The Great Danbury State Fair & Early 20th-Century Outdoor Advertising
In 1909, the Danbury Agricultural Society called attention to its upcoming fair in a most creative manner.
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Rising Tide: Steamboat Workers on the Connecticut River
For the deck hands, stevedores, and firemen who made the steamboats of the Hartford Line run, 18-hour days, dangerous conditions, and lousy food were the norm.
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Typing History
Home to companies such as Royal and Underwood, Connecticut became an important manufacturing center for typewriters in the early 20th century.
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Mighty, Mighty Hartford
In October of 1908, Hartford celebrated the opening of the Bulkeley Bridge, which connected Hartford and East Hartford, with a three-day extravaganza.
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Connecticut Origins Shape New Light Luminary Jonathan Edwards
One of the most significant religious figures in US history, this theologian, philosopher, pastor, revivalist, educator, and missionary spent his formative years in Connecticut.
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Unveiling of the Grant Memorial Tablet – Today in History: October 4
On October 4, 1916, the Ulysses Simpson Grant Memorial Tablet was officially unveiled in the north lobby of the Connecticut State Capitol building in Hartford.
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The Whitney Armory Helps Progress in Hamden
Eli Whitney later established an armory in Hamden that not only produced weapons for the US government during the early 19th century but also contributed to the evolution of mass-produced firearms.
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American Architect Ithiel Town Born – Today in History: October 3
On October 3, 1784, prominent American architect and engineer Ithiel Town was born in Thompson.
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BF Clyde and the Steam-powered Cider Mill – Who Knew?
In 1881, Connecticut resident Benjamin F. Clyde began producing and selling cider in Mystic.
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Site Lines: Monuments to Connecticut’s Lost County Government
County government operated in Connecticut in one form or another for nearly 300 years before the state abolished it in 1960.
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Winning the Great War without Some Books
In April 1918, Governor Holcomb designated English as the only language to be used in teaching and prohibited schools from employing “alien enemies.”
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Mariann Wolcott and Ralph Earl – Opposites Come Together and Make History
The story of Mariann Wolcott and Ralph Earl captures much of the complexity the Revolutionary War brought to the lives and interactions of ordinary citizens.
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Site Lines: Connecticut’s Freedom Trail
Sites along the Connecticut Freedom Trail mark key events in the quest to achieve freedom and social equality for African Americans in the state.
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Evelyn Beatrice Longman Commemorates the Working Class
“Industry,” also known as “The Craftsman,” by Evelyn Longman, resides in Hartford and is a celebration of the working class and their contribution to society.
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When the NFL Played in Connecticut: The Hartford Blues
In 1926, the Hartford Blues became the first and only NFL team to call Connecticut home. After a disappointing season, the NFL voted them out of the league.
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A Monument Memorializes the Fallen
In front of the state capitol is a mortar commemorating the service of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery Regiment. The mortar may or may not be the original “Petersburg Express” used at the famous siege of Petersburg, Virginia, during the Civil War.
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1938 Hurricane Fuels Charcoal Business – Who Knew?
The hurricane of 1938, which devastated the Quinebaug Forest, ended up driving the development of the charcoal industry in Union.
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Walt Dropo Stars Throughout New England
Few major league baseball players had rookie seasons as good as Walt Dropo’s while playing for the Boston Red Sox in 1950.
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Nathan Hale Hanged in New York – Today in History: September 22
On September 22, 1776, the British hanged Revolutionary War soldier Nathan Hale, a school teacher from Coventry, Connecticut, for spying.
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William Eaton, a Peace Democrat and Civil War Opponent
This 19th century Connecticut politician took a controversial stand against a war that would divide the Union and decrease states’ rights.
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Thomas Hooker: Connecticut’s Founding Father
A powerful and popular preacher, Thomas Hooker led a group of Puritans out of Massachusetts in 1636 to settle new lands that eventually became the city of Hartford.
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Art Young, Radical Cartoonist
One of the more controversial cartoonists of the early 20th century, Art Young lived much of his life in Bethel. Residents later founded the Art Young Gallery in his memory.
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The Rise of the Black Panther Party in Connecticut
The Black Panther Party in Connecticut fought for an end to discriminatory legal and regulatory practices, often clashing with authorities to achieve their goals.
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Remembering Civil War Prisoners of War
Outside the Connecticut State Capitol building in Hartford stands a monument to the Connecticut prisoners retained at the Andersonville Prison during the Civil War.
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Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch – Today in History: September 17
In 1886, the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch was dedicated to honor the 4,000 Hartford residents who served, and the nearly 400 who died, in the Civil War.
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