McLean Game Refuge, Granby – Dave Ginsberg

Granby, in Hartford County, is located in northern Connecticut and shares a border with Massachusetts. The town was settled in 1660 and incorporated in 1786 from a section of Simsbury. Granby is easily spotted on a map of Connecticut due to its notch in the northern border with Massachusetts—the result of a 150-year boundary-dispute settlement. The early economy was based on tobacco, agricultural products, and dairying until the mid-twentieth century. Today, Granby is a rural town with a suburban center.

More on Granby from the CT Digital Archive

Browse more interactive content on the CT Digital Archive website.

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Featured

Sign for Holcomb's Inn, 1802

A Sign of the Times Blends Masonic and Patriotic Imagery

The sign from a tavern operated by Luther Holcomb, a Granby mason, reflects his fraternal affiliation as well as the establishment's role as a meeting site.  …[more]

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Places

Salmon Brook Historical Society. “Colton-Hayes Tobacco Barn & Museum,” 2016. Link.
“Holcomb Farm,” 2012. Link.
“McLean Game Refuge,” 2016. Link.
“Salmon Brook Historical Society,” 2016. Link.
Farmington Valley Trails Council. “The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail,” 2016. Link.

Documents

Connecticut State Library Digital Collections. “Granby - WPA Architectural Survey,” 2013. Link.
“Granby Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.
Pease, Seth. “Map: Map of Windsor, Shewing the Parishes, the Roads, and Houses - True Copy of the Original Map Made by Seth Pease of Suffield, 1798.” Windsor,  CT, 1906. Connecticut Historical Society. Link.
Westgarth, Forster. “Map: Plan of the Phoenix Copper Mine, Situated in the Town of Granby, Connecticutpheonix Copper Mine, Situated in the Town of Granby, Connecticut,” 1830. Connecticut History Illustrated, Connecticut Historical Society. Link.
“Print: A View of the Guard-House and Simsbury Mines, Now Called Newgate, a Prison for the Confinement of Loyalists in Connecticut,” 1781. Connecticut History Illustrated, Connecticut Historical Society. Link.

Books

Salmon Brook Historical Society, and Mark Williams. A Tempest in a Small Town: The Myth and Reality of Country Life: Granby, Connecticut, 1680-1940. Granby,  CT: Salmon Brook Historical Society, 1996.
Granby Bicentennial Committee. Granby, Connecticut: A Brief History, 1786-1986. Granby,  CT: Granby Bicentennial Committee, 1986.
Phelps, Noah A. History of Simsbury, Granby and Canton from 1642 to 1845. Hartford, CT: Case, Tiffany and Burnham, 1845. Link.
Salmon Brook Historical Society. The Heritage of Granby, 1786-1965: Its Founding and History. Granby,  CT: Salmon Brook Historical Society, 1967.