The Fundamental Orders, inspired by Thomas Hooker’s sermon of May 31, 1638, provided the framework for the government of the Connecticut colony from 1639 to 1662.
ReadAlmost every Connecticut town has an Elm Street, named for the popular trees that grew in abundance until a fungal infestation greatly diminished their numbers.
ReadBrick making was an important industry in Windsor even in its colonial days.
ReadWindsor’s location on the Connecticut River shaped the area’s development dating back to its earliest recorded years.
ReadConnecticut 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.
ReadChristopher Miner Spencer, from Manchester, obtained 42 patents during his lifetime and created the first successful breech-loading repeating rifle.
ReadIt only took 4 hours for a jury to convict Amy Duggan Archer Gilligan of operating, what the Hartford Courant labeled, a “murder factory.”
Read“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.
ReadConnecticut Protestants wanted to cleanse the church of what they saw as corruption, and to return to the simplicity and purity of early Christian worship.
ReadOn May 26, 1647, Alse Young of Windsor was the first person on record to be executed for witchcraft in the 13 colonies.
ReadThe aquatic inhabitant, shad, has a long history of influencing foodways, income, and culture in the region.
ReadJ. Frederick Kelly was both a well-known architect, preservationist, and architectural historian, whose works chronicled many of Connecticut’s historical properties.
ReadNancy Jackson sued for her freedom in 1837. Her victory helped further the abolitionist cause in a state slowly moving toward outlawing slavery.
ReadThousands of Black Southern students, including a young Martin Luther King Jr., came north to work in Connecticut’s tobacco fields.
ReadThe Fundamental Orders represent what many consider to be the first written constitution in the Western world.
ReadOn December 1, 1797, signer of the Declaration of Independence Oliver Wolcott died while serving his term as Connecticut’s governor.
ReadWell before the Salem trials, Connecticut residents were executing “witches.” Connecticut is home to what was most likely the first execution of its kind in colonial America.
ReadOn October 3, 1651, Henry Stiles of Windsor was killed when the gun of Thomas Allyn, also of Windsor, accidentally discharged during a militia exercise.
ReadGovernment formed with the consent of the people was a radical idea in the age of nations ruled by monarchs, emperors, and tsars.
ReadOn January 21, 1743, John Fitch, an inventor and pioneer in steamboat construction, was born in Windsor–a settlement in the British colony of Connecticut.
ReadFrom scant evidence, including a portrait, gravestone, census data, and will, a partial image of a Connecticut life lived in slavery emerges.
ReadBy the mid-19th century, the “Tobacco Valley,” Springfield, Massachusetts to Hartford, Connecticut had become a center for cash-crop production.
ReadIn 1698 the General Court reorganized itself to deal more effectively with Connecticut’s complex new problems.
ReadIn the Great Awakening, impassioned evangelical ministers attracted crowds of thousands and the General Assembly promptly banned traveling preachers.
ReadIn recognition of the importance of the canal and the village in fostering local economic development, the area was given the name Windsor Locks in 1854.
ReadJames G. Batterson was an artist, inventor, and businessman. He helped commemorate the Civil War through his proficiency with stone.
ReadCensus data, from colonial times on up to the present, is a key resource for those who study the ways in which communities change with the passage of time.
ReadThe original Windsor settlement contained not only the town of Windsor but also what eventually became the towns of Enfield, Suffield, Simsbury, and others.
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