Second Meeting House, Bethel

Second Meeting House, Bethel – Jerry Dougherty

Set in hilly terrain, the town of Bethel in Fairfield County lies near Connecticut’s border with New York. Settled as part of Danbury in 1685, the parish of Bethel, which took its name in 1759 for the Hebrew term meaning “House of God,” incorporated in 1855. Bethel, as part of Danbury, had boasted hat-making factories as early as the late-1700s. The trade remained vital to the town’s economy well into the early 1900s. Today, such firms as Duracell, Inc., and Eaton Corporation, a power management company, call Bethel home. The town is also known as the birthplace of celebrated showman and entrepreneur Phineas Taylor Barnum.

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Art Young, Radical Cartoonist

One of the more controversial cartoonists of the early 20th century, Art Young lived much of his life in Bethel. Residents later founded the Art Young Gallery in his memory. …[more]

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Wild, Patrick. 1996. Bethel. Dover,  NH: Arcadia.