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The Hurricane of 1938 Rocks Connecticut
Together the combination of chance and human error produced the most destructive hurricane in Connecticut’s history.
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P. T. Barnum’s Lottery
Known for entertainment, this showman gained experience in engaging the public, and profiting from it, by running a lottery in Bethel.
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Elastic Web Expands Textile Manufacturing in West Haven
For the better part of a century, West Haven produced one of the more unique and innovative textile products in United States’ history.
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Map – Connecticut Landmarks of the Constitution
A map of some of the Connecticut Landmarks of the Constitution researched and published by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation.
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Hurricane Gloria: “Storm of the Century”
In September of 1985, Hurricane Gloria made landfall in Connecticut, causing approximately $60 million of damage in the state.
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Literacy Tests and the Right To Vote
Connecticut was the first state to require a literacy test of would-be voters and, even as the practice came under fire as a tool of discrimination, the state held steady until 1970.
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Birthplace of the Gerber Baby – Who Knew?
Westport’s artist Dorothy Hope Smith used her neighbor, Ann Turner, as inspiration for her iconic Gerber Baby trademark drawing.
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Helen James Chisholm: A Hartford Teacher in Hawaii
Originally from Hartford, Helen James Chisholm’s career took her all the way to the Pacific to teach and run an orphanage.
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Financing a Free Puerto Rico: The Great Wells Fargo Heist of 1983
On September 12, 1983, an employee at the Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, committed what was, at the time, the largest cash robbery in American history.
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The Ebenezer Avery House – Who Knew?
The Ebenezer Avery House in Groton once served as a hospital for the wounded after the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Groton Heights on September 6, 1781.
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Connecticut’s Official State Flag – Who Knew?
While Connecticut used variations of flags for state functions, the legislature did not adopt an official state flag until 1897.
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Bradley Field Enters the Jet Age
In 1952 a state-of-the-art terminal building, Murphy Terminal, was opened in the spirit of “if you build it, they will come.”
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Trumbull’s Parlor Rock Park: A Premier Amusement Center of the Late 19th Century
In Trumbull, the arrival of the Housatonic Railroad brought a lesser known but more entertaining development—one of the country’s first amusement parks.
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Benedict Arnold Turns and Burns New London
September 6, 1781 was a brutal and terrifying day for Connecticut citizens living on both sides of New London harbor, along the Thames River.
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Morton Biskind Warned the World About DDT
A Westport physician named Morton Biskind became one of the first to warn the world about the dangers of DDT. His work ultimately helped inspire the writings of Rachel Carson.
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Early Turnpikes Provided Solution to Lack of Reliable Roads
Although few of the privately managed toll-roads of the 1800s proved profitable for investors, state commerce benefited in the long run.
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At the Sign of the Yellow Dragon: Hartford’s First Chinese Restaurants
The first Chinese restaurant opened in Hartford in 1898 and evolved as immigrants from different parts of China introduced new tastes.
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Peter’s Rock: North Haven History with a View
Far from being a mere recreational hotspot, however, Peter’s Rock is a formation with an extensive history of service to the surrounding area.
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Grounds for Divorce – Who Knew?
While Connecticut was not the first to grant a divorce, it was the first to define the grounds for dissolution of a marriage in An Act Relating to Bills of Divorce.
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Rewriting the Norm: How Two East Haddam Women Revolutionized Nonsexist Language
East Haddam’s Casey Miller and Kate Swift were both outspoken advocates for eradicating gender bias in the English language.
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Murder on the Map: The Mysterious Death of Captain George M. Colvocoresses
At first glance, this hand-drawn map appears unremarkable but it depicts the scene of a sensational crime in Bridgeport.
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Connecticut’s First Mutual Savings Bank Opens in Hartford
On June 1, 1819, Governor Oliver Wolcott Jr. approved a legislative charter for the Society for Savings in Hartford—the first mutual savings bank in the state.
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Discovered Dinosaur Tracks Re-Route Highway and Lead to State Park
Some 200 million years ago, carnivorous dinosaurs roamed Rocky Hill leaving the three-toed tracks that would become our state fossil.
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The Connecticut Houses that Ended Up in Massachusetts
Old Sturbridge Village moved numerous historical CT buildings, but evidence of their existence still lives on in historic maps, photographs, and memories.
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Elisha Root Changes Industry – Who Knew?
Elisha Root standardized production and made the Colt revolver the first handgun in the world with fully interchangeable parts.
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Briggs Manufacturing Drives Voluntown’s 19th-Century Cotton Economy
The Briggs Manufacturing Company was the premier employer in Voluntown, Connecticut, throughout the latter half of the 19th century.
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A Busy Airfield in Bethany
In its first few years, the airfield in Bethany served the interests of small-time aviation enthusiasts.
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19th Amendment: The Fight Over Woman Suffrage in Connecticut
In Connecticut, Frances Ellen Burr and Isabella Beecher Hooker took up the cause by forming the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA) in 1869.
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Enfield’s Shaker Legacy
Shaking Quakers settled in Enfield and created the packaged seed business.
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Lee’s Academy: An Icon of Education for 200 Years
For over two hundred years, Lee’s Academy has been a staple of education in Madison, Connecticut.
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Putting History on the Map
While maps serve a utilitarian function at the time of their production, they become snapshots in time of the memories of those who designed them.
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A Metal Giant in Wilton
Kenneth Lynch was an accomplished blacksmith who was a longtime resident of Wilton and created memorable pieces of metalwork found in the Northeast.
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The Life of Chauncey Jerome: An Insider’s Look at What Made Early Bristol Tick
A glimpse at clock making in Connecticut from Chauncey Jerome’s 1860 autobiography
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Moses Wheeler: Legendary Housatonic Ferryman
Moses Wheeler carried passengers across the Housatonic River as the operator of the first ferry from Stratford to Milford—over 350 years ago.
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The Bull Moose Party in Connecticut
Connecticut expressed a brief interest in Theodore Roosevelt’s third-party, the “Bull Moose Party,” but the loss of the 1912 election proved career-ending for many candidates.
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Florence Griswold’s Home: A Story of Perseverance and Community
The Florence Griswold House, once a private residence, also served as a finishing school for girls in the 19th century and the center of the Lyme Art Colony.
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Fame and Infamy for the Hulls of Derby
Two Connecticut men, uncle and nephew, had starring roles—one in defeat and one in victory—during the War of 1812.
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Ashford’s Glass from the Past
In 1857, 13 stockholders invested $18,000 to form the Westford Glass Company—Ashford’s largest and most famous business enterprise.
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Alain and May White Memorial Boulder
Words of thanks on a stone marker in Litchfield highlight contributions of a brother and sister to land preservation.
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Guilford’s One-Man Fire Department
In the early decades of the 20th century, the town of Guilford had a fire department stationed on Chaffinch Island that consisted of just one man, Francis Ingals.
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Lake Compounce: Bringing Amusements to the State’s Residents Since 1846
Bristol’s Lake Compounce is the oldest continually operating amusement park in the US and has been open every summer since 1846.
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Maritime History: The Founding of the United States Coast Guard Academy
Connecticut has been home to the United States Coast Guard Academy since the early 1900s.
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Hartford’s Challenge to “The Birth of a Nation”
D. W. Griffith’s silent movie, the racially charged “Birth of a Nation,” initially played to large audiences in Hartford before meeting with official resistance after World War I.
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Anson Dickinson: Milton’s Painter of Portrait Miniatures
In the 1800s, watercolor portraits painted on small pieces of ivory were in vogue and miniaturists like Dickinson found a ready market for their craft.
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Talcott Mountain: A View of Early New England
The Talcott Mountain range lies in the northeastern section of Avon and is arguably the town’s most prominent geographic feature.
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Cash Crop: L.B. Haas & Co. and the History of Tobacco in Connecticut
Louis B. Haas was a Dutch immigrant who opened a retail cigar store, Essman & Haas, on Central Row in Hartford in the late 1840s.
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The Steady Evolution of a Connecticut Family Business
Simsbury and Avon’s fuse-making helped build America’s railroads, mine her natural resources, expand the Panama Canal, and even blow up tree stumps in local farm fields.
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America’s First Planetarium – Who knew?
In 1744 Thomas Clap, Rector and Yale College president for 26 years (1740-1766), constructed the first orrery, or planetarium, in the American colonies.
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The Susquehanna Settlers
In 1753, Connecticut settlers formed the Susquehanna Company for the purposes of developing the Wyoming Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania.
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The Long, Ambiguous History of Connecticut’s Blue Laws
Connecticut’s blue laws are a series of laws based on puritan values that restrict or ban certain “morally questionable” activities on days of worship or rest.
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