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Connecticut’s Early Commercial Banks
After observing the financial success of commercial banks in Boston and New York City, wealthy elites in Connecticut pressured the Connecticut General Assembly to grant charters for privately owned commercial banks in Hartford, New Haven, and New London in 1792.
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The Great Wallingford Tornado – Today in History: August 9
On August 9, 1878, a tornado swept from west to east across the northern part of Wallingford.
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Hidden Nearby: The Bantam Lake Ice House
Bantam Lake served a vital function as a supplier of ice that local residents used to preserve food when temperatures began to rise.
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Home Missionary Society’s First Missionary – Today in History: August 7
On August 7, 1800, David Bacon, a native of Woodstock and a minister with the Home Missionary Society of Connecticut, set out on foot for the then far lands of the West.
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Orange Seeds Yield Corn, Alfafa, Soy, and More
The antecedents of many of today’s most widely utilized crop seeds can trace their lineage back to a company started by the Clark family in Orange, Connecticut.
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Washington’s Sister Susie Society
The Sister Susie Society in Washington, Connecticut, started out as a reading circle but became a fundraising and World War I relief organization.
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The Danbury Hatters
References to the hat making industry abound in Danbury and continue to shape much of the city’s identity today.
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Hall of Flags: Memorial to Connecticut’s Civil War Colors
Battle flags played an important strategic and ceremonial role in Civil War battles. The preservation of Connecticut’s Civil War colors has been a long, delicate, and expensive process.
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Lake Pocotopaug Shapes the Growth of East Hampton
East Hampton is home to one of Connecticut’s largest inland bodies of water, Lake Pocotopaug.
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Death and Mourning in the Civil War Era
The Civil War transformed traditional practices of death and mourning in Victorian-era Connecticut.
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Ralph Earl: Portrait of an Early American Artist
In addition to some of the earliest Revolutionary War battle scenes, Ralph Earl painted prominent figures of the colonial period.
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Hope on the Wall: Connecticut’s New Deal Post Office Murals
Between 1934 and 1943, the federal government placed murals in twenty-three Connecticut post offices.
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An Old Saybrook Borough has a Stately History
The Borough of Fenwick, a well-known summer community in Old Saybrook, is named for George Fenwick and his family.
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Connecticut Valley Railroad’s First Train – Today in History: July 29
On July 29, 1871, a ceremonial train ran along the new 44-mile track built by the Connecticut Valley Railroad.
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Branford Gets On the Trolley
Starting as a means of intra-city transportation, trolley lines extended outward by the start of the 20th century and promoted the growth of modern suburbs.
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A Baltic Mill Helps Found a New Town
The Baltic Mill was once the largest cotton mill in the United States and led to the founding of the town of Sprague.
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Artist Roger Tory Peterson, a Champion for the Natural World
Artist, author, and influential conservationist Roger Tory Peterson pioneered the modern age of bird watching with his 1934 book, A Field Guide to the Birds.
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Hartford Wide-Awakes – Today in History: July 26
On July 26, 1860, the Hartford Wide-Awakes welcomed the Newark, New Jersey, Wide-Awakes to a banquet and ratification meeting at Hartford’s City Hall.
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Connecticut Valley Style: Eliphalet Chapin Inspires a Tradition of Craft
Favoring local cherry and pine woods, this furniture maker introduced Philadelphia-style flair to New England consumers.
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Herbert Abrams Immortalizes the Nation’s Leaders
Herbert Abrams was an American painter whose portraits hang in some of the most prestigious institutions in the country.
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The Adventure of a Lifetime: John Ledyard and Captain Cook’s Last Voyage
Published in Hartford in 1783, this book by a Groton-born traveler captured a young nation’s imagination with its tales of discovery.
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A World in Motion: Artist and Sculptor Alexander Calder
Most renowned for his invention of the mobile, an abstract sculpture that moves, Calder is considered a pioneer of kinetic art.
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Aristocratic Dental Cream Gets Squeezed
Taking advantage of his skills as a dentist and chemist, Dr. Washington Wentworth Sheffield, in 1850 at the age of 23, invented modern toothpaste.
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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 Harbor.
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Orville Platt Helps Define International Relations after the Spanish-American War
Orville Platt was a powerful Republican senator from Washington, Connecticut. He presented the Platt Amendment to Congress.
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Reading, Writing, and the Great Outdoors: Frederick Gunn’s School Transforms Victorian-era Education
In 1850, this educator, prominent abolitionist, and outdoorsman founded The Gunnery, a school in Washington, Connecticut.
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Hiram Bingham IV: A Humanitarian Honored for Saving Lives during WWII
Career diplomat Hiram Bingham IV, whose family has lived in Salem, Connecticut, for generations, was born in 1903.
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The White Mountain Express Derails in Greenwich
On July 16, 1908, the gong of the ambulances on Greenwich Avenue broadcast one of the worst accidents on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
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Creating Candlewood Lake – Today in History: July 15
Candlewood Lake was the first large-scale project in the United States to employ the concept of a pumped-water storage facility.
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Did You Know a Connecticut Governor Was a US Spy?
In late 1943 James Lukens McConaughy became Deputy Director in Charge of Schools and Training for the precursor of the Central Intelligence agency.
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Gallows Lane and the Execution of Barnett Davenport
Tragic murders in 1780 that shocked the town of Washington and revealed humanity’s dark side.
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The Path to Ashford’s Progress
Ashford’s location between Boston and Hartford once made it an important center for travel and commerce.
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The World’s Record for the Largest Muster – Who Knew?
Deep River, Connecticut holds the distinction of hosting the largest Ancient Fife and Drum Muster, setting the record in 1976.
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Brass City/Grass Roots: Waterbury Farming in the Late 1800s
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: Farming as Recycling: The Becces in the North End
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: From Farmers to Developers: The Rasmussens of Town Plot
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: The Pierponts of East Farms
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
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Connecticut Suffragists Appeal to the President – Today in History: July 12
On July 12, 1918, Connecticut suffragists rallied in Hartford and Simsbury to appeal to President Woodrow Wilson for help in getting women the right to vote.
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: Struggles and Decline
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: Food Marketing and Processing as Part of Civic Culture
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: What Makes a Farm a Farm? Other Sites of Food Production in Waterbury
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: Remnants and Revivals
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
Read Brass City/Grass Roots: Bucks Hill: Waterbury’s Rural Holdout
This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”
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Bridgeport’s Catastrophic 1911 Train Wreck
In the early morning hours of July 11, 1911, a train derailed in Bridgeport, killing fourteen people. Among the first responders were members of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
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Drawn to Superheroes
Working as an illustrator at DC Comics for over 30 years, Aparo drew for such legendary series as Aquaman, The Brave and the Bold, Green Arrow, and The Spectre.
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Continuity and Change along the Eightmile River
The history of the Eightmile River illustrates the vital and changing roles that such waterways have played in Connecticut’s development.
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Erector Set Patented – Today in History: July 8
On July 8, 1913, the United States Patent Office issued a patent to Alfred C. Gilbert of New Haven for his “Toy Construction-Blocks.”
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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.
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The Hartford Circus Fire – Today in History: July 6
Called the worst disaster in Hartford’s history, the fire killed 168 and injured 487, including many children.
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P. T. Barnum: An Entertaining Life
Once declared “the most widely known American that ever lived,” this showman’s life story is as colorful as the entertainments he provided in the mid-1800s.
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