Boothe Memorial Park, Stratford

Boothe Memorial Park, Redwood Building, Stratford – Jerry Dougherty

Located on Long Island Sound, the Fairfield County town of Stratford is bounded by the Housatonic River on its eastern border. Europeans settled the area known as Cupheag, or harbor, in 1639 and later named it Stratford. Its original lands included what eventually became Trumbull, Shelton, Monroe, and parts of Bridgeport. Early industries included oystering and shipbuilding. With the advent of the industrial age, manufacturing became an economic mainstay and Stratford today still produces an array of goods, from chemicals, electrical parts, and hardware to plastics and paper products. It is best known, however, as the birthplace of the American helicopter industry built on the pioneering work of Igor Sikorsky.

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Igor Sikorsky's first helicopter ascent, Stratford

World’s First Helicopter – Today in History: September 14

On September 14, 1939, the VS-300, the world’s first practical helicopter, took flight at Stratford, Connecticut. …[more]

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Wilcoxson, William Howard. 1969. History of Stratford Connecticut, 1639-1969. Stratford, CT: Published under the auspices of the Stratford Tercentenary Commission.
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Painting: Along the Housatonic, Stratford, October 11, 1898. 1898. http://hdl.handle.net/11134/40002:17517 (November 17, 2016).
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Orcutt, Rev. Samuel. 1886. 1 A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut. New Haven,  CT: Tuttle  Morehouse & Taylor. http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofoldtown01orcu#page/n5/mode/2up.
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Stratford Historical Society, and Lewis Knapp. 1989. In Pursuit of Paradise: History of the Town of Stratford, Connecticut. West Kennebunk,  ME: Phoenix Publishing.