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Meriden Town Hall Burns Down – Today in History: February 14
On February 14, 1904, Meriden’s town hall burned to the ground due to a fire that lasted eight hours.
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Constitution Plaza Then and Now
Hartford’s first major redevelopment project, Constitution Plaza was built as part of the urban renewal initiatives in the 1950s and ’60s.
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The Interstate Highway System Comes to Hartford
The building of I-84 and I-91 may have increased interstate transportation, but city planners and special interest groups continue to grapple with the legacy of these projects.
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Arthur Miller dies – Today in History: February 10
On February 10, 2005, the award-winning American playwright Arthur Asher Miller died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, of congestive heart failure.
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Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wed – Today in History: February 10
He was rich, handsome and famous, she was considered a great beauty and their wedding was front page news around the nation.
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Changing Sentiments on Slavery in Colonial Hebron
Residents of Hebron rescued local enslaved people Lowis and Cesar Peters, and their children, from South Carolina slave traders.
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North and South: The Legacy of Eli Whitney
After studying to become a lawyer, Eli Whitney actually helped further American industrial production methods through his numerous clever inventions.
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Colt Armory Burns – Today in History: February 4
On February 4, 1864, most of Colt’s East Armory, located in Hartford, burned to the ground.
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A 1947 Movie Details the Unsolved Murder of a Bridgeport Priest
An unusual murder of a Bridgeport, Connecticut, priest in 1924 inspired the movie, Boomerang!, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 1947.
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How Real Estate Practices Influenced the Hartford Region’s Demographic Makeup
Persistent segregation is the historic legacy of steering and blockbusting, two discriminatory tactics that played a role in shaping suburban neighborhoods.
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Six Cities Respond to 1902 Waterbury Fire – Who Knew?
A fire, which swept through Waterbury on a stormy February evening in 1902, would become the worst in its recorded history up to that point.
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First General Copyright Law – Today in History: January 29
In 1783, Connecticut became the first state to pass a general colonial copyright law, entitled “An Act for the Encouragement of Literature and Genius.”
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First Commercial Telephone Exchange – Today in History: January 28
On January 28, 1878, the Boardman Building became the site of the world’s first commercial telephone exchange, the District Telephone Company of New Haven.
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John Ledyard, Connecticut’s Most Famous Traveler
This intrepid voyager, one of the most adventurous figures in Connecticut’s long history, would have made a great fictional character had he not been real.
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The Astronomical Event of the Century
Church bells chimed and factory whistles blew and automobiles, trains, and trolleys throughout the state came to a standstill.
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John Fitch Born – Today in History: January 21
On January 21, 1743, John Fitch, an inventor and pioneer in steamboat construction, was born in Windsor–a settlement in the British colony of Connecticut.
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Nancy Toney’s Lifetime in Slavery
From scant evidence, including a portrait, gravestone, census data, and will, a partial image of a Connecticut life lived in slavery emerges.
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Almost a Tragedy: The Collapse of the Hartford Civic Center
In the early morning of January 18, 1978, the roof of the sports coliseum collapsed onto 10,000 empty stadium seats.
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The Tariffville Disaster – Today in History: January 15
On January 14, 1878, at about 10:00 p.m., a span of the Tariffville Bridge gave way, plunging a Connecticut Western Railroad train into the Farmington River.
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The Industrial Revolution Comes to Jewett City
The site of earlier mills, Jewett City seemed well-suited to the Tibbets’ textile enterprise: the Jewett City Cotton Manufacturing Company.
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An Uncommonly Ingenious Mechanic: Abel Buell of Connecticut
This Yankee jack-of-all-trades, Abel Buell, created the first map of the new United States to be printed and published in America.
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Connecticut Arms the Union
By the Civil War’s end, Connecticut had supplied 43% of the total of all rifle muskets, breech loading rifles and carbines, and revolvers bought by the War Department.
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Land Purchase Becomes Bushnell Park – Today in History: January 5
On January 5, 1854, Hartford voters approved spending over $100,000 in public funds for land that would become a municipal park.
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Hartford Publishes the First Literary Work by an African American – Who Knew?
Jupiter Hammon, who endured life-long enslavement, became the first African American writer to be published in America when his 88-line poem, “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries”, was published.
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The Reverend Joseph Bellamy Makes Bethlehem a Holy Place
The Reverend Joseph Bellamy was a dynamic preacher, author, and educator during the 18th century and a long-time resident of Bethlehem, Connecticut.
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A Volcanic Giant Sleeps in Hamden
The unique ridge that runs east-west just six miles north of New Haven is known as “Sleeping Giant” for its resemblance (from a distance) to a recumbent person.
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Connecticut Poor Law Aimed to Care for the Needy
Connecticut instituted a Poor Law in the 17th century to comply with a directive from the British government that the colony ensure for the care of the poor within its borders
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Charles McLean Andrews and Evangeline Walker Andrews
Charles McLean Andrews was one of the most distinguished historians of his time, generally recognized as the master of American colonial history.
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A Woman Who Developed Tolerance: Leila T. Alexander
As a member of the War Council, Leila T. Alexander served on several Council committees including education, employment, advisory, social service, and welfare.
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Iron and Water: The Norwich & Worcester Railroad Story
Connecticut’s early railroad history had at its core the goal of linking New York City and Boston through a hybrid system of steamboats and trains.
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“Negroes Who Stand Up and Fight Back” – Paul Robeson in Hartford
Called the “greatest mobilization of police in the city’s history,” the event that brought law enforcement out in force to Keney Park was not a riot, not a strike, but a concert by this singer-actor and activist.
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Meriden’s Silver Lining
Despite large numbers of local industries going out of business by the start of the Civil War, Horace and Dennis Wilcox, helped establish a lucrative silver industry in Meriden.
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Honor and Duty: The Life of Alfred Howe Terry
Born in Hartford, Alfred Howe Terry studied law before heroically capturing Fort Fisher during the Civil War.
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Disaster at Cold Harbor: Connecticut’s Second Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment
For many veterans of the Second, the assault at Cold Harbor would be the most terrible memory of their Civil War careers.
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Clarence Dickinson Carries Printing Innovation into the 20th Century
Clarence Dickinson was a long-time Haddam resident and pioneer in offset lithography—a process using printing plates on chemically treated flat surfaces.
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Hurricane of 1938: Connecticut’s Worst Disaster
Deadly as well as costly, this storm scarred the landscape for decades after and left each Connecticut family with its own tale to tell of the ruinous events.
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The Connecticut Ratification Convention
Though approved at a renegade convention on September 17, 1787, the US Constitution did not become “the supreme law of the land” until 9 of the 13 states ratified the document.
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Igor Sikorsky and his Flying Machines
This Russian émigré not only invented a machine capable of controlled vertical flight, he also re-invented his aviation career along the way.
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Windsor Tobacco: Made in the Shade
By the mid-19th century, the “Tobacco Valley,” Springfield, Massachusetts to Hartford, Connecticut had become a center for cash-crop production.
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Women Win the Right to Vote
After a decades-long struggle, women in Connecticut and across the US gained a say in government.
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North Stonington Fairs Preserve Connecticut’s Agricultural Heritage
Despite brief success as a mill town in the early 19th century, North Stonington is ultimately tied to its agricultural history.
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Kensington Soldiers Monument Dedicated – Today in History: July 28
On July 28, 1863, the Soldiers Monument in the Kensington section of Berlin was dedicated and is the oldest permanent Civil War monument.
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Senator Oliver Ellsworth’s Judiciary Act
On April 7, 1789, the Senate appointed a committee, composed of one senator from each of the 10 states then represented in that body, to draft legislation to shape the national judiciary.
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The Hartford Circus Fire
As a result of the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944, Connecticut enacted new, strict fire safety regulations for public performances.
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman Born – Today in History: July 3
On July 3, 1860, Charlotte Anna Perkins (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) was born in Hartford, Connecticut.
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Noble Jerome’s Clock Patent Model
Noble Jerome submitted this clock patent model to the US Patent Office along with his patent application in 1839, a common requirement up until the 1880s.
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One of the Honored Dead: General J. K. F. Mansfield
A resident of New Haven and Middletown, Joseph Mansfield rose to the rank of brigadier general in the Union army before losing his life at the Battle of Antietam.
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Where Mr. Twain and Mrs. Stowe Built Their Dream Houses
This bucolic oasis on Hartford’s western edge became home to great literary talents, social reformers, politicians, and other nationally-regarded luminaries of the mid-to-late 1800s.
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Sarah Bernhardt Performs in Hartford – Today in History: June 8
On June 8, 1906, French stage and film actress Sarah Bernhardt appeared at Foot Guard Hall in Hartford.
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Gothic Connecticut
A museum, former library, and a home are just three notable examples of an architectural style popular in the 1800s.
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