Old Town Hall, Bethany – Jerry Dougherty
The town of Bethany is located in the south central region of the state in New Haven County. First settled in 1717 as part of Woodbridge, Bethany was incorporated as a town in 1832. In 1844, an act of legislature took the town’s Straitsville area, along with parts of Waterbury and Oxford, to form Naugatuck. A few decades later, the western part of Bethany became Beacon Falls. Today, this small town retains its rural nature, with dairying and agriculture being among its industries. Bethany’s reservoirs serve the larger municipalities of Naugatuck and New Haven.
Featured
Daring World War II Escape of a Bethany Soldier
A member of the glider service, Rollin Booth Fowler crash landed in Normandy during World War II and was captured, only to execute a daring and dramatic escape. …[more]
Learn More
Websites
“Greater New Haven Labor History Association,” 2017. Link.
Places
“Bethany Historical Society,” 2008. Link.
Documents
“Bethany Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.
“Map - North Part of New Haven Co., Connecticut from Town and City Atlas of the State of Connecticut.” Boston, MA: D.H. Hurd & Company, 1893. University of Connecticut Libraries, Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC. Link.
Books
Lines, Eliza. Bethany and Its Hills: Glimpses of the Town of Bethany as It Was Before the Railroads and the Fire Fiend Robbed It of Its Glory. New Haven, CT: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1905. Link.
Sharpe, W. C. Bethany Sketches and Records. Seymour, CT: W. C. Sharpe, 1908. Link.
Rockey, J. L., ed. History of New Haven County, Connecticut. Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Preston, 1892. Link.
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