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Full text of "Connecticut; a guide to its roads, lore, and people"

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CONNECTICUT 
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MAIN TOURS - 
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MERRITT PARKWAY, 

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CONNECTICUT 

A GUIDE TO ITS ROADS, LORE, AND PEOPLE 



AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES 



CONNECTICUT 



A GUIDE TO ITS ROADS, LORE, AND PEOPLE 



Written by Workers of the Federal Writers' Project of the 
Works Progress Administration for the State of Connecticut 

SPONSORED BY WILBUR L. CROSS, GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT 



Illustrated 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - BOSTON 

Vfce Kiberiibe $re ambrib B e 

1938 



COPYRIGHT, 1938, BY WILBUR L. CROSS 
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE 
THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM 



fcbc fc.ucrfiibc $re 

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 



WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION 



MAMMY I- HOPKINS 



1734 NEW YORK AVENUE NW. 
WASHINGTON. O. C. 



One of the most fortunate results of the 
American Guide Series is the opportunity it is 
giving us to understand the contrasting character 
of the forty-eight States and to realize how the 
contributions of each hare brought about the unity 
of the -whole. 

This book on Connecticut illustrates the 
point* The third smallest State in the Union, it 
has sent out more people than it has kept at hone. 
Connecticut blood is the basis of much that is 
prised in many States. It is democratic, zealous 
for education, mechanically inventive, and, being 
strongly individual, has furnished leadership in 
every field. 





Hftrry L. Hopkins 
Administrator 



FOREWORD 



CONNECTICUT has a wealth of interest and beauty for the traveler, 
be he a resident or a visitor. Our countryside, with its villages of old 
houses and churches; our forests, rivers, lakes, parks, and beaches; our 
modern cities all present a varied scene which has been steadily de- 
veloping ever since the first settlers took possession of these beautiful 
lands more than three hundred years ago. 

This Guidebook will help its readers not only to find their way 
through valleys and over hills, but also to understand what lies back of 
all they see. It is in itself a most valuable contribution to Connecticut 
history. 

WILBUR L. CROSS 

Governor 



PREFACE 



THIS book is the result of the collaboration of many hands and many 
minds, and it would perhaps be strange to expect it to lie quietly be- 
tween covers and compose a picture of its subject. Indeed, it would be 
a brave man who would sit down, alone or with company, and attempt a 
portrait of this State. Present-day Connecticut is too diversified and 
restless to yield an easy likeness. Besides, a guidebook should not be 
overambitious. At best it can hope to provide a few thumbnail sketches, 
some directions to help the visitor, and a modicum of more or less relevant 
information to enlarge his understanding of what he will see. It must be 
forever pointing and turning from one thing to the next. The section, 
Notations on the Use of the Book, will explain the method of assembling 
this material. In the end, it must properly be left to the visitor to shape 
his own impressions into an individual whole. 

A hundred years ago this would have been a vastly simpler process. In 
1836 John Warner Barber was driving from town to town in his horse and 
buggy, gathering material for his * Historical Collections,' 'relating to the 
History and Antiquities of Every Town in Connecticut with Geographical 
Descriptions/ and making a 'general collection of interesting facts, tradi- 
tions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc/ The prospectus-like title of 
his book is a promise of variety amply justified by the contents, but the 
modern reader or imitator is more impressed by the appealing unity of 
the subject. Barber was fortunate in the time at which he wrote. Con- 
necticut was nearing the end of its formative period. The eighteenth- 
century pattern persisted, the industrial revolution was only about to 
begin. 

As he went about among the 136 towns, his engravings reveal more 
tellingly than any camera the pleasing sameness of his view. Sometimes 
we find him seated on Round Hill taking a northwest view of Farmington, 
or looking down on the south view of Tariffville with its flourishing carpet 
factory, while he discusses local affairs with a villager. When the smoke 
of commerce rises over some of the larger cities, it comes from steamboats 
along the river front or in the harbor, rather than from factory chimneys. 
The centers of the towns show the courthouse, a school, perhaps a jail, 
and always the church or churches, for Barber was traveling just after 
the finest period of church-building. The buildings, somewhat sparsely 



x Preface 

grouped even in the centers of population, are delineated with a certain 
homely veracity, a little pinched in their perspective, and the elongated 
steeples of the churches rise toward Heaven rather higher than a modern 
eye allows. 

It is significant in the history of this State and even for the Connecticut 
of today that for a period of about sixty years, from 1780 to 1840, the 
homogeneous population remained comparatively static. While the other 
New England States increased from two to nine times, Connecticut could 
not quite achieve a fifty per cent gain in numbers. Never was Connecticut 
more independent nor its towns more sturdily conservative than during 
this first half century and more of the Republic. Hartford and New 
Haven, the two capitals, did not unduly dominate in 1800; they were 
merely two of the six towns with a population of over 5000. The largest, 
Stonington, had 5437 inhabitants; four towns had 4000 or more; there 
were fifteen over 3000; the other eighty- three were closely ranged, with 
three exceptions, between one and three thousand. Under the Consti- 
tution of 1818, this equality of the towns was perpetuated and local 
particularism maintained. 

Constant emigration threatened to overbalance immigration and a 
high birth-rate. In this way, the more heady and adventurous elements 
were continually drawn off from the body politic and a conservative, 
stable base remained. The glacial soil of Connecticut, unimproved by 
fertilizers and new techniques of farming, was unfitted to support a large 
population. It was necessary to call upon Yankee ingenuity. This was 
first applied in commerce, in shipping, in shrewd marketing and hard 
bargaining. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Yankee Pedlar 
had made his appearance; in the period 1780 to 1840 he flourished. The 
Sam Slicks went forth with their tinware and their wooden nutmegs, 
and a market was created along the Atlantic Seaboard and over the 
Appalachians to Detroit, St. Louis, even New Orleans. Small fortunes 
accumulated to furnish fresh capital, and the invention of the manu- 
facturer was called upon to match the skill of the salesmen. 

Long before the close of this period, the Yankee inventors had out- 
stripped the Yankee pedlars. From the time the Patent Office opened 
in 1790, Connecticut inventors have led those of other States in number 
of patents in proportion to population. Hats, combs, cigars, seeds, clocks, 
silk thread, plows, axes, carpets, pins, kettles, brass pipe, tacks, hooks 
and eyes, vulcanized rubber, shaving soap, friction matches, spoons, 
engine lathes, threaded bolts, furniture, firearms: in all these fields and 
more, important patents gave Connecticut inventors and manufacturers 



Preface xi 

a leading position. Every town had its local industry and the way was 
prepared for the transition from handicraft to mass production. Inventors 
in near-by towns would perfect the same invention: Simeon North of 
Berlin and Eli Whitney of New Haven can share the credit for introduc- 
ing the system of interchangeable parts and standardized production into 
the manufacture of firearms. The seeds of the industrial revolution were 
scattered far and wide through the State and the Nation. 

It was also the period of Noah Webster, of Timothy Dwight, of the 
Hartford Wits, of Oliver Wolcott, the moderator. When the Hartford 
Wits looked across the border into Rhode Island or Massachusetts, they 
were perturbed: 'There Chaos, Anarch old, asserts his sway/ they told 
the inhabitants of Connecticut. Timothy Dwight became President of 
Yale and drew the students back down the sawdust trail to the old-time 
Congregationalism. 'Pope Dwight,' they called him, 'a walking reposi- 
tory of the venerable Connecticut status quo. 1 Noah Webster, who 
helped the country achieve a measure of linguistic independence and 
whose spelling became more and more American, was a stout Federalist 
and defender of the established order. Even the moderate Oliver Wolcott, 
who presided at the making of the liberalizing Constitution of 1818, was 
no great radical of post-Jeffersonian days. 

Looked back upon, it is an age of almost paradoxical contrast, with 
its conservatism politically and socially, and the radical changes pre- 
paring in its factories and workshops, a strange mixture of the past and 
future working together in a harmonious present, which seemed likely 
to prolong itself indefinitely. The visitor in search of a portrait of Con- 
necticut might well keep in mind these years of growth and stability 
when the balance shifted slowly from a long colonial age of agriculture 
and commerce toward the industrial age of railroads, immigration, and 
mass production. Then, for a protracted period, the pattern of Connecti- 
cut living was stamped deep into the character of its people and its 
civilization. Successive waves of immigration have altered it surprisingly 
little. Perhaps this civilization, an epitome of many deeply rooted Amer- 
ican characteristics, may be able to assimilate new elements and still 
maintain its finest qualities as a tradition and a guide to future genera- 
tions. ( Qui transtulit sustinet' 

It remains to express our indebtedness to the citizens of Connecticut 
who have contributed materially to this work; so large is their number 
that we can thank only a few of our benefactors. We are especially 
indebted to Mr. Edgar L. Heermance, whose 'Connecticut Guide' was our 
predecessor and inspiration, and who graciously allowed us the use of his 



Xll 



Preface 



files containing valuable field notes and historical information. The 
librarians of the Yale University Library, the New Haven Public Library, 
the Hartford Public Library, and Miss Scofield of the New Haven Colony 
Historical Society have generously given us their trained assistance. 

We have received valuable aid and criticism from Mr. Norbert Lacy, 
and Dr. Nelson Burr of the Historical Records Survey; Professor Leon- 
ard Labaree, and Mr. Gerald M. Capers of Yale University; Professor 
George Matthew Dutcher of Wesleyan University; Mr. J. Frederick 
Kelly, and Mr. George Dudley Seymour of New Haven; Mr. A. Everett 
Austin of the Avery Memorial, Hartford; Mr. John Phillips of the Yale 
Gallery of Fine Arts; Mr. William L. Warren of the American Index of 
Design; Mr. Edward H. Rogers, Principal of the Devon High School; Mr. 
Arthur W. Brockway, ornithologist, of Hadlyme; Mr. John J. Stevens, 
Principal of the Ansonia High School; Mr. Goodrich K. Murphy, as- 
sistant to passenger traffic manager, of the New York, New Haven and 
Hartford Railroad; and Mr. Joseph Tone, State Commissioner of Labor. 

Professor C. R. Longwell of Yale University has contributed the essay 
on Geology. Mr. Wayland Wells Williams, State Director of the Federal 
Art Project, has helped us in innumerable ways, besides contributing the 
essay on Connecticut Art, and much of the material on Yale University. 

Mr. Samuel R. Chamberlain has kindly allowed us to use several 
photographs from his notable Connecticut series; the Scovill Manu- 
facturing Company, the American Brass Company, the Chase Brass and 
Copper Company, Inc., the Pratt and Whitney Company, the Sikorsky 
Aviation Corporation, the ytna Life Insurance Company, the Travelers' 
Insurance Company, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford 
Railroad have contributed photographs. 

In administering and carrying out this Project we have had the con- 
stant co-operation of Miss Mary M. Hughart, State Director of Women's 
and Professional Projects, and Administrators Vincent J. Sullivan, 
Robert A. Hurley, and Matthew A. Daly. We owe a special debt of 
gratitude to Senator Daly, in whose administration this book was begun, 
for his friendly advice and counsel. 

Finally, we are under great obligations to His Excellency, the Governor 
of this State, Wilbur L. Cross, for his distinguished sponsorship and fore- 
word, and to Mr. Philip Hewes, the Governor's Executive Secretary, 
who gave freely of his time to offer most useful criticism. 

This volume was prepared under the editorial direction of Mr. Joseph 
Gaer, Editor-in-Chief of the New England Guides and Chief Field Su- 
pervisor of the Federal Writers' Project. 

JOHN B. DERBY, State Director 



CO NTENTS 



FOREWORD Photostat 

By Harry L. Hopkins, Federal Administrator, Works Progress 
Administration 

FOREWORD vii 

By Wilbur L. Cross, Governor of Connecticut 

PREFACE ix 

By John B. Derby, State Director, Federal Writers' Project 

NOTATIONS ON THE USE OF THE BOOK xxiii 

GENERAL INFORMATION xxv 

Recreational Facilities 

CALENDAR OF ANNUAL EVENTS xxxi 



L CONNECTICUT: THE GENERAL 
BACKGROUND 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION 3 

NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION 8 

PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE 1 1 

GEOLOGY 17 

THE INDIANS OF CONNECTICUT 22 

HISTORY 26 

GOVERNMENT 36 

THE RACIAL MAKE-UP OF CONNECTICUT 43 

TRANSPORTATION 48 

INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 54 

LABOR 64 



xiv Contents 



AGRICULTURE 7 1 

EDUCATION 75 

ARCHITECTURE 80 

NOTES ON CONNECTICUT ART 95 

LITERATURE I0 3 

CONNECTICUT FIRSTS m 



II. MAIN STREET AND VILLAGE GREEN 

(City and Town Descriptions and City Tours) 
Bridgeport 
D anbury 
Fairfield 

Farmington I44 

Greenwich I49 

Groton j^,- 

Guilford I( 5 

Hartford j55 

Litchfield I0 . 

Meriden 2OO 

Middletown 20 

Milford aio 
New Britain 



New Haven 222 

New London 2 - 

Norwalk 26 . 

Norwich 2 _ 

Old Lyme 2 g 

Old Say brook 

Stamford 

Stonington 

Waterbury 

Wethersfield 3IO 

Windsor 8 



Contents xv 



III. HIGH ROADS AND LOW ROADS (lOURS) 

(Mile-by-Mile Description of the State's Highways) 

TOUR 1 From New York Line (New York City) to Rhode 
Island Line (Westerly). US 1 and US 1A 

Sec. a. Greenwich to New Haven 329 

Sec. b. New Haven to Rhode Island Line (West- 
erly) 337 
1A From Darien to Fairfield. State 136, West Way 
and Harbor Rds. 348 

IB From Bridgeport to Junction with US 202. State 
58 352 

1C From New Haven to Naugatuck. State 67 and 
State 63 354 

ID From New Haven to Rhode Island Line (Provi- 
dence). State 15, 80, 9, 82, 165, and 138 355 

IE From Junction with US 1 to Junction with State 
82. State 86 361 

IF From Junction with US 1 to Junction with US 1. 

State 156 363 

1G From Groton to Norwich. State 12 364 

1H From Junction with US 1 to Rhode Island Line. 
State 84 368 

1J From Pawcatuck to Colchester. State 2 369 

2 From New York Line (Brewster) to Rhode Island 
Line (Providence). US 6 and 6A 

Sec. a. New York Line to Junction with State 14 374 
Sec. b. Junction with State 14 to Hartford 382 

Sec. c. Hartford to Junction with State 14 389 

Sec. d. From Junction with State 14 to Rhode 

Island State Line (Providence) 391 

2 ALTERNATE From Junction with US 6 to Junc- 
tion with US 6A. State 14 397 

2A From Woodbury to Junction with State 25. State 
47 409 

2B From Watertown to Litchfield. State 63 and 
State 61 411 



xvi Contents 



2C From Columbia to Junction with State 32. State 
87 412 

3 From New York Line (Poughkeepsie) to Rhode 
Island Line (Providence). US 44 

Sec. a. New York Line to Hartford 416 

Sec. b. Hartford to Bolton Notch 428 

Sec. c. Bolton Notch to Rhode Island Line 430 

3A From East Hart ford to New London. State2and85 439 

4 From Norwalk to Massachusetts Line (Sheffield). 

US 7 448 

4A From Danbury to Junction with US 7. State 37 458 

4B From New Milford to Junction with US 7. State 

25 and 133 462 

4C From New Milford to Torrington. State 25 466 

4D From Junction with US 7 (Cornwall Bridge) to 
South Canaan. State 4 and 43 468 

5 From Stratford to Massachusetts Line (New Bos- 
ton). StateS 47I 

5A From Torrington to Collinsville. State 117, State 
116, and State 4 484 

5B From Junction with State 8 (north of Winsted) to 

Granby. State 20 485 

6 From New Haven to Massachusetts Line (North- 
ampton). State 10 and 10A (College Highway) 488 

7 From New Haven to Massachusetts Line (Spring- 
field). US 5 

Sec. a. New Haven to Hartford 501 

Sec. b. Hartford to Massachusetts Line 505 

7A From New Haven to Middletown. State 15 511 

7B From Hartford to Meriden. State 175 and State " 

8 From Old Saybrook to Massachusetts Line 
(Springfield). State 9 and US 5A 

Sec. a. Old Saybrook to Hartford. State 9 516 

Sec. b. Hartford to Massachusetts Line. US 5A 526 

9 From New London to Massachusetts Line 
(Worcester). State 32 and State 12 529 



Contents xvii 



9A From Norwich to Massachusetts Line (South 

Monson). State 32 538 

9B From Central Village to Rhode Island Line 

(Providence). State 14 543 

9C From Plainfield to Willimantic. State 14 544 

10 From East Hartford to Massachusetts Line 

(Worcester). State 15 549 

CHRONOLOGY 557 

SELECTED READING LIST 562 

GENERAL INDEX 567 

INDEX OF OLD AND HISTORIC HOUSES 587 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 



HOMES OF PATRIOT AND MERCHANT PRINCE between 28 and 29 



Jabez Huntington House, Norwich 
Gov. Trumbull House, Lebanon 
Webb House, Wethersfield 

Chamberlain 

Oliver Ellsworth House, Windsor 
Glebe House, Woodbury 
Gay Manse, Suffield 
West Front of the Governor Smith 

Mansion, Sharon 
Morris House, New Haven 

INDUSTRY 

Burnishing Brass, Scovill Manu- 
facturing Company, Waterbury 
Aikins 

Pratt & Whitney, Aircraft Manu- 
facturers, East Hartford 

Assembly Department of the Pro- 
peller Division, United Aircraft 
Corp., East Hartford 

Final Assembly Department, Sikor- 
sky Aircraft, Stratford 

Sikorsky Aircraft Experimental 
Department, Stratford 

Inspecting Polished Copper Sheets, 
American Brass Co., Ansonia 
Richie 



Stanton House, Clinton 
Major Timothy Cowles House, Farm- 
ington 

Chamberlain 

Noble House, New Milford 
Deming House, Litchfield 
Rockwell House, Winsted 
Old Store, Windham 
Perkins House, Windham 



between 58 and 59 

Forging Hot Brass, Scovill Manufac- 
turing Company, Waterbury 

Aikins 

Casting Shop, American Brass Com- 
pany, Waterbury 

Richie 

Withdrawing a Heated Copper Billet 
from the Furnace, American Brass 
Company, Waterbury 

Richie 
Line-up of Locomotives, New Haven 

Railroad, Cedar Hill 
Steam Power, Streamlined Train, New 
Haven Railroad 



PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION 
BY NATIVITY FOR CONNECTICUT, NEW ENGLAND, 
AND THE UNITED STATES, 1930 



69 



CONNECTICUT'S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE between 88 and 89 



Whitfield Stone House, Guilford 
Judgment Room, Thos. Lee House, 

E. Lyme 

Walsh 

Acadian House, Guilford 
Older Williams House, Wethersfield 
Lyons House, Greenwich 
Graves House, Madison 
Framed Overhang, Whitman House, 

Farmington 
Hewn Overhang, Hollister House, 

Glastonbury 



Interior, Trinity Church, Brooklyn 

Interior, House of Representatives, 
Old State House 

Gambrel Roofs, Plainfield 
Chamberlain 

Crosby Tavern, Thompson 

Interior of Dwight Chapel, Yale Uni- 
versity 

Linonia Court, Yale University 



XX 



Illustrations and Maps 



EARLY CHURCHES OF CONNECTICUT between 150 and 151 

Congregational Church, Farming- Congregational Church, Litchfield 

ton Congregational Church, Old Lyme 

Congregational Church, Wethers- Congregational Church, Killingworth 

field Plymouth Church, Milford 

Center Church, New Haven Congregational Church, East Granby 



TOWN AND COUNTRY 

^Etna Life Insurance Company, 
Hartford 
Courtesy of jEtna Life Insurance 

Co. 

The State Capitol, Hartford 
Old State House, Hartford 
Old Academy, Branford 
Cement Kiln, Woodbridge 
Ely Homestead, Killingworth 
In South Britain 
Town Hall, Salisbury 



between 180 and 181 
The New Haven Green 
Hartford Sky Line 
Railroad Station, Waterbury 
Old Iron Furnace, Roxbury 
World War Memorial, New Britain 
Hart's Bridge, West Cornwall 
Old Newgate Prison, East Granby 
Stanton Store, Clinton 
Highton 



EDUCATION 

Nathan Hale School, New London 
Avon Old Farms School Post Office 
Bullet Hill School, Southbury 
Ansonia High School 
Davenport Court and Pierson 
Tower, Yale University 

Highton 
Payne Whitney Gymnasium, Yale 

University 

Harkness Tower, Yale University 
Chamberlain 



between 242 and 243 
Sterling Memorial Library, Yale Uni- 
versity 

Chamberlain 
Connecticut Hall, Yale University 

Chamberlain 

trinity College Chapel, Hartford 
Coast Guard Academy, New London 
Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, Yale 
University 



SCENIC AND MARINE 
Housatonic Gorge 
Kent Falls 

Cathedral Pines, Cornwall 
Pastoral, Hamden 
Fences, Bethany 
Bridgewater Hills 

Coast Guard Patrol Boats, New 
London 



between 448 and 449 
Submarine in New London Harbor 
Oyster Docks, Milford 
Fair Haven 
Oyster Boats, City Point, New 

Haven 
Lighthouse Point, New Haven. 



FIELD 

Canal Piers, Farmington 
Old Canal, Windsor Locks 
Nineveh Falls, Killingworth 
Knife Shop Dam, South Meriden 
Hydroelectric Plant, Bulls Bridge 
Buttery's Mill (1688), Silvermine 
Devon Cattle, Old Lyme 



between 494 and 495 
Goats, Avon Old Farms 
Sheep, Avon Old Farms 
Summer Sky, Mount Carmel 
Holsteins, Southbury 
Haying, Roxbury 
At the End of the Day, Woodbury 
Bark Mill, Bethany 



Illustrations and Maps xxi 

MAPS 

State Map Back Pocket 

Reverse side: Transportation Map 

State Parks, Forest, and Historic Sites 

Bridgeport 122-123 

Danbury 134 

Fairfield 140 

Greenwich 153 

Guilford 163 

Hartford 175 

Hartford Tour Map 176-177 

Meriden 203 

Middletown 207 

Milford 213 

New Britain 219 

New Haven 231 

New Haven Tour Map 232-233 

New London 258-259 

Norwalk 268 

Norwich 275 

Norwichtown 279 

Stamford 295 

Stonington 301 

Waterbury 309 

Wethersfield 315 

Windsor 322 

Key to Connecticut Tours 35o~35i 



NOTATIONS ON THE USE 
OF THE BOOK 



General Information on the State contains practical information for the 
State as a whole; the introduction to each city and tour description also 
contains specific information of a practical sort. 

The Essay Section of the Guide is designed to give a brief survey of the 
State's natural setting, history, and social, economic, and cultural 
development. Limitations of space forbid elaborately detailed treat- 
ments of these subjects, but a classified bibliography is included in the 
book. A great many persons, places, and events mentioned in the essays 
are treated at some length in the city and tour descriptions; these are 
found by reference to the index. The State Guide is not only a practical 
travel book; it will also serve as a valuable reference work. 

The Guide is built on a framework of Tour Descriptions, written in 
general to follow the principal highways from south to north and from 
west to east, though they are easily followed in the reverse direction. 

As a matter of convenience, lengthy descriptions of cities and towns 
are removed from the tour sections of the book and separately grouped 
in alphabetical order. 

Each tour description contains cross-references to other tours crossing 
or branching from the route described; it also contains cross-references 
to all descriptions of cities and towns removed from the tour descriptions. 

Readers can find the descriptions of important routes by examining 
the tour index or the tour key map. As far as possible, each tour descrip- 
tion follows a single main route; descriptions of minor routes branching 
from, or crossing, the main routes are in smaller type. The newer and 
better highway usually carries the ' Alternate' highway number, such as 
US 6A, while the older route retains its original number. 

Cumulative mileage is used on main and side tours, the mileage being 
counted from the beginning of each main tour or, on side tours, from the 
junction with the main route; mileage is started afresh on side routes 
branching from side routes. The mileage notations are at best relative, 
since totals depend to some extent on the manner in which cars are 
driven whether they cut around other cars, round curves on the 



xxiv Notations on the Use of the Book 

inside or outside of the road, and so forth. Then, too, the totals will in 
the future vary from those in the book because of road building in which 
curves will be eliminated and routes will by-pass cities and villages 
formerly on the routes. 

Inter-State routes are described from and to the State Lines; in the 
Index to Tours and in the tour headings the names of the nearest out-of- 
State cities of importance on the routes are listed in parentheses so that 
travelers may readily identify the routes. 

Descriptions of points of interest in the larger towns and cities are 
numbered and arranged in the order in which they can conveniently be 
visited. 

Points of interest in cities, towns, and villages have been indexed 
separately rather than under the names of such communities, because 
many persons know the name of a point of interest, but are doubtful as 
to the name of the community in which it is situated. 



GENERAL INFORMATION 



Railroads: New York, New Haven & Hartford (N.Y., N.H. & H.), 
Central Vermont (C.V.), Central New England (C.N.E.). 

Highways: Six Federal highways; State police highway patrol with oc- 
casional inspection of operator licenses and registration. State highways 
cleared and sanded during winter. Gasoline filling stations numerous on 
all main highways. Federal gas tax iff, State gas tax 3$. (total tax 4ff). 

Bus Lines: New England Transportation Co. ; Greyhound Lines (national 
coverage) ; [Short Lines (Springfield, Portland, New York, Waterbury, 
Worcester, and Boston) ; Arrow Line (New Haven, Hartford, Pittsfield, 
Mass., Albany, N.Y., Montreal, Canada); Blue Way Lines (Portland, 
Me., and Boston to New York, via Springfield and Worcester); National 
Trail ways System ; and several smaller lines. 

Airlines: American Airlines Inc. (between Newark, N.J., and Boston, 
Mass.) stop at Hartford (see Transportation Map). 

Waterways: Summer day excursions, Bridgeport to New York. Ferries 
from New London, Bridgeport, and Stamford to Long Island (see General 
Information under those cities). 

Traffic Regulations: Motorists from States that do not require operator 
licenses must take out a Connecticut operator's license except when 
driving a vehicle registered in their own jurisdiction. 

Speed: Maximum speed on Federal and State highways is indicated 
on roadside signs. In general, the rate of speed should at all times be 
'reasonable,' with regard to the width, traffic, and use of the high- 
ways, intersections, and weather conditions. At no time is a maxi- 
mum of more than 50 miles per hour permitted. White center lines 
are painted at all dangerous curves and hills. Drivers must keep to 
the right of these lines, and refrain from passing on stretches so 
marked, or at any intersection. Stops must be made not less than 
10 feet behind trolley cars stopping to take on or let off passengers. 
On wide streets it is permissible to pass a stopped trolley at a dis- 
tance of 10 feet or more. Hand signals required. No parking allowed 
within 10 feet of any fire hydrant, within 50 feet of any vehicle al- 
ready parked on the opposite side of the highway, or with right- 
hand wheels more than i foot from curb. 

Lights: Make full stop before entering or crossing * through ways' 
indicated by STOP signs. Slowing down and shifting gears are not 
sufficient; make complete stop. No right turns on red lights, except 
where indicated. 



xx vi General Information 



Report at once all accidents involving any personal injury, or any 

property damage in excess of $25. 

Specific traffic regulations noted in General Information of large 

cities. Reciprocal privileges extended visitors in regard to licenses 

and registration. 

Reflectors, for safeguard when taillight fails, required on all visiting 

cars after September i, 1937. 

Accommodations: Tourist accommodations of every type are available 
in practically any part of the State. Inns, hotels, tourist houses, and 
cabins will be found within short distances on any mam highway, rates 
ranging from 75^ up. Trailer stops are not yet numerous, but are provided 
by many cabin owners. State-regulated tourist and trailer camps are 
maintained at Hammonasset Beach State Park (see MADISON, Tour 1), 
and at Rocky Neck State Park (see EAST LYME, Tour IF). 
Climate and Equipment: Summer travelers to Connecticut should be pre- 
pared for moderately warm weather, with infrequent hot and muggy 
days; nights are generally cool. Winter visitors should be prepared for 
sub-freezing to near zero weather, occasional snow storms and dangerous 
ice storms which make driving hazardous until the highway crews sand 
the roadways. 

Poisonous Plants and Reptiles: Poison ivy, or three-leafed mercury, is 
common throughout the State, growing on stone walls, roadside trees, 
banks, and over old barns and buildings. After the first frost its leaves 
turn a deep scarlet, inviting the uninformed to pick it and become miser- 
able within a few hours. Poison sumac is not as common, but is perhaps 
more irritating; this shrub is also found throughout the State but seldom 
beside the State highways. 

Rattlesnakes are plentiful around Kent, Canaan Mountain, Glastonbury, 
and in sections of Salem. All these ' snake dens,' however, are off the 
beaten track, usually far from the highway, and are dangerous only to 
the hiker through rocky woodland or mountain area. Snake dens along 
hiking trails are marked, and there is usually a glass jar handy containing 
first aid treatment for snake bites. Copperheads are found in the swampy 
lowlands of Connecticut, and are dangerous because they strike without 
warning. It is therefore advisable to wear boots when walking through 
swamplands in the copperhead country. 

Plant Regulations: Laurel, the Connecticut State Flower, which blossoms 
in woods and along the highways of the State during the month of June, 
must not be picked under penalty of the law. 

Information Bureaus: State of Connecticut Publicity Commission, State 
Capitol, Hartford. Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, Dept. SN 35, 
410 Asylum St., Hartford, Conn. 



General Information xxvii 



RECREATIONAL FACILITIES 

Beaches and Camping Grounds: Three State parks (Sherwood Island, 
Hammonasset Beach, and Rocky Neck) bordering Long Island Sound 
provide clean, safe, properly protected bathing facilities. Camping 
grounds are open to the public, space is set aside for trailer parking, and 
the mosquito menace is reduced to the minimum. Pavilions and bath- 
houses are open during the summer and early autumn. 

Inland waters also offer recreational opportunities. Lake Candlewood 
is the State's largest inland body of water, but Waramaug, Twin Lakes, 
or any one of the several larger lakes afford equally fine facilities for 
fishing, boating, or skating in season. Almost every one of the 169 towns 
has at least one good spot for the enjoyment of water or ice sports. 

Fishing: Fishermen find ample opportunity for their sport in the 7619 
miles of rivers and streams, or in the thousand lakes and ponds covering 
a total area of 43,597 acres. The 245 miles of shore line on Long Island 
Sound and the Atlantic Ocean are dotted with boat liveries, where quali- 
fied skippers personally conduct fishing parties or rent boats to the salt- 
water angler. Commercial swordfishermen often take paying guests, usu- 
ally from the Stonington docks, to enjoy a sport as exciting as whaling. 

Hunting: Shooting alongshore and on the Connecticut River is excellent. 
Migratory wildfowl pay their autumn call after a summer of fattening in 
the rice beds of northern lakes. Upland game birds have suffered from 
the encroachment of industrial and residential areas into their natural 
cover; but pheasants have partially replaced the native ruffed grouse 
and quail. Better control of shooting promises a gradual improvement 
in this sport. No eastern State offers better rabbit hunting; raccoons 
still frequent the heavy timber and swamplands; and squirrels are 
abundant, except when the nut crop fails and they are forced to migrate 
to other areas. Deer are protected in Connecticut, and have become so 
plentiful that the farmers often secure special permits for their destruc- 
tion to save crops and young orchards. 

Fish and Game Laws: (Digest) Licenses required of persons 16 years old 
and over. Issued by Town Clerks or by State Board of Fisheries and Game. 
Hunting license, resident $3.35; non-resident $10.35. Fishing license, 
resident $3.35; non-resident $5.35 minimum (residents of a State having 
a non-resident fee in excess of $5.35 are charged the same fee in Connecti- 
cut). Combination hunting and fishing licenses, residents $5.35; non- 
residents $14.35. For regulations and permits, write State Board of 
Fisheries and Game, State Office Building, Hartford, Conn., or apply to 
patrolmen on streams. 

Boating: Yachtsmen will find safe anchorage and good service in numerous 
harbors, or quiet waters in the lee of green islands on Long Island Sound. 



xxviii General Information 



Motorboat enthusiasts can cross the State from the Sound to the Massa- 
chusetts State Line, via the Connecticut River, with only one short trip 
through locks at the Enfield Rapids. Canoe trips are possible on any one 
of Connecticut's three larger rivers. Trains take sportsfolk from the 
metropolitan area to Falls Village where, after assembling their portable 
craft, they embark on the Housatonic to enjoy the European sport of 
1 f alt bootpaddeln ' over a ly-mile course strewn with rapids and boulders. 

Hiking: Hiking trails are well marked and never far from civilization. 
The great Appalachian Trail crosses the State, and many feeder trails, 
or short trails of local importance, thread their way through woodland 
and hill-country of entrancing beauty. Trail maps can be secured (for 
2$fy from the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, 215 Church St., 
New Haven. 

Riding: Riding has grown in popularity in Connecticut and many excel- 
lent stables rent saddle horses and riding togs. Although all of the main 
highways are hard-surfaced, there are many hundreds of miles of gravel 
or dirt roads where motor traffic is light and where riders can explore the 
back-country in perfect comfort and safety. Private property rights are 
carefully respected in this State, and wire fencing is the rule; but almost 
any farmer allows a rider to cross pastureland or other terrain not actually 
under a crop, if the request is properly made and if gates or barways are 
closed to prevent stock from roaming. 

Hunt Clubs and Horse Shows: Hunt clubs are few and exclusive in Con- 
necticut. The best pack of hounds in the State is at Watertown, but hunts 
at Durham, Fairneld, and Norfolk attract riders in season. As farm folk 
do not approve of fox hunting, most hunters either own or lease their own 
acreage. Horse shows of local importance are held at many widely sepa- 
rated points in the State. Harness racing is a feature at Danbury Fair 
(first week in October), and a few local tracks have their quota of lovers 
of * silks and sulkies.' No running races are held within the State, but flat 
races and the occasional rather easy steeplechase of the amateur hunts- 
folk are staged in season. Four troops of National Guard cavalry, polo 
at Yale, Farmington Polo Association, and at Avon Old Farms, and an 
annual indoor horse show at the New Haven Arena complete the more 
serious side of the mounted sports card in Connecticut. 

Climbing: Mountain climbing is not a popular pastime in the State, al- 
though the sheer cliffs of the Hanging Hills and the slightly easier slopes 
of Mt. Carmel tempt an occasional devotee of the Alpine art. The highest 
land in Connecticut is in the extreme northwestern corner, where Bear 
Mountain pierces the blue at 2355 ft. and Gridley Mountain rises to 
2200 ft. 

Bicycling: Cyclists pedal over many back roads, and the railroad en- 
courages this sport by operating cycle trains from New York City to the 
Canaan Hills. Regulations covering the operation of cycles on the high- 
ways are concerned with the proper lighting of vehicles and the use of 
reflectors on the rear. 



General Information xxix 



Winter Sports: Snow trains cross the State on their way from the larger 
cities to the Berkshires and the northern New England hills. Skating 
and hockey are favorite sports in every town. Bobsledding increases in 
popularity with the construction of better runs, but tobogganing is not 
practiced. Ski runs are many; the better clubs are in Litchfield County, 
where the snow falls earliest and stays longest. 

Golfing: Golfers can always find a course within convenient reach. 

Tennis: Tennis courts have been built in practically all municipal parks 
throughout the State. 



CALENDAR OF ANNUAL 

EVENTS 







(nfd no fixed 


date) 


March 


nfd 


New Haven 


Paint and Clay Club art exhibit. 


March 


nfd 


Hartford 


Exhibit of work by Connecticut 








artists. 


March 


Easter Sunday 


New London 


Sunrise Service in Coast Guard 








Academy Bowl, 7 A.M. 






New Haven 


Sunrise Service, East Rock Park. 




Easter Monday 


New Haven 


Egg Hunt, East Rock Park and 








Edgewood Park. 




Easter Week 


New Haven 


Easter Flower Show, East Rock 








Park Cineraria Show, Pardee 








Gardens, East Rock Park. 


March 


nfd 


New Britain 


Ukrainian Festival in memory 








of the Ukrainian bard, Taras 








Shevchenko; concert and folk 








dances presented in native 








costumes. 


April 


nfd 


Hartford 


Antique Exposition; exhibits 








and lectures. 


April 


nfd 


Hartford 


Spelling Bee (local finals), Bush- 








nell Park. 


May 


i 


Storrs 


Connecticut State College May 








Day Exercises; pageant. 


May 


i 


Willimantic 


State Teachers' College May 








Day Exercises; pageant. 


May 


nfd 


New Haven 


Powder House Day; pageant 








based on historical episode. 


May 


2d wk 


New Haven 


Annual Iris Show, East Rock 








Park. 


May 


nfd 


Hartford 


Flower Mart and Show, Old 








State House. 


May 


2d or 3d 


Derby 


Blackwell Cup or Carnegie Cup 




Saturday 




Crew Race on Housatonic 








River. 


May 


nfd 


Middlefield 


Apple Blossom Festival, Lyman 








Orchards. 


May 


nfd 


Farmington 


Peach Blossom Time, Tunxis 








Orchards. 


May 


30 


New Haven 


Skeet Shooting; five-man team 








championship. 


May 


3i 


Hartford 


Russians celebrate their na- 








tional holiday with athletic 




/> ! 




events, folk dances, and songs, 








in Charter Oak Park. 



xxxn 



Calendar of Annual Events 



June 
June 



mid-month 
mid-month 



Winsted 
Hartford 



June 2d or 3d wk New Haven 



New London 



June 
June 

June 
June 

June 
July 



July 
July 
Aug. 



Aug. 
Aug. 

Aug. 
Aug. 
Aug. 



15 to 20 
nfd 

last wk 
29 

nfd 



2 

4 

ist Friday 



2d Saturday 
nfd 

3d wk 

nfd 

nfd 



Aug. nfd 



Middletown 
Stratford 

Greenwich 
Greenwich 

Lyme 
Falls Village 



Fairfield 
Greenwich 
East Hampton 



Litchfield 
Hartford 

Hartford 
Old Lyme 
Durham 

West Goshen 



Laurel Week. 

Flower Show, Old State House. 

Rose Week, Elizabeth Park. 

YaleUniversityCommencement. 

Rose Show, Pardee Rose Gar- 
dens, East Rock Park (contin- 
uing through summer). 

Yale-Harvard Freshman, Com- 
bination, and Junior Varsity 
Crew Races, A.M. 

Yale-Harvard Baseball Game, 
Mercer Field, P.M. 

Yale-Harvard Varsity Crew 
Race, 7 P.M. 

Graduation exercises of Coast 
Guard Academy. 

Graduation exercises of Con- 
necticut College for Women. 

Wesleyan Commencement ex- 
ercises; band concert and 
college sing. 

Skeet Shooting; Great Eastern 
States and National Tele- 
graphic Championship, Rem- 
ington Gun Club, at Lord- 
ship. 

Dog Show, Greenwich Kennel 
Club. 

Annual golf championship 
matches, Greenwich Country 
Club. 

Art exhibit begins, lasting 
through summer. 

Subscription concerts every Sun- 
day, under auspices Jacques 
Gordon Musical Foundation, 
Music Mountain. 

Horse Show. 

Scottish Games Association. 

Old Home Day Celebration; 
3-day event; pageant, con- 
certs, drum corps exhibition, 
parade. 

Horse Show; fancy riding, jump- 
ing. 

Lawn Bowling Tournament, 
Elizabeth Park. 

Gladiola Show, Old State House. 

Art exhibition. 

Middlesex County 4~H Club 
Fair. 

Litchfield -County 4-H Club 
Fair. 



Calendar of Annual Events 



xxxm 



Aug. 


nfd 


Wolcott 


New Haven County 4~H Club 








Fair. 


Aug. 


nfd 


Long Island Sound 


New York Yacht Club Cruise. 


Aug. 


21, 22 


North Stonington 


New London County 4~H Club 








Fair. 


Aug. 


latter part 


Lyme 


Hamburg Fair. 


Sept. 


nfd 


West Avon 


Hartford County 4-H Club 








Fair, Cherry Park. 


Sept. 


nfd 


Goshen 


Goshen Fair. 


Sept. 


nfd 


Haddam Neck 


Haddam Neck Fair. 


Sept. 


nfd 


South Woodstock 


Woodstock Fair. 


Sept. 


nfd 


Old Saybrook 


Horse Fair. 


Sept. 


(3 days before 


Willimantic 


Elks County Fair. 




and including 








Labor Day) 






Sept. 


nfd 


Wethersfield 


Horse Show. 


Sept. 


nfd 


Greenwich 


Horse Show. 


Sept. 


nfd 


Brooklyn 


Brooklyn Fair. 


Sept. 


nfd 


Guilford 


Guilford Fair. 


Sept. 


nfd 


Hartford 


Hartford County Food Exhibit, 








State Armory. 


Oct. 


ist wk 


Danbury 


Danbury Fair. 


Oct. 


ist wk 


Harwinton 


Harwinton Fair. 


Oct. 


2d wk 


Durham 


Durham Fair. 


Oct. 


nfd 


Riverton 


Riverton Fair. 


Oct. 


nfd 


Stafford 


Stafford Fair. 


Oct. 


27 


New London 


Navy Day celebration at U.S. 








Submarine Base. 


Nov. 


6 


Hartford 


Swedish population celebrates 








national holiday with songs 








and dances. 


Nov. 


nfd 


New Haven 


Chrysanthemum Show, East 








Rock Park. 


Dec. 


2d wk 


Hartford 


Connecticut Vegetable Growers' 








Meeting. 


Dec. 


nfd 


Hartford 


Pomological Show, Women's 








Club, Broad St. 


Dec. 


24 


Hartford 


Community sing, Prospect St. 



i. CONNECTICUT: THE 

GENERAL BACKGROUND 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION 



CONNECTICUT, the 'Nutmeg State,' is one of the thirteen original 
States. From east to west it extends about ninety-five miles, from north 
to south about sixty miles. Its area of 4965 square miles could be con- 
tained in Texas fifty- three times; only two States, Rhode Island and Del- 
aware, are smaller in size. It is bounded on the north by Massachusetts, 
on the east by Rhode Island, on the south by Long Island Sound, and on 
the west by New York. In 1936 the population was approximately 
1,725,000. 

The coastline of the State is typical of New England, rock-bound and 
rugged, with numerous sandy beaches and occasional 'salt meadows.' 
In general, the landscape is mildly rolling near Long Island Sound; to- 
ward the north, and especially toward the northwest, the slopes become 
more pronounced. The point of highest altitude is Bear Mountain, in the 
extreme northwest corner of the State, with an elevation of 2355 feet. 
There are two distinct series of hills, usually roughly designated as the 
eastern and western highlands, between which lies the central lowland 
interrupted by the traprock ridges of New Haven and Hartford Counties. 
The Berkshire Hills, extending south from Massachusetts and Vermont to 
the city of Danbury, provide most interesting scenery. Both the Norfolk 
and Litchfield Hills, famed in song and story, attract swarms of summer 
tourists, artists, and vacationists; many of these visitors have purchased 
secluded hill farms and return each summer. 

Connecticut is rich in interesting and romantic place names, such as 
Dublin Street, Jangling Plains, Dark Entry, Cow Shandy, Dodgingtown, 
Padanaram, and the Abrigador. Many of the names of towns or topo- 
graphical features are of English, Biblical, or Indian origin. What names 
could retain more of the flavor of old England than Greenwich, Cheshire, 
Durham, Cornwall, Avon, and Wallingford to cite but a few? What 
terms are more redolent of the Old Testament than Canaan, Hebron, 
Goshen, Bethany, Lebanon, and Zoar? The Indian names, which are le- 
gion, have a delightfully primitive quality: Yantic, Cos Cob, Quassapaug, 
Naugatuck, Quinnipiac, Wequetequock. The very name of the State it- 
self harks back to the earlier form ' Quinatucquet,' meaning 'upon the 
long river/ 



Connecticut : The General Background 



Connecticut's scenic advantages have but recently been recognized as 
a tourist attraction. Forest-clad hills, kept green during the summer 
by abundant rainfall, lakes scattered over the State, and miles of breeze- 
swept bathing beaches along the Sound provide a variety of recreational 
facilities. Excellent highways make travel to these points easy. A well- 
kept and well-marked system of hiking trails and bridle paths invites the 
hiker and the rider to venture into country not reached by motor roads. 
In Connecticut the enthusiast may enjoy some of the wildest and most 
rugged scenery in the East. The gorge of the Mianus River on the Con- 
necticut-New York State Line is considered one of the most primitive 
spots within a short distance of New York City. North of Old Lyme, the 
Devil's Hop Yard, now accessible to motorists, is marked by piney depths, 
massive granite boulders, and splashing streams. Near-by is the ghost 
town of Millington Green, a relic of the days when lumbering was carried 
on extensively. The panorama from the mesa-like Hanging Hills of Meri- 
den is one of great beauty. 

In contrast to the rough back country is the quiet neatness of the village 
green in each small community, adorned by its Congregational church and 
magnificent elms. Especially beautiful are the greens at Sharon, Wood- 
stock, Tolland, Pomfret, and Windham. Those interested in well-propor- 
tioned churches of the Colonial period will delight in the handsome edi- 
fices of Canterbury, Killingworth, Litchfield, Lebanon, and Brooklyn. 
Towns unrivaled in the beauty of their elm-shaded main streets are Ridge- 
field, Lyme, Roxbury, Colebrook, Madison, and Litchfield. The usual 
country house is well painted and built far enough from the highway to 
insure a certain degree of privacy and dignity. White paint is spread with 
a lavish brush; green trim and blinds are popular. Occasionally a red- 
brick or yellow Colonial house varies this rural color scheme of white and 
green. 

The country landscape, with its broad fields of different crops, offers 
varied shadings of green. Waving corn, hillside orchards, acres of shade- 
grown tobacco under netting that appears from a distance like a vast sea, 
meet the eye of the traveler and leave the impression of a land of plenty, 
a land that is kind to its people. The dairying section of Connecticut 
and much of the land is devoted to dairying furnishes the contrast of 
red barns, white farm houses, tall silos, and orderly fence rows against a 
background of alfalfa and timothy fields, with pasture land dotted with 
black and white Holstein or yellow and white Guernsey cattle. Connecti- 
cut is proud of her farms, and eighty-three per cent of the farmers are 
landowners. Very few farmhouses are left unpainted, although the older 



General Description 



barns, usually with native pine, hemlock, or chestnut siding, are often 
weathered to a soft gray. Old rail fencing can still be seen in the back 
country, and the many walls of field stone are proof that a Connecticut 
farmer has to work for what he gets. 

The winter scene in Connecticut is especially beautiful. The rolling 
character of the country lends itself readily to all manner of winter sports. 
Ski jumps of national importance are found at Norfolk and Colebrook 
River, where many meets are held. Professional ski jumpers and ski run- 
ners congregate at Salisbury, Norfolk, and Winsted, where competition 
is keen. The tourist is surprised to find winter sports' centers easily accessi- 
ble over roads that have been cleared of snow and properly sanded. 
Connecticut offers many of the facilities of Banff and Lake Placid within 
easy driving distance of many of the large eastern cities. 

Residents of New York City do not commonly realize that over the 
New Haven Railroad the distance from their city's limits to the Connec- 
ticut State Line is but twelve miles, and that at another point Connecticut 
comes within seven miles of the Hudson River. To such an extent does a 
corner of New England thrust itself into the metropolitan area! With the 
extension of the Hutchinson River Parkway in Westchester and the com- 
pletion of the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, a hitherto untapped re- 
gion of beautifully wooded hills and rocky dells will be accessible to the 
motorist. 

Connecticut is dotted with inns of various sorts. Hotels and garage 
service are generally excellent. Many rustic eating places border the high- 
ways in the back country. Here a barn has been equipped as a studio and 
lunch room; there an ancient house serves a light snack in the atmosphere 
of another day. Artists sketch along the country roads, and operate 
tourist houses for a supplementary income. In season, a system of State- 
inspected roadside markets cater to passers-by. The traveler along the 
Boston Post Road, with its gasoline stations and wayside restaurants, gets 
but a few glimpses of charming coastal villages and sequestered inland 
hamlets set among the hills; but let him wander off the beaten paths and 
he will discover a countryside much as it was in the pre-Revolutionary 
days. 

Quiet country towns with close-clipped lawns and stately shade trees, 
picturesque islands offshore, sunrise over the hills of Cornwall, sunset over 
still pastures, the roar of Kent Falls and the silence of the Cathedral Pines 
all these await the traveler who cares to venture away from the larger 
cities. Few States have more to offer in natural beauty, in contentment, 
and in peace. 



Connecticut : The General Background 



Connecticut occupies approximately one-half the southern portion of 
the New England peneplain. The surface of the State has the characteris- 
tics of a gently undulating upland, with the Connecticut Valley lowland 
separating this upland into two nearly equal divisions. From the northern 
shore of Long Island Sound the land rises at the rate of twenty feet a mile 
to a general elevation of one thousand feet at the northern boundary; in 
the northwestern section of the State there are a few points where the alti- 
tude exceeds two thousand feet. As a contrast, the lowland attains a 
height of only one hundred feet at the northern border. The total area of 
this lowland is about six hundred square miles. Along the Massachusetts 
boundary, the lowland is about fifteen miles in width, and at New Haven, 
where it dips into the Sound, it narrows to a mere five miles. Such a con- 
dition is the result of a weak bed of rock eroding after the general upland 
surface had been elevated subsequent to its formation near sealevel. 
Within this bedrock was enough harder traprock to resist erosion; hence 
such features as the Hanging Hills of Meriden and the ridges in the vicin- 
ity of New Haven. These ridges are characterized by deep notches and 
high points that equal in elevation the upland levels east and west of the 
lowland region. 

At East Haddam, where the Fall Line intersects the lower gorge of the 
Connecticut River, one hundred and forty-five earthquake epicenters 
were located by the French seismologist, F. de Montessus. More recent 
research indicates that the greatest intensity of disturbance occurs on a 
line rather than at a given point. The village of Moodus in East Haddam 
lies at the intersection of many converging seismotectonic lines. Scientific 
investigation has thus accounted for the mysterious and dreadful ' Moodus 
Noises/ early interpreted by the Indians as the rumblings of evil spirits, 
and by Cotton Mather as the voice of an angry God. 

The western upland is decidedly more rugged than the one east of the 
valley; here several isolated peaks terminate the line of the Green Moun- 
tains and Berkshire ranges. With few exceptions, the highlands are 
broken by deep and narrow valleys running in a southern and southeast- 
ern direction. The ridges are heavily forested, and provide a pleasant con- 
trast to the fertile fields in the river valleys. 

The Connecticut River drains only the northern portion of the low- 
land. Southeasterly from Middletown the river has carved for itself a 
narrow valley in the eastern upland. The Housatonic and Naugatuck 
Rivers drain the western highland; and the Thames system composed 
chiefly of the Yantic, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers drains the 
eastern area. On the Connecticut River, navigation extends to Hartford, 



General Description 



on the Housatonic to Derby, and on the Thames to Norwich. Oil tankers, 
coal barges, and pleasure craft make up most of the traffic on these rivers. 
The depression of small valleys along the shore has created a number of 
good harbors. 

The lakes, waterfalls, and pot-holes, so common over the State, owe 
their origin to glacial action. There are more than a thousand lakes, with 
a total area of some 44,000 acres. Among the natural lakes are Waramaug, 
Bantam, Pocotopaug, Gardner, and Twin Lakes. Artificial lakes include 
Lake Zoar and Candlewood Lake, the latter being by far the largest body 
of water in Connecticut. 

The State's coastal plain, extending along Long Island Sound, is well 
developed commercially and residentially. Seaside resorts, State parks, 
and bathing beaches line the shore, with some intervening marshland. 
There are several good harbors, the most important of which is at New 
London, where the United States Government has a submarine base and 
a Coast Guard Academy. Shipping was once of great importance, but it 
is now relatively negligible except for coastwise traffic. 



NATURAL RESOURCES AND 
CONSERVATION 



Minerals: There are few States where the rocks and minerals are so well 
exposed for observation as in Connecticut. Minerals occur in great 
diversity of genetic types, but their commercial exploitation has not 
been substantially profitable. 

The garnet and iron mines of Roxbury, the nickel mines of Litchfield, 
and the iron mines of Salisbury have long since ceased production. Cop- 
per mining at Granby, Bristol, and Cheshire was attempted even as late 
as World War days, but the workings are now idle. Roxbury granite 
is only locally important, Portland brownstone went out of fashion 
shortly after the last dust-ruffle brushed the sidewalk, but the traprock 
quarries are always busy supplying stone for highway and construction 
work. The lime kilns of the State are rusty wraiths of their former selves, 
the breakwater stone quarries are idle, and the last silica mill has been 
torn down; but the Strickland quarries in Portland produce material for 
a well-known commercial scouring agent, a garnet mine is active in 
Tolland County, and a prospector blasts hopefully for platinum in the 
rough hillsides of Sherman. 

Soils: The soils of Connecticut furnish a livelihood for many farmers 
and dairymen. No State in the Union has better markets so close to the 
fields where crops are grown, and few other States are so free from prob- 
lems of drought, soil depletion, and erosion. Early in the history of 
Connecticut, Yankee farmers learned the rudiments of 'side-hill farming'; 
modern guidance by an ever-vigilant State agricultural service has per- 
petuated the fertility and encouraged the wise utilization of the soil, and 
the State has made the most of this rather limited resource. 

Water-Pouter and Watersheds: The streams of the State provided 
early mills with an abundance of water-power. As industry expanded, 
the rivers became ever more important to the growth of the State and its 
economic self-sufficiency. Water-power used directly at the site is still 
important, and an abundance of electrical energy is generated from the 
rivers that plunge over the Fall Line on their race to the sea. Only one 
of the State's 169 towns (Union) is without electrical service, and no 
hydroelectric power is 'imported.' 



Natural Resources and Conservation 



Scarcely a single community in Connecticut suffers for lack of a pure, 
soft, potable water supply. Watersheds are usually controlled by munici- 
palities, but numerous privately owned water companies also function 
satisfactorily. The watersheds are vigilantly protected and conserved. 
Pine plantings around reservoirs are seen in almost every section of the 
State. Notices warning the passer-by of the dangers of fire and pollution 
are posted, and all watersheds are patrolled. Pollution is slowly being 
eradicated on streams not used for public water supply, and industry is 
conscious of the necessity for better and more sanitary disposal of waste 
material. Only the Naugatuck River shows any marked degree of 
pollution, and State authorities are now (1937) actively concerned with 
the purification of this one offensive stream among Connecticut water- 
ways. 

Flood Control: The State is alive to the necessity of long-term planning 
for eliminating the menace of floods such as have twice swept the State 
during the past nine years. Losses in soil have not been severe, but the 
economic waste through lost time on production and the damage to 
industrial equipment is so costly as to create a major problem. Connecti- 
cut's interest and position in the matter of flood control are of course 
largely influenced by the attitude and action of the States to the north. 
The General Assembly in 1937 ratified an interstate compact on flood 
control calling for the construction of dams on streams tributary to the 
Connecticut River in the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Forests: With an occasional exception, such as the conservation work 
of the Shaker Colony at Enfield, where a pine grove was planted under 
the direction of Elder Omar Pease in 1866, the preservation and renewal 
of Connecticut's forests have been grossly neglected by past generations. 

The chestnut, fastest growing of the State's timber trees, for many 
years supplied most of the wood cut for commercial use. But the chestnut 
blight destroyed chestnut trees, and the 'peckerwood' sawmill operator 
moved on to a new stand. Timber production dropped from the record 
figures of 168,371,000 board feet, cut by 420 mills, in 1909, to only 
20,525,000 board feet, cut by 85 mills, in 1930. Seventy-five per cent of 
the recent cut has been in hardwoods, and the average annual output 
for thirty years has been slightly under eighty million feet. Cordwood for 
lime kilns and brass mills took most of the remaining timber, and every 
farm woodlot kept a family in fuel. Forests were depleted, and new 
plantings were scattered and thin. 

Before State control and the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 



io Connecticut: The General Background 

about 27,000 acres of forest, on a yearly average, were devastated by 
fire. A similar loss was formerly suffered from the ravages of insects and 
ice-storm damage. But in 1932, owing largely to the patrol work of 
trained fire crews, only 7000 acres were burned over. 

In 1937, 1,789,000 acres in Connecticut, or 56% of the State's 
total area, consist of forest land. This is an estimated increase of some 
300,000 acres in the past fifteen years. Further increases are probable. 
The State owns about 75,000 acres, and is planning additional purchases; 
municipal water boards and companies own 100,000 acres; and the re- 
mainder is privately owned and controlled. Although plantings are in- 
creasing, the softwood supply in Connecticut plantations totals only about 
23,000 acres. 



PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE 



SHRUBS 

MOUNTAIN LAUREL (Kalmia latifolia), the State Flower, is as typical 
of the rocky Connecticut hillsides as the rhododendron is of the Appa- 
lachians. Protected by law, this shrub, which furnishes a dark evergreen 
cover, grows profusely in the woodlands and has been planted in shady 
highway gardens along the roadsides. The Laurel Festival is an annual 
three-day event in Winsted in honor of the beautiful pink and white 
blossom. 

The shelving pink or white dogwood blossoms are almost as common as 
laurel and present a magnificent display in June. Especially noteworthy 
growths are in Hubbard Park in Meriden, in the rocky glens of Green- 
wich, on the King's Highway in the eastern hills of Wolcott, and on 
Greenfield Hill. The pink azalea, locally named ' honeysuckle,' blossom- 
ing in pinks shading to red, is found almost everywhere. Clusters of white 
wild cherry blossoms appear early in the spring. The bark of this tree is 
used as a cough mixture, but its wilted leaves are poisonous to horses 
and cattle. 

Pasturelands abound with three shrubs: the sweetfern, the bayberry, 
and sheep-laurel. The latter is poisonous to sheep and cattle. The bay- 
berry fruit has a wax content that has been used since Colonial days in 
the making of scented candles. Sweetfern has a delightful odor and 
taste. Its dried leaves are often smoked by youngsters. Juniper bushes, 
spreading evergreen branches along the ground, produce berries valued as 
flavoring in gin. 

Huckleberry and blueberry bushes of both high and low varieties bear 
edible berries of commercial value. The Ivy Mountain area of Goshen is 
especially productive as berry country. Several kinds of blackberries are 
conspicuous in June for their wands of white blossoms, and ripen some- 
what later than the low bush blueberries. Occasional patches of wild 
raspberries survive in the State. The black raspberry or thimbleberry is 
widely distributed. Pokeberries, which abound, though not edible, are 
used as dye for homespun. Cranberries are native to Connecticut; their 



12 Connecticut: The General Background 

present-day commercial production here is negligible, but many good 
natural bogs exist, notably one to the east of the Cheshire-Waterbury 
road and one near Twin Lakes. 

At the edge of the Appalachian hardwood belt where it merges into the 
northern evergreen forest cover, watered by bountiful rainfall, Connecti- 
cut borrows some plant life from each of these two types of cover. 



WILD FLOWERS 

As soon as the snow melts from the Connecticut countryside, a trip 
into the deep woods and a climb into the hill country are rewarded with 
the discovery of trailing arbutus, which sometimes blooms beneath the 
snow. Blue and white violets cover the lowlands, and the cool woods 
shelter the hepatica and the yellow dogtooth violet. The starry-flowered 
bloodroot is another conspicuous spring plant in suitable situations in 
wood and shady glen. The Indian turnip, or jack-in- the-pulpit, in marshy 
places, is ever ready to 'preach' for the youngsters who pinch the strange 
bloom with inquisitive fingers. Cowslips, deserving a much fairer name, 
spread a yellow glow along quiet swamp pools. Country people prize 
the leaves of this plant as 'greens,' cooking it as they do the dandelion, 
milkweed, and dock. In May or June, meadows are alternately white 
with daisies or yellow with buttercups. Wild geraniums lend a touch of 
lavender against the varied greens and, later, the lupine, in favored 
locations, covers sandy banks and sterile fields with a wash of blue. 

In midsummer, the wild rose blooms. A trip into the deep woods is 
rewarded with the discovery of some one of the more delicate orchids. 
The Pyrola and the Indian pipe cannot be found by the roadside, but 
reward the botanist who wanders far afield. Evening primroses, vetches, 
clovers, mustard plant, vervains and composites are a part of the pattern, 
and even the hated wild carrot, or Queen Anne's Lace, is a weed of beauty. 
Later, at the brook's edge, the scarlet cardinal flower raises its gaudy 
spire as the trout play below its roots. 

Th$ Connecticut countryside often appears at its best in autumn. 
The gaudy scarlets of the woodlands merge with the yellow of the golden- 
rod and the browns of ground vegetation. Ivy, climbing around trees 
and stone walls, adds a flaming red equaled only by the sumach. Swamp 
sumach, distinguished by very green and shiny leaves, is poisonous, but 
the upland staghorn type, with great spikes of turkey-red berries in 



Plant and Animal Life 13 

autumn, is not only harmless but has medicinal properties. The three- 
leaved poison ivy, often called mercury, should be avoided, but the five- 
leaved Virginia creeper (a cousin of the grape) is harmless. 



MEDICINAL PLANTS 

Among the often-missed, delicate blossoms to be found between wheel 
tracks of old wood roads, are a large variety of herbs, including penny- 
royal, and lobelia, whose medicinal properties are valued by the well-in-* 
formed 'herb-doctor,' homeopath, and country housewife. Partridge- 
berry, a tiny woodland vine found creeping beneath the running or Prin- 
cess Pine, produces a brew which was believed to lessen the dangers of 
childbirth for pioneer women and their dusky predecessors. 

Witch-hazel, a shrub blooming in October with a delicate yellow flower, 
furnishes a lotion, concocted at home in the early days, which is now 
manufactured at several distilleries in the State. The root of the aromatic 
sassafras, found along the edges of woods and in fence corners, is used 
both as a flavoring and as a cure for throat ailments. Black birch, a tree 
which blossoms in the form of a tassel, is valued for the preparation 
known as ' oil of birch,' used as a substitute for wintergreen. 

Old charcoal pits provide ideal soil conditions for rank growths of poke- 
berry and mullen. Mullen tea is locally believed to be effective in treating 
fever and reducing bruises. Thoroughwort, or boneset, with a white 
blossom, and skullcap with a blue one, are other common and useful 
Connecticut medicinal plants. 



NATIVE TREES 

The deciduous woodlands of Connecticut vary from the soft maple and 
pepperidge in the swamps to the oak, ash, birch, hickory, poplar, yellow 
poplar, sycamore, beech, hard maple, and butternut of the ridge. North- 
ward, the woodland changes from hardwood second growth to a pre- 
dominance of evergreens, ranging from seedling plantings to the towering 
white pines of Cornw.aH. Spruce and balsam are not plentiful but hem- 
lock and white pine are abundant and readily re-seed and flourish. 
Beautiful stands of hemlock are numerous, notably at Sandy Hook, along 



14 Connecticut: The General Background 

the Mianus and Shepaug Rivers, at Cornwall, Canaan, New London, 
Hartland, and Goshen. Red pine, which has proved resistant to rust and 
blister, covers many municipal watersheds. Tamarack, or eastern larch, 
which is still plentiful, furnished the early settlers with ideal wood for 
snowshoe frames, ship timbers, ladders, and fence posts. Tamarack gum 
was regarded as superior to spruce gum as a balm for wounds. 

The hop-hornbeam and ironwood (or blue beech) are both common, and 
their wood is used for whipstocks and tool handles. Black walnut and 
hickory are fast disappearing in commercial quantities. The elm and 
sugar maple are favorite shade trees in all Connecticut villages. Willow, 
one of the first trees to show leaves in the spring, supplies material for 
basket splints, and its charcoal a base for gunpowder. Recently, the 
persimmon has been grown as far north as Rockville. Catalpa, horse 
chestnut, and locust are introduced species in the State, and are becoming 
naturalized in various places. 



ANIMAL AND BIRD LIFE 

The smaller mammalia all adjust themselves to conditions in this 
industrial region, and in recent years, as more land is returned to forest 
cover through State, municipal, or Federal purchases, they seem to 
multiply and thrive. On rural highways skunks dispute the right-of- 
way with many a midnight motorist. Woodchucks sit erect in clover 
fields beside the road, solemnly surveying the passing traffic. Even the 
white-tailed deer, dazed by the glare of approaching headlights, often 
stands rigid in the center of the less frequented roads. Foxes, both red 
and gray, prey on country henroosts in the rural sections or lead deep- 
voiced foxhounds a merry chase through moonlit woodland and over 
frozen stubble. 

Fur-bearing animals are plentiful enough in the State to furnish a fur 
crop valued at from $80,000 to $100,000 per annum. Country lads trap 
muskrats, mink and an occasional otter. On the highway above the 
Hamburg Cove a dealer in raw furs swings a sign from a cedar pole and 
* trades ' for pelts with all the sagacity of the native Yankee. Catalogue 
houses regularly stuff country mail boxes with price lists of raw furs, and 
rural mail carriers obtain additional income by running trap lines, usually 
of Connecticut-made steel traps. 

In the Canaan Mountain region and the wild country near Winsted 



Plant and Animal Life 15 

a few cow moose are said to be at large. Near Colebrook, the horn of 
a bull moose was found in 1936. Undoubtedly, these animals escaped 
from captivity. Canada lynx very rarely wander in from ' up north ' to 
furnish sport for the more highly skilled rural hunters. Bobcats or Bay 
lynx, now scarce, furnish an average of about twenty pelts a year in 
Connecticut, but are not hunted seriously. Cottontail rabbits are so 
plentiful as to be classified as pests. The snowshoe rabbit or varying hare 
is not uncommon in Litchfield County and occurs throughout the northern 
uplands. The European hare is an introduced species which has become 
widely though sparingly established. 



BIRD LIFE IN CONNECTICUT 

Among the New England States, Connecticut is unique in possessing" 
within its borders three faunal life zones: upper austral, transition, and 
Canadian. Typical of the upper austral birds which breed regularly in 
Connecticut are: clapper rail, fish crow, orchard oriole, hooded warbler, 
worm-eating warbler, Louisiana water thrush, seaside sparrow; and 
representative of the Canadian Zone in the high hills of the northwestern 
part of the State, as regular summer residents, are: the brown creeper, 
black-throated blue warbler, northern water thrush, junco, and white- 
throated sparrow, with such spasmodic breeding species as sapsucker, saw- 
whet owl, and golden-crowned kinglet. The vast majority of the breeding 
birds are typical of the transition zone which covers most of southern New 
England. Connecticut is particularly fortunate in lying well within the 
edge of the great eastern fly-way for migrants which pass each spring and 
fall up and down the Hudson, Housatonic, and Connecticut River Valleys. 
These two facts, in conjunction with the maritime situation along the 
route of the shore bird and waterfowl migration, account for the rich and 
varied bird life of the State. 

Among the game birds, the fresh-water ducks are the most important, 
but, with the exception of the local black ducks and the protected wood 
ducks, are rapidly becoming scarcer, owing largely to continued over- 
shooting. Second in importance is probably the ruffed grouse, which 
continues to hold its own, particularly in protected woodlands, despite 
the ravages of obscure and supposedly exotic diseases. The bob-white or 
quail are now protected and in consequence are slowly but surely regaining 
their insecure foothold as a characteristic bird of orchard, pasture, and 



1 6 Connecticut: The General Background 

thicket. A very marked increase in numbers has occurred in 1937. The 
ring-necked pheasant has thrived as an introduced game bird, and offers 
good sport to local gunners. 

Some authorities, including authors of several official bulletins of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, decry the reduction in the numbers of 
predatory hawks and owls, slaughtered by the representatives of the State 
Department of Fish and Game. They argue that the balance of nature 
has been upset and that much economic loss has been sustained from the 
over-abundance of rodents, rabbits, snakes, and other vermin. These views 
are not shared by some of the agriculturists and rural taxpayers, nor by 
some of the practical conservationists in charge of the forests and wild life 
of Connecticut. 

Control: Six or seven hundred predatory hawks are annually destroyed. 
Crows furnish a yearly bag totaling 3500, and about 150 great horned 
owls are killed as State foresters and game protectors clear the cover for 
the protection of game birds. 

Fish wardens captured and donated to the poor over 51,000 pounds 
of snapping turtles during the year 1936-37. Over 2300 watersnakes 
were destroyed by the same agency. Trappers are licensed to destroy 
fox, lynx, bobcat, and other predatory beasts. 

Caution: The only wild life in Connecticut to be avoided are skunks, 
copperheads (in the swampy lands), and rattlesnakes (in a few isolated hill 
regions). Skunks never invite trouble and only their curiosity and in- 
dependence cause them to be ranked as undesirable. It is advisable to 
give the skunk more than half of the road. 



GEOLOGY 



SURFACE FORMS 

TO ANYONE driving a car over ridge and vale in northwestern Con- 
necticut, or climbing laboriously to the high summit of Bear Mountain, 
the chief characteristic of the topography seems to be irregularity. 
Nevertheless the surface of the State, viewed as a whole, may be described 
as an old plain, gently tilted from northwest to southeast and more or 
less dissected by streams. The truth of this statement is demonstrated 
by study of a relief model made of plaster or clay and showing all land- 
scape features in proper scale. A sheet of cardboard laid on such a model 
is not held up by a few scattered high points; it rests rather snugly on 
many broad areas that are nearly flat or gently rolling, and slopes grad- 
ually from the northern boundary to the shore of Long Island Sound. 
It is evident that if the stream valleys on the model were filled, the card- 
board would then fit the top of the model rather accurately. In other 
words, the ruggedness of the upper Housatonic Valley and similar areas 
is chiefly due, not to scattered peaks and ridges that rise to exceptional 
height, but to numerous steep-walled valleys cut below a surface that 
originally was remarkably even. 

The part of the State that would require the largest amount of fill to 
raise it to the level of the ideal plain is the wide lowland belt bordering 
the Connecticut River in the vicinity of Hartford, and extending generally 
southward to New Haven Harbor. This belt includes much of the best 
farming land of the State. The soil is predominantly reddish in color, in 
agreement with the bedrock beneath, which consists largely of red-tinted 
sandstone and shale. On the other hand, the higher ground on each side 
of the low belt is underlain by granite and similar rocks that are much 
more resistant than the sandstone and the shale. Within the low belt 
itself are steep-sided ridges, such as Mount Carmel, Pistapaug Mountain, 
and the Hanging Hills of Meriden. These ridges are on dark basaltic 
rock, as hard and resistant as granite. It seems, then, that there is a 
general relation between the topography of the State and the character 
of the bedrock. The north-south belt of low country mentioned above 



1 8 Connecticut : The General Background 

is called the Central Lowland; the higher areas east and west of it are 
known respectively as the Eastern and Western Highlands. 



BEDROCK 

The rocks that underlie the surface of Connecticut may be divided 
into two general groups according to age and structure. The Central 
Lowland, which extends from north to south entirely across the State and 
nearly across Massachusetts, is floored with reddish sandstone and 
shale in which are included sheets and dikes of dark basalt and related 
igneous rocks. A small detached area in Southbury is underlain by rocks 
of the same kind. The sandstone and shale have been eroded to form the 
lowland, whereas the more resistant igneous masses are responsible for 
the numerous bold ridges that diversify the scenery of the low belt. 
All of the bedrock within this belt was formed during the Triassic period 
of earth history. The strata of shale and sandstone were laid down as 
layers of mud, sand, and gravel, partly in the channels and on the flood 
plains of ancient streams and partly on the floors of shallow lakes. 
Strange extinct reptiles known as dinosaurs inhabited the region in large 
numbers; thousands of their footprints, perfectly preserved when the old 
muds hardened into rock, are to be seen in museums as well as in their 
original positions in old quarries. Three times during the Triassic period 
great floods of molten lava poured over the land and formed sheets of 
black basalt, which in turn were buried by thick layers of mud and sand. 
In a final great mountain-making upheaval, all of the Triassic deposits 
were broken and tilted toward the east. During succeeding ages the up- 
turned edges of the mountain blocks have been eroded, and now a com- 
plete section of the beveled strata, nearly three miles in total thickness, 
can be seen by traversing the lowland belt from west to east. Compari- 
son of the Triassic rocks in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey 
suggests that these rocks originally covered a much larger area than at 
present. 

Rocks much older than the Triassic underlie the Eastern and Western 
Highlands. These older rocks are here grouped together, although ac- 
tually they form a complicated assemblage, containing many rock types 
and units that differ greatly in age. Some of these rock units originated 
on the floors of ancient seas. For example, in the western part of the 
State there are extensive belts of marine limestone. The layers of lime- 



Geology 19 



stone and shale, once nearly horizontal, were folded and contorted by 
mountain-making forces, and in many places they are now vertical or 
even overturned. In connection with the mountain-making, great masses 
of molten rock welled up, cutting across and partially engulfing the folded 
strata. This molten material solidified to make coarse-grained granite, 
a type of rock that is formed thousands of feet below the earth's surface. 
Since the granite is now exposed over large areas, as at Stony Creek, 
Stonington, and Thomaston, we know that erosion has carried away vast 
quantities of rock, completely removing an old mountain system. 

When the tremendous forces were compressing and folding the rock 
strata and the granite bodies were being formed, the combination of 
pressure and heat changed or metamorphosed much of the older rock. 
Limestone became marble; shale changed to slate, or in part to a rock 
composed largely of mica and known as mica schist. Garnets, some of 
large size, developed in parts of this metamorphic rock. Many other 
peculiar minerals were formed in the old mountain zone. Bodies of very 
coarse-grained granite, called pegmatite, yield dozens of mineral species, 
including some that are radioactive. By analysis of radioactive minerals 
found in quarries in the town of Portland, it has been determined that 
the pegmatite in that vicinity was formed 280,000,000 years ago. 

In brief outline, the story recorded in the bedrock of Connecticut is as 
follows: the land was covered by ancient seas, and strata made of the old 
marine deposits were later folded to form high mountains. Erosion during 
long ages wore the mountains down and exposed the granite in their cores. 
Part of the land then began to sink slowly, and into the basin thus formed 
streams swept gravel, sand, and finer debris derived from the granite and 
older rocks. Dinosaurs left their footprints and bones in these deposits 
before the latter were hardened into rock. Great flows of lava poured over 
the land. Again there was mountain-making movement, which broke and 
tilted the new-made sandstones and lavas, making ranges similar to those 
in the present Great Basin of Nevada and Utah. Long-continued erosion 
then planed down these ranges until a wide region, including much of New 
England, was reduced to a plain near sea level. 

In this long history of erosion, undoubtedly the areas on weak bedrock 
were worn down rather rapidly, whereas the resistant rocks stubbornly 
withstood the attacking forces for long ages. However, the weakest rocks 
cannot be cut below sea level by the running water of streams, and given 
time enough even the most resistant bedrock is brought down to the same 
critical level. Thus it was that the surface of our State became a mono- 
tonous plain, or near-plain, on which large rivers meandered widely. 



20 Connecticut : The General Background 

The next event was slow and nearly uniform uplift of northern New 
England, tilting the old plain gently toward the Atlantic. Streams began 
to flow more swiftly and to cut downward. Again the weak bedrock yielded 
readily to the attack of erosion, and permitted some belts to be reduced 
to low elevation before the areas of resistant rock showed any appre- 
ciable effect. This selective wearing away may be compared to an etching 
process used in engraving. A plate of metal is covered with wax, which 
is then cut away with an engraver's tool until the desired pattern is pro- 
duced. Acid applied to the plate attacks the bare metal, but cannot touch 
the areas protected by wax. In this way the surface, originally smooth, 
is etched into relief. 



GLACIATION 

The present surface of Connecticut represents natural etching that has 
partially destroyed the old tilted plain, which is still identified by numer- 
ous remnants. However, another modifying influence was required to 
shape the landscape as we now see it. This second agent was the moving 
ice cap of the Ice Age. The cause of this widespread glaciation is still 
largely a mystery; but an abundance of evidence demonstrates the exist- 
ence of the ice sheet, both on this continent and in northern Europe. 
Over all of Connecticut the sheet was thick enough to bury the highest 
hills and to move slowly under its own weight. Soil and loose stones were 
moved along, blocks of bedrock were pried loose and added to the mass of 
moving debris, and the entire bedrock surface was polished, scratched, 
and gouged by the relentless grinding mill. Much of the original mantle 
of Connecticut was moved as far south as Long Island. During hundreds 
of thousands of years the ice sheet waxed and waned. At last the climate 
became more temperate, and the gigantic cap began to waste by melting 
from the top and from the front. Gradually all of Connecticut was set 
free. But for a long time floods of water poured across the State from the 
ice remnants farther north. Large temporary lakes were formed where 
stagnant ice dammed the old stream valleys. Water escaping from these 
lakes poured over cliffs as falls, and with the aid of hard pebbles as grind- 
ing tools, wore circular pot-holes, as deep as wells, into the solid rock. 
The wasting ice dropped its load of debris, and thus Connecticut, which 
had lost much of its original cover, inherited soil and boulders brought 
from Massachusetts and even from Vermont and New Hampshire. Scat- 
tered glacial boulders that obviously have strayed far from their original 
source are common features in all parts of the State. 



Geology 2 1 



Contrary to common opinion, the ice sheet did not erode deeply into 
bedrock and fashion the topography anew. It is clear that the ridges and 
valleys we now see were formed by running water long before the Ice Age. 
The moving ice used its energy chiefly in moving soil cover and dumping 
it haphazardly, thus modifying the older topography more largely by de- 
position than by erosion. Large piles of this glacial debris form the elon- 
gate drumlins near Storrs and elsewhere in the State. In the last stages of 
the glacial history, when the rotting ice was transected by long crevices, 
running water filled many of these elongate depressions with sand and 
gravel. When the surrounding ice melted away, these deposits remained 
as long narrow ridges. Elsewhere isolated masses of ice were partially 
buried in gravelly deposits, and later melted to leave the undrained de- 
pressions known as kettles. 

The haphazard shifting of debris by the glacier ice resulted in many 
changes of the older drainage. The Farmington River flowed south in 
preglacial times and emptied into New Haven Harbor. After the ice dis- 
appeared, the old channel was left filled with glacial deposits in the vicin- 
ity of Plainville, and the river found it necessary to seek out a new route 
to the north, through an old gap at TarifTville, and finally into the Con- 
necticut River at Windsor. Dumping of glacial debris obstructed many 
smaller stream valleys to create the lakes and swamps that are so com- 
mon in all parts of the State. 

The Connecticut shoreline is made ragged by many deep bays and inlets, 
and rocky islands are numerous offshore. The lower parts of the large 
stream valleys are 'drowned' to form estuaries, and in the Connecticut 
River the tides reach as far inland as Hartford. All of these features sug- 
gest recent sinking of the coastal belt; but at least a part of the real cause 
is actual rise of sea level due to return into the sea of vast quantities of 
water that were locked up in the great ice sheets during the Ice Age. 

All of the numerous effects of glaciation form conspicuous features in 
the Connecticut landscape of today; but these effects are merely a veneer 
superposed on older features of the bedrock. Glaciation occurred only 
yesterday, from the geologic point of view. It is barely ten thousand years 
since the last of the glacier ice wasted away; but millions of years have 
elapsed since the Connecticut and Housa tonic rivers began to cut their 
present valleys, and the old plain that was partly destroyed by the valley 
cutting was formed tens of millions of years ago. In the bedrock itself we 
see evidence of great changes in still earlier tunes, including the uplift of 
lofty mountains beneath which lay the granite now so widely exposed. 
Like human civilizations, landscapes come and go, each built on the ruins 
of another. 



THE INDIANS OF 
CONNECTICUT 



ETHNOLOGISTS distinguish four main groups among the aborigines of 
Connecticut: the Nipmuck, the Pequot-Mohegan, the Sequin or 'River 
Indians/ and the Matabesec or Wappinger Confederacy. The first of 
these, the Nipmuck, occupied the northeastern corner of the State and 
part of Massachusetts. They had no ruler of their own, and were subject 
to one or another of the neighboring tribes. The Pequot and Mohegan, 
although politically distinct, were linguistically and otherwise closely 
related tribes, and actually formed a single people. They established them- 
selves in the southeastern section of Connecticut after an invasion 
before 1600. The 'River Indians,' who consisted of a group, or league, of 
tribes under one chief, called the central part of the present state their 
own; while the Matabesecs, who were forced to share their territory with 
the Mohicans of eastern New York, occupied its western part. 

Both the 'River Indians* and the Matabesecs were broken up into a 
number of localized tribes, the former being subdivided into the Tunxis, 
Poquonnuc, Podunk, Wangunk, Machimoodus, Hammonasset, and 
Quinnipiac, while the latter counted among their tribes the Pootatuck, 
Wepawaug, Uncowa, and Siwanoy. All of the Connecticut tribes were 
frequently invaded by the powerful Mohawks, who kept them under com- 
plete domination for long periods at different times. 

The first contact between the whites and the Indians of Connecticut 
was probably made around the year 1614 by Dutch traders. Shortly 
after, hi 1633, the Dutch established themselves in what is now Hartford, 
and hi the next few years the influx of English settlers from Massachusetts 
began. 

It was not long before the Connecticut settlers became involved in a 
life-and-death struggle with the Pequots, the most virile of the tribes. 
The first outrage on the Indians' part was the murder of Captains Stone 
and Norton on their way up the Connecticut River to trade. 

The killing of the adventurer, John Oldham, off Block Island in 1636 
led to ill-advised reprisals by a force from Massachusetts under Captain 
Endicott. The Pequots, enraged by the burning of some of their houses 
and corn, attempted to form an offensive alliance with the Narragansetts 



The Indians of Connecticut 23 

of Rhode Island. Had they been successful, the white settlers might well 
have been annihilated. Through the fall and winter of 1636-37, a series 
of attacks at Saybrook, Wethersfield, and other settlements kept the 
whites in a constant state of alarm. 

On May i, 1637, the General Court of Hartford decided to take the 
field against the Pequots. Ninety men were levied forty-two from 
Hartford, thirty from Windsor, and eighteen from Wethersfield, and 
Captain John Mason was put in charge of the expedition. Ten days later 
Mason's party, with seventy Mohegan allies, sailed down the Connecticut 
River to Saybrook, where they joined Captain Underbill with twenty 
men from Massachusetts. 

As the Pequots were in possession of two strongly fortified encampments 
and had a force of nearly five hundred warriors, the undertaking was a 
formidable one. The original plan to attack from the western or Thames 
River side, where the movements of the whites would have been under 
the constant observation of the Indians, was wisely abandoned. The main 
body of troops was sent over to Narragansett Bay to attack from the east. 
On the morning of May 24, the long overland march began for the little 
band of seventy-seven Englishmen with a small army of Indian observers, 
sixty Mohegans and four hundred Narragansetts. This retinue was more 
of a hindrance than a help, and might easily have constituted a potential 
menace, if the attack were not successful. On the morning of the 26th, an 
hour before dawn, the English advanced on the chief fort at Pequot 
Hill, West Mystic. It consisted of a circular area of several acres, sur- 
rounded by a twelve-foot palisade and containing some seventy wigwams. 
The surprise was successful; both entrances were taken and the work of 
slaughter began. It was a slow and confused business. Mason, therefore, 
decided to fire the encampment. Aided by a rising wind, the flames swept 
the fort; those who ran out were shot down, the Mohegans and Narra- 
gansetts lending a hand in this work. The destruction of the main body 
of the Pequots was complete, with a loss to the English of only two killed 
and twenty wounded. The other Pequots at Fort Hill made a sally, but 
were driven off. It was the most decisive battle ever fought on Connecti- 
cut soil, although one more action was needed to bring the war to an end. 
In a swamp fight at Fairfield on July 13, 1637, Mason overtook and de- 
stroyed the fleeing remnants of the Pequots, leaving one hundred and 
eighty captives to the whites and a few fugitives among the New York 
tribes. On September 21, 1637, a treaty of friendship was concluded 
between the English on one side, and Uncas of the Mohegans and Mian- 
tonomo of the Narragansetts on the other. 



24 Connecticut: The General Background 

A period of peace followed, which lasted for nearly forty years, with 
growing tension as the settlers took over more and more of the Indians' 
hunting grounds. The fate intended for the Indians was clear, but before 
submitting to the white men's depredations, the original owners of the 
land rallied under Philip of the Wampanoags, a tribe of Rhode Island and 
Massachusetts. Intelligent, brave, made desperate by the injustice of 
the invaders, this Indian champion of a lost cause, abandoning all hope 
of peace, attempted to unite all the Indians of New England in a general 
conspiracy. His plans were revealed to the English by a Christian Indian, 
who was promptly murdered by Philip's henchmen. The execution of 
these murderers was the signal for the outbreak of what became known 
as King Philip's War. In June, 1675, Philip attacked Swansea, near 
Mount Hope, Rhode Island, killing nine and wounding seven of the 
inhabitants. 

This time the Narragansetts, although still reluctant, were forced to 
participate on the side of King Philip. The colonists, aware of the serious- 
ness of the situation, mobilized an army of one thousand men. On Decem- 
ber 1 8, 1675, the Connecticut forces, consisting of three hundred English- 
men and one hundred and fifty Pequot and Mohegan Indians, under the 
command of Major Treat, joined those of Massachusetts and Plymouth. 
In combination, they made a desperate attack upon the Indian fort at 
Mount Hope; and after suffering heavy losses, they succeeded in com- 
pletely subduing the Indian tribes. 

Many of the survivors of the sorely defeated people moved out of New 
England northward or southward, others re-established themselves in 
New York State, while still others settled down in small groups in their 
original territory at the sufferance of the colonists. Thus a small number 
of Paugussets, Uncowas, and Pootatucks finally found a home several 
miles from Kent on the Housa tonic River, where a reservation, called 
Schaghticoke, consisting of about four hundred acres and harboring a 
dozen half-breeds, is still maintained. Another band of Pequots settled 
near Stonington, where seventeen descendants are maintained at present 
as State wards. Still another group, of which nine members survive, 
were allowed by Governor Winthrop to settle near Ledyard. This settle- 
ment is known as the Ledyard Pequot Reservation, and comprises one 
hundred and twenty-nine acres of rough land. Aside from these few State 
wards, thirty-one descendants of the Mohegan tribe are living as members 
of the community in the town of Montville. They are concentrated in the 
section known as Mohegan, where they still observe on certain occasions 
some of their native customs although they have long been Christian- 



The Indians of Connecticut 25 

ized, and maintain a church of their own, the Mohegan Congregational 
Church. The rest are scattered in towns and villages throughout the 
State. Altogether, only one hundred and sixty-two Indians survive today 
in Connecticut. 

As to the original number of Indians in the State there is a lack of agree- 
ment among the authorities. While some put the number as high as from 
12,000 to 15,000, others assert that no more than from 4000 to 5000 
aborigines occupied the territory. At any rate, the first of these estimates 
is undoubtedly highly exaggerated. 



COLLECTIONS OF INDIAN MATERIAL IN CONNECTICUT 

Public displays of relics relating to the Indians of Connecticut are on 
view at the following institutions: Bruce Memorial, Greenwich; Pequot 
Library, Southport; Barnum Museum, Bridgeport; Hagaman Library, 
East Haven; Blackstone Library, Branford; Stratford Historical Soci- 
ety, Stratford; New London Historical Society, New London; Peabody 
Museum, New Haven; Old Stone House, Guilford; Norwich Free Acad- 
emy, Norwich; Wesleyan University, Middletown; Litchfield Public 
Library, Litchfield; Mattatuck Society, Waterbury; Newgate Prison, 
Granby; Athenaeum, Hartford. Some of the more notable private col- 
lections belong to the following: Dr. F. H. Williams, Bristol; Crandall's 
Poultry Farm, Poquonock Midway, near Groton; Norris L. Bull, 1565 
Boulevard, West Hartford; Edward H. Rogers, 340 Bridgeport Avenue, 
Devon; Joseph Lamb, 29 Park Place, New Britain; W. Shirley Fulton, 
170 Hillside Avenue, Waterbury; Duffield B. Peck, Clinton; Elliott R. 
Bronson, Winchester Center; C. C. Coffin, Milford; Lyent Russell, 154 
Hemingway Street, East Haven; Mathew Spiess, Center Street, Man- 
chester; William Fen ton, Westport. 



HISTORY 



THE settlement of the Connecticut Valley in the i63o's was the begin- 
ning of the westward movement of the English colonists in the New 
World. When news of the fertility of the Connecticut Valley reached 
Massachusetts, many land-hungry groups who had grown restive under 
the restrictive Massachusetts laws began to migrate westward. 

A Dutch navigator, Adriaen Block, was probably the first to observe 
the possibilities of the region, when he sailed along the coast and up the 
Connecticut River, which he discovered in the year 1614 and called the 
Varsche River. Nearly twenty years passed, however, before the Dutch 
established a trading post and fort near the future site of Hartford (June, 
1633). By this tune the Indians had reported the existence of a fertile 
country with valuable trading possibilities to the Plymouth colonists, 
and Edward Winslow made an exploratory visit to the Connecticut 
Valley in the summer of 1632. Next year a Plymouth expedition sailed 
up the Connecticut, past Dutch Point, to the mouth of the Farmington 
River. There, on September 26, 1633, they established a post at Mat- 
taneaug (Windsor). In the same year, John Oldham of Watertown and 
three others explored the Connecticut Valley, and * discovered many very 
desirable places upon the same river, fit to receive many hundred in- 
habitants.' This report accomplished what the persuasions of Winslow 
and Bradford had not effected, and stimulated the first permanent settle- 
ment from the Bay towns of Watertown, Dorchester, and New Town 
(Cambridge). 

In 1634, a large party from Watertown, with Oldham among them, 
settled at Pyquag (Wethersfield). They claimed that they were the 
first settlers to plant a crop in the valley. In the summer of 1635, emi- 
grants from Dorchester settled in Windsor, erected a building, and thereby 
gave present historians of Windsor an opportunity to argue that this 
town was the first. But the severity of the winter was such that most of 
the 'inhabitants' were driven down the Connecticut River to the new 
military post at Saybrook, where they took ship to their homes in Dor- 
chester. 

In October, 1635, the first general migration took place, when fifty 
persons from New Town (Cambridge) under the leadership of John 



History 27 



Steel moved across Massachusetts with all their household goods and 
settled at Suckiaug (Hartford) close by the Dutch trading post. The 
Reverend Thomas Hooker and his congregation trekked westward in 
the following spring. The prime motive of these migrations was land 
hunger, as the constant arrival of newcomers from England taxed the 
resources of the early towns of Massachusetts Bay. To economic causes 
were added the rivalries of strong-willed men, such as Hooker and John 
Cotton, and a dislike of some of the autocratic and theocratic features 
of the government of Massachusetts. These colonists from Watertown, 
Dorchester, and Cambridge, who were settled in Wethersfield, Windsor, 
and Hartford, soon absorbed the small number of Plymouth people and 
kept the Dutch confined to their trading post, which was finally abandoned 
in 1654. In 1638, the Fundamental Orders, drafted under the inspiration 
of Hooker's sermon of May 31 and largely the work of Roger Ludlow, 
were drawn up, and in January, 1639, they were adopted by the three 
towns. Under this document, sometimes called the first practical con- 
stitution, the towns formed 'one publike State or Commonwealth.' 
Already (April 26, 1636) a general court had been held, in which Steel 
and Ludlow took part; and it now became the supreme authority, with 
deputies from the towns acting in concert. It is not without significance 
that Thomas Hooker was John Pym's brother-in-law. To Pym, Hampden, 
and other reformers in the mother country, the main organ of political 
power was the House of Commons. So here in Connecticut, the Governor 
was merely a presiding officer, and the courts were creations of the legis- 
lature by which their judgments could be set aside. Until the Consti- 
tution of 1818 replaced the Fundamental Orders and the Charter of 
1662, the legislative body continued to dominate the executive and the 
judicial. It is worthy of note that the preamble presumed a close relation 
between Church and State, and that in 1659 the general court imposed 
a property qualification for suffrage. There was a distinct aristocratic 
element in this democracy. 

In 1635, a second settlement, Saybrook, was established at the mouth 
of the Connecticut River by order of an English company of lords and 
gentlemen, among whom were Lord Say and Sele and Lord Brooke for 
whom the Colony was named. John Winthrop, Jr., son of the Governor 
of Massachusetts, was in charge of this enterprise, his chief aids being 
Colonel George Fenwick and Captain Lion Gardiner. The Saybrook 
group possessed a deed of conveyance from its patron, the Earl of War- 
wick, under date of March 19, 1632; but Warwick never received a patent 
to support the large claims later made by the Connecticut Colony to 



28 Connecticut: The General Background 

lands from Narragansett Bay westward to the Pacific Ocean. As the 
other Puritan lords and gentlemen became involved in the Cromwell 
Revolution, the settlement did not thrive at first and was important only 
as a fort and trading post. After several years of negotiation, Fenwick 
sold his rights to the Connecticut Colony in 1644. There is no evidence 
that he had any authorization from the company to convey the property, 
nor did Warwick's original deed carry jurisdictional rights. At any rate, 
the separate existence of Saybrook Colony came to an end in 1644, and 
Connecticut succeeded to a doubly doubtful title. 

The third settlement was made in 1638 at Quinnipiac (New Haven) 
by colonists of the English merchant class, under the Reverend John 
Davenport and Theophilus Eaton. Land was acquired by purchase 
from Momauguin, chief of the local Indians, and the lack of a patent or 
charter vexed the Colony from its inception until its absorption by Con- 
necticut in 1665. After living for a year under a plantation covenant, 
the colonists organized a civil government in June 1639. ' Seven pillars' 
were chosen, chief of whom was Theophilus Eaton, the elected magistrate. 
It was stipulated that all free burgesses should be church members, a 
restriction which proved increasingly irksome to the settlers. Internal 
dissatisfaction with the 'judicial laws of God as they were declared by 
Moses' became an acute problem. These 'Blue Laws,' as they were 
called by the Tory historian, Samuel Peters, in his 'General History of 
Connecticut' (1781), were Mosaic only in capital cases, and in general 
closely resembled the Cotton Code of Massachusetts. They contrasted 
unfavorably, however, with the wider freedom of the Connecticut Colony, 
particularly in the matter of franchise. 

In 1643, New Haven was extended as a colony to include Milford 
(1639), Guilford (1639), and Stamford (1641); Branford (1644) and 
Southhold, Long Island (1640), later came under its jurisdiction. Two 
attempts to settle a subordinate colony in Delaware were opposed by the 
Swedes and the Dutch, and ended in failure. Although the Colony was 
founded to promote the peculiarly Puritan combination of piety and 
commercialism, its commercial enterprises did not thrive, and its piety 
was over-zealous and repressive. Its shipping activity was short-lived, 
and was featured by the loss at sea of the ' Wonder-working Providence ' 
with several leading citizens on board. This ship set sail for England in 
January, 1646, and was never heard of again. Only as a 'phantom ship' 
did it appear miraculously in the clouds before the sight of the grieved 
New Haveners. In general, the colonists were forced to depend for a 
living on agriculture, in a coastal region less well adapted to agricultural 
pursuits than the fertile Connecticut Valley. 



HOMES OF PATRIOT AND 
MERCHANT PRINCE 



CONNECTICUT was primarily a farming community where 
the struggle for life was not easy. But a few families rose to 
prominence through trade, bringing the wares of the great 
world to the remote country villages. It was these families, in 
the main, who supported the Revolution, sometimes at the 
loss of their fortunes. 

The earliest house of the Huntington family in Norwich is 
the narrow gambrel, much added to later, built by Joshua 
Huntington about 1719. The earliest house of the Trumbulls 
was built by Governor John Trumbull the first, in 1740. In 
the same year, Oliver Ellsworth's father, David, built the 
Ellsworth House in Windsor, one of the first to make the cen- 
tral hall popular. A little later, in 1753, the merchant prince 
of Wethersfield, Joseph Webb, built the house that was to 
become memorable as the meeting place of Washington and 
Rochambeau, where the campaign of Yorktown was planned. 
All these, and such houses as the manses in Suffield and 
Woodbury, 1742 and c. 1750, developed many interior ele- 
gances not found in the ordinary house. The Smith Mansion 
in Sharon is akin to the Van Cortlandt Mansion in New York. 

After the Revolution, large fortunes began to be made in com- 
merce between the more prosperous rural centers and the 
outer world. These were reflected in the Morris Mansion of 
New Haven, practically a house of 1780, the Stan ton House 
and Store in Clinton (both now open to the public), and such 
later houses as the Julius Deming House in Litchfield (1793) 
and the Noble House in New Milford. These later showed a 
more definite architectural purpose, which culminated in the 
Greek Revival, as illustrated in Winsted, in Colebrook, and 
very notably in a number of houses in Farmington. The tran- 
quil village of Windham shows the contrast between the 
simple little type of store upon which many of these country 
fortunes were based, and a mansion of the later Greek Revival. 



-PI 



A. 

i 



1 



JABEZ HUNTINGTON HOUSE, NORWICH 



GOVERNOR TRUMBULL HOUSE, LEBANON 





WEST FRONT OF THE GOVERNOR SMITH MANSION, SHARON 




MORRIS HOUSE, NEW HAVEN 



STANTON HOUSE, CLINTON 





itAJOR TIMOTHY COWLES HOUSE, FARMINGTON 



NOBLE HOUS r NW 



it 



mil 



DEMING HOUSE, LITCHFIELD 



KB 



m 




ROCKWELL HOUSE, WINSTED 








OLD STORE, WINDHAM 



PERKINS HOUSE, WINDHAM 




History 29 

Both New Haven and Connecticut had bought land from the Indians 
but neither possessed a title valid under English law. The Say and Sele 
group, though it had a deed of conveyance from Warwick, was similarly 
insecure in its right, since there was no evidence that the original Warwick 
patent had been executed, and the deed would not have survived close 
legal scrutiny. Connecticut recognized the insecurity of its position, for 
it had bought whatever rights Colonel Fenwick possessed, in 1644, but 
upon his return to England he failed to get the patent confirmed or 
renewed. Consequently, when Charles II was restored to the throne in 
1660, the Colony fully realized how precarious the situation was. 

It took little persuasion, therefore, on the part of Winthrop, who had 
been elected Governor in 1657 and re-elected in 1659, to induce his 
brethren to send him to England to see what could be done. The story 
of his negotiations is vague, but he somehow succeeded in obtaining a 
royal charter which placed the King's approval on the system of govern- 
ment already in existence, with a few minor modifications. The boundaries 
set forth in the charter, furthermore, extended from Massachusetts to 
the Sound, and from Narragansett Bay to the Pacific. Whether or not 
the royal authorities or Winthrop intended to destroy the independence 
of New Haven, the fact remained that by royal grant the New Haven 
colony had been incorporated into Connecticut. Naturally, the Colony 
immediately voiced a loud protest, and surrendered in 1664 only be- 
cause it was faced with the greater evil of being included in the area 
granted to the Duke of York. 

Thus, so early, Connecticut reached its full proportions, which it 
succeeded more or less in holding by constant vigilance and dexterity 
over a period of a century. Connecticut twice resisted Sir Edmund 
Andros once in 1675, when he was acting as emissary for the claims 
of New York and attempted to land a force at Saybrook; and again in 
October, 1687, when the charter whose surrender he demanded was 
snatched from under his nose and hidden in the famous Charter Oak at 
Hartford. In the face of such efforts of Crown officials to regulate Co- 
lonial affairs, only Connecticut and Rhode Island retained their corporate 
existence; and Rhode Island, because of its dependence on foreign trade 
and its prominent position in the English mercantile system, was actually 
far less autonomous than Connecticut. Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
though they were still in the possession of the heirs of the original pro- 
prietors at the time of the Revolution, suffered from proprietary restric- 
tions. After 1689 the status of Massachusetts became that of a semi- 
royal province, and Connecticut alone of the Puritan commonwealths 
carried on the Puritan experiment. 



30 Connecticut : The General Background 

This amazing degree of autonomy was not solely the result of skillful 
policy and the work of able men; it was due more to the self-sufficient 
nature of the Colony. Only North Carolina traded less with the outside 
world. In Colonial Connecticut, agriculture was the main occupation; 
and there was no staple crop, such as tobacco in Virginia, to induce 
English regulation. The Crown exercised little control over Connecticut 
because there were few occasions for such control. The Colony, realizing 
the strength of its position and the support its policy would receive from 
a Parliament that was becoming more and more determined to limit the 
royal prerogative, trod warily, and deliberately refrained from giving 
royal officials an opportunity for punitive measures. 

During the century between the granting of the charter and the Revo- 
lution, Connecticut played its part in the larger events of the New 
World. It hanged a few witches about the middle of the seventeenth 
century, and joined its neighbors in King Philip's War of the i6yo's, 
though it suffered far less in that struggle than Maine, Massachusetts 
Bay, and Plymouth. From 1687 to 1689, as part of the Dominion of 
New England, it was subjected to the harsh rule of Andros. Within a 
few years, however, government was resumed on its former basis with the 
approval of Crown lawyers, who ruled that the charter was still valid. 
The Colony participated in the Colonial wars: in 1690, Fitz-John Win- 
throp led an unsuccessful expedition against Montreal, and twenty years 
later three hundred Connecticut militiamen were among the troops that 
captured Port Royal during Queen Anne's War. It was well represented 
in the force that took Louisburg in 1745 ; and during the French and Indian 
War it wavered, like its neighbors, between co-operation and obstruction. 

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, boundary disputes with 
adjoining Colonies were incessant. Encouraged by the charter of 1662, 
the Connecticut Colony attempted to take Westchester and the western 
towns of Long Island from New York. In 1664, the royal grant to the 
Duke of York conflicted with the Connecticut charter by assigning all 
land up the Connecticut River to New York. As previously noted, this 
claim was decisive in persuading New Haven to choose a union with 
Connecticut. The most serious controversy occurred over land claimed 
by Connecticut in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. Here war 
actually broke out between rival settlers just before the Revolution, 
causing a bitter dispute that was not adjudicated until 1782. Similar 
boundary disputes with Rhode Island and Massachusetts were frequent, 
but after years of wrangling were ended in compromise. 

In 1708, the General Court, which had occupied itself with ecclesiastical 



History 31 

affairs, summoned delegates to a synod to be held at Saybrook. At 
this convention, the conflict between the strict Congregationalists, who 
held that each church body was a unit with full powers of administration 
and discipline, and the moderate 'Presbyterians/ who favored centraliza- 
tion, was settled by a compromise. The Saybrook Platform, adopted by 
the twelve clergymen and four laymen who composed the convention, 
provided for biennial meetings of the ministers of each county in con- 
sociations to consider matters of common interest and exercise a certain 
control over the ministry. This form of polity has been called 'modified 
Presby terianism ' ; and, in fact, the terms ' Presbyterian ' and ' Congrega- 
tional' were used indiscriminately until the middle of the eighteenth 
century. The platform resulted in a permanent establishment that 
tempered the excesses of the 'Great Awakening' of 1740 and remained 
in force until the adoption of the Constitution of 1818. A toleration act 
was added by the General Court, and further exceptions were made for 
the Episcopalians in 1727 and the Baptists and Quakers in 1729, en- 
abling them to pay their ecclesiastical taxes to their own denominations. 

Connecticut produced many men of talent and strong character, but 
the same isolation that preserved its freedom also fostered a pronounced 
provincialism. Each town lived unto itself and looked to its own con- 
cerns, and this self-sufficiency developed into an intense particularism 
that did not welcome outside influences. The Colony was poor, for there 
was little foreign trade to bring in hard money; and colonists given, as 
Roger Wolcott once said, to 'detraction and censoriousness ' were far 
too strong-minded for co-operation. The rugged soil they tilled made 
thrift and self-reliance their outstanding virtues and, in the eyes of 
the inhabitants of other Colonies who dealt with them, their chief faults. 

In the circumstances, it is not surprising that conservatism became 
characteristic of the commonwealth. Few men were rich and few were 
poor; few owned very large or very small estates. Averseness to change, 
of which vestiges still remain, became almost a second religion with the 
political and social leaders. To their minds, democracy would have been 
as great a calamity as a royal governor; and the government, though 
autonomous, was popular only in the sense that elections were held. 
Beneath an outwardly popular form prevailed a system that was aristo- 
cratic and paternalistic, and the governorship was held for long periods 
by one man. 

Connecticut, like Massachusetts, was an unwilling member of the 
British colonial system. Because of its tradition of self-government, a 
fear of interference, aroused by the new imperialistic policy of the mother 



32 Connecticut : The General Background 

country after 1763, led most of its 198,000 inhabitants to support the 
revolt in 1775. During the Stamp Act controversy, the General Court 
instructed its London agent to insist on the ' exclusive right of the colo- 
nists to levy their own taxes.' Immediately after the battle of Lexington, 
six regiments were mobilized in fact, preparations for war had been 
under way for more than a year. 

The more important military operations that took place in Connecticut 
during the Revolution were the skirmishes at Stonington in 1775, Dan- 
bury in 1777, New Haven in 1779, and New London in 1781. Undoubtedly 
the Colony's most brilliant military figure was Benedict Arnold, although 
Ethan Allen, a colorful natural leader, has a strong claim to the title. 
The Connecticut militia participated in the early expedition against 
Canada. The outstanding civil figures during the war were Jonathan 
Trumbull, the only Colonial Governor who was not deposed during 
the Revolution, Oliver Wolcott, and Silas Deane, the first agent of the 
Continental Congress in France. 

From 1775 to 1818, Connecticut moved slowly away from its extreme 
conservatism. There the war had not been a social revolution because 
no back-country bloc had existed; but in the period that immediately 
followed, a definite trend towards liberalism can be seen. Religious 
dissent became acute because of the increase of Episcopalians, Baptists, 
and Methodists, who, by supporting the Toleration Party, helped to 
secure the Constitution of 1818 that disestablished the Congregational 
Church. 

Conservatism, however, was merely modified. Frightened lest Shays' 
Rebellion should spread southward, the State lent its support to the 
Constitutional Convention of 1787 and hastily ratified the resulting 
document, which protected and favored the rights of property. Al- 
though the religious dissenters joined the Democratic-Republican Party 
in hope of ejecting the Congregationalists from their privileged position, 
this party was born late and made slow progress. Connecticut looked 
askance at the election of Jefferson, whom it considered tainted with the 
skepticism of the French Revolutions. His embargoes infuriated the 
State; and during the War of 1812, Connecticut refused the War De- 
partment the use of its militia. 

The movement for a Federalist convention, launched by Massachusetts 
to consider some united action and possible secession, found favor in 
anti-administration Connecticut, and delegates were sent to the Hart- 
ford Convention of December, 1814. Delegates from Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, and Connecticut expressed opposition to the war, which 



History 33 



was injuring the commercial interests of New England, and strongly 
denounced the policy of the administration, particularly in respect to 
forcible drafts. The general aim seems to have been to obtain certain 
reforms in the direction of State rights; but as the sessions were held in 
secret, false reports were circulated that the convention plotted a dis- 
solution of the Union. The coming of an early peace rendered super- 
fluous the acts of the convention, and its chief result was to bring con- 
siderable odium to the New England Federalists. 

The political revolution of 1818 was the product of basic economic 
changes that were occurring in the State and in the Nation during the 
two-score years after the Declaration of Independence. Banks were un- 
known in Connecticut as late as 1792, but by the year of the Hartford 
Convention ten State banks had been organized, with a capital of more 
than three million dollars. The wars of the Napoleonic period encouraged 
a brisk carrying trade which brought prosperity to the towns along the 
Sound and the Connecticut River; and when Jefferson's embargoes cut 
this commerce off in its infancy, the State, like the rest of New England, 
was forced into manufacturing. Gristmills, textile mills, and factories of 
various sorts sprang up everywhere. 

Nineteenth and twentieth century Connecticut presents a striking con- 
trast to the Colonial commonwealth. Within fifty years a homogeneous 
agricultural State became a highly complex, heterogeneous, industrial 
society which retained certain of its earlier spiritual characteristics. This 
transformation was the direct result of the development of the Industrial 
Revolution, of the constant migration of settlers to the West, and (in the 
later period) of heavy immigration from Europe. 

Connecticut was the product of the first expansion of New England; 
it became in turn the source of incessant migrations. In the late seven- 
teenth century, New Jersey was the popular destination, and in the eight- 
eenth century, the Berkshires, Vermont, New Hampshire, up-State New 
York, and Pennsylvania. Two large land companies, the Delaware and 
the Susquehanna, were formed in the State. After the Revolution, mi- 
gration was directed toward northern New England, Pennsylvania, 
New York, and the Western Reserve in Ohio, an area that Connecticut 
excepted from the cession of its holdings in the Northwest Territory to the 
Federal Government in 1787. Throughout the early nineteenth century, 
this movement continued unabated, reaching the upper and lower Mis- 
sissippi Valley, central Texas, and even the Pacific coast. 

It is difficult to estimate the actual number of emigrants, but it is safe 
to say that today many more of the descendants of Connecticut colonists 



34 Connecticut : The General Background 

live in the Middle West than in the State of their ancestors. In a gazetteer 
published in 1819, Pease and Niles estimated that the emigrants and their 
descendants numbered more than 700,000, while fewer than 300,000 re- 
mained. From 1789 to 1889, thirty-four men born in Connecticut served 
in the United States Senate as representatives from fourteen other States, 
and 187 in the House from twenty- two other States. It is significant that, 
though the United States as a whole showed a population increase of 
about thirty- three per cent in every decade between 1800 and 1840, 
Connecticut had an increase of only four or five per cent in each of those 
decades. 

Towards the middle of the nineteenth century this emigration dwin- 
dled, and immigration from Europe began at first from the North, later 
from central and southern countries. As early as 1870, twenty-eight per 
cent of the State's population was foreign-born; and in the first three de- 
cades of the twentieth century, the foreign-born population of Hartford 
and New Haven has varied between twenty-five and thirty per cent. If 
native whites born of foreign or mixed parentage are counted as foreign- 
ers, then today considerably more than half of the residents of Connect- 
icut are foreign. 

This movement of population accompanied and accelerated a definite 
trend toward modern industrialism. The glacial soil of Connecticut, out- 
side of the narrow river valleys, has never been fertile; and when babies 
came as regularly as the seasons, the population tended to reach such pro- 
portions that the soil could not support it. Confronted with the alterna- 
tive of migration or starvation, most of the youth chose to migrate. 
Some, however, preferred to risk starvation rather than to leave their 
homes; and since complete dependence upon agriculture was no longer 
possible, the more ingenious turned to manufacturing. 

Although it possessed numerous small factories, Connecticut was largely 
agricultural before 1840. In 1820, cloth was still spun in the home, and 
the 'cities' were little more than country towns. Each community pos- 
sessed enough artisans to be self-sufficient, and the State specialized in 
supplying its neighbors with foodstuffs. Natural resources were scanty, 
and capital was scarce; but with a supply of labor to be had at less 
than a dollar a day, the money and the raw materials necessary to indus- 
try could be found outside. By the middle of the century, textiles were 
the leading manufactured product, though clocks, locks, tools, hats, gin, 
firearms, tinware, and dozens of ' notions ' such as mouse-traps and combs 
were being turned out in large quantities. Yet the outstanding charac- 
teristic of Connecticut industry in this era was not so much the excellence 



History 35 



of its craftsmanship as the skill with which goods were marketed. The 
' Yankee Pedlar ' became well known throughout the nation. 

With the construction of railroads in the forties and fifties, Connecticut 
became a predominantly industrial State. The continued influx of Euro- 
pean immigrants insured a constant supply of cheap labor. Almost every 
town in the State has specialized in the manufacture of some particular 
product. It must suffice to point out that between 1860 and 1929, the 
value of the industrial output of Connecticut increased from $82,000,000 
to $1,472,000,000, though in national rank the State dropped from fifth 
to thirteenth place. 

If Connecticut, at present, does not lead the Nation in manufacturing, 
it does lead in insurance, for Hartford is the insurance center of the United 
States. Fire and marine insurance companies appeared before 1800. 
The first of such companies was the Mutual Assurance Company of the 
City of Norwich, incorporated in 1795; but perhaps the best known was 
the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, organized in 1810. Other corpo- 
rations were soon formed for the same purpose; and about the middle of 
the century, life insurance was first written. In 1930, the policies of 
Connecticut life insurance companies represented a total of $10,000,000,- 
ooo, and the company assets amounted to $1,650,000,000. 

Despite a century of immigration, Connecticut retains to an amazing 
degree its traditional characteristics. The masses derived from recent 
immigration will become inevitably a paramount influence, and are now 
rapidly gaining political and social predominance. Their progress to polit- 
ical power has been delayed by a striking survival from the particularism 
of the Colonial era the law allowing many towns, regardless of size, two 
representatives in the lower house of the legislature. The rural communi- 
ties have remained, generally speaking, the stronghold of the older stock. 
Still it cannot be denied that Thomas Hooker, or even the liberal Oliver 
Wolcott, who became Governor in 1817, would be surprised at the trans- 
formation of Connecticut. Could they return they would find, instead 
of their rural commonwealth, a complex and highly industrialized soci- 
ety; instead of a homogeneous people, a melting-pot composed of many 
European nationalities; and instead of a strongly Protestant community, 
a society where Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and free-thinkers inter- 
mingle. 



GOVERNMENT 



CONNECTICUT, the ' Constitution State/ still operates under one of the 
oldest of State constitutions, adopted in 1818. Long before 1818, however, 
Connecticut was governed by a basic organic law established by her own 
citizens. In 1639, the river towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield 
adopted a set of laws known as the Fundamental Orders. These have 
often been called ' the earliest written constitution in history/ although 
present-day scholarly opinion inclines to the view that they were not a 
constitution at all but merely a set of statutes. At any rate, they did set 
up a system of government providing for semi-annual general assemblies 
of deputies to be sent from the towns, and for the election of magistrates 
and a governor. They also laid down rules for conducting the assemblies 
and elections, and for denning the powers of all officials. 

These laws remained in effect until 1662. In that year, Governor John 
Winthrop, Jr., obtained from King Charles II a charter on which Connect- 
icut based her government for one hundred and fifty-six years. This 
astonishing document granted the Colony practically full self-government 
at a time when England's policy was very definitely moving in the direc- 
tion of complete royal control over the Colonies. Just how Winthrop 
managed to get this liberal charter signed has never been fully ex- 
plained; but it proved so satisfactory that, when the Colonies separated 
from England during the Revolutionary War, and all the other States 
except Rhode Island adopted new constitutions, Connecticut chose to 
continue under its old charter, only slightly amended, until 1818. This 
charter, which was similar to that of a private joint-stock trading com- 
pany, provided that men of sufficient property and reputation should 
choose a governor, deputy governor, council, and house of representatives. 
The house elected the other executive officials and the judges. 

In 1818, Connecticut adopted the constitution under which it still oper- 
ates. This document began with a declaration of rights; it went on to 
separate the government's powers into three departments, legislative, 
executive, and judicial; and it then defined the powers and duties of each 
department. Moreover, the constitution greatly extended the franchise 
(although universal white manhood suffrage was not in force until 1845), 
disestablished the Congregational church, and furthered the cause of 



Government 37 



education by confirming the Charter of Yale College and perpetuating the 
school fund. More than forty amendments to this constitution have been 
passed in the last one hundred and twenty years, but it has never been 
thoroughly revised, as other State constitutions have been. In 1902, a 
convention to revise the constitution was called; but after long debate the 
convention made only a few relatively slight changes, and even these were 
decisively defeated when submitted to the people for ratification. 

The legislature is still the most important of the three departments of 
government. Like that of the Federal Government and of nearly all the 
States, it is bicameral in form, with a senate of 35 members and a house of 
representatives of 267. Members of both branches are elected for two 
years, and meet in regular session in odd-numbered years only, although 
the governor may call a special session in case of emergency. The regular 
session begins in January and must, according to the constitution, adjourn 
early in June. The assembly may pass laws on any subject not forbidden 
by the Federal or State Constitutions, and the restrictions are slight in 
comparison with those in other States. The procedure in passing legisla- 
tion shows the influence of leisurely pre-Colonial English Parliaments, 
since every bill must be read three times before each house and must also 
be considered in committee before it can become a law. Connecticut long 
held staunchly to the usual New England system of submitting bills to a 
joint committee of both houses; but in 1937, because the two houses, con- 
trolled by different political parties, were unable to agree as to the proper 
representation on such a committee, this time-honored custom was aban- 
doned. 

Two points regarding the legislative department deserve special men- 
tion, as indicating the power and peculiarity of that body in Connecticut. 
The first is that, while the governor may veto any act of the general assem- 
bly, the latter may revalidate the law by a mere majority vote of both 
houses. This leaves the assembly practically supreme in the field of legis- 
lation, the usual American check of the executive veto being quite shad- 
owy. In this matter, as in so many others, Connecticut's dislike of change 
is leaving her outside the current trend of American government. 

The other noteworthy feature is the system of representation in the 
general assembly. Like the Federal Government, Connecticut has a small 
senate and a large house. But unlike the Federal Government, the senate 
is elected from districts based on population, while election districts for the 
house are geographical. In both branches the representation is unequal. 
According to the State constitution, all senatorial districts should contain 
approximately the same number of people; actually the number varies 



38 Connecticut : The General Background 

from 20,000 to 90,000. By a division that shows suspicious signs of gerry- 
mander in favor of the country as against the city, the average senatorial 
district, in 1924, in the four urban counties (Hartford, New Haven, Fair- 
field, and New London) had 43,584 people, while that in the four rural 
counties (Litchfield, Tolland, Windham, and Middlesex) had only 25,480. 
This inequality was even greater in 1937. But this balance in favor of the 
rural regions in the senate pales into insignificance when compared to that 
in the house of representatives. Representation is based on the towns, as 
it has been as far back as 1662. Those that have more than 5000 inhabi- 
tants or were incorporated before 1818 (99 in all) send two representatives; 
all the others (69) send one. Of course, the towns vary greatly in size, yet 
Hartford with a population of 164,000 chooses two representatives and so 
does Union with a population of only 196! Well over half of the State's 
population lives in the seven cities of Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, 
Waterbury, New Britain, Stamford, and Meriden; yet these cities elect 
only 14 of the 267 representatives. In 1924, one sixth of the people, those 
living in the most sparsely settled regions, elected more than two-thirds 
of the house. When it is realized that adoption of a constitutional amend- 
ment requires a two-thirds majority of each house and that ordinary legis- 
lation has to pass both houses, the power of the country districts of Con- 
necticut becomes clear. Small wonder that the government is conservative 
and cautious. 

And yet Connecticut is well and honestly governed, although its govern- 
ment can hardly be called democratic. The representatives from the rural 
districts, many of whom are solid farmers and business men, compare 
favorably with the city politicians in the adjoining seats. Legislative ab- 
surdities, such as the Standard Time Laws of the i92o's which required 
all public clocks to exhibit eastern standard time while most of the citizens 
lived by daylight saving time, are rare. Extreme anti-city legislation is 
prevented by the number of urban members of the senate. One result of 
the overwhelming power of the rural regions in the house of representa- 
tives has been to keep the Republican Party in power there even after 
such 'a Democratic landslide as that of November 1936. 

Of the executive officials, the governor is of course the foremost. He is 
chosen by the people at the regular State election held in November in 
even years, and holds office for two years. He wields legislative and judi- 
cial as well as executive powers. He may grant temporary reprieves after 
convictions for all crimes except impeachment. He suggests legislation in 
his messages on the state of the government, and he may use his political 
power with his party, which usually has majority control in at least one of 



Government 39 



the houses of the assembly, to push through the measures he desires. He 
may postpone legislation by vetoing it; and, if he has public opinion be- 
hind him or the legislative body is closely divided on the bill, his veto is 
likely to be sustained. As the State's chief executive, he appoints the 
judges of the higher courts, most of the commissions which administer 
the government, and the directors of the State's humane and penal insti- 
tutions. Some of the appointments require the consent of the Senate, 
some of both houses, and others are direct. 

Connecticut's governors have usually been men of probity and ability. 
Especially was this true of the period before the constitution of 1818, 
when such men as John Winthrop, Gurdon Saltonstall, Roger Wolcott, 
Jonathan Trumbull, and Oliver Wolcott, to mention only a few, held 
office for long periods. When Connecticut finally adopted a constitution 
that put into effect the ideas of the Revolutionary fathers, who feared a 
strong executive and saw in the legislature the guardian of American liber- 
ties, the governor's power was considerably diminished and he became 
more of a figurehead. His power has remained comparatively slight, de- 
spite the growth of State business resulting from the great increase in 
population and industry. There is need for a strong executive, who not 
only will have the power to manage well but will also concentrate in his 
person the responsibility for such management. Only in this way can the 
electorate exercise the control required of them in a democratic system 
of government. Other States, which preceded Connecticut by a genera- 
tion in cutting down the governor's power, have increased that power in 
recent years; but this State, as usual, has preferred the old ways. From 
time to time, however, efforts have been made to lengthen the governor's 
term and increase his veto power, and of late there has been a strong drive 
toward these ends. 

As in other States, the day-to-day business of running the government 
is in the hands of a considerable number of executive officers. Some of 
these, notably the secretary of state, treasurer, comptroller, and attorney 
general, are elected by the people. Others, many of whose positions are 
of equal importance with those of the elected officials, are appointed by 
the governor, usually with the consent of the senate. Examples in this 
group are the commissioner of finance and control, bank commissioner, 
commissioner of health, highway commissioner, insurance commissioner, 
commissioner of labor and factory inspection, commissioner of motor 
vehicles, state police commissioner, commissioner of welfare, tax com- 
missioner, commissioner of public works, and the members of the public 
utilities commission. Apparently the chief reason why the first group of 



4O Connecticut : The General Background 

officials is elected is that they were important in the nineteenth century 
when the constitution was set up, while the functions of the second 
group have developed gradually during the last thirty years. 

The officials mentioned above are only a few of the many who carry on 
the multifarious activities of the State government today. They number 
nearly a hundred in all. (A complete list may be found in the ' State Regis- 
ter and Manual' published annually at Hartford by the Secretary of 
State.) The various administrative bodies have grown up in a rather 
helter-skelter fashion, especially since the World War, and now represent 
a conglomerate of overlapping organizations. A thorough reorganization 
is needed, such as has already been carried through in other States com- 
parable to Connecticut in population and economic activity. Such a reor- 
ganization has long been in the minds of Connecticut officials, and the 
general assembly of 1937 made some progress in this direction. 

Like all English Colonies, Connecticut had courts from its beginning, 
and the present court system is a growth and adaptation of the English 
system brought to America in the seventeenth century. Throughout the 
Colonial period, the general assembly, or general court as it was called 
until 1662, was the highest judicial as well as legislative body. Before 
1640 a smaller tribunal to decide petty disputes had been set up the 
particular court. This lasted until 1665 when, with the institution of 
counties, county courts were created, and a court of assistants was ap- 
pointed to take over a large part of the judicial work of the general assem- 
bly. The office of justice of the peace, instituted in 1669, was not fully 
denned until 1702; it is still important as the petty tribunal of the smaller 
towns. Before 1700, there was a probate court in each county. In 1711, 
the superior courts, one for each county, replaced the central court of 
assistants. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, the general assembly 
relinquished its judicial powers, and the supreme court of errors started 
on its long and honorable career in 1784. 

The supreme court of errors, consisting of a chief justice and four asso- 
ciate judges, is today the State's highest judicial tribunal. Solely a court 
of appeal, it reviews cases brought up to it after trial in an inferior court. 
However, it is closely integrated with the superior court, since its judges 
are also members of that court. The superior court, the key agency in the 
State's judicial system, is the highest court actually to try cases. Its juris- 
diction includes all matters not specifically delegated to the inferior courts, 
and it hears appeals from those courts. It holds sessions in each of the 
eight counties. About 1870, the amount of business before the court in 
the more populous counties became so excessive that new judicial bodies, 



Government 41 



called courts of common pleas, were created to take over the less impor- 
tant cases. Below these county courts are the probate courts, which today 
number about 115; the town, borough, and city courts, 68 in number; and 
the justices of the peace. 

Court procedure is relatively simple, and has been so since the last 
quarter of the nineteenth century. As in other parts of the government, 
startling innovations have been few, but the courts are keeping abreast 
of modern methods. For instance, a bench of three judges may be substi- 
tuted for a jury trial at the option of an accused person, even in a homicide 
case. The larger cities have juvenile courts for the young, legal aid bu- 
reaus for the poor, and small claims courts where cases involving small 
amounts of money are handled cheaply and speedily. There is a strong 
movement in the State today to abolish town courts, most of which try 
few cases and operate on the fines they collect, and to replace them with 
district courts, each covering several towns and having a full-time and 
well-paid judge. 

A word must be said about local government. The eight counties are 
chiefly judicial districts, with no legislative and only minor executive 
functions. In this, the county in Connecticut resembles that of other 
northeastern States and contrasts strongly with the South and West, 
where counties dominate the field of local government. Below the counties 
are towns, cities, and boroughs, of which the towns are the oldest and his- 
torically the most important. One hundred and sixty-nine in number, 
geographically they cover every inch of the State. Where no borough or 
city exists, the town government is the sole instrument for carrying on 
local affairs. Even where a city or borough has been superimposed, the 
town remains a living unit of government, for it is only as residents of a 
town that Connecticut's citizens vote for members of the State's house of 
representatives. In the smaller towns, the town meeting, at which all 
adults may speak and vote, presents an unusual example of a pure demo- 
cracy, wherein the people, and not their representatives, make laws to gov- 
ern themselves, in addition to choosing all the town officials. In populous 
districts this system has proved impractical, and boroughs (23) and cities 
(21) have been incorporated. Where these exist, their officials have taken 
over most of the work of the town officers; but the latter continue to be 
elected, giving to Connecticut local government the aspect of a bewilder- 
ing palimpsest of efficient modern political machinery, necessary in teem- 
ing industrial communities, imposed upon the simple democratic forms 
of a quieter and less populous age. 

It is clear that, the most important characteristic of Connecticut's gov- 






42 Connecticut : The General Background 

ernment is its conservatism. With its roots well grounded in the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries, its main outline has varied very little 
from that fixed by the constitution of 1818. However, many features 
have changed, as the forty amendments to the constitution indicate. But 
there has been no complete revision and, in the field of government as it 
was known to the nineteenth century, no innovations such as the initia- 
tive, referendum, and recall of elected officials. Legislation, too, has been 
along well-established lines; it is significant that no Connecticut statute 
has ever been declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme 
Court. There are indications, such as the present movement to reorganize 
the executive departments, that Connecticut may some day make her 
entire governmental structure up-to-date. 



THE RACIAL MAK E-U P O F 
CONNECTICUT 



CONNECTICUT'S population, like that of Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island, is composed largely of people either born abroad or born in this 
country of foreign or ' mixed ' parentage. According to the United States 
Census figures of 1930, only 34.1 per cent of the State's present population 
is of native parentage, and this small percentage includes many persons 
only one generation removed from foreign origin. Rhode Island is the 
only State in the Union with a smaller proportionate population of 
descendants from native-born parents. 

Connecticut's Colonial population was almost entirely of English 
origin. Although the white population of the State increased rapidly 
from 1640 to 1650, during the following years up to 1790 the rate of 
increase dropped to only an estimated 17 per cent. By the end of the 
eighteenth century, immigration barely filled the gap left by the great 
tide of migration which carried Connecticut families westward to new 
lands. Entire towns were depopulated. The Yankee was restless. He 
sought more fertile fields. Behind him were left the older folk or the 
commercially inclined the inventor with his back-yard factory. Infant 
industries were hampered by lack of enough hands or power to manu- 
facture the goods needed by a new and vigorous civilization. 

The development of water-power, harbors, and navigable rivers en- 
couraged growing industry. Isolation resulting from the embargo during 
the War of 1812 forced Connecticut to turn to the production of goods 
formerly imported, and Yankee ingenuity harnessed the streams and 
equipped little factories, beginning the activity that has molded this 
Commonwealth into an industrial State. By 1840, the new order had so 
far succeeded that there was a shortage of labor to do the work contracted 
for. Industrialists turned to Europe for the labor they required, and 
Europeans were attracted to America as the land of promise. 

Among the earliest groups to arrive were the Irish, who formed the 
larger portion of the 'old immigration' and were numerically important 
even during the Colonial era. The Irish helped fight our early wars, 
shoulder to shoulder with the natives. They bought lands here, made the 



44 Connecticut: The General Background 

tinware for our first Yankee 'pedlars/ and worked in woods and fields as 
well as in factories. 

Although the main immigration of Irish to Connecticut occurred after 
the potato famine of 1846-47, Irish laborers were busy here during the 
early nineteenth century, building roads, canals, bridges, and dams. With 
the development of railroad transportation after 1830, Irish laborers were 
in great demand, and Connecticut like New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island became one of the chief 
centers of Irish concentration. 

Some 70,000 foreign-born Irish were in Connecticut in 1870; most 
of their descendants are included in the native stock. American-born 
Irish of the first and second generation now number 151,893. Most of the 
Irish in the State are two or three generations removed from foreign- 
born parents; they have been assimilated in Connecticut economic life, 
and are well represented in all professions and occupations. 

English immigrants of the period from 1830 to 1840 were usually of 
the skilled or semi-skilled laboring class. They were largely absorbed 
by the developing Connecticut brass industry. 

The first German settlers in the State, stragglers from the Hessian 
reinforcements of the British army in the Revolution, were few in number. 
Not until the period of 1880-1910, long after these pioneers had settled 
in New York and the Middle West, did German immigrants come to 
Connecticut in large numbers. Unlike most of the other ethnic groups, 
the Germans do not form compact colonies, but are well-distributed in 
every section of the cities and suburbs. The Connecticut Germans are 
also engaged in many occupations. Of the 76,281 Germans in the State, 
52,816 are American-born. 

Canadians, including both the French and natives of the Maritime 
Provinces, began arriving in Connecticut at a very early date. They 
numbered only 3145 foreign-born in 1860. The Canadian immigrants 
soon outstripped both the English and the German newcomers. By 
1930, the foreign-born Canadians numbered 38,566; and the combined 
groups, including those of foreign or 'mixed' parentage, numbered 97,105. 
The French Canadians (67,130) are concentrated mainly in the north- 
eastern part of Connecticut, where they are chiefly employed in the textile 
mills. The English- Canadians settle in the larger cities, particularly in 
Hartford, and are engaged in various occupations. 

The year 1870 marked the arrival of considerable numbers of Scandi- 
navians. In the present-day Scandinavian group, 41,374 are Swedes, 
including the native-born of foreign or ' mixed' parentage. The Danes 



The Racial Make-Up of Connecticut 45 

total 6124, and the Norwegians number 3898. Most of the Scandinavians 
in urban communities are employed as mechanics, machinists, tool- 
makers, and woodworkers, and those in the rural districts work chiefly as 
gardeners, florists, and farmers. 

The arrival of Italian immigrants in any considerable number dates from 
the 1870*5, when a group of about 100 settled in New Haven. A hard- 
ware manufacturer employed many of them, while the others worked as 
railroad section hands and truck gardeners. Within two years the Italian 
population of New Haven numbered 200; in 1880 it had increased to 500, 
and by 1889 more than 2000 Italians resided in the city. By 1907, the 
hardware concern that first brought these people to Connecticut em- 
ployed nearly 3000 Italians, and a near-by rubber plant had about 1000 
on its payroll. 

The peak of Italian immigration came during the years from 1900 to 
1916, when the Italian population of Connecticut increased to 60,000. 
These people now make up the State's largest foreign group, leading the 
1 new immigration ' from the countries of southern Europe. Today, there 
are 227,262 Italians in the State, with the metropolitan area of New 
Haven alone claiming 55,000 inhabitants of Italian descent. 

Although invariably living in separate compact colonies, the Italian 
group has made a place for itself in commercial, industrial, and agricul- 
tural Connecticut. American-born Italians of the second generation 
quickly shake off the influence of the mother country, are eager to be 
considered Americans, and are inclined toward active participation in 
political as well as commercial life. 

The Poles are numerically one of the most important ethnic groups in 
Connecticut. Their heaviest immigration came in 1907, and their con- 
centration, usually in group settlements, is notable in cities such as New 
Britain and Bridgeport. The 1930 census lists 133,813 Poles in the State. 
They are well distributed in both agriculture and industry, and have a 
larger proportion of farmers than most of the other eminent groups. 

Of the other Slavic groups, only the Lithuanians (30,690) and Czecho- 
slovakians (32,491) are numerically important. The Lithuanians are 
heavily concentrated in the brass industries of Waterbury, and the 
Czechoslovakians are employed in considerable numbers in Bridgeport 
factories, which also employ large numbers of Magyars. These latter 
people, numbering 23,175 in Connecticut, usually are skilled and semi- 
skilled workers. 

Jews have been resident in Connecticut since Colonial days. Even at 
the time of the Revolutionary War they had a part in commerce and 



Connecticut: The General Background 



finance, and early replaced the Yankee 'pedlar' as purveyors of goods. 
Figures on the Jewish population are at best inaccurate, as the Jews come 
from many countries, and data listed under 'country of origin' are con- 
fusing. Estimates place the total number of Connecticut Jews at 91,538, 
with Hartford and New Haven ranking second only to Atlantic City and 
New York in the proportionate size of their Jewish population. Connecti- 
cut is one of the very few States that has a Jewish farming population, 
with possibly about 1000 families engaged in agriculture. The majority 
of the Jews engaged in industry and trade are concentrated in the larger 
cities. 

As early as 1774, there were 6562 Negroes in the State. But the present-- 
day Negro population are not descendants of these eighteenth-century 
Connecticut slaves. Most of them have come from the Southern States 
in a steady migration lasting from about 1870 until after the World War. 
By 1910 there were 15,174, and in 1930, 29,354 Negroes in the State. 
They are employed chiefly in the unskilled labor and service occupa- 
tions. 

Various other ethnic groups of lesser numerical importance, including 
Greeks, Scotch, Finns, Ukrainians, French, Austrians, Armenians, and 
Swiss, make their individual contributions to the cosmopolitan pattern of 
Connecticut life. 

The State has, within little more than a half century, been transformed 
from the habitat of a fairly homogeneous people to the workshop of 
a heterogeneous population. 



TABLE I 

RACIAL COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION OF CONNECTICUT IN 1790 AS 
INDICATED BY NAMES OF HEADS OF FAMILIES 

(According to the Federal Census Bureau, A Century of Population Growth) 



NATIONALITY 


NUMBER 


PER CENT OF TOTAL 


TOTAL 


272 2^6 




English 


223 A37 


nfi 2 


Scotch 


6 d.2^ 


90.2 

? ft 


Irish 


i :c8o 




French 
Dutch 


512 

2 rS 


U. / 

0.2 


Hebrew 


*3" 

r 1 _ 




German 


5 [Less 




All Others 


I \ than i%. 











The Racial Make- Up of Connecticut 



47 



TABLE II 

NUMERICAL GROWTH OF THE LARGEST FOREIGN-BORN WHITE STOCKS IN 
CONNECTICUT, ACCORDING TO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN BY DECADES: 1860-1930 

(Based on the Census Reports of the United States) 



COUNTRY or 
ORIGIN 


1860 


1870 


1880 


1890 


1900 


I9IO 


I92O 


1930 


England 


887? 












o 2 7o8f 




Scotland 


2 <4,6 


32^8 


4,1 ^7 




zi^uy 




7A87 




Ireland 






70678 


77880 




c8/i c8 




2S/1T8 


Sweden 
Germany 
Poland l 


oD44o 
42 

8525 

99 


/UUJU 

323 
12443 
83 


/uu^o 
2086 
15627 

22 *j 


//oou 
IOO2I 
28176 
I sO4 


70994 
16164 
31892 
10698 


50450 
18208 
31127 


45464 
17697 
22614 
4.6623 


18453 
23465 

40267 


Czechoslovakia 2 . . 
Austria 




95 

I ZA 


125 

287 


177 
1187 


493 

C2 2O 


9264.2 


6558 
I26OO 


12220 
6^06 


Hungary 




20 


76 


1 146 


c6o2 


jogrr 


T 7 222 


08^6 


Russia 


46 


2 A 


6? 


2Q27 


I J 4OJ. 


^4.121 


28710 


2 ^76o 


Lithuania a 
Greece 


6 




i 




121 


IO74. 


Il662 
28?! 


13247 

-2-227 


Italy 


61 


117 


870 


^28^ 


IQIO^ 


^60^4 


80322 


87123 


Canada and 
Newfound land *. . . 


3145 


10840 


16444 


21231 


2/045 


26898 


24967 


38566 



1 The 1910 figures for Poland are included in those for Russia, Germany, and Austria. 

' Up to 1000 inclusively figures given are of those coming from Bohemia; figures for 1910 are included in 
those for Austria. " 

3 Since Lithuania did not achieve an independent status until after the end of the World War, figures 
prior to 1920 are lacking. 

* It can be estimated that about two-thirds of those coming from Canada after 1870 were French- 
Canadians. 



TRANSPORTATION 



HIGHWAYS 

THE tourist entering Connecticut today finds hard-surfaced highways 
leading to every section of the State. Early travelers were not so for- 
tunate. Letters written in 1780 by a European visitor, Count Chastellux, 
mention the highways through Litchfield as being more for 'the roe- 
buck than for laden horses and conveyances'; and in another place, 
'you mount four or five miles, continually bounding from one large stone 
to another, which cross the road and give it a resemblance to stairs/ 
In 1716, the inhabitants of Hartford complained that 'the Collegiate 
School of Connecticut' (later Yale College) should not be situated in 
New Haven because it was ' so remote ' and the transportation by water 
was so uncertain. They also recorded that there was ' but little communi- 
cation between the colonies ' (meaning the towns of Hartford, New Lon- 
don, and New Haven). 

Not until well into the eighteenth century was there much travel in 
New England. Those who passed through Connecticut found the State 
peculiarly backward. The Yankee individualist stayed at home, and 
thought other people should do the same. In a pamphlet issued in 1935, 
Miss Isabel S. Mitchell summarizes the situation thus: 'Bad roads dis- 
couraged intercourse, lack of intercourse increased isolation, isolation 
developed independence and a lack of co-operation, which in turn caused 
the roads to suffer.' The stagecoach era began in the eighteenth century, 
and reached its height after 1840. The first regular line of stages, es- 
tablished in 1783 between Hartford, Boston, and New Haven, met with 
spirited opposition. It is recorded that 'when Levi Somers proposed 
the scheme to a friend of his in Boston, the latter ridiculed him as a 
visionary, saying "The time may come when the public will support a 
stage between Hartford and Boston, but not in your day or mine."' 

Beginning late in the eighteenth century, private corporations were 
chartered to construct and maintain specific roads, given a franchise for 
collecting tolls, and often allowed to raise funds by lottery to finance 
construction. The first toll road in the State was the Mohegan Road,. 



Transportation 49 



following the course of an old Indian trail, between Norwich and New 
London. In May, 1792, an act was passed by the legislature establishing 
a toll-gate (the second authorized, but the first to be completed, in 
America), and appointing a board of commissioners to maintain this 
highway, which was not owned by a corporation, but was really one of the 
earliest State roads in America. Toll collections were continued on this 
highway until 1849, when the New London, Willimantic and Palmer 
Railroad opened its line parallel to the Mohegan Road. The third toll- 
gate in the United States was established on the Greenwich Road in 
1792. An October session of the General Assembly in 1797 granted a 
franchise to the Boston Turnpike Company over roads 'from Hartford, 
through East Hartford, Bolton, Coventry, Mansfield, Ashford, Pomfret, 
and Thompson to the Massachusetts Line.' This route became known as 
' the middle turnpike.' It was on this road that a famous old Connecticut 
tavern, Woodbridge's in Manchester, stood. In every case, the toll roads 
granted exemption to churchgoers, funeral attendants, members of the 
militia, and people going to the mills. 

Between 1795 ano ^ I ^53j one hundred and twenty-one of these toll- 
road or turnpike franchises were granted. A charter for a turnpike to 
Bristol was granted in 1801 and revoked in 1810. The Talcott Mountain 
Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1798, to construct and main- 
tain a road from Hartford through Farmington to New Hartford. Other 
important pikes were built by the Greenwoods Company and the Hart- 
ford and New Haven Turnpike Company. These corporations failed to 
satisfy the public, and about 1850 they began to relinquish their fran- 
chises. Governmental action then became imperative. 

The year 1895 saw the abandonment of the franchise for the Derby 
Turnpike, the last of the old pikes. A new era in road-building started in 
that year with the creation of a State commission to assume responsi- 
bility for Connecticut highways. Through routes were designed as 
trunk lines, and provisions made for their maintenance in 1908. 'Feeder 
roads' became known as State Aid roads. Since 1931, the dirt or third- 
class roads have been in another classification, and a yearly grant of 
$17,500 is made by the State to each of the 169 towns, to be expended 
on dirt roads of their selection, under supervision of the State highway 
engineers. 

A significant date in the annals of road construction is 1858, when 
Eli Whitney Blake of New Haven invented the stone crusher that made 
possible the economical construction of highways on a large scale. There 
were scarcely a dozen miles of macadam roads in all New England as 



50 Connecticut: The General Background 

late as 1851, but today there are more than five thousand miles of hard- 
surfaced highways in Connecticut alone. 

The landscaping of highways and the establishment of more than 125 
shaded roadside parks are conspicuous developments in Connecticut. 
Clay banks are sodded, or planted with iris and rambler roses; and tri- 
angular plots at main intersections bloom with flowering shrubs. Rag- 
weed along the highways is cut, in deference to hay-fever sufferers. 
Woodland areas close to waterfalls and roadside brooks have been con- 
verted into small State parks, and equipped with tables and other facili- 
ties for picnicking. 

Winter road conditions in Connecticut are usually very good. Strate- 
gically stationed highway crews turn out with plows and sand trucks at 
the first sign of snow or sleet. Experimental highway lighting is being 
tried in several sections, but no permanent installations have been made 
as yet (1938). 



RAILROADS 

The introduction of railroad transportation into Connecticut met with 
considerable opposition. Connecticut rivers offered easy access to the 
back country; Long Island Sound furnished coastwise transportation 
facilities; and the owners of the turnpike system were active in obstructing 
competition. The typical Yankee dread of change and satisfaction with 
' things as they are ' may also have had some bearing on popular reluctance 
to adopt the new and faster mode of transport. 

In 1832, a charter was finally granted to the New York and Stonington 
Railroad, after prolonged debate in the General Assembly, during which 
a memorial was prepared stating that a railroad would 'produce more 
harm than good, and may result in great injury and injustice to private 
property. A railroad is a monopoly in a peculiar sense.' This memorial 
was signed by Roger Sherman, Simeon Baldwin, William Bristol, and 
J. Wood, all 'overseers of turnpike stock.' 

The next charter, granted later in 1832, was to the Boston, Norwich 
and Worcester Railroad to operate between Norwich and Worcester. 
This route tapped the rich industrial region to the north, and eliminated 
the hazardous sea route around Point Judith, connecting both Boston 
and Worcester with the sheltered water route along Long Island Sound 
through the Thames River at Norwich. Practically all the early rail- 



Transportation 5 1 



roads ran north and south, connecting the back country with the sea- 
ports. It was not thought possible to build a coastwise rail line at this 
time, because of the numerous rivers to be bridged. 

The Hartford and New Haven Railroad opened a line to Meriden in 
1838. Later, in 1839, this was extended to Hartford, connecting with a 
Springfield, Massachusetts, line that brought this railroad into direct 
competition with the Norwich and Stonington lines for New York to 
Boston traffic. When this charter was granted, the people of Newington 
presented a petition stating that they were a ' peaceable, orderly people ' 
and begging that their quiet might not be disturbed by 'steam cars and 
an influx of strangers.' 

The Housatonic Railroad was chartered in 1836 to connect western 
Massachusetts with Long Island Sound and to form a connection between 
New York and Albany by way of Bridgeport. Until 1848, this was 
Bridgeport's only railroad. The line along the old Farmington Canal, 
chartered in 1846, was opened between New Haven and Plainville in 
1848, and extended to Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1855. 

The first east-and-west railroad line in the State was the New York 
and New Haven Railroad, chartered in 1844 and opened late in 1848. 
This line absorbed the Hartford and New Haven Railroad in 1872. 
Consolidation and refinancing marked the history of Connecticut rail- 
roads for several decades after the Civil War. Trolley lines, steamship 
lines, and even hotels were absorbed by the railway financiers. Attempts 
were made to operate independent lines, but the great New Haven system 
managed to absorb most of them. 

Electric power was in use on the New Britain to Hartford branch of 
this road as early as 1901; the main line was electrified as far as Stam- 
ford in 1907, and to New Haven in 1914. The 'Comet,' first stream-lined 
train on the New Haven system, made its initial run between Providence 
and Boston on June 5, 1935. A second stream-lined train now operates 
between Bridgeport and Hartford. 

Early in 1937, the New Haven system petitioned the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission for permission to abandon many miles of non-pro- 
ductive track throughout the State. Among the lines slated for abandon- 
ment are the Litchfield branch, with one hundred forty-seven curves 
between Hawleyville and Litchfield, a distance of about twenty-five 
miles, over which only the 'K-i type' of engines can run. 

The only railroad other than the New Haven operating in Connecticut 
today is the Central Vermont, a subsidiary of the Canadian National 
Svstem. 



52 Connecticut : The General Background 



CANALS 

An occasional crumbling stone arch, or a stretch of over-grown ditch 
filled with stagnant water, now the home of muskrats and herons, is all 
that remains of the former canal system which Connecticut hoped might 
compete with the great Erie Canal. 

On January 29, 1822, citizens from seventeen towns met to discuss 
the building of the Farmington Canal. In May of the same year a charter 
was granted to the Farmington Canal Company, as part of a grand 
project that was expected eventually to connect the St. Lawrence River 
with Long Island Sound. Work was started near the Massachusetts 
border on July 4, 1825. Three years later the canal was opened from 
New Haven to Cheshire. Progress was thenceforth rapid, and in 1829 
the canal was operated to Westfield, Massachusetts, bringing some bene- 
fits in reduced fuel costs to communities along the route. But continuous 
landslides raised the cost of maintenance so high that a loss was sus- 
tained each year. In 1846, the stockholders refused to subscribe for more 
stock; and in 1847, operations were finally suspended. The only dividend 
ever paid to the stockholders of this company was derived from the sale 
of hay along the right of way. Many of the stockholders were New York- 
ers, and they petitioned the legislature for permission to build a rail- 
road to replace the canal. This petition was granted, and a line of steel 
later traversed the same lowlands where the lazy canal boats once crept 
along with their cargoes. 

Canals have never prospered in Connecticut, but the largest failure 
was that of the Farmington venture. The Blackstone and Middlesex 
canals were relatively short lived, and did not pay. The Windsor Locks 
Canal, completed in 1828, was in a somewhat different category, be- 
cause it was built to take river traffic around the rapids and to provide 
water power. This canal, with its crude hand-operated gates and locks, 
is still open to traffic. 

Failure was swift and conclusive for the Quinebaug Canal of 1824, 
the Saugatuck and New Milford ditch of 1829, and the Sharon Canal 
venture of 1826. Connecticut financiers and engineers decided that the 
Nutmeg State was too hilly and rough to make any canal project a pay- 
ing venture. 



Transportation 53 



BUS LINES 

In Connecticut, as elsewhere, the rapid development of improved high- 
ways has been accompanied in recent years by a no less rapid develop- 
ment of bus transportation. Some fifty companies, covering nearly 2250 
route miles, now operate within the State; and all of the larger eastern 
interstate lines cross through its territory. Although about 350 miles of 
street railway remain (1937), bus service has made heavy inroads upon 
this form of transportation. Railroad-owned buses shuttle back and forth 
across country where the steam lines have ceased to be remunerative; 
and large fleets of school buses take youngsters to and from the consoli- 
dated schools that have recently replaced many of the old district schools 
in the State. 



AVIATION 

The new era in transportation marked by the conquest of the air was 
recognized by Connecticut as early as 1911, when the State adopted the 
first code of laws in the country governing the registration, numbering, 
and use of aircraft, and the licensing of pilots. In 1936, there were 21 
aviation fields, 765 licensed pilots, and 322 registered air-craft within 
the State. The only strictly commercial airport is Rentschler Field at 
East Hartford; here an airline operating between Newark and Boston, on 
a schedule of three trips daily each way in summer and two in winter, 
picks up approximately 450 passengers and 2700 pounds of mail and 
express each month. The State's air routes are well marked with both 
directional markers and beacons. 



INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 



SHIPPING AND SHIPBUILDING 

THE early settlers of Connecticut, concentrated in compact settlements 
for protection from unfriendly Indians, soon discovered that it was 
not possible to live by agricultural pursuits alone. Although practicing 
an economy which at first was almost wholly self-sufficient, there were 
still a few necessities that had to be imported; and as living conditions 
gradually became less primitive, there was an increasing demand for 
other imports. Most important of all, as they established themselves 
more firmly, they required an outside market for their surplus crops, 
livestock, hides, etc., and for such early manufactures as bricks and forest 
products. 

Thus it was that, within a relatively short time after the first coloniza- 
tion, many of the settlers became shipbuilders, mariners, and traders. 
Onions from Wethersfield, tobacco from Windsor, oak staves from the 
back country, cattle and hides from the rich pasture lands, were shipped 
in home-built sloops, often of only ten or twelve tons, down the rivers to 
the sea and the West Indies. The first voyages were blind ventures into 
the unknown from which many ships never returned. The 'Great 
Shippe' which sailed out of New Haven in 1646, laden with produce to 
recoup the fortunes of the settlers, became one of these ghost ships. 

These hardy sailor-farmers often had more difficulty in getting out of 
the rivers than they later experienced in reaching the West Indies. 
They were often delayed by flood tides rising against the current, shoal 
water, or a changing channel that put the little sloops aground before 
their sails could fill with an offshore breeze to carry them away to Carib- 
bean ports. 

A bit of old Connecticut can still be found in Paramaribo, Dutch 
Guiana, where most of the buildings were erected by Connecticut traders. 
The traveler is puzzled by the incongruity of fireless houses equipped 
with brick chimneys, heavy green-painted shutters, and cupolas perched 
atop steeply pitched shingled roofs. He wonders at the doors in true New 
England Colonial style, with fan-lights and wooden pilasters. The Town 



Industry and Commerce 55 

Hall at Paramaribo was built of brick brought from Connecticut by 
Captain Joshua Green of Glastonbury. 

The record of one ship, the 'Neptune,' which sailed from New Haven 
in 1797 for China, is representative of the success that attended many 
Connecticut shipping ventures. The 'Neptune,' commanded by Captain 
Townsend, carried a general cargo and $500 in gold coin. In the West 
Indies, her master traded for rum and sugar; at Rio, he bartered for 
fustic, indigo, sandalwood, and other Brazilian products. Around the 
Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego, the crew of the ' Neptune ' spent 
some time in sealing. Rounding the Horn, they sailed for the South Seas, 
where they carried on a brisk exchange of calico and other cotton cloth, 
brass wire, and old iron for dividivi (the pods, used for tanning and dye- 
ing, of a native tree), pearls, and pearl shell. Finally reaching the coast 
of China, Captain Townsend bartered sealskins and the remainder of 
his original cargo for teas, silks, lacquerwork, porcelain, sandalwood, 
and ivory. After two and a half years, the 'Neptune' returned to New 
Haven on July n, 1799, with a cargo valued at $250,000 and the original 
stake of $500 in gold intact. 

Shipbuilding at Derby, on the Housatonic River, dates from 1657. 
Thereafter this port, at the head of tidewater, rapidly became the ship- 
ping center for products of the surrounding inland districts. In addition, 
the Derby Fishing Company carried on an extensive trade with the West 
Indies and Mediterranean countries. Not until the building of highways 
and railroads deflected commerce from the Housatonic Valley to the 
better ports of New Haven and Bridgeport did Derby lose its importance 
in shipping. 

The port of New Haven, although hampered by the slow development 
of communications with the back country, still managed to build up, 
after 1763, a thriving trade with the West Indies, Newfoundland, and the 
neighboring ports along the Atlantic coast. By 1800, trade flourished 
with China, the Pacific, the East Indies, and the South Seas, and an 
average of one hundred ships cleared New Haven Harbor annually. In 
1802, Long Wharf was built, and a sealing fleet operated out of New 
Haven. At the opening of the War of 1812, the port had six hundred 
registered seamen, engaged in privateering or in regular service. The loss 
of foreign trade through the war and the preceding Embargo Act, the 
opening of the Farmington Canal in 1828, and the building of the Hart- 
ford and New Haven Railroad in 1833-38 gave such an impetus to 
industrial development that manufacturing rapidly became the chief in- 
terest of the city. 



56 Connecticut : The General Background 

Bridgeport was a center of privateering activities during the Revolu- 
tion, and acquired a portion of Derby's trade when the highway from 
Newtown was built in 1798-1801. 

The first shipbuilding in New London dates from the John Colt ven- 
ture in 1664. New London was sending ships to all oceans by 1819, and 
its skippers were in great demand at other ports. At the peak of activity, 
about 1846, the New London whaling fleet consisted of seventy-one ships, 
the last survivor of which came to port in 1909. Captain Stevens Rogers 
of New London was master of the * Savannah,' the first steamship to 
cross the Atlantic. The present shipyards at Essex, Noank, and Groton, 
all that remains of this formerly important industry, continue to enjoy 
a brisk trade. Submarines are built at Groton, pleasure craft at Essex, 
and the Noank yards are busy on various classes and tonnage. 

Mystic and Stonington were especially active in shipping and ship- 
building. The former was noted for its clipper ships, the latter for its 
whaling fleet. Toward the close of the clipper-ship era, Mystic took the 
lead in this type of construction, producing a vessel that combined large 
cargo space with speed. In 1860, the modified clipper ship 'Andrew 
Jackson,' Captain John E. Williams commanding, established a record 
of eighty-nine days and four hours from New York to San Francisco, 
breaking by nine hours the record made by the 'Flying Cloud' in 1851. 
The 'Andrew Jackson' was built by Irons and Grinnell in 1854. The 
yachts built in Mystic by D. O. Richmond in 1870-80 held all records until 
the ballast-keel type was designed. Stonington interests controlled 
nineteen whalers between 1830 and 1850. 

Practically all of the Connecticut River towns served as early commer- 
cial and shipping outlets for ' back-country ' produce and manufactures. 
Middletown developed into an important shipbuilding and commercial 
center, carrying on a thriving trade with the Orient; Rocky Hill, Wethers- 
field, and Windsor became warehouse and shipping centers. At Withers- 
field was built the first ship in the State, the 'Tryall,' in 1649. A canal 
around the rapids at Windsor Locks brought some commerce to that 
town in 1829. A warehouse was established about 1636 at Warehouse 
Point. The old Gildersleeve Shipyard at Portland, where an occasional 
barge is still built, was once one of the most active on the river; a schooner 
of ninety tons came off the ways there as early as 1741, and during the 
Revolution a number of war vessels were turned out, including the 
ooo-ton 'Bourbon.' Ships for the New York and Galveston Line, es- 
tablished in 1863, were built in Portland. East Haddam was an important 
center of shipping and shipbuilding. Sloops were built on the Salmon 



Industry and Commerce 57 

River at Leesville. Thomas Childs, a Middle Haddam shipbuilder, is 
said to have laid down 237 vessels. Essex was such an important ship- 
building center that it was raided by the British during the War of 1812. 
Old Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River, was an important 
port for coasting vessels and for the trans-shipment of goods from smaller 
river boats to seagoing ships. More than sixty skippers and their crews 
from Old Lyme sailed clipper ships to China and the Far East, and later 
manned packet ships to Liverpool and Havre. 

Rumors of slave trade in connection with these early voyages were 
numerous; whenever a skipper was suspiciously overdue from the West 
Indies, gossips would speculate on the possibility of profit in a cargo of 
'black ivory.' Undoubtedly, many Connecticut fortunes were thus 
founded in those early days. 

Today, Connecticut's freighting traffic is handled almost entirely by 
rail and by truck. A few boats still carry cargoes to New York from 
New London, New Haven, and Bridgeport; an occasional tug wheezes up 
the Connecticut River with one or two coal barges, or a tanker whistles 
for the opening of the draw at East Haddam. But the romantic era of 
the merchantman, the privateer, the clipper ship, and the whaler has 
long since passed. Old sailors pour gasoline into the tanks of their 
modern fishing boats, and dream of more adventurous days. 



MANUFACTURING 

While Connecticut's ships were exporting staple provisions to many 
other States and foreign countries, thousands of discontented farmers were 
migrating to the West, for, despite the fertility of the Connecticut Valley, 
large areas of the State were rock-ribbed and untillable. As early as 1840, 
the density of population was sixty-four persons to the square mile, 
equaling the 1930 distribution in Kentucky or North Carolina. Many 
of those who -remained were forced to find more profitable sources of 
income. The pressure of necessity, aided by an abundance of swift streams 
providing water-power, developed the industrial ingenuity and resource- 
fulness that thenceforth characterized the Connecticut Yankee. Home 
industries that at first supplied merely local markets began to lay the 
foundations for Connecticut's transition to an industrial State. 

A small water-power mill began operations in New London as early 
as 1650, and one at Derby in 1679. Bog iron was worked at Lake Salton- 



58 Connecticut : The General Background 

stall, East Haven, in 1665. Nails were made and exported before 1716. 
An effort was made to introduce silk-culture into the Colony in 1732, 
and a silk factory was opened at Mansfield in 1759. London hatters were 
complaining as early as 1732 of the competition of Connecticut hats. 
In 1737, a Simsbury blacksmith produced the first copper coins made in 
the Colonies, using copper mined at East Granby. The paper mills of 
Norwich date from 1768, and those of East Hartford from 1776. Brass 
was being worked at Waterbury in 1749, and the first tinware made in 
this country was produced at Berlin in 1740. 

As soon as the small industries had supplied local markets, some of 
the manufacturers as, for example, the Pattison brothers of Berlin, 
makers of tinware set out on foot, with packs upon their backs, to 
seek a market in outlying districts. Within a few years, scores of peddlers 
employed by numerous small manufacturers had made their way as far 
west as Lake Erie and St. Louis, and south to New Orleans. Coastal 
blockades during the Revolution and War of 1812 stimulated local 
manufacture. The peddler whose original pack had been confined to 
tin goods was soon recognized as a vendor of Yankee ' notions ' buttons, 
pins, hats, combs, brass kettles, and clocks. Almost every important 
present-day Connecticut industry received its original impetus from the 
Yankee peddler, who supplied ever-extending markets as he followed the 
tide of migration westward. 

Hartford claims the first woolen mill in New England, established in 
1788. A noteworthy improvement of native wool is credited to General 
David Humphreys, who very early in the nineteenth century imported 
one hundred merino sheep and developed a superior strain on his farms in 
Watertown. In 1806, Humphreys built a complete factory town 
nucleus of the present-day Seymour where he established a school 
and an apprentice system, and produced paper, woolens, tools, and metal 
goods. 

The first successful cotton mill in the State was built by Samuel 
Pitkin and Company at Hilliardsville (in Manchester), in 1794. Cotton 
mills established at Vernon in 1804 were followed by mills at Pomfret 
in 1806 and at Jewett City in 1810. As late as 1810, it was estimated 
that two-thirds of all the cloth made in the country was of household 
manufacture. 

Since the opening of the Patent Office in 1790, Connecticut has re- 
ceived more patents in proportion to its population than any other State 
in the Union. This inventiveness and skill in mechanical design has 
greatly furthered the success of Connecticut industries. The advantage 



INDUSTRY 



YANKEE ingenuity has been the mainspring of Connecticut 
industry ever since pioneer Connecticut farmers first launched 
little ten-ton sloops and sailed off over uncharted seas, seek- 
ing a market in the West Indies for surplus crops and food 
products. The infant industries originally furnished goods 
for home consumption, but when that market was supplied, 
turned to the production of varied merchandise for the 
'Yankee Pedlar' trade. Buttons and the smaller metal spe- 
cialties formed a great part of the stock of these itinerant 
merchants. Wherever they went they discovered demands 
for new articles, and when they returned for fresh stock, their 
crude drawings and patterns furnished fresh stimulus to the 
little streamside industrial plants. No matter what the de- 
mand, the factory seldom failed to furnish the desired article, 
even though it were first necessary to devise hand-made tools. 
This leadership in the working of metals, in skill and design, 
has been responsible for the success of Connecticut's indus- 
trial plants, which today lead the country in the production 
of precision tools and scientific recording instruments as well 
as in a score of other lines of manufacturing. All kinds of 
brass articles are made in Connecticut, totaling 30 per cent 
of the country's output. 

The movement of goods to and from markets by railroads 
has played an essential part in the development of Con- 
necticut industry, dependent as it is on distant raw materials 
and nation-wide custom, and today new air trails are blazed 
to far places by planes, propellers, and motors of Yankee man- 
ufacture. 



BURNISHING BRASS, SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, WATERBURY 




PRATT AND WHITNEY, AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURERS, EAST HARTFORD 






"::'- 



ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT OF THE PROPELLER DIVISION, UNITED AIRCRAFT 
CORPORATION, EAST HARTFORD 

FINAL ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT, SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT, STRATFORD 





EXPERIMENTAL DEPARTMENT, SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT 



INSPECTING POLISHED COPPER SHEETS, AMERICAN BRASS COMPANY, ANSONLA 



t 








fc 




FORGING HOT BRASS, SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, WATERBURY 



CASTING SHOP, AMERICAN BRASS COMPANY, WATERBURY 




WITHDRAWING A HEATED COPPER BILLET FROM THE FURNACE, AMERICAN 
BRASS COMPANY, WATERBURY 








LINE-UP OF LOCOMOTIVES, NEW HAVEN RAILROAD, CEDAR HILL 

STEAM POWER, STREAMLINED TRAIN, NEW HAVEN RAILROA 




Industry and Commerce 59 

attained by the early Connecticut craftsmen in the working of metals 
has grown, until today the State leads the country in the production of 
precision tools and scientific recording instruments, as well as in a score 
of other manufactures. 

Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1792 was a milestone of 
accomplishment for Yankee mills and southern agriculture. Whitney's 
introduction of quantity production methods in his firearms factory in 
Hamden also had a far-reaching effect upon industry throughout the 
Nation. His production of interchangeable parts, and his system of 
specialized labor, each worker having but one operation to perform, gave 
Connecticut industry an early advantage. Upon this system has been 
built the carefully planned high-speed production and the assembly line 
of modern industry. Whitney worked closely with Simeon North (see 
below] in inaugurating these modern production methods. 

In the brass industry, Connecticut took an early lead, starting in 1749. 
Brass buttons were manufactured in 1802 by Abel Porter at Waterbury. 
Rolled sheet-brass, drawn brass wire, brass pins, rods, spun brass shapes, 
shellwork and eyelets, all were developed as the industry grew and the 
Connecticut brassmakers attained greater skill. Connecticut produces 
thirty per cent of the brass manufactured in the United States (1937), 
and leads all other States in this field. Britannia ware was introduced by 
Charles and Hiram Yale in 1815. The world's largest factory engaged 
in the production of silverware is situated in Meriden, and the State as 
a whole ranks fourth in this manufacture. 

The discovery of the process for vulcanizing rubber, in 1839, by 
Charles Goodyear of Naugatuck, brought a thriving industry to Con- 
necticut and was an important contributing factor in the development 
of modern motor transportation, electric power distribution, and in- 
dustrial efficiency. 

Clockmaking in Connecticut is noteworthy as an example of the de- 
velopment from household or one-man manufacturing into an important 
industry, which now leads all other States in the value of production. 
Connecticut clocks were first produced by individual craftsmen and dis- 
tributed by peddlers, who soon made the sundial and the 'time stake' 
obsolete throughout the original Colonies. 

Benjamin Cheney produced wooden clocks about 1745, in a small 
back-yard shop at East Hartford. Thomas Harland of Norwich made 
a few clocks, in connection with other mechanical devices, about 1773. 
Daniel Burnap, an apprentice to Harland, established his own shop at 
East Windsor about 1780, and first advertised 'brass wheeled clocks' 



60 Connecticut : The General Background 

on March 14, 1791. Gideon Roberts was making wooden-movement 
clocks in 1790 at his Bristol shop. These makers were all limited to a 
very small output, and they were often their own peddlers. Eli Terry 
was constructing clocks by hand in 1793. In 1807, he purchased an old 
mill in Plymouth, and equipped it with machinery, producing in 1808, 
the first five hundred machine-made clocks manufactured in America. 
Joseph Ives, who entered the field in 1811, was a clockmaker of excep- 
tional inventive ability; in 1832, he placed on the market clocks with 
brass works, and later patented and produced clocks with a cantilever 
spring. In 1812, Seth Thomas started operations in the Thomaston 
plant which still bears his name. The quality clocks of Sessions and New 
Haven are likewise time recorders that today find world-wide markets. 
The first cheap watch, the once-famous Waterbury, with its seemingly 
endless spring, was also a Connecticut product; the Ingersoll and Ingra- 
ham watches of today are made in this State. 

With Simeon North's introduction of the system of interchangeable 
parts for firearms in 1813, this industry developed rapidly in Connecticut, 
until the names of North, Whitney, Sharps, Spencer, Winchester, Colt, 
Remington, Savage, Parker, Ballard, and Marlin had become famous in 
this country and abroad. The State now leads all others in the produc- 
tion of firearms and ammunition. 

The first actual use of a submarine for war purposes is credited to 
David Bushnell, a Connecticut designer, who made an unsuccessful 
attempt in 1776 to sink the British warship * Eagle ' off New York. Simon 
Lake of Milford did considerable early research work on submarines, and 
is credited with the perfection of the first even-keel submarine, in 1894. 
Groton shipyards are now (1937) at work on submarines for the United 
States Navy. 

Astonishing growth has been attained in the aircraft industry. Plants 
in East Hartford and Stratford have kept ahead of the field, and operate 
on schedules that keep the test pilots busy. Government orders con- 
tinue to come in; and constant improvement in motors and propellers, 
together with a supply of especially skilled labor, promise well for the 
continued growth and expansion of the industry. Fighting ships, cargo 
and transport planes, either built complete in Connecticut or powered 
by Connecticut motors, now duplicate the feats of the old Connecticut 
clipper ships in breaking speed records to the far corners of the world. 

Two once-thriving Connecticut industries have experienced difficulty in 
adapting themselves to changed conditions. Cutlery manufacture, form- 
erly of importance, has practically ceased because of foreign competition; 



Industry and Commerce 61 

and the cotton and silk mills have suffered greatly from low-wage southern 
competition. A shift in manufacture to rayon goods has not solved the 
textile industry's problem. Some smaller mills have been taken over 
by garment manufacturers from other States, but the change is usually 
unsatisfactory to labor and the community alike. Woolen mills occasion- 
ally enjoy short-lived prosperity when new blood or new backing is 
obtained. The plush mills at Seymour, using the Tingue process, operate 
with outside capital. Mohair mills in Shelton enjoy spasmodic activity 
which fluctuates with the demands of the motor industry, but the Mont- 
Ville mills have closed. The smaller mills that specialize on a single 
product are more successful in weathering the storm; but as a whole, the 
textile industry in Connecticut has fallen upon evil days. 

Connecticut ranks first among the States in the production of com- 
modities as varied as typewriters and felt hats. Danbury is 'the hat 
center of the world,' and Fairfield County produces thirty-eight per 
cent of the American output in this field. About one-half the hooks and 
eyes, pins, needles, and snap fasteners produced in this country are 
manufactured in Connecticut. 

The period of the State's greatest development in manufacturing 
began soon after the War of 1812. During the years from 1850 to 1900, 
the population of the State increased 145 per cent, but the average num- 
ber of wage-earners employed in manufacturing establishments increased 
248.3 per cent. Wage-earners so employed in 1850 constituted 13.7 per 
cent of the State's total population, and 19.5 per cent in 1900. The 
decade of greatest relative development was that of 1909-19, including 
the war years, when factory output increased 184 per cent. New factory 
construction in 1923 and 1924 was valued at $16,807,775. * n J 937> more 
than 60 per cent of Connecticut's population depended upon some three 
hundred manufacturing establishments for a livelihood. 



MINING AND QUARRYING 

Nearly every known mineral has been found in Connecticut, and the 
exploitation of its mineral wealth dates back to Colonial days, when 
Governor Winthrop and others seized lands and mineral rights. Yet there 
had been little commercial mining in the State, especially of the more 
precious minerals. Some rocks of the western highlands are believed to 



62 Connecticut: The General Background 

be of the Pre-Cambrian age; gold has been discovered and actually 
mined; garnets are taken from a carefully guarded working in Tolland 
County today, but the quantity is unknown except to the owner of the 
mine. 

Portland quarries still produce feldspar in marketable amounts. Rox- 
bury granite from Mine Hill, of excellent quality and available in un- 
limited quantities, is now used for residential and public buildings. The 
lime quarries of western Connecticut yield a fine quality of building lime, 
and the output of agricultural lime more than suffices for local needs. 
Brick clays are of frequent occurrence. Traprock quarries are worked 
more extensively than any others, because of the demand created by 
highway construction and the excellent quality of the stone. 

Commercially unimportant production of mica is carried on in back- 
yard mines in Middlesex County. Bismuth mines in Monroe are worked 
by hand and by crude mechanical processes. Silica is available almost 
everywhere in the State; and no iron ore is of better quality than the 
limonite, or brown hematite, once produced by the now flooded Ore Hill 
pits. Near New Haven, in the dense brush of a hillside pasture lot, a 
crude windlass marks the spot where a hard-working Italian secures a 
yield of about three dollars a day from his private gold mine. The dis- 
covery of coal at Southbury caused some excitement when drilling 
crews came in to prospect for oil between Poverty Hollow and Bates 
Rock, but the small deposits were never exploited. 

At Mine Hill in Roxbury a vertical vein of siderite, six to eight feet 
thick and of undetermined length, was prospected at various times from 
1724 on. A great plant for the smelting of ore was constructed, 'lease 
hounds' operated unrestrained, a German goldsmith was engaged to 
develop what was supposed to be the silver content of the ore, and tales 
of the wondrous wealth of the hill beside the Shepaug River spread 
abroad. The ore was a spathic and ferrous carbonate with an iron con- 
tent running to 57 or 60 per cent, but the gas content made pre-heats 
necessary and caused many explosions in the furnaces. Dank drifts 
reach into the heart of the hill, furnaces and stacks stand gaunt and 
neglected, and the Columbia School of Mines utilizes the site as a field 
practice area. Equally promising at one time were the garnet mines of 
Roxbury, where tons of crystals were mined and ground for abrasive 
purposes by local labor. Silica paints and wood fillers were once exported 
from the State, but the stone has no commercial value today; the mines 
are water-filled, and the last mill has been burned or abandoned. 

Brownstone from Portland quarries changed the complexion of New 



Industry and Commerce 63 

York, when stone boats plied from the riverside workings to the city 
where brownstone fronts were popularized. A well-known scouring pow- 
der is still produced in a country mill with Connecticut stone furnishing 
the base; but Winthrop's cobalt mines are now disused, and his 'tall 
tales ' of gold in purest form are discredited. 



FISHERIES 

Connecticut's commercial fisheries have long suffered from stream and 
harbor pollution, but this hazard is gradually being eliminated by a 
vigilant State Water Commission and State Health Department. Re- 
stocking is now carried on with considerable success, and the return of 
shad to the Connecticut River is especially notable. 

Commercial interests and the State Shellfish Commission have de- 
voted much attention to the cultivation of oysters and lobsters. The 
Commission has helped to develop these natural resources by establishing 
an efficient lobster hatchery at Noank, regulating the harvesting of 
shellfish, fixing closed areas, eliminating pests, licensing vessels, and tax- 
ing oyster acreage to support these regulatory activities. 

Scallop fisheries on the Niantic River, swordfishing out of Mystic 
and Stonington, flounder fishing offshore, and the harvesting of soft 
or long clams are important marine industries. The shad fisheries of 
the Connecticut River make a valued contribution to the part-time in- 
come of rivermen, who haul nets in season and secure other employment 
when the 'run' is over. With excellent markets at their very door, 
Connecticut fishermen probably could dispose of many times their present 
annual catch without exporting any part of it. 

Oyster farming is an important activity in Connecticut. A yield of as 
much as a thousand dollars an acre has been recorded from the under- 
seas gardens in which the oysters are planted, cultivated, and harvested. 
Seed oysters bring about eighty cents a bushel in the shell, but good 
seasons are considerably less frequent than poor ones. The last really 
good 'catch' in Connecticut waters was in 1931. Local experience de- 
termines the best location for the beds, which are kept clean for the 
fattening process. Oysters are left on the fattening beds for a year or 
more, to eliminate all copper coloring or pollution resulting from the 
absorption of industrial wastes. Connecticut oyster beds in 1934 cov- 
ered an area of 47,826 acres. 



LABOR 



WITH the emergence of an industrial wage-earning class at the close of 
the eighteenth century, labor organization became possible. The opening 
of small factories around New Haven, Hartford, and New London created 
a great demand for skilled and unskilled labor, a demand that was met 
somewhat by the use of skilled artisans. Until 1810, however, manufac- 
turing was greatly hampered by the high cost of labor, for unskilled work- 
ers found the cheap western lands a more attractive goal. 

The skilled workers were at this time in their heyday. Their social 
status was high and their political influence greater than their numbers 
justified. At the same time, ample opportunity was allowed them to enter 
the ranks of the employing class. The higher educational level of the arti- 
sans was evidenced by the fact that in 1 793 they established a technical 
and literary library in New Haven. 

In 1807, the General Society of Mechanics of New Haven was organized 
with a membership of ninety-five. Its objectives were 'To relieve such 
of the members as are reduced to a state of suffering: to assist young mech- 
anics by loans and to promote the mechanical arts.' By 1811, the loan 
fund of the society amounted to more than $450. 

After 1815, industry developed more rapidly than did the available 
supply of labor. Yet, despite the growing shortage of workers, a form of 
economic feudalism prevailed, since employers still continued the tradi- 
tion of the indentured apprentice. However, the shortage was met some- 
what by the increased employment of women and children. The ' sun to 
sun' system of labor, practiced by farmers, was transferred to the growing 
factories, and approved by public opinion, for Connecticut tradition had 
invested 'industrious habits' with the sacredness of a moral, if not a re- 
ligious, precept. 

By 1830, the shortage of labor was somewhat alleviated by the growing 
tide of immigration from Europe. Unskilled labor became more plentiful, 
resulting in a drop in wages. In 1831, $3 a week for men and $2 for women 
were considered fair wages, from which $1.25 was deducted for company 
board. Children were paid from fifty cents to one dollar a week, according 
to their age and degree of skill. These wages were based upon a working 
day of from fourteen to sixteen hours in summer, and from ten to twelve 
hours during the winter months. 



Labor 65 

The main complaint voiced by the skilled workers at this time had to 
do with their lack of economic and political equality. Their independence 
was submerged under a general wave of 'shop discipline/ and their politi- 
cal interests were merged with those of their employers. Socially, too, 
they no longer occupied the position that had been theirs in the closing 
years of the eighteenth century. 

It was due to these dissatisfactions on the part of skilled labor that the 
first industrial union in this country, the New England Association of 
Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen, was organized in Lyme in 

1830. New Haven, Hartford, and New London were the centers for this 
new political and industrial union in Connecticut. In New London, in 

1831, three candidates of the Association were elected to the State legis- 
lature, and its entire slate of town officers was elected to office. Due to 
lack of support from the unskilled workers, the Association went out of 
existence in 1834. 

The first important strike in Connecticut took place in the latter part 
of 1833, when weavers employed by the Thompsonville Carpet Manufac- 
turing Company quit work to enforce a demand for higher wages. In re- 
taliation, the company brought suit against the strike leaders, charging 
them with conspiracy to ruin the business the first such suit in the 
United States. Three separate trials took place, the last occurring in 1836 
when a verdict was rendered for the defendants after the jury had been 
instructed that it was legal to combine to raise wages but unlawful to con- 
spire to ruin an employer's business. 

Although the ten-hour day had been established in New York by 1830, 
mechanics and laborers in Connecticut still worked from dawn to dusk. 
The first strike in connection with the ten-hour day took place in Hartford 
in 1835. Although unsuccessful, it was the forerunner of many such efforts 
to shorten the working day for Connecticut labor. In 1835, the cord- 
wainers of New Haven organized a union to obtain shorter hours and in- 
creased pay. 

The fifties brought the first of the modern protective trade unions to 
Connecticut. In 1852, the first typographical union in Connecticut was 
started in New Haven; and in 1853, the Hat Makers' Association was or- 
ganized in Danbury to strengthen the apprentice system, much abused 
by the employers of that day. The cigar makers of New Haven had 
developed an effective union by 1853, and two years later a convention 
was held at Hartford to plan an organization for the cigar makers of 
New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 

The manufacturing boom of the reconstruction period following the 



66 Connecticut : The General Background 

Civil War greatly stimulated the growth of labor unions. Among the 
groups that organized during this period were the Iron Holders of Bridge- 
port, and in New Haven the Bricklayers and Plasterers, the Locomotive 
Engineers, and the Stone Masons. In 1867, labor votes made possible the 
election of James E. English to the governorship of Connecticut. For 
their political aid, the unions were promised an eight-hour day; a law to 
that effect was subsequently passed by the legislature, but with the pro- 
vision that it was not obligatory upon employers if the latter had made 
other arrangements with their employees. Needless to say, the law was 
unenforceable. With the depression of 1873, labor organization in Con- 
necticut declined, and further unionization was not attempted until the 
Knights of Labor came into the field in 1878. 

In 1874, a consumers' co-operative, the Sovereigns of Labor, made a 
bid for labor support. In 1875, the organization claimed that it had 1200 
members in New Haven, 1000 in Hartford, 500 in Meriden, and 500 in 
Bridgeport and Middletown. Organized and led by employers and poli- 
ticians, it made arrangements with merchants whereby discounts were 
given to members. Soon, as the result of protests that inferior products 
were given with the discounts, the organization opened its own stores, 
employing a business firm in Hartford to act as its commission agents in 
purchasing products directly from grangers and manufacturers. By 1876, 
little remained of the Sovereigns of Labor. 

The first local assembly of the Knights of Labor was organized at New 
Britain in 1878. Unlike the later American Federation of Labor, the 
Knights of Labor did not confine its membership entirely to employees. 
Labor was organized on a basis of regional assemblies, rather than by 
separate industrial unions. In 1885, some 6000 persons were enrolled in 
ten assemblies in New Haven, and the entire State membership was 
nearly 12,000. The New Haven Trades Council was closely affiliated 
with the Knights of Labor during this period, as were many of the other 
Central Labor Unions in Connecticut. 

Many of the labor and factory laws now appearing on the Connecticut 
statute-books were first introduced by the various assemblies of the 
Knights of Labor. Largely to their efforts are due the rehabilitation of the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the enactment of laws limiting the work- 
ing hours of women and children to sixty per week, prohibiting employ- 
ment in factories of children under fourteen years of age, and providing 
for inspection and proper safeguards in factories. 

Wages were so low in the early seventies that the Connecticut Bureau 
of Labor Statistics reported in 1875 that the children in working-class 



Labor 67 

families were contributing from one-fourth to one-third of the family in- 
come, while children under fourteen supplied about one-sixth of the fam- 
ily weekly earnings. Without the wage increases of the eighties, the pro- 
hibition of child labor would have been an economic calamity to most of 
the working-class families of Connecticut. 

The long working day of the preceding decades was much curtailed 
during the eighties. The ten-hour day became an accomplished fact for 
most of skilled labor, while in some trades an eight-hour day was estab- 
lished. In 1886, the cabinetmakers, printers, piano-makers, tailors, and 
carpenters had a sixty-hour week. The cigarmakers had a forty-six-hour 
week, although two years previously their hours had ranged from ten to 
fourteen a day. The painters were on a fifty-two-hour week, while the 
telegraphers worked nine hours if employed during the day or forty-five 
hours a week if employed at night. Baking and barbering were the only 
two organized trades in which working hours of more than sixty hours a 
week prevailed. 

The Knights of Labor had its greatest growth in Connecticut between 
the years 1881 and 1886. In a militant attempt to expand its growing 
membership, it introduced the boycott as a strike weapon. In 1885, the 
boycott was used against four leading hat manufacturers of South Nor- 
walk and Danbury who refused to arbitrate a strike. At the Crofut and 
Knapp factory in South Norwalk, in the same year, dynamite was used 
for the first time in Connecticut in connection with a strike. The Derby 
Silver and the Southington Cutlery strikes of 1886 revealed the weak or- 
ganization of the Connecticut Knights of Labor and its lack of competent 
leadership. With the decline of the national organization after 1886, the 
field was left open for the growth of the craft union. 

The Connecticut Federation of Labor was organized at Hartford on 
March 9, 1887, by various labor groups from New Haven, Hartford, Meri- 
den, Danbury, and \Vaterbury. Unlike the Knights of Labor, it made a 
clear-cut distinction between employer and employee, its plan of organi- 
zation was on the basis of trade or craft unions, and it made its appeal to 
the skilled rather than the unskilled workers. An immediate improve- 
ment in standards of wages, hours, and conditions was its objective. 

During the later eighties, the Connecticut Federation of Labor suc- 
ceeded in organizing an average of seven locals annually; and throughout 
the severe depression of 1893-97, nine locals were being organized yearly. 
With the turn of the century, labor organization increased at an even more 
rapid rate. In 1900, there were 14,000 members of labor unions in Con- 
necticut; in 1902, the number had increased to 32,000, or 10 per cent of 



68 Connecticut : The General Background 

the total number of wage-earners in the State. By 1905, however, the re- 
sistance of employers to the unionization of their shops had become an 
almost insurmountable obstacle for labor organizers. 

From 1881 to 1905, during the rise of the craft union in Connecticut, 
930 strikes were called in 2 1 1 1 factories. In more than half of these cases, 
the strikes were unsuccessful, due to the fact that labor's right to bargain 
collectively was not recognized either by employers or by public opinion. 
Although the bloodshed and violence that marked many labor difficulties 
elsewhere were largely absent, labor history was made in one of these 
conflicts and its later legal developments the famous Danbury Hat- 
ters' Case. 

In 1902, attempts were made to unionize the hat-making establishment 
of D. E. Loewe in Danbury, against the owner's insistence upon an open 
shop. After a long-drawn-out strike, marked by a refusal of the company 
to deal with the strike leaders, the union officials requested union men and 
labor sympathizers throughout the country to boycott the products of the 
company. In 1903, with its business at a standstill because of the boycott, 
the company brought suit for damages against the officers of the American 
Federation of Labor and the United Hatters of North America, as well as 
a large number of individual members of both organizations, alleging an 
unlawful conspiracy on the part of the defendants to ruin their business. 
In 1908, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision in 
favor of the company, stating in its majority opinion that a boycott by 
labor unions against a producer doing an interstate commerce business 
violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Law of 1890. Damages of nearly 
$300,000 were levied against 186 members of the Hatters' Union, the de- 
cision being affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1915. The American Fed- 
eration of Labor replied with a campaign against the use of the Sherman 
Act in labor disputes; and in the Clayton Act of 1914, labor organizations 
were specifically exempted from the provisions of the anti-trust laws. 

During the years from 1905 to 1917, while trade-union membership 
more than doubled in the country as a whole, Connecticut labor bodies 
were mainly occupied with holding whatever members they did have. 
Membership began to decline after 1906, and after the final decision in the 
Danbury Hatters' Case, the open-shop movement received great support 
and impetus in Connecticut. 

The World War did little to aid the growth of unionism in Connecticut. 
The great proportion and heterogeneous character of unskilled labor em- 
ployed in Connecticut industry hampered, rather than aided, such 
growth, both during the war and after. In manufacturing and labor 



Percentage distribution of the population by nativity for 
Connecticut, New England, and the United States, 1930. 

57.1% 



40.8% 



33.5% 




38.8% 




CONNECTICUT 



20.7% 



10.9%1U% 




n 



Native White of 
Native Parentage 

Native White of Foreign 
or Mixed Parentage 



NEW ENGLAND UNITED STATES 

Foreign Born White 
Colored 



Based on the fifteenth census of the United States 



70 Connecticut: The General Background 

circles, Connecticut was considered one of the foremost 'open shop' 
States in the industrial North. 

The so-called 'American Plan' of company unionism came early to 
Connecticut, and during the period from 1922 to 1929 it displaced many 
of the old and established craft unions within the State. Not until 1934 
did labor begin to regain something of its former strength. Even then, 
the percentage of unionized workers was no greater than it had been in 
1904, for labor organization could not keep pace with the growth of in- 
dustry. 

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers and the International Ladies 
Garment Workers' Union were the only two labor bodies to benefit from 
the application of the labor provisions of the National Recovery Admin- 
istration to Connecticut industry. Public opinion had been much aroused 
by the influx of sweatshops into Connecticut, caused in great part by the 
higher labor costs in New York City; and when data appeared showing 
the abuses engaged in by these 'fly-by-night' enterprises, church and civic 
organizations united to prevent a reversion to the labor conditions of a 
century ago by encouraging the unionization of workers in these plants. 
The reaction of the public against the sweatshop system was so over- 
whelming that shop after shop was compelled to treat with its employees 
through the unions. In this case, Connecticut opinion tacitly recognized 
labor's right to organize. 

The history of labor in Connecticut during the past hundred years has 
been a series of attempts on the part of bodies of workmen to achieve some 
form of economic and social status commensurate with their contribution 
to industrial life. As the history of colonial Connecticut was one in which 
the middle class of free-holders and independent artisans demanded fur- 
ther rights for themselves as a class, so the history of industrial Connecti- 
cut can be said to be a record of the attempts of wage-earners to gain 
broader interpretations of their rights as citizens and members of an emer- 
ging and numerically powerful group. 



AGRICULTURE 



ORIGINALLY so important agriculturally as to be designated the ' Pro- 
vision State ' by General Washington during the Revolution, Connecticut 
has seen its agriculture gradually supplanted by industrial activity. 
Nevertheless, the farm crops today are valued at about $40,000,000 in an 
average year. Total crop acreage for 1936 was 427,200 acres, as compared 
with 424,000 in 1935. 

Agriculture was the State's leading occupation until the middle of the 
nineteenth century, when industry became of prime importance. In 1930 
only 29 per cent of the population was classified as rural. A farm census 
of 1935, the first accurate census of this type ever made in Connecticut, 
lists 34,853 farms, valued roughly at $230,000,000. Although 75 per cent 
of the land surface of the State is included in farms, only 7 per cent of this 
portion is actually under cultivation. Recently there has been a trend to- 
ward subsistence, or part-time, farming. The Resettlement Administra- 
tion is now (1936) retiring 11,000 acres of submarginal land through 
purchase, and it is expected that these lands will be returned to forest 
under State lease on the standard Resettlement ninety-nine-year con- 
tract. 

News of the fertility of the Connecticut Valley, reported by the John 
Oldham expedition from Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1633, stimulated 
early English colonization in this section. The first settlers found it possi- 
ble to produce bumper crops along the alluvial bottomlands without much 
effort. Wethersfield colonists planted rye as soon as they arrived, and 
later became famous as the largest onion producers of the State, exporting 
more than 1,000,000 bunches annually. Onions sent to West Indian ports 
were always strung or bunched. The natural grasslands of the Hartford 
and Glastonbury meadows furnished ample forage for what little livestock 
the colonists brought with them. Tobacco was grown at the Windsor 
plantations very early in the life of the Colony, and the first American 
cigars known as 'Long Nines' were made by Mrs. Prout of South 
Windsor, in 1801. Cattle were raised with such success that they became 
an export commodity only a little later than tobacco, onions, and oak 
staves. 

Tobacco is the outstanding cash crop in the Connecticut Valley today. 



72 Connecticut: The General Background 

For more than a century some of the best wrapper leaf in the world has 
been produced here. Connecticut shade-grown tobacco is the nation's 
highest priced cigar leaf. /Connecticut broadleaf ' is universally known, 
and commands a premium price. The sorting, stripping, and curing of 
tobacco leaf furnishes employment for many persons in season. In 1936, 
the Connecticut tobacco crop was 21,429,000 pounds, raised from 14,500 
acres. 

The usual rotation crops on tobacco soils are potatoes and corn. A very 
high yield of corn is obtained, and the potato yield is occasionally in excess 
of 600 bushels to the acre. The local markets easily absorb all potatoes 
and corn raised in the State, and the short haul to market enables the 
local grower to meet outside competition without loss. Potato plantings 
in 1936 covered 16,700 acres and yielded 2,839,000 bushels. Many varie- 
ties of corn are raised; some is fed out as green fodder, some used as ensi- 
lage, and some is allowed to mature for grain. The State produces much 
sweet corn for immediate consumption, but very little is commercially 
canned. 

The soils of Connecticut are favorable to a considerable diversification 
of agriculture. The loams of the central valley, ideal for raising the better 
grades of wrapper-leaf tobacco, are adapted also to potato growing. The 
sweet potato is now being successfully grown in the older tobacco soils, 
and State experiment stations are encouraging farmers to expand their 
acreage on this new crop. Truck crops are easily raised in the lighter sandy 
loams, and with some success in the heavier soils. A natural grass soil 
is found in the valleys and on the hilltops of Litchfield County, where the 
Charlton loam, a common hilltop type of soil in New England, holds a 
greater moisture content in dry seasons than is found in the more sandy 
loams. A plentiful supply of lime for agricultural purposes is available 
within easy hauling distance throughout the State. Vegetables are suc- 
cessfully grown in the tobacco soils, berries thrive on the sandy loams, 
and celery is raised successfully on the heavier soils. Windham County 
raises more Brussels sprouts than any other county in the country, with 
the exception of one in California. 

Dairying is important on 80 per cent of all farms operating commer- 
cially, and there are 120,000 dairy animals in the State. Connecticut is 
now declared to be a 'modified accredited State ' by the Bureau of Animal 
Industry, thus becoming the thirty-ninth such State in the Union. Poultry 
raising is rapidly increasing. About 2,500,000 chickens produce approxi- 
mately 22,500,000 dozen eggs annually. Turkeys of excellent quality are 
successfully raised. Fruit orchards are recovering from the damage suf- 



Agriculture 73 



fered during the severe winters of 1933-35; an d a yearly crop of apples, 
peaches, and pears valued at about $3,000,000 is harvested. 

The Farm Bureau and the county agents are occasionally helpful to the 
small farmer, but more active among the larger agriculturists. Egg and 
berry auctions are held at key points throughout the State; a State-inspected 
and regulated system of roadside markets caters to the traveling public ; and 
' Connecticut fancy turkeys,' advertised on billboards during the winter hol- 
idays, are carefully graded and sold under a co-operative marketing scheme. 

Eleven hundred poultry producers own and control the Connecticut 
Farmers' Co-operative Auction Association, a non-profit organization 
that holds egg and poultry auctions at West Hartford. Similar auctions 
are held at Willimantic, Manchester, and Hamden. These organizations 
are producer co-operatives, but Connecticut also has combination pro- 
ducer-consumer and straight consumer * co-ops ' that function well. The 
great Eastern States Co-operative has many members in Connecticut; 
the United Farmers Co-operative Association has at least one branch in 
the State, made up almost entirely of Finnish farmers; the Quinebaug 
Valley Fruit Growers Association, Inc., functions with a limited member- 
ship in northeastern Connecticut; and Italian fruit growers have formed 
a co-operative in the Glastonbury area. 

The most unusual organization of its kind is the so-called 'Father Dunn 
Co-op ' in Ashford, one of the few co-operatives in the country founded 
and operated by a priest. This organization of poorer farmers in the sub- 
marginal eastern highlands of the State now owns a store and a fleet of 
trucks. Throughout the depression it functioned without difficulty. 

The Connecticut Milk Administration is making progress with milk 
control and the regulation of marketing in the State. Assisted by two de- 
puties and five inspectors, the Milk Administrator has done much for 
improved conditions in classification and retailing, but the producer still 
seeks relief from the unusually low prices paid for his product. Retailers 
are licensed, their books are opened to the inspectors, efforts are made to 
insure prompt payment to producers, and price wars are infrequent. 

Connecticut State College at Storrs carries'on an efficient and helpful 
work for the farmer. Experiment stations at Storrs and New Haven issue 
frequent bulletins; and a tobacco substation at Windsor offers advice on 
that crop. A cow- testing association helps to keep its member herds free 
from ' boarders ' and to attain a higher efficiency in butterfat output. A 
State market bulletin is issued thrice weekly, offering information re- 
garding the produce market at six points within the State, printing adver- 
tising for the individual farmer, and keeping the rural communities sup- 
plied with news of interest. 



74 Connecticut: The General Background 

The Farm Bureau and the county agents are not especially helpful to 
the small farmer, but are active among the larger agriculturists. The 
Grange has one hundred and forty-one local and eleven Pomona units, 
in addition to the State organization. Some five thousand women are en- 
gaged in home-making projects, and more than five thousand boys and 
girls participate in 4~H Club activities. Agricultural and grange fairs 
continue to be popular, thirty-seven of these being held in 1936. There 
are also five 4~H Club County Fairs, to which youthful exhibitors bring 
their prize stock just as it is ready to show at the Eastern States Exposi- 
tion in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

Connecticut farmers have to contend with many difficulties. Living 
costs are inevitably high in a State that is predominantly industrial. 
Taxes continue to mount with the increased valuation of acreage as resi- 
dential sections expand into the country; and the area of tillable land is 
usually small in comparison to the total taxable area of individual farms. 
The average farm is so small that the use of highly developed farm ma- 
chinery is impracticable. The water and power companies' purchase of 
large and sometimes fertile areas of cultivated land restricts normal farm 
expansion. Despite these unfavorable conditions, however, the natural 
advantages of a temperate climate and adequate rainfall, the accessibility 
to good markets by means of excellent highways, and the co-operation 
afforded the farmer by various State bureaus and marketing organizations 
are factors which seem to assure a successful future to Connecticut agricul- 
ture. 






EDUCATION 



IN THE field of education, Connecticut's record is a long and distin- 
guished one. The Puritan preachers early encouraged learning with the 
object of offsetting ' the chief project of that old deluder, Sathan, to keepe 
men from the knowledge of the scriptures.' The church and school stood 
side by side, and the minister often assumed the duties of schoolmaster. 
The schoolhouses were rudely constructed one-room buildings, equipped 
with rough wooden benches and desks, ink made of tea and iron filings, 
and few if any books. 

One of the first public school systems in the history of education was 
founded in Connecticut shortly after the establishment of free public 
schools in New Haven (1642) and Hartford (1643), a system that for 
many years was unsurpassed in its uniform application to all classes. A 
general code enacted in 1650 ordered the establishment of elementary 
schools, for the teaching of reading and writing, in all townships of fifty 
families or more; and of Latin grammar schools, for the preparation of 
those more gifted students who might wish to enter the college at Cam- 
bridge, in towns of 100 families or more. Penalties were imposed upon 
parents who neglected the education of their children, and the towns re- 
served the right to remove boys from the homes of such parents and to 
apprentice them to masters who would train and educate them. Towns 
employing a schoolmaster might provide for his salary by levying a town 
tax on property, by tuition fees from those who attended, or by any other 
means agreeable to an individual township. Although the State fixed the 
minimum requirements for provision and attendance, it neither supported 
the schools nor maintained any direct control, tending to shift the entire 
responsibility to local supervision. 

In 1671, the State ordered the four county towns of New Haven, Hart- 
ford, New London, and Fairfield to establish grammar schools, under 
penalty of a fine of ten pounds. In the following year, the General Court 
granted 600 acres of land in these counties for educational purposes. In 
1690, these grammar schools were made free, and the State contributed 
thirty pounds towards the salary of the master of each school. In 1795, 
Connecticut contracted for the sale of 3,000,000 acres of land in northern 
Ohio, which had been assigned to the Colony by the original charter from 



76 Connecticut: The General Background 

King Charles II and was known as the Western Reserve. The income 
from the proceeds of this sale was set aside for educational purposes, and 
became known as the ' school fund.' Administered under the supervision 
of the State Treasury, the fund up to July i, 1931, had earned $13,620,- 
372.42, all of which was used for the support of common schools in Con- 
necticut. 

In the latter half of the eighteenth century, public education was neg- 
lected because of the more pressing problems of war and reconstruction. 
At the turn of the century and during the early decades of the nineteenth 
century, a growing demand for broader education led to the establish- 
ment of privately owned academies offering a wider curriculum and draw- 
ing students from a more extensive area than did the public schools. 

The system of public high schools was initiated as a result of the work 
of Henry Barnard, who devoted his life to the furtherance of education. In 
1838, he originated a bill in the State legislature providing for State super- 
vision of the common schools. A Board of Commissioners was promptly 
created, with Barnard as secretary; and for the first time, annual reports 
on school conditions were required. To relieve the congestion discovered 
in the ungraded schools, Barnard suggested a higher school, and before 
long the system of public high schools was well under way. In addition 
to his services to the State, Barnard was the first United States Commis- 
sioner of Education, and from 1855 to 1893 he edited the American Jour- 
nal of Education. 

Secondary education is now provided in Connecticut by 137 high 
schools, junior high schools, and trade schools, with an enrollment of 
about 100,000 pupils. Public, private, and parochial elementary schools 
number 1,286, with more than 390,000 pupils registered. State funds en- 
sure modern educational methods and trained teachers for the rural dis- 
tricts, and transportation to and from school for children living in remote 
sections. Within the last fifteen years, consolidation of grades and dis- 
tricts has resulted in the elimination of 600 one-room buildings. 

Connecticut maintains eleven trade schools, all established since 1907. 
The founding of these schools was begun under the administration of 
Charles G. Hine, who served on the State Board of Education for more 
than 37 years. Hine also helped to establish the library extension service 
and the system of rural education. By State law, every town with a popu- 
lation of 10,000 or more must establish and maintain evening schools for 
the instruction, in elementary subjects, of persons over fourteen years of 
age. Perhaps the most important ruling of the State Board of Education 
in recent years was made in 1922, when it was decreed that only graduates 






Education 77 



of approved normal schools, or those of equal professional training, would 
be certified for teachers' positions in elementary schools. There are nor- 
mal schools at New Britain, New Haven, Danbury, and Willimantic. 

In addition to the support given the public schools, the State maintains 
an industrial school for boys at Meriden, a similar school for girls at Long 
Lane Farm, Middletown, and a school for imbeciles and defectives at 
Mansfield. 

The education of Indians and Negroes began at an early date in Connec- 
ticut. Moor's Indian Charity School was established at Columbia in 1735 
by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, who instructed the aborigines in re- 
ligion and the English language, training them to be sent forth as mission- 
aries among their own race. Funds for the development of the school 
were sought abroad, and the King of England and Lord Dartmouth were 
among the contributors. The school was removed in 1769 to Hanover, 
New Hampshire, * to increase its usefulness,' and has since become known 
as Dartmouth College. 

The first effort towards education for Negroes was made in 1832 by 
Miss Prudence Crandall, a Quakeress of Canterbury, who accepted a 
young Negro girl into her school. The other pupils promptly quit the 
place, and the courageous young woman replied by turning her school 
into an institution exclusively for ' young ladies and little misses of color/ 
As a result, race feeling ran so high that in 1833 the Connecticut * Black 
Law ' was rushed through the legislature. This made it illegal to establish 
schools exclusively for the instruction of Negroes without the permission 
of local authorities. 

About the middle of the nineteenth century, free public schools sup- 
planted the privately owned academies, which had grown to be more or 
less aristocratic institutions charging high tuition rates. Many of these 
academies, however, continue to function as preparatory schools, and have 
been attended by famous men from all over the country. One of the oldest 
of these is Bacon Academy, established at Colchester in 1803, and now 
serving as the free high school for that town. The Cheshire Academy in 
Cheshire is on the site of the Cheshire Episcopal Academy, which num- 
bered among its student body the elder J. P. Morgan, Admiral A. A. 
Foote of the United States Navy, and Gideon Welles, Secretary of the 
Navy during the Civil War. Other preparatory schools of note are the 
Taft School in Watertown, Choate School in Wallingford, Hotchkiss in 
Lakeville, Kent at Kent, Pomfret at Pomfret, and Avon Old Farms at 
Avon. Among the nationally known girls' boarding schools are Miss 
Porter's School at Farmington, the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, 



78 Connecticut : The General Background 

the Westover School in Middlebury, and Rosemary Hall in Greenwich. 
It was the original intention of the settlers to found a college in each 
of the New England Colonies. To this end, in 1648, the General Court, 
assembled in New Haven, gave power to a committee to choose a site 
'most commodious for a college.' Massachusetts, however, objected that 
' the whole population of New England was scarcely sufficient to support 
one institution of this nature [Harvard], and the establishment of a 
second would, in the end, be a sacrifice of both.' Thus the plans of John 
Davenport of New Haven came to nothing, notwithstanding the fact 
that in 1655 more than 540 had been subscribed for the new college. 
Half a century later, under the leadership of the Reverend James Pier- 
pont, ten clergymen met in the house of the Reverend Samuel Russell at 
Branford and made the famous gift of books for ' the founding of a College 
in this colony.' A month later, on October 16, 1701, the General Assem- 
bly in New Haven passed 'An act for liberty to erect a Collegiate School ' 
where youth might ' be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and 
Civil State.' The founders chose the Reverend Abraham Pierson of Kil- 
lingworth (now Clinton) as rector and Saybrook as the site: During 
Pierson 's lifetime the scholars met in Killingworth, and only after his 
death in 1707 were classes held in Saybrook. From there the college was 
moved in 1716 to its present situation in New Haven. At the commence- 
ment exercises in 1718, the name of Yale was given to the new college, in 
recognition of timely pecuniary assistance (in the sum of 562 125.) re- 
ceived from Elihu Yale, a London capitalist of American birth, who had 
amassed a large fortune as governor of the English trading post in Madras. 
Yale's subsequent growth has been steady and at times startling. In 
1846, its library was housed for the first time in a separate building, and 
in the next year a course of advanced studies was instituted from which 
the Graduate School developed. Yale was the first institution of higher 
learning in America to grant, as it did in 1861, the degree of Doctor of 
Philosophy; and in 1869, the Yale School of Fine Arts was founded, the 
first of its kind in any such institution. Under the guidance of such out- 
standing presidents as Ezra Stiles (1776-95), the two Timothy Dwights 
(1795-1817, and 1886-99), Theodore Woolsey (1846-71), and Arthur 
Twining Hadley (1899-1921), the college reached its second centenary 
and became a university of eleven schools, with more than five thousand 
students, nearly a thousand faculty members, and an endowment approxi- 
mating one hundred million dollars. The depression found Yale in the 
midst of the most extensive building program ever undertaken by any 
university. One result of this extraordinary outburst of construction hah 



Education 79 



been to divide the undergraduate body into smaller colleges, nine in num- 
ber, where the benefits of the Oxford-Cambridge system of education can 
in some measure be obtained. 

Other notable institutions of higher learning within the State include 
Trinity College, established at Hartford in 1823, under the auspices of the 
Episcopal Church; Wesleyan University, founded by Methodists in 1831 
at Middle town; and Connecticut College for Women, opened in 1915 at 
New London. The Hartford Theological School (Congregational) was 
chartered in 1834. The Berkeley Divinity School (Episcopalian), now 
situated in New Haven, was founded at Middle town in 1854. 

One of the oldest agricultural schools in America was opened in 1845 
by Dr. Samuel Gold and his son, T. G. Gold, at Cream Hill, Cornwall. 
The State College was established at Mansfield in 1881 by Charles and 
Augustus Storrs, who provided land, buildings, and an endowment fund. 
It was also financed from the proceeds of the sale of government lands 
allotted to Connecticut. First known as Storrs Agricultural College, it 
was later called the Connecticut Agricultural College, and finally Connec- 
ticut State College. Classified as a Federal Land Grant College, it offers 
wide facilities for studies and practical work in agriculture and home 
economics. 



ARCHITECTURE 



TODAY, the well-informed traveler is as much interested in the archi- 
tecture of a country as he is in the manners and customs of its people. 
For in essence one is a reflection of the other. Whether in Bali, Gizeh, 
Niirnberg, Normandy, or our own Connecticut, the structures reared by 
a people are the most public and often the most permanent expression of 
its social life the translation of habits of life and modes of thought into 
wood and stone. 

Such of the early architecture of Connecticut as still remains is a fasci- 
nating and partly open book to those who drive through the State's vil- 
lages and along its country roads, and who know something of its history. 
It is not alone churches and houses and barns that appear but the 
drama of a frontier, of English-born people struggling with the soil and 
with the rigid molds of their ancestors' standards, and gradually achieving 
greater sophistication, freedom, graciousness, charm, and variety, while 
at the same time manifesting a provincial yearning for cosmopolitanism. 

This development is traceable more clearly, perhaps, in Windsor than 
in any other Connecticut town. One of the very earliest domestic build- 
ings in the State is the ell of the Fyler House in that town a little house 
which in its primitive simplicity typifies the utter plainness of the first 
permanent homes of the settlers. A more imposing example of the second 
type developed can be seen in what remains of the old Deacon Moore 
House, with its framed overhang, pendant drops, gable brackets, and 
rare crossed summer beams within. This is representative of one of the 
most persistent characteristics of all our early architecture, the harking 
back to old precedents. The first colonists left England scarcely a quar- 
ter century after the age of Elizabeth had passed, and they built Eliza- 
bethan houses here. Yet it must be remembered that every house was a 
compromise, a translation of Old World ideas into frontier terms. A new 
stereotype arose, derived partly from English precedents and partly 
from the need of building hastily with materials that were strange to the 
builders a style quite distinct, and yet in some ways akin to the 
Georgian. Parson William Russell's home on Broad Street Green may 



Architecture 8 1 



serve as the typical example, a large eighteenth-century house with cen- 
tral chimney, capacious yet simple, with its own sparing type of orna- 
mentation a really American product. 

As prosperity brought greater financial ease and sufficient means for 
expansion, many builders erected the central-hall type of house with a 
chimney at each side. One of the earliest of this type is 'Elmwood,' which 
David Ellsworth built in 1740. It is interesting to note that in a second 
house built ten years later, Ellsworth reverted to the established form, 
with central chimney, but with greater freedom in the employment of 
decoration. 

The loftier wing that Oliver Ellsworth added to his father's comfort- 
able farmhouse reveals the lawyer who had become acquainted with 
Georgian elegance and had brought back to his home town something of 
an international experience. In 1807, the house built by Oliver for his son 
Martin shows the freedom, and yet the outward austerity, of the new re- 
publican era which was adapting and formalizing new elements, drawn 
frankly now from Renaissance motifs, in wood. Its gable end to the street 
is asymmetrical yet formal, self-conscious yet stately; but it breaks away 
from the time-honored arrangement with a small square hall at the front, 
inconspicuous stairs at the left, and a dignified drawing-room at the right. 
The regularity of the orders on the exterior gives little indication of the 
freedom of arrangement within. Precedents were being broken, giving 
way to new tendencies which in time became formalized in new tradi- 
tions, such as characterized the progress of the nineteenth century. 

The same developments translated into the language of brick can be 
followed at Windsor, notably in the Chaffee, Nathaniel Hayden, and 
Halsey houses. Every town in Connecticut contains its own particular 
version of this same history luxurious and expansive when it reflects 
an early industrial and shipping prosperity, as in Norwich ; or plain and 
bare, when the living was sparse and frugal, as in many of the hill towns. 
Connecticut, on the whole, was handicapped by its stony, unproductive 
fields, and could show little to compare with the relative luxury of Massa- 
chusetts and Rhode Island. Here the struggle for existence spiritual 
as well as economic produced a simple and sturdy indigenous mode of 
building less influenced by foreign precedent than any other Colonial 
architecture. Connecticut is pre-eminently the home, for example, of 
the salt-box type of house, the most distinctively American of any of our 
Colonial forms. 

The very earliest abodes have, of course, not survived. They were 
compromises with the crudest necessity, and were not expected to last. 



82 Connecticut: The General Background 

A pit was dug into a bank or elsewhere and lined with upright planks, or 
with stone, to a height somewhat above the surface of the ground; then 
it was covered with logs chinked with clay, or with poles upon which 
bark or thatch was laid. Reproductions may be seen in the Pioneer Vil- 
lage in Salem, Massachusetts, a permanent exhibit ; and one was construct- 
ed in Waterbury for the Tercentenary of 1935. Such rude 'dug-outs' 
have always been built under pressure by the soldiers at Valley Forge, 
as sand and cyclone shelters on the western plains, and on the western 
front in the Great War. In their early form, they were an expression, not 
of some past tradition, but of the struggle with drastic necessity. Nor 
were they, as might at first appear, wholly apart from the main current 
of architectural development. The dug-out form of cellar was later 
used in many houses; several homes in Chester and the charming Wood- 
bridge Tavern (about 1750) in Old Mystic were designedly built into hill- 
sides for warmth and protection. 

An account of the erection, by John Talcott in 1636, of one of the earli- 
est houses in Hartford shows that it followed the usual rule, said to be in- 
variable in Rhode Island, that seventeenth-century houses were built 
with their fronts to the south probably with a view to facing the sun 
as much as possible. There were some exceptions: the Henry Whit- 
field House (1640), an English manor house of stone in Guilford, faced 
west, as did the Whitman House in Farmington; while the Comfort Starr 
House in Guilford and the Williams House in Wethersfield faced east. 
But, as a rule, especially in the outlying districts, the earliest houses 
faced south, whatever the location of the road. This arrangement was 
generally abandoned in the eighteenth century. 

The Talcott House mentioned above is interesting from another point 
of view. It represents two stages of construction. In the first stage, it was 
simply a single large room with an end chimney, and perhaps with an 
attic above. Not every house got beyond this stage, and presumably a 
number of the earliest houses were of this simple plan. The early ell of 
the Fyler House in Windsor illustrates this type of construction. 

In the second stage another room was added on the other side of the 
great chimney. Often a second story was added, making a tall narrow 
house, two stories high, but one room deep, with the chimney occupying 
most of the space between the two ground-floor rooms. The small hall, 
or * porch' as it was called, in front of the chimney provided an entrance 
to the rooms on either side, and allowed a cramped winding stair to the 
apartment above. Cottages of this sort, but only one story in height, are 
frequently found in all sections of New England and derive from all pe- 



Architecture 83 



riods. The popular home and garden magazines sentimentally term them 
' Cape Cod cottages/ although the type reached perfection in certain parts 
of Connecticut, as around Clinton. Examples of the early type in its two- 
story proportions are excessively rare; the best is the Williams House 
(1680) on Broad Street in Wethersfield. 

With the third stage, architectural progress really begins. Even from 
the earliest period 1635 to 1675 most houses now appear to have 
had at some time a later addition at the rear. The latter was often a 
necessity arising from the pressure of overcrowded families when the 
elder son married. The family had then to give up part of the room in the 
old house, or else go to the expense of building another, as the son would 
naturally stay and work the farm which he was eventually to inherit. 
An additional reason for enlarging the house in the early days w r as the 
greater security provided in being all together. The addition was a 
lean-to at the rear which had the appearance of an old-time salt-box, such 
as commonly hung on the kitchen wall. This addition may often be re- 
cognized by the fact that the lean-to rafters were spliced on at the upper 
plate at the back, giving a broken but graceful curve to the long rear- 
ward slope of the roof. It provided one long room, with two small rooms 
at either end; the long room, or new kitchen, had access to the rear 
side of the chimney. In some regions, such as Rocky Hill, many houses 
were never finished in the second story, the children and servants being 
obliged to make shift in one big unfinished room. 

The salt-box addition, though by no means confined to Connecticut, 
was more characteristic of this State than of its neighbors. Some of the 
finest examples are in eastern Massachusetts, but on the whole it is a 
Connecticut Valley feature, not ranging far east of that valley, but trace- 
able in narrowing territory up its stream into the edges of New Hamp- 
shire. A regional distribution such as this can be traced in other forms as 
well. It has never been studied, and remains one of the adventures that 
beckon the traveler. 

Once developed, the salt-box became, in many localities, the prevail- 
ing form of construction for a century. Houses began to be built in that 
shape from preference, with what may be termed an integral lean-to, the 
rafters running right through from roof- tree to plate. Most salt-boxes 
that we see today have this uncompromising straight roof-line. The in- 
tegral salt-box dates from approximately 1700 to about the time of the 
Revolutionary War, when the provincial period was over; and it is typi- 
cal of what may be called the fourth stage in the development of the Co- 
lonial house. 



84 Connecticut : The General Background 

In the fifth stage, the logical next step came rapidly with growing ease 
and independence the raising of the entire frame to create a two-story 
house with four rooms in each story, and a broad peak or gable roof 
above. This was done, for instance, with the General David Humphreys 
House in Ansonia. It is the typical house of the eighteenth century, still 
built around a broad central chimney, with cramped stair and 'porch' 
between the chimney and the front door. The Elisha Williams House 
(1716) at Rocky Hill is among the earliest and best of those built com- 
plete at one time. One- or two-story ells were added at will, or perhaps a 
small lean-to as in the Trumbull House (1740) at Lebanon. Most of 
the ' Colonial' houses in Connecticut villages are of this form, which was 
followed throughout the eighteenth century and even later. 

There was little more that increasing prosperity could do in the matter 
of style and arrangement, except what may be taken as the last of the 
stereotyped styles the sixth stage. In this, for additional warmth and 
convenience, the house was built around two chimneys, one between the 
front and backrooms on each sideband the hall ran straight through 
the house. Perhaps the earliest example of this style is Oliver Ellsworth's 
house, 'Elmwood, 7 built by his father, David Ellsworth, in 1740. The 
hesitation in adopting the central hall, with its added graciousness, is 
amusingly illustrated by the way the stairs in this house are hidden away 
in a recess. This was a local peculiarity, as was in other localities the 
' central hall ' that did not continue all the way back through the house. 
Stereotyped forms of building were, like the characters of their builders, 
rather unyielding in the old days. 

From this time on, progress was in the general direction of greater 
freedom in design and embellishment, and Colonial architecture was no 
longer a direct and frank expression of the character and struggles of the 
builders. When a medium is too easily mastered, when it becomes simply 
the expression of individual taste, when mere facility supplants creative 
effort, decadence sets in. 

But it must not be thought that because these stereotyped forms 
changed with difficulty they were the only forms the architectural lan- 
guage permitted. From the very beginning there were exceptions, due 
to the fact that aristocratic elements had come over with the English 
settlers, elements that were to become alien in our essentially democratic 
body politic, but which were predominant for a while because of their 
greater cultural and social prominence. Such exceptions are the manor 
houses of Haynes (built before 1646) and Wyllys (1636) in Hartford, and 
the 'grate houses' of Eaton and Davenport and Allerton in New Haven. 



Architecture 85 



These houses were built around a central court, or in the form of a cross 
or an ell; and Eaton's house had twenty-one rooms, with furnishings 
comparable to those of a manor house in England. Representing as they 
did a temporary phase of aristocratic leadership in a new country, rather 
than the permanent democratic organization of our society, it was nat- 
ural that these houses should have been the least permanent type in early 
American architecture, a type of which scarcely a survivor remains. 

In the Connecticut Colony, around Hartford, the adherence to the 
' framed overhang' of Elizabethan England was most pronounced. In a 
house with framed overhang, the second-story girts and walls of the front 
are projected a short distance (commonly from eighteen to twenty-four 
inches) beyond the ground-floor posts and walls, usually with a lesser 
' overhang' at the sides, and none at all at the rear. The overhanging 
second story is still found in Farmington and Windsor, with steep gables, 
brackets, and carved pendants or drops reminiscent of English homes. 
The type seems to have been characteristic only of the northern colony, 
and of the earliest period. Six examples are all that remain today, the 
best preserved specimen being the Whitman House (about 1660) at 
Farmington. It is often repeated that the overhang was designed for de- 
fense against the Indians, but both its geographical and its period limita- 
tions indicate that it is an Elizabethan feature instead. 

A Kentish and Sussex type of hewn overhang, rare in England, became 
the most prevalent type in New Haven, and in a modified form was 
widely used throughout Connecticut. It consisted in carrying out the 
ground-floor corner posts into brackets, upon which the second story 
projected a few inches. The same construction was frequently followed 
in the gable ends whence the name 'gable overhang.' A house over- 
hanging on both the second and third stories is said to have a double over- 
hang; this modified type appeared until well after 1800. 

Structurally, the seventeenth-century house was often framed in the 
manner of English half-timber work of various types, but was covered 
with clapboards or shingles. The roof, modeled on English lines and cov- 
ered with either shingles or thatch, was pitched very steep to shed water. 
As time went on, up to the middle of the nineteenth century, the roof be- 
came progressively flatter. The earliest houses had the steepest roofs. 
The gambrel roof, common in Rhode Island, is prevalent in the south- 
eastern part and the Connecticut Valley, and in some western parts of 
Connecticut. This type, of which the roof of Connecticut Hall (1752) on 
the Yale campus is a notable example, was often adopted for brick houses. 
No other roof is capable of such subtle grace and charm as the gambrel. 



86 Connecticut : The General Background 

Another type experimented with early in the eighteenth century was 
the hip roof. At first, a single big chimney sticks up like a thumb in the 
middle; later on, two chimneys flank a ridge-pole. This type is always an 
interesting variation, but of awkward arrangement within. 

Interior construction can be only briefly touched upon here, though it 
is the interior upon which one must depend most in judging the age of a 
house. In the seventeenth century, of course, construction was of the 
most heavy and often primitive type. There was no attempt to disguise 
the functional aspect, and little was added by way of interior embellish- 
ment. Corner posts partly projected into the room, displaying a flare to- 
ward the top to form a better support for the horizontal members which 
were framed and pegged into them. Sometimes this flare grew evenly 
from the base; sometimes it was carved out in 'knees.' Summer beams 
and supporting joists carried the weight of floors above. These summer 
beams were ordinarily parallel with the main line of the house; they were 
beaded in the eastern towns, and chamfered in the Valley and western 
parts of the State in which case the joists were likely to be beaded. 
Chamfering or beveling reached its height in the accuracy and delicacy 
of the 'lamb's tongue' scrolls and other 'stops' at the end of the bevel, in 
the region around Guilford. In the earliest and crudest houses, the bevel 
was irregular and sometimes ran into the side wall. The Deacon Moore 
House (about 1660) in Windsor has the very unusual feature of cross- 
summers, beautifully chamfered. 

As the eighteenth century wore on, and especially as the trend in- 
creased toward plastered and then papered walls, it became the tendency 
to box in the posts and summers, and then to cover the frame entirely. 
This, of course, often happened later to earlier work, as if its frankness of 
construction were something to keep hidden. On the other hand, many 
well-meaning amateurs uncover the ' beams ' of a ceiling in the mistaken 
notion that the exposed frame was typical of all periods. The thin and 
bare uncovered rafters of an early nineteenth-century house look even 
more out of place than do the heavy corner posts and summers of two 
centuries earlier clothed in a useless casing. 

The misguided enthusiasm of a good many local historians is responsi- 
ble for markers with seventeenth-century dates on houses whose light 
construction betrays much later origin to anyone really acquainted with 
early architecture. Seventeenth-century work, good or bad, is rare and 
should always be treated with reverence. It was the most frank and fear- 
less work of our ancestors. 

The interior walls were practically always finished with wood in the 



Architecture 87 



earliest days. The boards used for this work were of two types beaded 
and featheredge. They are found in a hard pine no longer grown on these 
shores, in soft pine, whitewood, chestnut, or butternut. The earlier floors 
were usually of oak; a few much later floors of maple are found in the 
northwest section of the State. Paint, in the seventeenth century, was 
unknown and unnecessary. There is no rarer or more beautiful sight than 
a wall of unpainted featheredge (as in the Graves House in Madison), 
which has softened and grown rich in patina through the years. 

Featheredge is the board from which paneling developed. It always re- 
mained in use in the hinder parts of the house. One edge of the board was 
so beveled that it fitted like a tongue into the groove of the next board ; 
at the top of the groove, a half-round or bead was inserted. This made 
an interesting and varied wall surface, especially when the boards ran, as 
they customarily did, horizontally on the two outer sides of the room and 
vertically on the inner sides. 

The typical ' raised panel ' or eighteenth-century paneling simply fitted 
this edge into patterns. The first panels, appearing around 1690 to 1710, 
were large and very regularly spaced. As time went on, the panel ar- 
rangement of fireplace wall-ends was made more delicate and varied. 
The study of eighteenth-century paneled fireplace walls is one of endless 
fascination and variety, because with them artistic design entered home 
building. 

At the end of the eighteenth century, the beaded edge was elaborated 
and the early bold contours of the paneling were flattened. Then the 
raising of the panel dropped out entirely: it became a sunken instead of a 
raised panel. In a general way, featheredge was characteristic of the 
seventeenth century, raised panels of the eighteenth, and sunken panels 
of the nineteenth. The Greek Revival period, though it had its new 
graces of dignity and proportion, simplified doors and panels into a new 
and self-conscious severity, and finally paneling went out of fashion. 

Windows were a necessity, as well as a luxury and a point of embellish- 
ment. In the seventeenth century, they were always of the casement 
variety brought from England, with diamond-shaped panes set in lead. 
They were characteristically narrow, and high under the eaves or girts, 
with plain frames projecting from the house. They were sometimes ir- 
regularly spaced, and set where convenient. An original casement is 
occasionally found in some inside partition or tucked away in an attic 
as in the Lee House at East Lyme and the Fiske-Wildman House at 
Guilford. The typical eighteenth-century window was at first of six, 
eight, nine, and finally of twelve panes of six- by eight-inch glass. These 



88 Connecticut: The General Background 

were held in muntins seven-eighths of an inch or more wide. Later these 
muntins were narrowed, and the panes of glass used were larger. Even 
the average * restored ' house of the eighteenth century usually has nine- 
teenth-century windows. These can be identified because their muntins, 
or subdivisions, are deep and narrow rather than wide and flat. 

Paint was an innovation of the eighteenth century. The earliest color 
known was an earthy ' Indian red. ' Then a gray-green in varying shades 
began to be used, and later on a widening variety. Today we seldom have 
any idea of how colorful and cheerful an eighteenth-century house was. 
The colors were bright and frank and lively a ' break-away ' from the 
rich gloom of aging unpainted panels. White was probably not much 
used in this country before 1800. The outer walls, when painted at all, 
were red or yellow or gray. Toward the end of the century, imported 
wall papers came into use; the earliest known in New England is the 
paper put on the side hall of the magnificent Lee Mansion at Marble- 
head in 1768. 



II 

One feature of our architectural inheritance that is not sufficiently ap- 
preciated is the contribution to town planning made by the Connecticut 
'village Green.' While by no means confined to this State, it was here, 
as nowhere else, almost the rule in small villages as well as large. Cows 
were at one time given pasturage on the ' Commons ' or * Green ' belonging 
to the whole community. The church, the school, and the principal homes 
of the colonists, the stocks, the pound, and later the general store were 
clustered about it. Many of these old Greens still exist today, practically 
untouched as in Wolcott, Windham, and Woodstock, for example. 
Where there was not a Green, there was a broad and definitely recognized 
'four corners.' 

As a general rule, it was the community centralized most definitely 
around a Green that developed the strongest communal life. New 
Haven Green, with its four churches, its college, and its municipal build- 
ings, is the perfect example of one that has developed into a civic center, 
from which radiate in orderly progression the main streets of the town. 
The debt that modern city planning owes to the foresight of earlier genera- 
tions in this respect is one that will be appreciated more and more as time 
goes by. 

Outstanding in the early community was the one public building as 
important to the inhabitants as their own homes the church. This 



CONNECTICUT S ARCHI 
TECTURAL HERITAGE 



NO EXAMPLE of the one-room, end-chimney house, which 
was the earliest sort of permanent dwelling of the colonists, 
now remains unaltered, but several have been incorporated 
into buildings of later types. Such a one is the Hempstead 
House at New London. 

The second type consisted of two rooms, both upstairs and 
down, with a central chimney. The Older Williams House, 
Wethersfield (1680), is an example. A third type has the 
added lean-to across the back, as in the Acadian House in 
Guilford (c. 1670). From this developed the 'salt-box' which 
is particularly characteristic of Connecticut. The Stone 
House in Guilford, though one end of it is probably the earliest 
construction in the State, is a direct descendant of the English 
manor house, a type that was never a frequent visitor to our 
shores. 

In various communities, different methods of building re- 
flected the parts of England from which the settlers came. 
Around Hartford, the framed overhang with pendant drops 
was a survival of mediaeval England. The hewn overhang was 
more common farther south. The Whitman House (c. 1660), 
Farmington, and the Hollister House (1675), Glastonbury, 
illustrate these variations. 

In the eighteenth century, public buildings began to assume a 
greater importance. They form a closer link than houses do 
with the contemporary architecture of England. The churches 
are a chief part of Connecticut's architectural heritage, 
and none among them has more of its original atmosphere 
than old Trinity Church in Brooklyn (1771). At the end of 
the century, gentlemen architects had begun to make a pro- 
fession of what had previously been left to master builders. 
The first to achieve a name in New England was Charles 
Bulfinch of Boston, designer of the old State House in Hart- 
ford (1796), as well as of the State House of Massachusetts. 
In the nineteenth century, a wider range of architectural 
forms were adapted to American use, among them the Gothic. 
The old building of Linonian and Brothers Library at Yale 
(1846), now remodeled for use as a chapel, was designed by 
Henry Austin. In contrast with it is the modern Gothic of 
the Harkness Quadrangle, one of the most ambitious Gothic 
buildings in America. 




1 



WHITFIELD STONE HOUSE, GUILFORD 



JUDGMENT ROOM, THOMAS LEE HOUSE, EAST LYME 





ACADIAN HOUSE, GUILFORD 



OLDER WILLIAMS HOUSE, WETHE.RSFIELD 



i 






' " i* 



LYONS HOUSE, GREENWICH 



GRAVE HOUSE, MADISON 




FRAMED OVERHANG, WHITMAN HOUSE, FARMINGTON 



HEWN OVERHANG, HOLLISTER HOUSE, GLASTONBURY 







I 
INTERIOR, TRINITY CHURCH, BROOKLYN 



INTERIOR, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OLD STATE HOUSE 








GAMBREL ROOFS, PLAINFIELD 



CROSBY TAVERN, THOMPSON 



afe^MMic.. 



INTERIOR OF DWIGHT CHAPEL, YALE UNIVERSITY 








LINONIA COURT, YALE UNIVERSITY 



Architecture 89 



was the center of social as well as of religious life. Although often not 
erected until several years after a settlement had been founded, it was 
the first public building, and the most important. The colonist made no 
separation of Sundays and weekdays, of church and home. But the 
church, once erected, did symbolize to him the one influence to which his 
independence bowed. 

The first church edifices were seldom more than large houses in appear- 
ance. The earliest now standing in Connecticut, the disused meeting- 
house of the Long Society of Preston (1726), still looks like a dwelling 
house temporarily closed, though it does stand a bit incongruously among 
gravestones. It was largely renovated in 1819, but the interior is 
essentially that of an eighteenth-century meeting-house, with its entrance 
in the middle of one long side, a high pulpit opposite, and box pews 
around the sides and filling the central floor. The earliest churches after 
this one Salem Town Hall (1749), Abington (1753), and Hampton 
(1754) have been so modernized as to have little antiquarian value. 
The brick Congregational Church (1761) of Wethersfield is still a noble 
structure, reminding one of the old brick churches of Holland, and 
preserving not only a rarely beautiful spire but the general outlines of its 
period. Then follow three which were built in 1771 and which remain 
the best examples we have of the eighteenth century the Congrega- 
tional Church of Farmington, and the two old churches in Brooklyn. 
The Farmington church, except for a later portico, is essentially un- 
changed; as is Trinity, the towerless little Episcopal church in the grove 
at Brooklyn. The Congregational Church at Brooklyn, now a community 
center, has a handsome exterior, but there is little of interest within. 
The old Stone Church (1774) of East Haven is another of which the same 
can be said. 

The tower, an embellishment attempted only by the State church, the 
Congregational, was always offset during this period. It stood at one 
end, practically a separate structure, and contained a subordinate portico, 
repeated perhaps, but without the steeple, at the other end. With the 
arrival of the classic influence about the turn of the century, the tower 
began to be drawn into the nave (as in Bloomfield and Canterbury, each 
1804), and finally was centered directly over the front facade of the main 
building. Then a projecting portico, smaller than the facade, was often 
built out in front, enclosing the tower and protruding beyond it. The 
lines of the lower portico pediment repeat those of the front gable. The 
two Congregational churches on the Green in New Haven exemplify 
this. At the same time, the open and rather stiff tower of the earlier 



Connecticut : The General Background 



period began to come under the influence of English design. The books 
of James Gibb and Sir Christopher Wren had come over (Peter Harrison, 
who died in New Haven, left a considerable architectural library). 
Towers now began to have octagonal as well as square stages, and to be 
given a degree of embellishment never before seen in New England. 
The golden age of church architecture here came not in the strictly 
'Colonial' period, but in the years from 1810 to 1825. In this short 
period most of the churches were built to which the traveler turns with 
keenest interest. And in this connection, it is of note that the churches 
of theocratic Connecticut surpass those of any other New England State. 

Ithiel Town had designed Center Church (1812-14) at New Haven 
largely from English plans. It is generally conceded to be drawn to some 
extent from St. Martin's in the Fields, which again was influenced largely 
by Wren's fifty-three London churches. Like most English-derived 
churches, it combined an imposingly classical front and a handsome well- 
organized interior with very weakly designed sides and rear end. The 
United Church (1813-15) to the north of it, by David Hoadley, was more 
American in conception, in fact a more consistent whole, with a more 
graceful and spontaneous tower, but with a poor interior. Hoadley soon 
became the popular church architect of Connecticut, and the most 
potent influence of the period. Killing worth (1817), the two churches in 
Avon (1817, 1818), the two churches in Woodbury (1814, 1819), and the 
First Church of Milford (1823) all followed his style; and Avon and Mil- 
ford were actually built by him. The First Church in Milford was taken 
as the perfect flower of the period (as in many ways it is), and was copied 
directly in Cheshire (1826), Southington (1828), and Litchfield (1829). 
Very slight differences in detail can be noticed, each version being refined 
to the last degree. The Litchfield structure, which was once used as a 
motion-picture theater, may well be taken as the ultimate and most 
worked-over masterpiece among our churches. 

At first Roman and then earlier Greek elements began to hold sway, 
and to be copied with more and more scholarly accuracy. Two of the 
outstanding pure 'classical revival' churches remaining are Cornwall 
(1841) and the Baptist church (1841), now converted to Catholicism, 
in Old Lyme. But after a pedantic period, more and more freedom set 
in a 'renaissance,' when classical forms were easily adapted in any 
way that the imagination of the day might dictate. A counter impulse 
came in when the Episcopal churches, conscious of their own Gothic 
tradition, sought to adhere to that tradition. Trinity Church (1814-15), 
on the New Haven Green, by Ithiel Town (perhaps assisted by Hoadley), 



Architecture 91 



was the earliest example of Gothic in Connecticut. Straightforward, 
but still obviously an immigrant, the style is far more convincing within 
than without. Lancet windows began to appear even in wooden buildings. 
The Gothic influence can be traced in St. Peter's (1825) at Hebron, in 
Kent (1826), in Riverton (1829), and in that little gem at Barkhamsted 
Hollow (1816) which the Episcopalians shared with the Universalists, 
and which now seems doomed to destruction by a water development. 
A last flare of the Gothic spirit even invades the classical in the eclectic 
tower of Bristol (1832). Both styles were to draw apart again, and after 
a period of disuse to come to real fruition in a later day. 



Ill 

With the dawn of the nineteenth century, industry and trade were 
thriving, and consequently houses tended to become larger and better 
appointed. By 1820, for instance, the story-and-a-half cottage that had 
been the typical home in many communities began to disappear, and 
another type was taking its place the two-and-a-half -story house, with 
a gable end to the road and a doorway in one corner. Among the wealthier 
classes, the central-chimney house with the stairs in a tiny square hall 
in front of the chimney was giving way to the central-hall type with a long 
flight of stairs and two chimneys. The new measure of ease and refine- 
ment found expression in a new delicacy of detail. 'Architecture,' based 
now on definite Georgian precedents in England, and detail, influenced 
by the over-delicate classic refinements of the Adam brothers, were now 
the vogue. 

During the early part of the nineteenth century, the professionally 
trained architect became an established figure, and greatly influenced the 
trend of building activity by the creation of such outstanding major build- 
ings as the Old State House (1796) at Hartford, by Charles Bulfinch; Cen- 
ter Church (1812-14), New Haven, by Ithiel Town; and the North Church 
(1814-15) on New Haven Green, by David Hoadley. The work of these 
men had its influence on many of the churches and houses built through- 
out the State. 'Architecture ' had become established as such, and build- 
ings were being 'designed' rather than developed from their immediate 
environment under the competent hands of country craftsmen. Though 
the work of the early nineteenth-century architects had gained over that 
of the eighteenth and seventeenth centuries in the matter of studied 
design and the scale and elegance of detail, a certain sophistication had 



92 Connecticut: The General Background 

taken the place of the naivete that charms one in the work of the earlier 
builders. 

That the outstanding excellence of early nineteenth-century architec- 
ture was not logically carried on to the evolution of a distinctive type of 
American architecture is one of the calamities in American cultural 
development. The cause of the decline in architectural taste is a matter 
that is open to debate. But a decline there was, which continued through 
several decades, reaching its lowest level in the orgy of jigsawed and 
turned woodwork of the sixties and seventies. 

This decline, however, was gradual, for a style that made its appearance 
about 1820 and was prominent until about 1850 had possibilities of being 
a continuation of the architectural development so well begun. Known 
as the * Greek Revival,' it drew its inspiration from the architecture of 
classical antiquity. Its first manifestations were in the form of minor 
details of Greek ornament used in buildings that, in mass and general 
scale and detail, were purely Colonial i.e., in the tradition that was 
current before the Revolution. An interesting example of its beginnings 
is the Congregational Church at Guilford, built in 1829, a building which 
in mass is traditional Colonial but which bears an imaginative adaptation 
of the i Greek fret' ornament around the entrance doors and some Greek 
decoration at the corners of one of the stages of the steeple. 

As the movement progressed, the buildings and their details became 
heavier and larger, and the refined delicacy that had characterized the 
preceding Federal period largely disappeared. Moldings, columns, and 
ornamental details were copied directly from Greek examples until, 
when the period had reached its height, public buildings and even resi- 
dences assumed the form of colonnaded Greek temples. In most cases, 
however, the general plan and mass of the houses still retained their 
earlier character, and the Greek influence was felt more in the type of 
molding or the incorporation of a two-column entrance porch in the 
Greek manner. So popular was this vogue that many owners of eight- 
eenth-century houses had the old entrance motives replaced by new ones 
of Greek design, thereby often injuring the original character of the house. 
Outstanding examples of the Greek Revival in Connecticut are the row 
of high colonnaded houses on Huntington Street in New London; the 
Congregational Church (1838) at Madison; Plymouth Church (1834) at 
Milford; the Westville Congregational Church (1838) at New Haven; 
the Second Congregational Church at Derby; and a small house on the 
north side of Route 80 in North Branford. While this style resulted in 
many buildings of a certain architectural significance, it cannot be said 



Architecture 93 



to have been a progressive improvement on the character of the earlier 
Colonial. It did not as truly express the functional requirements of 
contemporary life, but was rather an affected adaptation of an architec- 
ture that had reached its highest development in an entirely different 
climate and civilization. It was not spontaneous it did not arise 
directly out of human needs; and it left a weakened architectural impulse 
that fell prey to the importation of one foreign ' influence ' after another. 

One of the most interesting, yet also the most artificial and most 
neglected today, of those importations was nineteenth -century Gothicism. 
In Victorian England, the Georgian style had had its day; and English- 
men, influenced by the writings of Ruskin, were trying to recapture the 
spirit and splendor of their natural heritage, the Gothic of the Middle 
Ages. As the Connecticut colonists had translated the stone forms of the 
English Georgian into Yankee pine, so again Americans tried to adapt 
Gothic forms to wood. The development of woodworking machinery, 
particularly the bandsaw and jigsaw, made it an easy matter to torture 
wooden boards into uncouth shapes. Throughout the land there sprang up 
city halls, churches, and houses in the 'Gothic' manner. Houses were 
built with high peaked gables ornamented with an elaborate system of 
crockets, cusps, pointed arches, and balustrades all sawed from inch- 
thick boards. The sum total was failure. The bandsaw could not translate 
Gothic into wood. Here and there, however, arose a building whose real 
picturesqueness of mass induced a feeling of repose and at the same time 
a certain sense of gaiety. Perhaps the best example of this sort in the 
State is the Archer Wheeler House, on Golden Hill Street, in Bridgeport. 

The outstanding building of this period in Connecticut, and perhaps 
in the country, is the State Capitol (1872) at Hartford, on its commanding 
site in Bushnell Park. The composition of the main structure is well 
studied, and forms, when viewed from a distance, a satisfying base for 
the high gilded dome. The ornament and decoration, however, are mere- 
tricious and meaningless, and miss the true character of Gothic enrich- 
ment. 

The old Library (1842) on the Yale Campus is a better example of 
Gothic design. It copies faithfully, and with some relation to material 
and purpose, an English church in the fifteenth century or 'Perpendicular ' 
style; and though its turrets and finials are excrescences little adapted to 
our weather, it is a rare and impressive little building. One cannot but be' 
glad that it has lately been transformed into an ecclesiastical edifice, 
so that the full beauty of its interior proportions can be admired. 

As American architects began to study abroad, other imported in- 



94 Connecticut : The General Background 

fluences were felt for example, the brownstone Romanesque, popular- 
ized by Richardson (as in the Public Library and railroad station at New 
London); and the classical renaissance of Italy, so often adopted by 
McKim (as in the unusual railroad station in \Vaterbury, with its tower 
copied from Siena). But these were impulses that usually died with 
the architect who imported them. As increasingly large sums have been 
made available for public buildings, architecture has become more and 
more eclectic and international. Connecticut has had rather more than 
its share of conspicuous examples of this later trend. Mention can be 
made only of the newer buildings at Yale, in a freely translated English 
university Gothic; the incomparable Gothic chapel at Trinity College; 
and the highly original transcriptions of all the heavy and primitive 
styles, in the scattered quadrangles of Avon Old Farms, combined in one 
harmonious whole. 

Questions may well be raised as to the future of any American ' style,' 
based on so many elements. And yet it has become increasingly evident 
that an indigenous 'Colonial' tradition survives through it all, particu- 
larly with reference to domestic architecture. It is with the hope of help- 
ing to establish true standards for the appreciation today of its earliest 
forms that the houses noted in this Guide have been pointed out. 



NOTES ON CONNECTICUT 

ART 



IF CONNECTICUT'S contribution to the fine arts is less substantial 
than those of some other northern States, the ultimate reason is to be 
found in the absence of a conspicuously good harbor along her coast, and 
the consequent absence of a great metropolis wherein collectors might 
gather and toward which artists would naturally gravitate. Even with 
her comparative disadvantages, however, the State has given the world 
some honorable names and much excellent work. 

For the first century and a half the settlers were too busy wresting a 
living from the soil to think much of the fine arts. During the eighteenth 
century the usual itinerant portrait painters began to make their journeys 
to and fro, and left their anonymous works to posterity, stilted and prim- 
itive, yet none without a certain naif charm. As a counterpart to these, 
wall decorators occasionally blossomed forth in an overmantel landscape 
or figure piece, or perhaps inserted a small mural medallion in an over-all 
wall decoration. As interest in old houses increases, more and more of 
these little murals are being uncovered, and tradition frequently associates 
them with Hessian soldiers. Their primitive, out-of-scale draftsmanship 
often serves as an advantage rather than a drawback, and the farm-house 
renovator who finds one beneath several layers of shabby wall paper 
counts himself fortunate. 

The first name of any distinction to be connected with Connecticut 
is that of Ralph Earl. Though born in Massachusetts, in 1751, he painted 
most of his portraits in Connecticut, and died there in 1801. Earl might 
be described as a kind of countrified Copley. He preferred full-length 
figures on large canvases; his ambition outran his proficiency, but his 
designs are strong and his figures full of character. Occasionally one finds 
a child in a portrait group that recalls the whimsical primitiveness which 
a far-distant and far greater contemporary, Goya, chose to use in his 
portraits of children. 

During the Revolutionary War a disgruntled young ex-officer in the 
American army lived in London and made copies of old masters in the 



96 Connecticut : The General Background 

studio of Benjamin West. This was John Trumbull, born in Lebanon, 
Connecticut, in 1756, the youngest son of Jonathan Trumbull, governor 
of the colony and subsequently of the State. John Trumbull also studied 
in France, and upon his return to America, after the war was over, he had 
become one of the most talented, as well as versatile, painters of his day. 
As a portrait painter he was ranked second only to Stuart in his time, and 
he produced a number of exquisite miniatures. He is seen at his best, 
however, in the series of small studies for the rotunda in the Capitol at 
Washington. These eight little canvases, now in the Yale Gallery of 
Fine Arts, comprising chiefly battle scenes, are full of life, light, and 
drama, and survive as one of the major treasures of early Republican art. 
The four full-size panels which he was commissioned to do for the Capitol 
are less successful; when painting on a large scale Trumbull was appar- 
ently affected by a desire for grandiosity, and it is probable that he was 
further hampered by defective eyesight. 

Another portraitist of great ability was Samuel F. B. Morse (1791- 
1872), associated with Connecticut by his years of study at Yale and the 
large number of portraits he executed within the State. Morse was well 
trained in France and England, and his best canvases leave little to be 
desired. He had simplicity without emptiness, dexterity without virtu- 
osity, style without mannerism, and the characters of his subjects fairly 
leap from the canvas. When, during the middle forties, he sickened of the 
smallness of his rewards and turned to electrical experimentation, applied 
science took a great step forward, but American painting suffered an 
irreparable loss. 

A New Haven painter, Nathaniel Jocelyn (1796-1881), in his early 
years gave considerable promise. His customary rather somber blacks 
and reds, and his decorative use of the puffed sleeves and fantastic coif- 
fures of the period, make his earlier portraits a welcome ornament to 
many a chimney-breast. As his years increased, however, slickness and 
facility grew on him, and he ended in a rather insipid Victorianism. His 
pupils, Samuel Lovett Waldo (1783-1861), and Thomas Pritchard 
Rossiter (1818-71), became two of the most fashionable and successful 
portrait painters of their time. Rossiter in general loved bright color; 
his work is less tight and smooth than that of many of his contemporaries, 
but often shows carelessness. Waldo was the better of the two: his work 
lacked subtlety "and the indefinable last touch that means greatness, but 
his canvases are often astonishingly good. His name is usually mentioned 
in connection with that of his partner, William Jewett, who is supposed 
to have painted in his backgrounds and draperies. With Waldo and 



Notes on Connecticut Art 97 

Jocelyn the classic school of Connecticut portraiture if the foregoing 
group deserves such a name ceases, and in subsequent work the great 
hand of Manet hovers behind almost every brush. 

The Hudson River School had few repercussions in Connecticut, but 
the State contributed one of the most prominent members of the group, 
John Frederick Kensett, who was born in Cheshire in 1818. Kensett was 
a leading landscape painter of his day; he had studied and traveled 
widely in Europe, but he neither lived nor painted considerably in Con- 
necticut. The same may be said of Frederick Edwin Church (1826-1900) 
of Hartford. Church belonged to the group of landscape painters includ- 
ing Thomas Cole, his master, Bierstadt, and Moran, who went far afield 
for their subjects and painted them large. They were the pictorial expo- 
nents of ' manifest destiny,' and their vast canvases now mostly languish 
in dark corners of art galleries, awaiting the revival of appreciation which 
time will inevitably bring. 

It remained for an obscure New Haven painter, George Henry Durrie 
(1820-63), to emerge, after a long period of oblivion, as the first and best 
interpreter of the Connecticut scene. Durrie was a pupil of Jocelyn and 
his portraits resemble those of his master. His real field was landscape, 
the hills and farms that he knew and loved. These he put on canvas with 
a minuteness of detail probably inspired by Durand. In his best canvases 
(his work is very uneven), and especially in his winter scenes, Durrie 
was more than a recorder and became, in flashes, a poet very much 
the sort of poet that wrote ' Snowbound.' One can fairly smell the wood 
smoke in his frosty air, hear the creak of snow under the sledge runners, 
the barking of distant dogs, and breathe the atmosphere of the old, snug, 
cheery farm life of the early nineteenth century. Many of Durrie's paint- 
ings were used as subjects for Currier and Ives prints, the most famous 
of these being 'Home for Thanksgiving.' It is a pity that Durrie died in 
early middle age, for in later life he might well have acquired, as did 
Inness, the simplicity whose absence kept him from real greatness. 

At this point one may digress to mention two engravers who stand at 
the head of Connecticut's roster in this field. The first was Amos Doo- 
little (1754-1832), who was born in Cheshire but lived in New Haven. 
Unschooled as he was, he stands forth as the most interesting American 
engraver of his time, and his four copper plates of 'The Battle of Lexing- 
ton,' said to be made from designs by Ralph Earl, are highly prized by 
collectors. So is his famous 'Display of the United States,' in which the 
bust of Washington is surrounded by the coats of arms of the thirteen 
States. John Warner Barber (1798-1885) of East Windsor conceived the 



Connecticut : The General Background 



idea of making a popular history which could also serve as a guidebook, 
and illustrating it with copper plate engravings after drawings of his own. 
In his horse and buggy he covered not only his own State, but almost the 
entire country, and did more than any other man of his time to familiarize 
Americans with the history and topography of their native land. His 
engravings are simple to the verge of crudeness, but they are attractive 
in their way. 

The story of Connecticut sculpture began rather early, in the person of 
Hezekiah Augur of New Haven (1791-1858). He was the son of a carpen- 
ter, and in early life learned to carve in wood. Not content with chair-legs 
and similar hack-work, which he did very acceptably, he turned to 
marble, and without instruction or model produced a head of Apollo, 
using a carving machine designed by Samuel F. B. Morse. His great work, 
'Jephthah and his Daughter,' still displayed in the Yale Art School, is 
sentimental and unsculptural, yet it is done with an irresistible gusto and 
stands as a not unworthy monument to a man who persisted in aiming 
high. Washington Allston paid this work the somewhat ambiguous com- 
pliment of walking around it for half an hour without uttering a word. 

Olin Levi Warner (1844-90) of Suffield, an artist noted for the vigor 
and sensitiveness of his modeling, produced the statue of Governor 
Buckingham in the Capitol at Hartford and that of William Lloyd 
Garrison in Boston. George Edwin Bissell (1839-1920), born in New 
Preston, took up sculpture when over thirty, and after some years of 
study in Europe created a number of portrait figures and memorials not 
only in his own State but in many others. 

More distinguished than these was Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865-1925), 
Born in New Haven but educated in France, he first exhibited in the 
Salon at the age of 14. The greatest of his many works is the equestrian 
statue of Lafayette which stands in the Court of the Louvre; a replica is 
in Capitol Park in Hartford. He is also represented in the Library of 
Congress, the National Capitol, and the pediment of the New York Stock 
Exchange. His contemporary, Bela Lyon Pratt (1867-1917), born in 
Norwich, studied at the Yale Art School, and under Saint-Gaudens, Cox, 
and Chase in New York. His work is characterized by simplicity and a 
deep but restrained feeling. [He is represented by figures outside the 
Public Library in Boston, also in the Public Gardens and the State 
House, as well as by several important memorials scattered through the 
eastern States, but probably his most appealing works are the ' Spanish 
War Soldier' at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and his 
'Nathan Hale' on the Yale Campus. 



Notes on Connecticut Art 99 

Among contemporary sculptors of note living in the State are Robert 
G. Eberhard, Professor of Sculpture in the Yale School of Fine Arts, 
Evelyn Longman Batchelder of Windsor, Henry Kreis of Essex, Heinz 
Warneke of East Haddam, Karl Lang of Noroton, Lewis Gudebrod of 
Meriden, and A. Phimister Proctor of Wilton. 



II 

The majority of the artists heretofore mentioned were natives of Con- 
necticut who went forth to work and to make names for themselves 
elsewhere. In the latter years of the nineteenth century this process was 
largely reversed, and we find artists who had already won their spurs in 
other parts settling in Connecticut, either singly or in groups, because it 
was a delightful place to live and to paint and is not far from New York. 

Among the first of those who became Connecticut artists by adoption 
were the two sons of the Hudson River artist, Robert W. Weir. The 
elder, John Ferguson Weir (1841-1926), after studying in New York and 
Europe and painting * The Forging of the Shaft,' now in the Metropolitan 
Museum, was in 1869 appointed dean of the recently created School of 
Fine Arts at Yale, a position he filled until 1913. His reputation as a 
painter, though overshadowed by that of his brother, is nevertheless high, 
and his later canvases, thoroughly impressionistic, have much of the 
light and air and color usually associated with Monet. J. Alden Weir 
(1852-1919) owned farms in Windham and Branchville. A student of 
Bastien-Lepage, he started out in the classical manner of nineteenth- 
century French painting, but became increasingly impressionistic, or 
'luministic.' His figure pieces, exceedingly restrained in color and low in 
value, have a certain fine feeling and nobility which win more praise from 
artists than from laymen, but his later landscape work is more airy and 
probably more widely appreciated. 

Late in the nineteenth century artists began to assemble in small 
groups for summer residence in various favorable spots, and the era of 
the 'art colony' began. The oldest was at Mystic, associated with the 
names of Charles Harold Davis (1856-1933) and Henry Ranger (1858- 
1916). Ranger was a popular landscapist during his lifetime, but his 
work is now rated far below its true merit. Davis, who moved to Mystic 
in 1890, devoted himself to the Connecticut scene more exclusively than 
any other painter except George Durrie. It is interesting to compare 
their styles, the one tight and realistic, the other full of light and air. 

Prominent among the group at Old Lyme were Carleton Wiggins and 






ioo Connecticut: The General Background 

Eugene Higgins, who might not inappropriately be called the last of the 
Romantics. Childe Hassam was also an intermittent resident at this 
place. Similar aggregations of more recent origin have sprung up at 
Kent, Westport, and Silvermine (in the town of Norwalk). All of these 
hold annual exhibitions, in some cases in galleries built and operated by 
the associated artists. These centers and other villages have attracted 
to the State many of the most prominent artists of the present day, a full 
list of which would be too long to include, and a partial list would involve 
invidious distinctions. 

Hartford, the second center of population in the State, has produced a 
group of artists sometimes referred to as 'The Hartford School.' Two of 
the first to attain national reputations were William Gedney Bunce 
(1840-1916) and Dwight William Tryon (1849-1925). Both left the 
State early in their careers, Bunce spending most of his time in Venice, 
painting his highly subjective and beautifully colored sea-scapes. Tryon 
did most of his painting near New Bedford. His work, like that of Ranger, 
Davis, and others among his contemporaries, stands less high at present 
than during his lifetime, but his accomplishment was genuine, and recog- 
nition of it will not die out. Late in the century there was a good deal of 
artistic activity in Hartford which centered around Charles Noel Flagg 
and his Connecticut League of Art Students. Flagg came of a family of 
artists whose members included Washington Allston, George Whiting 
Flagg, Jared Flagg, and Montague Flagg; he was a friend of Tryon, with 
whom he had studied abroad, and his League was run somewhat in 
imitation of the Paris atelier. Among the most prominent of his pupils 
were the sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett, James Britton, Louis Orr the 
etcher, Milton Avery, Albertus Jones, and James Goodwin McManus, 
the last four of whom are still doing admirable work in their various 
fields. 

The State is fairly rich in public collections. The oldest is the Yale 
Gallery of Fine Arts, which started in 1831 with the purchase by the 
University of all John TrumbulPs works that still remained in his pos- 
session. This constituted the first art gallery to be incorporated in an 
American university. The most important subsequent accretion was the 
purchase of an extraordinary group of 119 Italian primitive paintings 
from John Jackson Jarvis in the seventies. The Wadsworth Atheneum 
in Hartford, founded in 1844, with the subsequent additions of the Mor- 
gan Memorial (1910) and the Avery Memorial (1934), forms an important 
and rapidly increasing collection. In New London is the Lyman Allen 
Museum and in Norwich the Slater Memorial Museum, the latter per- 
haps unique in being incorporated with a public school. 



Notes on Connecticut Art 101 

Descriptions of these collections occur elsewhere in this volume. At 
this point it may be relevant to remark that most of them pay but little 
attention to the work of the artists who were born or flourished in their 
vicinity. Botticelli's best works are in Florence, Rembrandt's in Holland, 
Watteau's in Paris, Hogarth's in London, but one may look in vain for 
Rangers and Davises and Hassams in Norwich or New London, or for 
Kensetts and Tryons in Hartford. In some cases, indeed, the idea seems 
to be to make a special effort to concentrate on foreign work. There is in 
Hartford a small but articulate group of enthusiasts who are ardently 
interested in contemporary European artists, and have given a fine 
showing to such members of the post-Picasso group as Tchelitchev, 
Berman, and Tonny. The best collections of Connecticut furniture, glass, 
silver, and textiles are to be found in Hartford and New Haven. 

The various historical societies also contain many important works 
of art, and here more attention is paid to local talent. Chief among these 
societies in size and scope are the New Haven Colony Historical Society, 
the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, and the Mattatuck 
Historical Society in Waterbury, but many of the smaller ones also 
possess works of interest and beauty. Among these, with no discrimina- 
tion against many others, may be mentioned the Winchester Historical 
Society at Winsted, which, housed in one of the loveliest of early nine- 
teenth-century dwellings, contains a remarkably fine group of primitive 
portraits. 

All the four museums mentioned above foster educational work, either 
as part of their activities or through organizations closely connected with 
them. The Yale School of Fine Arts, founded in 1866, is the chief of these, 
as it is the oldest. It has always been one of the leading art schools in 
the country, but was particularly successful as a school of painting under 
the guidance of Professor Edwin Cassius Taylor from 1923 till 1935. In 
Hartford, the Hartford Art School, run in connection with the Avery 
Memorial, has largely supplanted the older Connecticut League of Art 
Students, and is conducted on rather modern principles. The Slater 
Memorial conducts classes in connection with the Norwich Free Academy, 
and the Lyman Allen Museum in connection with the adjacent Connecti- 
cut College for Women. 

An interesting development of recent years has been the employment 
of artists by the Federal Government under the CWA, FERA, and WPA. 
By virtue of this, many public institutions have been enriched by works 
in all mediums by Connecticut artists, and the existence of the fine arts 
has been brought home to a public previously all too little aware of it. 



IO2 Connecticut: The General Background 

There are numerous murals from this source in the schools and other 
public buildings of Hartford, New Haven, and Fairfield County, with 
a thinner scattering in other parts of the State. Among the best, are 
decorations by James Daugherty in the Greenwich Town Hall, the 
Stamford High School, and the Holmes School in Darien, and those by 
John Steuart Curry in the Norwalk High School. One cannot bear to 
leave this subject without mentioning also two fresco panels, ' Comedy ' 
and * Tragedy,' in the Bedford Junior High School in Westport, which 
Curry was enabled to execute by private subscription in 1934. These 
are a far cry from Trumbull and Morse, but if anyone needs to be con- 
vinced that art is not yet dead in the State, let him look at them! 



LITERATURE 



EARLY Connecticut literature has been aptly described as a 'distin- 
guished blank.' The rigors of survival against hostile Indians and hard 
winters made the settlers an essentially practical people. Although the 
New England colonists were of a superior intellectual class, including at 
one time an Oxford graduate for every 250 persons, daily bread and the 
salvation of the soul were of first importance. Men whose vigorous in- 
tellects might have produced significant literature devoted their energies 
to the struggle against political oppression and the fear of eternal dam- 
nation. 

The colonists were militant separatists who felt called upon to justify 
before the world their self-imposed exile. Their ministerial leaders rose 
ably to the occasion with consummate theological arguments, and in 
their weekly sermons provided the chief intellectual and literary advan- 
tages accessible to the frontiersmen. The discourses and numerous pub- 
lished tracts of Thomas Hooker, John Davenport, and Henry Whitfield 
of Connecticut were eagerly read, and played a significant part in guiding 
public opinion. 

In the pioneer days when books were luxuries, almanacs with their 
varied collections of astronomical data, schedules of court decisions, 
mileage between taverns, dates of local storms, and interesting predic- 
tions, became a household institution. The first almanac with a Con- 
necticut imprint was dated 1709 and written by Daniel Travis. As 
Thomas Short, the first printer in New London, established his printing 
press in the spring of 1709, it is probable that this almanac was printed 
at the ' Sign of the Bible,' Cornhill, Boston. Short's press in New London 
was the first in Connecticut, and, later sold to Timothy Green, remained 
the only one for forty-five years. In 1716, Green sold in New London 
an almanac calculated for the meridian of Boston, written by Daniel 
Travis and printed by Bartholomew Green of Boston. 

The first almanac by a Connecticut author printed in Connecticut, as 
well as the earliest known to have been printed in the Colony, was 
Joseph Moss's 'An Almanack ... to the Meridian of Yale/ printed by 
G. Saltonstall and sold by Timothy Green. In 1753, Roger Sherman, a 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote an 'Astronomical 



IO4 Connecticut: The General Background 

Diary,' published by Timothy Green. Many of the early Connecticut 
almanacs were reprints of Boston's famous 'Ames Almanack,' which was 
first locally reprinted at New Haven in 1756. In 1761, a Yale ' College 
Almanak ' was written ' By a Student.' 

The * Connecticut Almanack ' was first compiled by Clark Elliot, pub- 
lished in New London in 1767, and purchased in 1778 by Nehemiah 
Strong of Hartford, one of the most prominent of Connecticut almanac 
authors, whose initial 'Watson's Register' first appeared in 1775. Best 
known, and celebrated for its almost continuous publication from 1772 
to the present day is ' DabolPs Almanac,' first printed by Nathaniel Daboll 
in New London in 1772 under the name of * Freebetter's New England 
Almanack,' and known today as * The New England Almanac and Farmer's 
Friend.' Another old almanac that is still published was originated in 
1806 by Elisha Middlebrook of Fairfield and published by him until 
1860. The 'Beckwith Almanac,' started at New Haven in 1848, and 
peddled about Connecticut by its author, was published until 1933. 

Diaries were among the earliest writings and have preserved in un- 
affected simplicity detailed accounts of the manners and customs of the 
colonists. Perhaps the best known Connecticut diary is the one written 
by Ezra Stiles from 1769 through the period of his presidency of Yale 
College. A diary kept by Joshua Hempstead (New London, 1711-58), 
and one by Nathaniel W. Taylor recording his * Life on a Whaler, or an 
Antarctic Adventure in the Isle of Desolation,' are preserved in the New 
London Historical Society collection. 

The Journal of William Wheeler (1762-1845), a student at Yale and 
a resident of Black Rock, Fairfield, records an 'exact and impartial 
account' of events in that old seaport town. This diary is included in 
the recently published 'History of Black Rock,' by Cornelia Penfield 
Lathrop. The Rev. Isaac Bachus of Norwich Town kept a diary from 
1748 to 1806, which contains a wealth of information on local and national 
events. A brief though interesting diary by Mason Fitch Cogswell of 
Canterbury is devoted to a detailed account of his horseback trip across 
Connecticut, from November 14 to December 19, 1788, in which he 
carefully recorded the simple details of life in the homes he visited. 

The diary (1797-1803) of Julia Cowles of Farmington, now in print, 
is an appealing document which vividly presents many phases of the 
social life of her times, in the record of her girlhood, her reactions to the 
wickedness of 'modern' life, the tender details of the courting of John 
Treadwell, son of Governor Treadwell, and of her engagement to him. 
Despite her lover's pleading, she delayed their marriage because of her 
failing health, and died while still a young woman. 



Literature 1 05 



Roger Wolcott of Windsor (1679-1767), State governor and military 
leader, found time to write 'Poetical Meditations: Being the Improve- 
ment of Some Vacant Hours,' in which his Calvinistic vision saw 'Hell's 
flashes folding through eternitie.' This was the first book of verse 
published in Connecticut. And, before the Revolution, there was at 
least one writer of commanding ability in America, a native of South 
Windsor Jonathan Edwards (1703-58). Mystic, metaphysician, and 
logician, his vivid imagination pictured Hell's torments and the eternally 
erupting mountains of fire and brimstone, to the prostration of multitudes 
at the time of the ' Great Awakening.' The very title of his most famous 
works breathes contempt on the ungodly and looser thinkers: 'A Careful 
and Strict Enquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom 
of Will which is Supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency, Virtue and 
Vice, Reward and Punishment, Praise and Blame' (1754). For the next 
hundred years, Connecticut's orthodoxy was noteworthy. 

When independence had been won, but divergent doctrines threatened 
anarchy, a group of distinguished Yale graduates formed a literary 
society to combat the lawless influences with political satire. This first 
recognized literary group in the State became celebrated as 'The Hartford 
Wits,' and included a college president, several foreign ministers and 
ambassadors, and a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court. Richard 
Alsop, Joel Barlow, Timothy Dwight, and the brilliant John Trumbull, 
who passed the entrance examinations to Yale at the age of seven and 
entered college five years later, were among the leaders of the group, 
which also included Lemuel Hopkins, Theodore Dwight, and Col. David 
Humphrey, aide-de-camp to Washington and author of the earliest 
biography of Israel Putnam. Jointly they published 'The Anarchiad' 
(1786), 'The Political Greenhouse' (1799), and 'The Echo' (1807). 
Joel Barlow, perhaps the group's most distinguished and versatile member, 
wrote two widely read poems: 'Hasty Pudding,' a realistic portrayal of 
New England home life; and a ponderous epic, 'The Columbiad,' in 
which Hesper unfolds to Columbus a retrospective view of the conquest 
of Mexico, the settlement of North America, and a vision of the future 
supremacy of America. This latter work, heavy with Latin derivatives, 
makes laborious reading today, but it was enthusiastically received by 
the colonists, who even named their coast defense guns 'Columbiad.' 
John Trumbull's mock-epic, 'M'Fingal,' a Hudibrastic attack on the 
Tories, ran through thirty editions and earned for Trumbull the title of 
'Father of American Burlesque.' Timothy Dwight, president of Yale 
College for twenty-two years, was the author of a poem of epic propor- 



io6 Connecticut: The General Background 

tions, 'The Conquest of Canaan,' dealing with the narrative of Joshua's 
wars, in which Revolutionary heroes were compared with Biblical 
characters. His shorter poem, ' Greenfield Hill,' is a delightful description 
of the Connecticut village with which he was associated for many years. 
Dr. Elihu H. Smith, physician of Wethersfield and another active 
member of 'The Hartford Wits,' was the first Connecticut poet to publish 
a volume of collected verse 'American Poems, Original and Selected.' 
Thus, for a few years at the close of the eighteenth century, before the 
days of the New York and Boston groups, Connecticut could boast of 
the first literary circle in the new nation. This is the only time in its 
history when Connecticut can be said to have possessed a literature of 
its own. 

In those days there lived in Connecticut a redoubtable man of letters 
whose influence was of the most enduring and widespread sort. In the 
years between the Declaration of Independence and the framing of the 
Constitution, Noah Webster (1758-1843) brought forth his blue-bound 
'American Spelling Book.' Passing through various degrees of spelling 
reform and Yankee individualism, it appeared throughout a century in 
unnumbered editions. The success of Webster's first dictionary, pub- 
lished in 1806, led to the compiling of his masterly 'American Dictionary 
of the English Language* (1828). On this foundation our speech, with 
the exception of Harvard English and its rival Worcester's Dictionary 
(1846), has rested. 

There was something redoubtable, also, about a Ridgefield minister's 
son, Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793-1860), who just before his death 
declared himself the author of 170 volumes, 1 16 of them written under the 
pseudonym of 'Peter Parley.' Inspired by Hannah More, Goodrich 
purveyed an endless stream of edifying sugar-coated instruction to the 
young. For him, the shy and fastidious young Nathaniel Hawthorne 
wrote 'Peter Parley's Universal History' (1837), which sold a million 
copies, and edited the 'American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining 
Knowledge'; while in his giftbook annual, 'The Token,' many of Haw- 
thorne's earliest stories appeared. 

Fitz-Greene Halleck (1790-1867) of Guilford joined the early New 
York school of writers, and was co-author with James Rodman Drake 
of the satiric 'Croaker & Co.' verses. Like many of his contemporaries, 
he was an imitator of Scott, Byron, and Campbell; his 'Marco Bozzaris' 
is a spirited Byronesque depiction of the Greek struggle for freedom 
against the Turks. 

One of Noah Webster's assistants was a young botanist-chemist- 



Literature 107 



geologist-poet, whose knowledge of ten languages made him a valuable 
helper in revising and proof-reading the orthographer's magnum opus. 
Suffering from a persecution complex, James Gates Percival (1795-1856) 
turned in his versatility from science to poetry and then back again. He 
was State Geologist of Wisconsin at the time of his death. The sensitive 
and delicate beauty of his verse missed fame by a narrow margin. 

Jared Sparks (1789-1866) of Willington lived to become president of 
Harvard and to be called the 'American Plutarch.' The country owes 
him a great debt for his preservation of important documents and letters 
of Revolutionary times and leaders. His 'Life and Times of George 
Washington/ bowdlerized but honest, and 'American Biographies' are 
full of valuable source material. John Fiske (1842-1901), born in Middle- 
town, was a later distinguished Harvard man and eminent historian. 

The father of the ' Little Women ' was born in Connecticut and began 
his career as a Yankee peddler and country school teacher. Amos 
Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) of Wolcott astounded the citizens of Chesh- 
ire by his advanced educational methods, the beginning of his greatest 
contribution to American life and thought. His close association with 
Concord, Massachusetts, has obscured the fact that the formative years 
of this ' tedious archangel ' were passed in this State. 

Several minor poets of Connecticut became more or less prominent in 
the half century which closed with the Civil War period. John Pierpont 
(1785-1866) published 'Airs of Palestine,' later visiting the country 
which his muse had celebrated; he also wrote a number of ardent anti- 
slavery poems. James Hillhouse (1789-1841) of New Haven was the 
author of several long Biblical poems and dramas. John G. C. Brainard 
(1796-1828), born in New London, edited the Connecticut Union in 
Hartford and wrote of the native scene timidly perhaps, but at times 
authentically. Henry Howard Brownell's 'Bay Fight,' a stirring de- 
scription of the battle of Mobile Bay, fired the popular imagination in 
Civil War times. Brownell (1820-1872), whose war poetry has been 
collected in a volume called 'Lines of Battle,' was born in Providence, 
R.I., but spent the greater part of his life in East Hartford. Other poets 
were known for one or two nationally popular verses. Emma Hart Wil- 
lard of Berlin (1787-1870), writer of school-books, is remembered for 
'Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep.' 'Marching Through Georgia' and 
that theme song of the temperance movement 'Father, Dear Father, 
Come Home With Me Now, the Clock in the Steeple Strikes Twelve/ 
both came from the pen of the talented composer Henry Clay Work. 

Most portentous, summing up a whole school of feeling in her obit- 



io8 Connecticut: The General Background 

uaries and elegiac verses was Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865), 
'The Sweet Singer of Hartford.' Writing for a sympathetic, even enthu- 
siastic audience, she produced fifty-nine volumes of lachrymose verbosity. 
The works of this 'American Mrs. Hemans' are now literary curiosities 
that serve as an excellent index to the taste of a generation to which 
a cloying sentimentality was endearing and which reveled in polite 
periphrasis. 

Late in the nineteenth century, Mrs. Sigourney found a successor to 
her popularity in Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1855-1919), who lived for twenty 
years in a cottage at Short Beach. But sentiment had undergone a start- 
ling reversal, and Mrs. Wilcox's philosophy was more cheerful, as ex- 
pressed in her notable lines, 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, 
and you weep alone.' It was also more pungent and Outspoken, witness 
her best-known title, 'Poems of Passion.' The twentieth century was now 
imminent. 

Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833-1908) was born in Hartford, and 
after leaving college entered the newspaper field, owning and editing 
at different times the Norwich Tribune and the Mountain County Herald 
of Winsted. Then, while still a young man, he left the State, later be- 
coming nationally known as poet, critic, and editor. 

Although Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), of New Haven and Litchfield, 
achieved some fame as a clergyman and writer, at least two of his thirteen 
children were far more distinguished. These two were Henry Ward 
Beecher (1813-87) and Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-96). Both were 
born at Litchfield, and both left the State with their family at an early age. 
After the publication of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' in 1852, Mrs. Stowe came 
to Hartford, where she had attended school as a girl; and here she built 
a large home which, along with a later and more permanent residence in 
Florida, she occupied at intervals until her death. In 'Poganuc People' 
she has described her early childhood in Connecticut; while the New 
England scene and character in general are sympathetically portrayed 
in such other of her later books as ' The Minister's Wooing ' and ' Old town 
People.' 

Close in spirit to these later books by Mrs. Stowe, as well as to the 
writings of Mary E. Wilkins and Sarah Orne Jewett, are the New England 
stories of Rose Terry Cooke (1827-92), of West Hartford. These appeared 
in The Atlantic Monthly for many years, beginning in 1861. Miss Cooke 
also wrote some poetry of distinction. 

The novels, poems, and narratives of outdoor life written by Theodore 
Winthrop (1828-61) were once popular but are now little read. His 



Literature 109 



western novel, 'John Brent,' anticipated the frontier fiction of Bret 
Harte. Winthrop was born in New Haven, and studied at Yale. After 
more than a decade of wanderings outside the State, he was killed at the 
battle of Great Bethel, early in the Civil War. 

More enduring has been the reputation of Donald G. Mitchell (1822- 
1908), who under the pen-name of 'Ik Marvel' wrote those delicate 
fantasies, 'The Reveries of a Bachelor' and 'Dream Life,' as well as a 
number of other books. Mitchell's later years were spent in Virgilian 
retirement on his estate near New Haven, commemorated in 'My Farm 
at Edgewood.' 

The most lovable as well as the most popular figure in Connecticut's 
literary annals is Samuel L. Clemens (1835-1910), known the world 
over as Mark Twain. After wandering through the middle and far West 
and spending a year abroad, Clemens settled down in Hartford soon 
after his marriage in 1870, and during his thirty years' residence here 
he wrote most of the books upon which his fame chiefly rests, including 
'Tom Sawyer' and ' Huckleberry Finn.' A number of these books were 
originally issued by a Hartford house, the American Publishing Company, 
which also published (in 1900) the first collected edition of his works. 

Soon after coming to Hartford, Clemens collaborated with his friend 
and neighbor, Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900), in his only piece of 
contemporary fiction, 'The Gilded Age.' Warner, a brilliant editor and 
writer, is best remembered for the leisurely charm and keen understanding 
of human nature embodied in such books as 'Backlog Studies,' 'My 
Summer in a Garden,' and 'Being a Boy.' 

Among the later writers of Connecticut, a prominent place belongs to 
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), poet, sociologist, and ardent 
champion of a freer and fuller destiny for women: Mrs. Gilman was born 
in Hartford, and lived for many years in Norwichtown. Although best 
known, perhaps, as the biographer of Mark Twain and authorized editor 
of the latter's posthumous publications, Albert Bigelow Paine (1861- 
1937) of West Redding wrote a number of stories and sketches char- 
acterized by a quiet humor somewhat akin to that in much of Mark 
Twain's work. Arthur Colton (b. 1868) of Washington is the author of 
'The Belted Seas' and 'The Delectable Mountains.' The versatile talents 
of Lee Wilson Dodd (1879-1933) were chiefly exercised in the fields of 
fiction and the drama, though he was also an accomplished critic, lecturer, 
and teacher. Anna Hempstead Branch (1875-1937), whose family dated 
back to earliest days in New London, is known to poetry lovers through 
'The Shoes That Danced' and other books of verse. Odell Shepard, of 






no Connecticut: The General Background 

Trinity College, has written ' The Harvest of a Quiet Eye ' (descriptive of 
a walking trip in the northern part of Connecticut) , two or three volumes 
of poetry and essays, and a recently published biography of Bronson 
Alcott. 

The influence of Yale University has been notably reflected in American 
literature since the early nineteenth century. Yale's list of alumni in- 
cludes many of the country's best known writers, from James Fenimore 
Cooper to Stephen Vincent Benet, Thornton Wilder, and Sinclair 
Lewis; and numerous members of its faculty have made important con- 
tributions to literature and literary scholarship. Prominent among this 
latter group in recent years have been Wilbur L. Cross (now governor of 
Connecticut), author of definitive biographies of Henry Fielding and 
Laurence Sterne; and William Lyon Phelps, whose published volumes 
are chiefly popular criticism of modern poetry, fiction and drama. The 
Yale Literary Magazine, edited by undergraduates of the university, dates 
from 1836 and is now the oldest surviving monthly in this country. The 
Yale Review, which has appeared under its present name since 1892 and 
under the editorship of Wilbur L. Cross since 1911, is one of the world's 
most distinguished quarterlies. Finally, in this general connection, a 
word must be said about the Yale University Press, which has won an 
enviable reputation in the American publishing field for combining 
scholarly content with distinguished mechanical form in its output. 

Connecticut has provided the setting or background for numerous 
books of fiction, among them (to mention only a few relatively recent 
examples) Sinclair Lewis's 'Work of Art/ Edna Ferber's 'American 
Beauty,' Lee Wilson Dodd's 'The Book of Susan,' J. G. Cozzens's 'The 
Last Adam,' and Wayland Williams's 'Family.' 






CONNECTICUT FIRSTS 



1636 First American naval battle (of a sort) is fought off New London. 

1639 First constitutional document to set forth the principle that 'the founda- 
tion of authority is in the free consent of the people ' the so-called 
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is adopted at Hartford. 

1640 First American public election in defiance of the Royal Courts is held at 
Wethersfield. 

1647 First concession or license for off-shore whaling is issued at Hartford. 
1662 First American ship in West India trade is 'The Tryall' of Wethersfield. 
1670 First survey is made for first turnpike to be completed in America from 
Norwich to New London. 

1680 First American carding mill is established at Wethersfield. 

1724 First American portable house is brought to Windsor from Plymouth. 

1727 First copper coins in America are minted by Samuel Higley, a blacksmith 

of Simsbury. Higley 's coins were marked: 'I am good copper. Value me 

as you will.' 

1 738 First theological seminary in America is organized by Rev. Joseph Bellamy 
at Bethlehem. 

1740 First American tinware is manufactured by Edward Pattison and his 
brother in Berlin. 

1744 First half-ton of American-made steel is produced by Samuel Higley of 

Simsbury. 

1750 First American hat factory is established at Wethersfield. 
1765 First oil mill in New England is built at Leesville. 

1769 First type foundry in America is established at New Haven by Abel 
Buell. 

1774 First 'declaration of freedom' from British Crown is adopted by town of 
Mansfield 21 months before adoption of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 

1775 First American warship, the 'Oliver Cromwell,' 16 guns, is built at Essex. 
First Federal prison is established at East Granby. 

First pins manufactured in America under bounty are made by Leonard 
Chester at Wethersfield. 

First submarine torpedo boat ever used in naval warfare is invented by 
Daniel Bushnell of Westbrook; its first action was against the British 
flagship 'Eagle' in New York Harbor, Sept. 6, 1776. 

1779 First British prize, the sloop 'Hero,' is captured by the Wethersfield 
sloop 'Enterprise.' 

1780 First fur hat factory in America is conducted by Zadock Benedict of 
Danbury. 



112 Connecticut: The General Background 

1782 First law school in America is organized at Litchfield by Judge Tapping 
Reeve. 

1783 First map of the United States engraved in America is produced by Abel 
Buell in New Haven. 

1785 First reports of law cases to be printed in America compiled by Colonel 

Ephraim Kirby of Litchneld, include the years 1785-88. 
1787 First American boat propelled by steam, using paddle-wheels, oars, and 

screws, is perfected by John Fitch of South Windsor. 
1789 First American juvenile publication, 'The Children's Magazine/ is 

published in Hartford. 
1794 First cotton gin is patented by Eli Whitney, a native of Connecticut, and 

later first manufactured in New Haven. 
1796 First American cook book, written by Amelia Simmons, is published in 

Hartford (republished 1937). 
1799 First United States government contract for pistols is awarded to Simeon 

North of Middletown. 

1801 First American cigars, known as 'long nines,' are made by Mrs. Prout of 
South Windsor. 

1802 First commercial ivory combs are made by Julius Pratt of Essex. 

First merino sheep in America are imported by Gen. David Humphreys 

of Derby. 

First packaged garden seeds to be sold in America are marketed by the 

Enfield Shaker Colony. 

First standardized interchangeable clock movements are produced by 

Eli Terry at Plymouth (Todd Hollow). 

1803 First tax-supported town library in America is organized at Salisbury. 
1806 First American patent for welding iron to steel is taken out by Daniel 

Pettibone of Roxbury. 

First factory town in America is established by Gen. David Humphreys 

at Seymour. 

1809 First United States patent to a woman is issued to Mary Kies of South 
Killingly for a silk-and-straw weaving machine. 

1810 First double-twist augers are made by Walter French of Seymour. 
First 'lookout' tower for public use in the United States is built on Talcott 
Mountain by Dan Wadsworth. 

First pineapple cheese is made and patented by Lewis N. Norton of 
Goshen. 

1812 First use of steam power for manufacturing is made in plant of Middle- 
town Woolen Manufacturing Company. 

1813 First adoption of standardized production methods is made by Simeon 
North at his arms factory in Middletown. 

First American-made steel fish hooks are produced by Eb Jenks of Cole- 
brook. 

First manufacturers' agreement to limit prices and regulate trade practices 
is made by tin manufacturers of Meriden 120 years before the N.R.A. 
(National Recovery Act). 

First patent for 'elastic steel-wire teeth for cotton and wool carding' is 
granted to Eb Jenks of Colebrook. 



Connecticut Firsts 113 



1814 First 'shelf clock' is patented by Eli Terry of Thomaston. 

1816 First fanning mill for separating chaff from grain is patented by Benjamin 
D. Beecher of Cheshire. 

1817 First American school for education of the deaf is founded at Hartford. 

1818 First 'knocked-down' furniture is produced by Lambert H. Hitchcock of 
Riverton, who shipped his famous chairs, etc., in separate parts, to be 
assembled after delivery. 

First successful American milling machine is invented by Eli Whitney, 
for use in his New Haven gun shops. 

1819 First silk thread wound from the cocoon by water-power is produced at 
Mansfield. 

1820 First American plows are manufactured at Wethersfield. 

1822 First machine for sawing ivory is invented by John B. Collins of Hartford, 
and used by the Cheney family at Ivoryton. 

1824 First American industrial school is established at Derby by Josiah Hoi- 
brook and the Reverend Truman Coe. 

1826 First axes commercially manufactured in America are made by the Collins 
Company of Collinsville. 

1828 First American carpet mill is established at Thompsonville. 

1829 First double reflecting tin baker is invented by Isaac Dobson of Farming- 
ton. 

First Fourdrinier paper-making machine in America is produced by 
Phelps & Stafford of Windham. 

1830 First American hoopskirts are made at Derby. 

First scroll lathe chuck in America is patented by Simon Fairman of 
West Stafford. 

1831 First discovery of laws of cyclonic storms is made by William Redfield of 
Cromwell. 

First drawn-brass pipe and wire in America are made by Israel Holmes of 

Waterbury. 

First English brass workers are imported by Naugatuck Valley employers 

and landed in wooden casks from a ship anchored off the coast. 

1832 First machine producing pins in one operation is invented by Thomas 
Ireland Howe of Derby. 

1833 First American coffee mill is patented by Amini Clark of Meriden. 
First engine lathe in America is built by Aaron Kilbourn of New Haven 
and Killingworth. 

1834 First friction matches in America are made at Coe Town (now Beacon 
Falls) by Thomas Sanford, who later sold his formula for $10. 

First spun-brass kettles in America are made by Israel Coe of Wolcott- 
ville (now Torrington). 

1835 First 'German silver' spoons in America are made by Robert Wallace of 
Wallingford. 

1836 First American tacks are made in Derby. 

First hook and eye fasteners are made by Israel Holmes of Waterbury. 
First safety fuse for blasting is made by Ensign Bickford of Granby. 



114 Connecticut: The General Background 

1837 First American paper made of straw is produced by Smith and Bassett of 
Seymour. 

1839 First successful process for vulcanizing rubber is discovered by Charles 
Goodyear of Naugatuck. 

1840 First American shaving soap is made by J. B. Williams of Glastonbury. 
First silver-plated spoons in America are made by W. B. Cowles of 
1 Spoonville,' East Granby. 

First machine for threading bolts is invented by Barnes and Rugg of 
Marion (town of Southington). 

1844 First use of nitrous oxide gas as an anesthetic is made by Dr. Horace 
Wells of Hartford. 

1845 First pocket cutlery is produced in this country by Holley Manufacturing 
Company of Salisbury. 

First sewing machine is invented by Elias Howe of New Hartford. 

1846 First American table cutlery is manufactured by the Meriden Cutlery 
Company. 

1847 First collegiate agricultural experiment station in America is established 
by Yale University. 

1848 First cylinder lock is invented by Linus Yale of Stamford. 

1849 First spool- wound silk thread is produced by Gen. Merritt Heminway of 
Watertown (silk was previously sold in skeins). 

1850 First American 'derby' hat is made at South Norwalk by James Knapp. 

1852 First American machine for making wood type is perfected by Edwin 
Allen of South Windham. 

1853 First American trade association, the American Brass Association, is 
formed by Naugatuck Valley manufacturers. 

1854 First spool-wound linen thread in America is made by Willimantic 
Linen Company. 

1856 First commercially successful condensed milk is produced by Gail Borden 
in Torrington. 

1858 First air-tight fruit jar with spring-fastened glass top is patented by 
W. W. Lyman of Meriden. 

First successful stone crusher is invented by Eli Whitney Blake, revolu- 
tionizing road-building. 
First burners for kerosene oil are manufactured at Meriden. 

1860 First American sailing ship to beat the 'Flying Cloud's' record on the 
New York-San Francisco run is built at Mystic. This ship was the 
'Andrew Jackson,' a modified clipper, which made the run in 89 days and 
4 hours. 

1861 First American degree of Doctor of Philosophy is conferred by Yale 
University. 

First camp for boys in America, the Gunn Camp, is organized at Wash- 
ington. 

1862 First corrugated spring for railway cars is invented by Carlos French of 
Seymour. 

First wheeled horse-rake with lever is patented by Daley and Treat of 
Morris. 



Connecticut Firsts 115 



1863 First American accident insurance is issued to James Bolter of Hartford. 
First Civil War monument is erected in Berlin (Kensington Village). 

1864 First Fine Arts Department in an American university is opened at Yale. 

1866 First American boiler insurance is written in Hartford. 

First commercial center-fire cartridge is developed by Union Metallic 
Cartridge Company at Bridgeport. 

First 'horseless carriage,' steam propelled, is made by Alonzo House of 
Bridgeport. 

First machine-made horseshoe nail is produced at Seymour, under patent 
of Thaddeus Fowler. 

First wire-cutting machine and automatic straightener for pins (revolu- 
tionizing the pin-making industry) are invented by John Adt of Torring- 
ton. 

1867 First American-made button hooks are manufactured by Mark Louns- 
bury and Peter Gabriel in Seymour. 

1870 First all-metal woodcutting plane is produced at the Stanley Works in 
New Britain. 

1876 First automatic turret lathe for cutting screws is made by Christopher 
M. Spencer of Hartford. 

First permanent polish for copper is patented by Thomas James of New 
Haven. 

1877 First bicycle factory in America is established at Hartford. 

1878 First commercial telephone switchboard is installed at New Haven. 
1880 First American hail insurance is written March 24 by Tobacco Growers 

Mutual Insurance Company of North Canaan. 

First American-made mohair plush is produced at Seymour by John H. 

Tingue. 

1884 First American braided silk fish-lines are made by Elisha J. Martin of 
Rockville. 

1885 First standard measuring machine, accurate to one-hundred-thousandth 
of an inch, is perfected by Pratt & Whitney Company of Hartford. 

1886 First American telescopic steel fishing rod is invented by Everett Horton, 
a Bristol mechanic, whose purpose was to develop a rod that could be 
hidden under his coat when he went fishing on the Sabbath. 

1888 First electric trolley car in New England makes its first run in Derby. 
1891 First American trading stamps are introduced by Sperry and Hutchinson 
of Bridgeport. 

1894 First even-keel submarine is developed by Simon Lake of Milford. 
First machine for dipping wooden matches is invented by Ebenezer 
Beecher of New Haven. 

1895 First mechanical player-piano is produced by H. K. Wilcox in Meriden. 

1898 First American automobile insurance is written in Hartford. 

1899 First 'tackling dummy' for football practice is devised by Amos Alonzo 
Stagg at Yale University. 

1901 First American automobile legislation ('speed limit, 12 miles per hour, 
8 miles per hour in city ') is enacted at Hartford. 

First non-sinkable lifeboat is invented and built by the Holmes Ship- 
building Company on Mystic River. 



1 1 6 Connecticut : The General Background 

1909 First successful gun 'silencer' is invented by Hiram Percy Maxim of 
Hartford. 

1910 First steel golf-club shafts in America are made at Bristol. 

1912 First use of Diesel engine for submarines is made by New London Ship 
and Engine Company of Groton. 

1920 First acidophilus milk is produced at Fairlea Farms in Orange. 

1923 First mercury turbine is operated by the Hartford Electric Light Com- 
pany. 

1936 First accurate aerial map of any State is made of Connecticut 13 X 18 
feet in size, portraying an area of 5004 square miles. 






II. MAIN STREET AND 
' VILLAGE GREEN 






All Historic Houses mentioned as Points of Interest in the City 
Tours which follow are private unless otherwise specified. 



BRIDGEPORT 



City: Alt. 20, pop. 146,716, sett. 1639, incorp. 1836. 

Railroad Stations: N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R., cor. Fairfield Ave. (US 1) and Water St. 

Airports: Bridgeport Airport, Main St., Stratford, 5 miles east from center of 

Bridgeport on US 1; 30 min. by motor car. Fare by taxi, $1.50. 

Taxis: 30^ first mile; 10^ each additional third. 

Piers: Ferries to Port Jefferson, L.I., 75^ one way, and steamer to New York, 

$1.00 weekdays and $1.50 Sundays and holidays (May 30 to Labor Day), 

Stratford Ave. Wharf, Water St. 

Accommodations: Two hotels in central area. 

Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 2d floor; Connecticut Motor Club, 
Stratfield Hotel, Main St.; Travellers' Aid, R.R. Station. 

Swimming: Municipal Pool, Pleasure Beach Park, fee 10^ weekdays, 20f Sun- 
days and holidays. Public beach at Seaside Park. 

Amusement Parks: Pleasure Beach, foot of Sea view Ave.; bathing beach, pool 
and dance hall; concessions. 

BRIDGEPORT spreads over flat country at the mouth of the Pe- 
quonnock River on Long Island Sound. The great concentration of 
industry within a comparatively few years has given the city an ap- 
pearance of having grown 'without a plan or in spite of one.' 

The railroad, elevated on an embankment faced with Roxbury granite, 
crosses the city, skirting the section where huge manufacturing plants, 
covering acre after acre, produce munitions and tools, automatic ma- 
chinery and equipment essential to factories and homes throughout the 
country. West from the old-fashioned railroad station is the cramped 
and congested shopping center ; but in the outskirts, landscaped residential 
sections, more than one thousand acres of public parks, and a shore 
drive of about three miles offer compensations in unusually beautiful 
vistas of woodland and sea. Many of the streets are lined with stately 
elms; obsolete trolley tracks in the center of the principal arteries of 
traffic have been replaced by strips of green lawn that furnish a touch of 
color and serve as safety zones. 

Many races are represented in Bridgeport, a number of whom 
retain their native customs and religions. Only twenty-five per cent of 
the population is of full native parentage. Among the heterogeneous 
foreign group are Italians, Czechs, Hungarians, and Poles, numerically 
important in the order named. 

Although six hundred Pequonnock Indians once lived on a reservation 
on Golden Hill, in the heart of the city, little of the past is evident in 
Bridgeport. The Indians bartered most of their land for '30 bushels of 
Indian corn and 3 pounds worth of blankets,' and in 1842 their remain- 






120 Main Street and Village Green 

ing eight acres were sold to pay accrued taxes and purchase quarters 
for them in Trumbull, where their descendants, 'Rising Star' and * George 
Sherman/ live on one acre of land. 

The community was first settled in 1639 by residents of the older settle- 
ments of Fairfield and Stratford, and was known as Newfield, later as 
Stratfield, until 1800, when the area was extended by the General 
Assembly and the borough of Bridgeport was incorporated and named 
for the first drawbridge erected over the Pequonnock River. In 1821, 
it was incorporated as a town and by 1836 had become a city. Every 
census from 1800 to 1930 has shown an increase of at least forty per cent. 
Like so many New England seaport towns, Bridgeport had a lusty 
whaling trade, but interest in seafaring declined when the opening of the 
railroad in 1840 brought with it an industrial boom. 
Among the earlier manufacturing ventures were the production of hats, 
pewter ware, carriages, saddlery, furniture, and shirts. In 1856, the 
Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company, makers of sewing machines, 
moved here from Watertown, and became the first of the many nationally 
important industries established in the city. Carriage-making, the most 
colorful of the nineteenth-century industries, was climaxed in 1894-95 
by the building of the first 'horseless carriage,' equipped with hard rubber 
tires and a self-starter. Unfortunately, the exhaust made the wagon an 
insufferable hot box, so it was regretfully stored in a shed behind the 
Armstrong plant where it was made. 

In 1902, close on the heels of the last carriage-making industries, the 
Locomobile Company produced one of the early American automobiles 
propelled by gasoline, which combined an all-steel frame, sliding-gear 
transmission, and a vertical cylinder motor at the front beneath a hood, 
all of which are features of modern automobile design. The company 
produced a limited quantity of high-quality cars until 1929. 

First gramophones in America were produced here by the American 
Gramophone Co., later the Columbia Phonograph Co., Inc. 

Today almost five hundred manufacturing firms, many with a large 
export trade, produce ammunition and firearms, automatic machinery, 
nuts, bolts and screws, brass products, brake linings, corsets, chains, 
electrical and pharmaceutical supplies, hardware, marine cables and 
engines, machinery, phonograph records, plumbing supplies, rubber 
goods, sewing machines, scissors, typewriters, steel products, and toys. 

Bridgeport does not depend upon any one class of manufactured goods 
for its prosperity. Probably no city in the United States includes more 
diversified industries. Although, like other manufacturing cities, it was 
seriously affected by post-war deflation, statistics show that the value 
of the city's annual production for the year 1936 exceeded its pre-war 
rate by 102 per cent. In 1933, the city elected a Socialist mayor and 
board of aldermen, and has twice since re-elected the Socialist ticket. 



Bridgeport 121 



TOUR 1 

W. from Mill Pond Park on North Ave. (US \A). 

1. The Pixlee Tavern (private), 590 North Ave., SW. of the Park, is a 
remodeled salt-box house, dating from 1700, now covered with yellow 
stucco. General Washington is believed to have stopped en route to 
Cambridge in 1775, thus giving a local habitation to a well-known 
apocryphal story. It concerns a ruse that he employed to secure his 
supper at the tavern when he arrived late one night unaccompanied and 
found every place at the table occupied. The guests failed to recognize 
the leader of the Continental troops and continued to munch savory 
fried oysters, increasing the appetite of the hungry general. From his 
post beside the fireplace, he casually remarked, * Do any of you gentle- 
men realize that horses are very fond of oysters?' In the excitement of 
the lively discussion which followed, one guest offered to wager that 
'no horse ever lived that would eat oysters.' Immediately Washington 
suggested, 'Very well. Why not try them on my horse?' As soon as 
the excited guests started for the barn, Washington quietly found a 
place at the table. At the edge of the Park across the street, the Wash- 
ington Elm, named in honor of his visit, is said to be from 250 to 300 
years old. 

2. Tom Thumb House (private), 956 North Ave. at Main St., is the house 
most commonly associated with P. T. Barnum's midget attraction, Gen- 
eral Tom Thumb (Charles S. Stratton). It is a large square frame 
dwelling built by the General's father, Sherwood S. Stratton in 1855, 
but since converted into apartments and shops. To this home, fitted 



BRIDGEPORT. POINTS OF INTEREST 

1. Pixlee Tavern 16. Beardsley Park 

2. Tom Thumb House 17. American Fabrics Company 

3. Captain Abijah Sterling House 18. Stanley Works 

4. Broth well Beach House 19. John Brooks House 

5. Clinton Park 20. General Electric Plant 

6. Mountain Grove Cemetery 21. Remington Arms Company 

7. Nathaniel Wheeler Fountain 22. Saltex Looms, Inc. 

8. United Congregational Church 23. Bridgeport Brass Company 

9. Public Library 24. Singer Manufacturing Company 

10. City Hall 25. Underwood Elliott Fisher Company 

11. Barnum Institute of Science and 26. Warner Brothers Company 

History 27. Bryant Electric Company 

12. Seaside Park 28. Raybestos Division 

13. Court Marina 29. Harvey Hubbell, Inc. 

14. Fayerweather's Island 30. Billiard Company 

15. Site of a Revolutionary Fort 



124 Main Street and Village Green 

for his use with miniature furnishings, Tom Thumb brought his tiny 
bride, Lavinia Bump Warren, after their spectacular wedding in New 
York, in 1863. 

3. The Captain Abijah Sterling House (private), 1040 North Ave., a 
salt-box erected about 1760, was the boyhood home of General Tom 
Thumb. 

4. The Broth-well Beach Home (private),^ SW. cor. North and Park 
Aves., an early 19th-century building, with a glass fan-light over the 
front door, leaded in the rare eagle design, was built around, or to re- 
place a tavern erected by Samuel Cable in 1759. 

5. Clinton Park, cor. North and Brooklawn Aves., was used as a military 
training ground during the Revolutionary War, and later, during the 
Civil War. Here a wrestling match took place between Captain John 
Sherwood and an Indian from Golden Hill who had challenged the white 
men to a contest. Captain Sherwood, dressed in ordinary citizen's 
attire, put his hands upon the naked, well-oiled shoulders of the savage, 
and laid him flat on his back, 'not caring to soften the violence of his 
fall/ 

L. from North Ave. on Dewey St. 

6. In Mountain Grove Cemetery, Dewey St., 140 acres of landscaped 
grounds planted with large, stately oaks, are the Graves of Phineas T. 
Barnum (1810-91) and Tom. Thumb. The former's burial-place, marked 
by an imposing monument, is directly across from that of Tom Thumb, 
whose memorial, a 4o-foot shaft in Italian marble surmounted by a life- 
size statue of the famous midget, is simply inscribed ' Charles S. Stratton, 
Died July 15, 1883, aged 45 years, 6 mos., n d.' Buried by his side, in 
an infant's casket, is the body of his wife, who survived him by more than 
30 years, and whose small headstone is marked with the single word 
1 Wife.' 

Near-by, a small, plain stone indicates the Grave of Fanny J. Crosby 
(1820-1915), hymn-writer and poet, who lost her sight when she was 
six weeks old. 



TOUR 2 

S.from North Ave. (US I A) on Park Ave. 

7. The Nathaniel Wheeler Fountain, at the intersection of Park and 
Fairfield Aves., opposite St. John's Episcopal Church, is a memorial 
designed by Gutzon Borglum to one of Bridgeport's foremost 19th- 
century industrialists and philanthropists. As organizer of the Wheeler 
and Wilson Manufacturing Company (see below), Wheeler was a pioneer 
in the development and promotion of the sewing machine. 
L. from Park Ave. on State St. 



Bridgeport 125 



8. The United Congregational Church (1926), State St., SW. cor. Park 
Ave. (R), designed by Allen and Collens, is a striking modern brick 
version of the early 19th-century church architecture. It is exceptionally 
broad and has an uncommonly tall and graceful spire. Inside, eclectic 
influences prevail: the architectural melting pot is seen in the tall Ro- 
manesque columns, the Gothic hammer- vault roofing, and the luxurious 
mahogany pews. 

9. In the Public Library (open weekdays 9-9.30) (1925), SW. cor. State 
and Broad Sts., a four-story brick and limestone building designed by 
Frederick J. Dixon, is the Bishop Room (open weekdays, 9-6), an historical 
museum. Included among its permanent exhibits of old books, manu- 
scripts, deeds, maps, newspapers, and Connecticut almanacs, are the 
Americana collections of the Fairfield County and Bridgeport Historical 
Societies. 

10. The City Hall, NE. cor. State and Broad Sts., originally a two- 
story, sandstone building with heavy, fluted Ionic columns in the style 
of the Greek Revival, erected in 1854-55 and enlarged and remodeled 
by Joseph W. Northrop in 1905, is historically notable as the scene of 
an address by President Lincoln on March 10, 1860, an event commem- 
orated by a bronze tablet on the State St, front. Bridgeport news- 
papers of Civil War days were strenuously antagonistic to the President. 
The Bridgeport Farmer wrote 

* Give us a few more months [to end the Civil War], a few hundred thousand 
more men, a few hundred millions more of money and we will finish up the 
war,' say Lincoln and his shoddy crew. 

Do not be deceived by these fake and plausible stories the party in 
power cannot, neither does it intend to bring the war to a conclusion. 

R. from State St. on Main St. 

11. The Barnum Institute of Science and History (open Mon., Wed., Fri., 
Sat., 2-5, free), 805 Main St., occupies the third floor of the mosque- 
like building of yellow brick erected about 1890 by Barnum. Among the 
articles exhibited here, those of special interest are an Egyptian mummy, 
some of the personal effects of Tom Thumb, and collections of old house- 
hold utensils, army guns and swords, and mounted birds. 

Barnum, Bridgeport's most beloved citizen, may be known to the world 
as the founder of 'The Greatest Show on Earth,' but to this city which 
became his home, he was an empire-builder and a philanthropist. While 
the world remembers him as the great showman who packed circus 
tents with promises of such marvels as 'a cherry-colored cat,' and lived 
up to the promise, though not to the expectation, by producing an 
ordinary black pussy, Bridgeport remembers him as a staunch and pat- 
riotic citizen. Through his effort many industries established their 
plants here; when the city needed a harbor, Barnum went to Washington 
and secured the necessary appropriation for dredging; when the railroad 
failed to give proper service, Barnum forced improvements; he established 
parks and an improved water supply, and served the city as both mayor 



126 Main Street and Village Green 

and representative to the Assembly. When Barnum's likeness appeared 
on the city's centennial half-dollar in 1936, the press of the nation laughed 
at the idea that the man who has been credited with the phrase, ' Every- 
body likes to be humbugged/ should be so honored on a United States 
coin, but Bridgeport has not forgotten that, but for Barnum's efforts, 
the city might have been little more than a wide place in the road. 
Born in Bethel, July 5, 1810, Barnum tried storekeeping with little 
success. After failure as a lottery agent, Barnum started the Herald of 
Freedom, a weekly newspaper, but was fined and jailed for his out- 
spoken criticism of the contemporary scene. 

Barnum drifted to New York with a cattle drover and then on to Phil- 
adelphia where he purchased an old Negress, Joyce Heth, who was 
reputed to be 160 years of age and the former nurse of George Washing- 
ton. With the Negress as the principal sideshow, Barnum formed a 
company, writing his own advertising and touring America. When 
Joyce died in 1836, her age was proved to be only 70, but Barnum's 
company continued its tour until 1839. The youthful showman again 
failed, but in 1841 he purchased Scudder's American Museum in New 
York. His discovery of Charles Stratton, the two-foot son of Bridgeport 
parents, led to the grand European tour of the dwarf, 'General Tom 
Thumb,' who was exhibited before Queen Victoria and European royalty. 
In 1850, Barnum sponsored the American tour of Jenny Lind, giving the 
* Swedish Nightingale' a contract that called for a salary of $1000 per 
night for 150 nights, plus all expenses. 

Through an amalgamation of circus, menagerie, and museum of various 
freaks Barnum formed 'The Greatest Show on Earth' (1871). Military 
men of many nations copied much of Barnum's technique in handling 
baggage, materials, men, and animals. 

Although Barnum never had a formal education, he wrote several books 
including 'The Humbugs of the World' (1865), 'Struggles and Triumphs' 
(1869), and his 'Autobiography' (1854 and later editions). Tales are 
told of his insistence that 'Barnum' and not 'Webster' should be the 
authority for the spelling of the names on animal cages. No train passed 
the winter quarters of his circus in Bridgeport without passengers agape 
at Barnum's ' Elephantine Agriculture ' a man in Oriental costume 
mounted on an elephant, plowing a field beside the track. 

P. T. Bamum died on April 7, 1891. 

12. Seaside Park, end of Main St., on the Sound, is a beautiful 2io-acre 
tract, the first land for which was donated to the city in 1865 by P. T. 
Barnum. Entered through the imposing Perry Memorial Arch and 
traversed by Marine Boulevard, a scenic roadway extending two and 
one-half miles along the sea wall, the park provides excellent facilities 
for bathing, tennis, baseball, and soccer, with a quarter-mile cinder 
track and a half-mile trotting track. Just beyond the Memorial Arch 
is a Statue of Elias Howe, Jr., inventor of the sewing machine, who, 
although born in the town of Spencer, Massachusetts, became during 



Bridgeport 127 



his residence here, closely associated with the city's industrial and social 
development. 

During the Civil War, Howe recruited a regiment of volunteer infantry 
(iyth Connecticut) and furnished officers' mounts for the outfit. The 
statue stands on the spot where Howe, with an income of $200,000 
annual royalties, slept on a bed of straw as a private soldier. 

Although a sewing machine had previously been invented in England, 
one in France, and one by Hunt of New York, none had been successfully 
promoted, and Howe, unaware of the earlier inventions, independently 
developed a lock-stitch machine in 1844. The following year, he ob- 
tained his first patent, won a demonstration against five expert seam- 
stresses and exhibited the machine at numerous fairs. British interests 
advanced capital and Howe went to England to supervise the manu- 
facture of machines, but upon returning to America found that many 
factories had infringed upon his patents. After considerable litigation, 
his rights were established in 1854 and other manufacturers compelled 
to pay royalties to him. 

A bronze Statue of Barnum, modeled by Thomas Ball and cast by Von 
Miiller in Munich, was unveiled July 4, 1893, here by the seawall, 
overlooking the Sound. 

13. Opposite Seaside Park, in the block between Waldemere Park, 
Linden, and Park Avenues, is the massive brownstone structure called 
Court Marina, which Barnum erected in 1868-69 as ms ^ as ^ residence. 
This whole region is full of the plethoric houses of the prosperous 8o's 
and 9o's, in every conceivable mixture of architectural styles, but set 
in grounds planted with tall trees and huge rhododendrons. 

R. from the end of Main St. on Marine Boulevard. 

14. On Fayerweather's Island, off the coast at the end of Marine Boule- 
vard, connected with the mainland by a causeway, is the Old Lighthouse 
(not open), erected in 1809 and rebuilt in 1823. 

Return via Marine Boulevard to the Perry Memorial Arch; L. on Park 
Ave.; L.from Park Ave'on Fairfield Ave.; L. from Fairfield Ave. onBrewster 
St.; R. from Brewster St. on Grovers Ave. which becomes Black Rock Drive 
(no parking allowed). 

15. On Black Rock Drive was an early base for whaleboat warfare, and 
the Site of a Revolutionary Fort, erected here in 1776 on a small knoll 
known as Grovers Hill. The one gun at this fort, which announced to 
Fairfield the coming of the British in 1779, harassed the enemy con- 
tinually during the destruction and raid of the town. 

In that same year Major-General Silliman, chief of military and safety 
activities of Fairfield County, and his son were taken prisoner by the 
enemy. As the Continental forces had no captive of equal rank to ex- 
change for their General, Captains Lockwood and Hawley and a group 
of 25 volunteers set out in a whaleboat from this harbor one December 



128 Main Street and Village Green 

night. Landing on Long Island, they succeeded in capturing a notorious 
Tory, Judge Jones, for whose safe return the British relinquished their 
prisoner, General Silliman. 



TOUR 3 

E. from Main Si. on Congress St. (crossing Pequonnock River); L. from 
Congress on Noble Ave. 

1 6. Beardsley Park, Noble Ave., extending along the western bank of 
the Pequonnock River, includes 234 acres of rolling, wooded land, through 
which wind sylvan drives and paths edged with fragrant laurel, kalmia, 
azalea and holly. Within the park are a lake, a zoo, an i8-hole golf 
course, a greenhouse, tennis courts, and a reproduction of the Anne 
Hathaway Cottage (open every day, 9-5, free), set in a formal English 
garden. 

17. American Fabrics Company (open on application at office), 1069 
Connecticut Ave., is 20 times the size of the original plant established 
in 1910 by Albert Henkels, owner of a lace factory in Langerford, Ger- 
many. It was sold to the present owners by the .Alien Property Cus- 
todian during the World War. Runnings, woven labels, and many types 
of laces, such as Cluny, Valenciennes, filet and Spanish, are made here. 

1 8. Stanley Works (open on application at office), Seaview Ave., producers 
of electric tools, are the makers of the 'Magic Eye/ a photo-electric cell 
device combined with a pneumatic mechanism that opens and closes 
doors without manual aid. Among the best-known installations of the 
'Magic Eye' are the doors in the Pennsylvania Station, New York 
City, and the 500 ' roll-up ' doors at the Fort Benning barracks, Georgia. 

19. The John Brooks House (private) (1788), at 199 Pembroke St., a 
frame 'half -house' with a Dutch 'stoop' and little gambrel-roofed ell, is 
one of the few Bridgeport old houses in almost original condition. It 
retains its interior paneled walls and corner cupboards. 

20. The General Electric Plant (open on application at office), Boston Ave. 
at Bond St., has been continually enlarged since the company rented 
the plant from Remington Arms in 1915 and purchased the property 
in 1922. It employs 8000 men and women in the production of domestic 
and industrial electric equipment and supplies. Distribution head- 
quarters for the products of General Electric plants in other cities are 
maintained here. 

West of the electric plant are blocks of neat small brick houses built 
as a housing development during the days of Bridgeport's rapid growth 
during the World War. They helped to inaugurate a new movement 
to provide tasteful, comfortable homes of varied design for the workers 
who were flocking into the city. 

21. The Remington Arms Company (not open), Barnum Ave., with a 



Bridgeport 129 



plant covering 60 acres and fields for storage of explosives covering 360 
acres, owes much of its prestige to the invention of the central-fire 
cartridge. The first metallic cartridges were exploded by the pressure 
of the hammer on a hollow rim in which a small quantity of high ex- 
plosive, known as a priming mixture, was poured. This method of firing 
was unsatisfactory as the cartridge case was bent by the crimping and 
nicking of the hammer. Another method that would permit a second 
or third use of the original cartridge case was sought. On August 6, 
1866, the Union Metallic Cartridge Company of Bridgeport produced a 
successful central-fire metallic cartridge. 

This concern also pioneered in the introduction of the first paper shot- 
gun shells in the United States. 

During the World War, about two billion standard 30- '06 rifle car- 
tridges and 1,218,979,300 rounds of other ammunition were produced 
here. 

Established here in 1867 under the name Union Metallic Cartridge 
Company by the sporting-goods firm of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham 
of New York, this firm merged with the Remington Arms Company of 
Ilion, New York, in 1912, and has since been known as the Remington 
Arms Company, Inc. In 1920, the local plant commenced the production 
of pocket cutlery and soon became one of the world's largest manu- 
facturers of those products. 

In June, 1933, a controlling interest in the plant was purchased by E. I. 
du Pont de Nemours and Company. Since that time, Remington has 
purchased the patents and designs of the Parker Gun Company of 
Meriden. Although frequently associated with military munitions, 98 
per cent of the factory's output since the World War has been shotguns 
and cartridges for the sporting-goods market. 

22. Saltex Looms, Inc. (open on application at office), 217 Kossuth St., 
now owned by American interests, manufactures seal-plush, velvets and 
upholstery plushes. This firm was established as the Salts Textile 
Manufacturing Company, a branch of Sir Titus Salt, Bart. Sons and 
Company Ltd., of Bradford, England. 

23. The Bridgeport Brass Company (open on application at office), 774 E. 
Main St., fabricators of brass, was organized in 1865 to make brass 
clock movements, and later made hoopskirt frames, kerosene parlor 
lamps and the first successful kerosene bicycle lamp, exhibited at the 
World's Fair in Chicago, in 1893. An offshoot from clock movements 
was a spring motor-operated flyfan, forerunner of the modern electric 
fan; F. R. Wilmot, superintendent, designed a crude micrometer, and 
the company also made incandescent lamp sockets. Bridgeport Brass 
Company produced the first copper wire strung between New York and 
Boston, made many telephonic improvements, features a 'hard-drawn 
wire,' various alloys of high tensile strength, and was a pioneer in the 
adaptation of the electric furnace to the brass industry. Duronze, en- 
gravers plates, metal bellows for temperature control, galley plates, 



130 Main Street and Village Green 

tubing, phono-electric trolley wire and sheet brass are among the firm's 
products. 

24. The Singer Manufacturing Company (open on application at office), 
803 E. Washington Ave., now factory No. 10 of the international concern 
of that name, which produces sewing machines for factory use, was 
originally the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company. Organized 
in 1853 in Watertown, Connecticut, and moved to Bridgeport in 1856, 
the early company manufactured a machine invented by Allen B. Wilson 
of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1847. Features of the machine were a 
curved, eye-pointed needle, a two-pointed shuttle, which made a stitch 
at each forward and backward motion, and a two-motion 'feed.' The 
sewing machine which had been previously invented by Howe was ham- 
pered by a 'feed ' single-motion which did not allow the operator to change 
the direction of the seam. Wilson's patent of 1850 made it possible for 
the operator to sew seams of any length at any desired angle. A 'four- 
motion feed' was patented by Wilson in 1854. Later, to avoid litiga- 
tion, a stationary bobbin was introduced. The concern was taken over 
by the Singer Company in 1905. The local plant has not produced ma- 
chines for household use for the last 25 years. 

25. Underwood Elliott Fisher Company (open on application at office), 
575 Broad St., the outgrowth of numerous mergers, produces counting, 
billing, and adding machines. More than 15,000 machine parts of 
different design, requiring 150,000 separate operations, are produced 
here. Among the many accounting machines is one used by automo- 
bile finance companies, which figures the number of payments to be 
made, the number paid, and the balance due. 

26. Warner Brothers Company (open on application at office), 325 La- 
fayette St., with branches in London, Paris, Hamburg, Brussels, Barce- 
lona, Cape Town, Toronto and Mexico City, has been manufacturing 
corsets in Bridgeport since 1876. Among the articles of corsetry 
first made here are: the brassiere, the 'corselette,' and the 'two-way 
stretch' Lastex woven-fabric garments. 

27. The Bryant Electric Company (open on application at office}, 1421 
State St., the largest single plant in the world devoted exclusively to 
the production of wiring devices, began in a rented loft-workshop in 
1889. More than 3000 wiring devices, including plural plugs and switches 
of all types, are manufactured here. 

28. The Raybestos Division of the Raybestos-Manhattan Company, at 
1427 Railroad Ave. (open on application at office), manufacturers of 
brake linings and clutch facings, was the firm which contributed a signifi- 
cant development in automobile brake design when it manufactured 
Raybestos brake lining for the early ' Duplex ' brake. 

29. Harvey Hubbell, Inc. (open on application at office), covering two 
city blocks at Railroad Ave., State St., and Fairfield Ave., producers of 
wiring devices and machine screws, has to its credit the invention of the 
pull-socket electric light fixture, the separable attachment plug, the 



Danbury 131 



T-slotted plug, and a toggle switch. Many of the present-day standards 
in electrical equipment are the result of wiring devices originated in this 
plant. 

30. Bullard Company (open on application at office), 286 Canfield Ave., 
produces automatic machinery for an international market. E. P. 
Bullard, trained at both the Colt Armory and the Pratt and Whitney 
school of nationally known mechanics, made mechanical history as the 
advocate of the vertical boring-mill principle of metal working rather 
than of the horizontal, or lathe method. Starting as an inventor and 
refiner of the simpler forms, manufacturing a drill press in 1864, Bullard 
soon branched out into the multiple-spindle lines, and today his Mult-Au- 
Matics meet all high-speed production needs and are key production 
units in the factories of the world. Seven of the third generation of the 
Bullard family continue as executives of the firm. 



DANBURY 



City: Alt. 375, pop. 22,261, settled 1684, incorporated 1889. 

Railroad Station: Danbury Station, White St. for N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R. 
Airport: Privately owned; West Wooster St. (US 7). Sightseeing trips on Sat- 
urdays and Sundays. Five minutes by taxi from center of city; taxi fare 50^. 

Accommodations: One hotel. 

Information Service: Danbury Business Association, 288 Main St. 

Annual Events: Danbury Fair, held for one week beginning the first Saturday or 

Monday in October. 

DANBURY, known as 'the Hat City,' is a lively main-street town that 
has outgrown the main street. Summer residents from Candlewood 
Lake and workers from the hat factories rub elbows with lanky farm 
lads and farm women in gingham who bring in eggs and butter to swap 
for merchandise. Grouped about the county court-house, on irregular 
building lines, are many small shops, a few brownstone structures, 
motion-picture houses, and more green-grocer establishments than seem 
warranted in a town of this size. The city sprawls about the country- 
side like an overgrown village, seeking room for backyard gardens culti- 
vated by hatters in their spare time. Hat factories radiate from the 
sites of the water-driven mills of the older generation of hatters, and the 
residential sections are on sightly elevations which escape the swamp 
mists. 
Founded in 1684 and named for the English town, in 1687, by the 'original 






132 Main Street and Village Green 

Eight Families' who trekked from Norwalk through Sugar Hollow and 
over Pandanaram to settle 'Pahquioque,' Danbury was early nick- 
named 'Beantown,' because beans grown here were of excellent quality. 
Local wagons were quickly recognized, as they passed through other 
villages, by the bag of beans on top of their loads. According to one 
tradition, the land was purchased from the Indians for one bag of beans. 
Place names in the town such as Pinchgut, Mashing Tub Swamp, 
Squabble Hill, Cat-tail Mountain, Monkeytown, and Dodgingtown, in- 
trigue the imagination, but the stories of their origin seem to have died 
with the early settlers. 

By 1784 the community was a half-shire town with Bridgeport; it be- 
came a borough in 1822, and was chartered as a city in 1889. At the 
outbreak of the Revolution the town was an important depot for military 
supplies and consequently the objective of Tryon's Raid in 1777. The 
British, who had landed at Westport, burned and looted the town, de- 
stroying the church, nineteen houses, twenty-two stores and barns, with 
all of the military goods. Tory houses, carefully marked, were spared. 
The townsfolk hid in the surrounding hills and swamps, while the braver 
spirits shouldered squirrel rifles and shotguns and harassed the raiders. 
Horse, foot, and guns, the British retreated in good order, fighting an 
occasional rear-guard action and leaving but few dead and wounded 
along the way. Reparation for damage to private property was granted 
Danbury citizens by the distribution of 'Fire Lands' in the Western 
Reserve. 

Zadoc Benedict established the first beaver-hat factory in America here, 
in 1780, and produced three hats per day. The industry developed 
rapidly until the city led the entire country in hat production, a position 
it still maintains today. Fifty-one of the seventy mills in town are en- 
gaged in some branch of the hat industry, and many of the others in 
sidelines connected with it, such as the production of paper boxes. 

Hats are made from felts which come from the fur of the Australian 
rabbit. The hair is sheared from the skins and felted, then the felt is 
steamed and shaped. Much of Danbury's production is in these rough 
shapes. Many hats are 'taylor made,' on the Taylor hat machine which 
turns out a product comparable to the best handmade hat. 

The hatters' trade is an unhealthy one, as the workers inhale steam and 
various chemical fumes from the vats and there is some danger of mer- 
curial poisoning. The craft is highly organized, but increasing mechaniza- 
tion of the industry has resulted in unemployment. 

The Danbury Hatters' case made court history. In 1902, the Loewe 
Hat Shop declared for an open shop, the third such declaration in Dan- 
bury history. A strike followed, one of many that have occurred since 
1882. The union enforced an effective boycott, and the hatters were 
cited to appear in court to answer charges that they were violators of 
the Sherman Act. A judgment of $80,000 was handed down against the 
union. The case was ultimately carried to the United States Supreme 



Danbury 133 



Court. In the final decision, reached in 1915, the workers lost the 
verdict and 186 union hatters were forced to auction off their homes to 
satisfy a court judgment of $300,000 against them. The Loewe firm no 
longer operates in Danbury. 

Danbury has always been a ' sporting town.' Lotteries have been popular 
since 1791, when funds for a jail to replace the burned structure were 
raised by lottery. The almshouse was built in 1804 by another lottery, 
and the transfer of a hotel by lottery was recorded in 1872, an unusual 
real estate transaction but typical of the sporting spirit of Danbury. 

Harness horses, the great animals that cover the mile for 'best two out 
of three' or ' best three in five ' heats, have been bred in Danbury since 
1792. Two-year-olds trotted in the little oval of 'Danbury Pleasure 
Park,' and names like Quartermaster, Blue Bells, Quarterstretch, Sable- 
nut, Villiers, and Onward will long be remembered in the city. 

As a partial balance against the influence of trotting horses and lotteries, 
the Sandemanian Church, an offshoot of the old Presbyterian Church 
of Scotland, was active in the community. These worshipers opposed 
lotteries, observed 'love feasts' and declared for a modified community 
of goods. There is no trace of this sect in the city today. 



TOUR 1 

N. from West St. on Main St. 

1. In the Danbury Library (L), 254 Main St., at Library Place, a brick 
and stone building (1877-79) designed by Lamb and Wheeler, are the 
files of the Danbury News (founded 1865), whose editor, James Mont- 
gomery Bailey, 'The Danbury News Man,' Civil War veteran and 
columnist, brought it a national reputation by his wit and humor, in- 
creasing the paper's circulation from 1920 to 30,000 within nine months. 
The murals (1935) in the Children's Room, depicting scenes from famous 
stories for children, are the work of the artist and donor, Charles A. 
Federer of Bethel, Connecticut. 

R. from Main St. on White St.; L. from White St. on Holly's Lane which 
becomes Ellsworth Ave. 

2. In Wooster Cemetery, Ellsworth Ave., is the grave of General David 
Wooster, commander of the Danbury forces during the British raid, 
who died from wounds May 2, 1777. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monu- 
ment here, dedicated to the unknown heroes of the Civil War, was 
modeled by Solon Borglum, 1894. 

Return via White St. to Main St.; R. on Main St. 

3. The Colonel Joseph Platt Cooke House (private), 342 Main St., which 
was visited by Washington, Lafayette, and Rochambeau, was built in 
1770 and partially burned by the British seven years later. The front 



Danbury 135 



portion, with a wide dentiled cornice and pedimented portico, was added 
in 1804, and is a handsome though somewhat cramped example of the 
period which was experimenting in the use of classical motifs. 
L. from Main on Rose; R. from Rose on Rose Hill Ave. 

4. The Mallory Hat Company, covering a city block at Rose Hill Ave. 
and Franklin St. (open on application at office), was established in the 
Dusty Plain region in 1823 when Ezra Mallory produced two hats per 
day from local beaver and muskrat fur. The plant's production in 1936 
ran to 700 dozens per day, including stiff, soft, straw, and ladies' hat 
shapes. This concern attracted considerable attention at one time 
during the era of bare heads by refusing to let a bareheaded salesman 
interview its purchasing agent. 

Return on Franklin to Main; L. on Main. 

5. The Asa Hodge House (private) (about 1695), 384 Main St., a tiny 
one-and-one-half-story peak-roofed cottage with simple trim, is credited 
with being the oldest dwelling in Danbury. Unfortunately, the old stone 
chimney is gone; otherwise the house is in practically original condition. 



TOUR 2 



5. on Main Si. from West St. 

6. The County Courthouse (open weekdays 9-5) (1900), 71 Main St., 
designed by Warren Briggs, a substantial brick and granite structure 
with two tall sandstone columns, contains exhibits of costumes, antiques, 
and war relics. A tablet on a Boulder opposite this building marks the 
spot from which the first shot was fired at the British invaders. 

7. At the corner of Main and South Sts. is the Site of the Early Episcopal 
Church, from which Continental military supplies stored there were 
removed to the streets and burned by the British during their raid on 
the town in 1777. The church building was untouched because most of 
its members were ardent loyalists. It was dismantled and moved to the 
southwest corner of South St. and Mountainville Ave., where it serves 
as a tenement house. 



DANBURY. POINTS OF INTEREST 

1. Danbury Library 7. Site of the Early Episcopal Church 

2. Wooster Cemetery 8. Milestone 

3. Colonel Joseph Platt Cooke 9. Isaac Ives House 

House 10. Old Town Cemetery 

4. Mallory Hat Company n. Old Brookneld Inn 

5. Asa Hodge House 12. Sycamore Tree 

6. County Courthouse 13. Hoyt House 






136 Main Street and Village Green 

8. The Taylor's Tavern Milestone (1789), at the foot of Main St., indi- 
cates the distance to Hartford (67 m.), and to New York (68 m.). 

R. from Main on West Main; R. from West Main on Terrace Place; R. from 
Terrace Place on Chapel Place. 

9. The Isaac Ives House (private) (1780), at 8 Chapel Place, a one-and-a- 
half-story gambrel-roofed house with a two-and-a-half-story ell, which was 
moved from Main St. in 1924, has a pedimented portico and an unusual 
beehive fan-light over the door. Heavy strap hinges run the full width of 
the door, and the huge lock is original. In this house, a meeting was held, 
April 8, 1833, to establish a library for mechanics. 



TOUR 3 

W. from Main St. on West St.; L. on Division; R. on West Wooster St. 

10. In Old Town Cemetery, West Wooster St., between Winthrop Place 
and Delta Avenue, the first burial ground of the settlers, is the grave 
of Robert Sandeman, founder of the Sandemanian Sect (1764). 

11. The Old Brookfield Inn (private}, 105 West Wooster St., an excep- 
tionally long, red salt-box house with white trim, has two front doors 
and a stone chimney. It was probably built in the latter half of the i7th 
or in the early i8th century. The building was moved here from the 
Brookfield Iron Works where it served as a tavern. An additional ell 
has been built at one end, and wide, modern clapboards used on the front. 
The windows have twenty-four lights. 

12. A Sycamore Tree, across the street, is believed to be between 300 and 
400 years old. 

Return on West Wooster to Division St.; L. on Division; L. on Park Ave. 

13. The Hoyt House (private) (1750-60), 16 Park Ave., a steep-roofed, low- 
ceilinged dwelling, served as a hospital during the Revolution. Human 
skeletons have been found in the yard, the remains of those who died of 
a contagious disease and were hastily buried lest others contract the 
plague. Built on a hillside, one end of the building is one-and-a-half 
stories high, and the other is two-and-a-half stories. The dwelling has 
been remodeled, but retains its original steep roof. 



OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST 



The Danbury Fair Grounds, between Park and Lake Aves., is the scene 
of the Danbury Fair, held the first week in October, which is believed 
to attract more visitors than any other six fairs in Connecticut and is 
surpassed by only one in all New England. Exhibitors from throughout 



Fairfield 137 



the East bring their best cattle, poultry, and stock to Danbury. The 
racing card is a good one; a day is devoted to dirt- track auto racing. 
The circus atmosphere of the midway carries over to the infield directly 
across from the modern grandstand, where, to the disgust of trotting 
fans, ladies in pink tights swing from the flying trapeze and dancing 
bears perform. 

Fairs were held in Danbury as early as 1821 and the present fair grounds 
were purchased in 1871. At the Kenosia Trotting Park, on this site, in 
1860, in a historic race in which each heat was faster than the one pre- 
ceding, Flora Temple won from Widow McChree in 2.39, 2.37, 2.33. 
The Frank H. Lee Hat Company (open on application at office), on Shelter 
RockRd. and Power St., covering two city blocks, is among the largest 
of Danbury's many hat plants and has its origin in the old Glen Factory 
in Bethel. Moved to Danbury in 1890, this plant is now a leader in the 
industry, manufacturing soft and stiff hats and hatters' fur. 

Points of Interest in Environs: 

Lake Candlewood, 6.3 m., State 37 (boating, swimming, picnicking) 
(see Side Tour 4 A); Wooster Mt. State Park, 2.9 m., US 7 (see 
Tour 4). 



FAIRFIELD 



Town: Alt. 10, pop. 17,218, sett. 1639. 

Railroad Station: Foot of Sanford St. for N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R. 

Taxis: 15j first \ m. ; 5^ each additional m. 

Accommodations: One hotel; several inns. 

Information Service: Fairfield Historical Society, Post Road; Fairfield Public 

Library, Post Road; Southport Library, Old Post Road. 

Swimming: Fairfield Beach. 

FAIRFIELD, an old Colonial town on the King's Highway, has retained 
many of its early characteristics around the 'Meeting-House Green' 
and the 'Village Green' that are by-passed by US 1. The King's High- 
way swung sharply south to serve the older Fairfield; the newer Post 
Road cuts straight across the township through the modern trading 
district, avoiding the curves of the rather narrow old thoroughfare 
marked by Benjamin Franklin when he placed milestones between 
New York and Boston in 1753. 

At the business center on the modern highway, where through traffic is 
heavy twenty-four hours a day, are small neat shop buildings, a motion- 



138 Main Street and Village Green 

picture theater, a modern brick bank building of Colonial design, and a 
library. In sharp contrast is the old town center, one block south. There, 
beneath the shade of towering elms, eighteenth and nineteenth century 
mansions, set back from the road on wide lawns, border the winding 
streets about the old white Town House. 

Around the edges of the township, especially on the eastern boundary, 
industry has made use of lands not suited to residential purposes. No 
industry intrudes into the peaceful village itself, and very few of the 
local residents find employment in these plants. The total number of 
employees gainfully employed in factories in Fairfield is well under 3000. 
The manufacturing area merges with that of the sister community of 
Bridgeport, where most of the mill employees make their homes. One 
and two-thirds miles east of the center of the village are four large plants, 
with some two thousand employees: McKesson and Robbins, chemical 
plant; Handy and Harmon, smelting and refining of gold and silver; 
Max Ams Machine Company, can-making machinery; and the Porcupine 
Company, structural steel. Three quarters of a mile west of the center 
are two other important plants: the Dupont Fabrikoid Company, pro- 
ducing waterproof automobile cloth; and the United States Aluminum 
Company, a casting plant. 

Originally known to the Indians as Uncoway (corrupted to Unquowa), 
the fertile fields of this area first came to the attention of Yankee pioneers 
July 13, 1637, when a band of Connecticut troops under Roger Ludlow 
pursued the fleeing Pequots from their burned fort in Mystic (see Tour 1) 
to their doom in the Great Swamp Fight (see Tour 1). Two years later 
Ludlow returned with a party of settlers from Windsor, who were later 
joined by colonists from Watertown and Concord. 
The land was twice purchased from the Pequonnock Indians, on May n, 
1639, and on June 24, 1649; a quitclaim deed was obtained from the 
Sasco Indians, February n, 1661. Named possibly in a descriptive sense, 
or for Fairfield in Kent, the settlement soon received a patent. Antici- 
pating the confiscatory methods of Sir Edmund Andros, who claimed all 
unoccupied lands for the Crown, the territory was divided into lots which 
ran from the shore inland for about ten miles. As each settler's house 
occupied the front of a lot, the landholder maintained that the whole was 
occupied. All measurements were calculated down to the inch, showing 
an unusual accuracy for that day. A mile of common was reserved in the 
center of the township, where the village of Greenfield Hill (see side-trip 
from Tour 1) now stands. There ' train bands ' were drilled under officers 
who had fought in all the Indian Wars. Much of the original town has 
since been annexed by the neighboring towns of Westport, Weston, Red- 
ding, Easton, and Bridgeport. 

The town had a good harbor at Black Rock, now a part of Bridgeport, 
and another at Southport (see Tour 1A). Much shipping resulted from 
the agricultural development of the area. The average farmer tilled at 
least 150 acres of fertile soil, valued in the early nineteenth century at 
$100 an acre. 



Fairfield 139 



During the Revolution Captain Samuel Smedley, a Fairfield youth who 
became distinguished on the high seas, commanded a privateer at the 
age of fifteen, and by the end of the Revolution had more prize ships to 
his credit than any other privateer or naval officer. On April 20, 1777, 
when returning to port badly damaged with four prizes in tow, his ship, 
the 'Defense,' sighted the British corvette 'Cyrus.' Though already 
manning the pumps to keep his ship afloat, and with half his men sick 
with smallpox, Smedley engaged and captured the 'Cyrus.' When the 
British commander surrendered he was amazed at the youth of his victor, 
exclaiming, 'There is little hope of conquering an enemy whose very 
schoolboys are capable of valor equaling that of trained veterans of 
naval warfare.' 

On July 7, 1779, the village was burned by British raiders under General 
Tryon. Driving the militiamen back to the hills, the British looted the 
village and put it to the torch during a severe thunderstorm. About 200 
houses were destroyed and the resulting bitterness aided recruiting of 
the Continental Line. Whaleboat crews conducted reprisals upon the 
Tories of Long Island, and many Fairfield sailors sought vengeance upon 
British shipping. 

Fairfield early became a center of vigorous intellectual life. Here lived 
the ancestors of the brilliant Joel Barlow (see Literature), who studied law 
here and was admitted to the Fairfield bar. Dr. Sereno Dwight, president 
of Hamilton College, and Professor Benjamin Silliman, who has been 
called 'the Nestor of American Science,' were also residents. Numerous 
jurists and men prominent in military affairs made their homes in Fair- 
field and their guests included eminent scholars and statesmen. 



TOUR 

E. from Unquowa Rd. on New Post Rd. 

1. The Fairfield Memorial Library (open 9-8:30), SE. cor. Unquowa Rd. 
and New Post Rd., in a two-story brick building with limestone trim, was 
organized and incorporated in 1876. Memorial Hall, on the second floor, 
is notable for its panels commemorating early settlers. One wing of the 
building is devoted to the exhibits of the Fairfield Historical Society, 
which include many rare old books, early town documents, and maps. 

2. Surrounded by lilac bushes, the Isaac Hull House (open), 573 New 
Post Rd., now a shop, is a weathered gray, two-story, double end- 
chimneyed house. Under construction by Isaac Hull in 1779, at the time 
of the burning of the town, it remained but half finished until 1790 when 
it was completed by the Rev. Andrew Eliot. The interior woodwork is 
of both the Georgian and post-Colonial type as shown in the raised panel- 
ing of the room to the left of the hall and the sunken paneling of the 
room on the right. 



Fairfield 141 



R. from New Post Rd. on Benson Rd. 

3. Brigadier General Elijah Abel House (private) (1780), NE cor. Benson 
Rd. and Old Post Rd., was operated as a tavern during Civil War days 
by the Benson family. The old inn sign, which now hangs in the garret, 
reads, * Benson House The Union Must be Preserved/ 

R. from Benson Rd. on Old Post Rd. 

4. Jennings Gardens (open 9 to sunset), public entrance on Beach Rd., on 
the grounds of Sunnie Holme, the estate of Miss Annie B. Jennings, have 
the largest and most beautiful displays of flowering shrubs in the State. 

5. Major William Silliman House (private), of 1786-91, 405 Old PostRd., 
is a large end-chimneyed structure with wide, flat cornice, bare of mould- 
ings, very narrow clapboarding, and a central entrance covered by a 
gracefully curved portico supported by slender columns. When a boy, 
Major Silliman was taken prisoner by the British at Holland Hill. 

L. from Old Post Rd. on Beach Rd. 

6. Isaac Tucker House (private) (1766), 19 Beach Rd., though set on fire 
when the town was burned, was saved by a Negro servant who had 
hidden in the attic. It has an asymmetrical plan frequently found in 
Fairfield, with a corner hall approached now through a later fan-lighted 
doorway. 

7. Justin Hobart House (private) (1765), 33 Beach Rd., though remodeled 
retains much of its original form; it is a square, two-chimney house with 
dentiled cornice, shutters, and a modern sun-porch and portico. Church 
meetings and court sessions were held here after the burning of the town, 
until the meeting house was rebuilt in 1785. 

8. Nathan Bulkeley House (private), 37 Beach Rd., is another pre- 
Revolutionary house built in the prevailing Fairfield mode with two 
windows on one side of the door and one on the other. The portico is 



FAIRFIELD. POINTS OF INTEREST 

1. Fairfield Memorial Library 14. Rowland House 

2. Isaac Hull House 15. Milestone 

3. Brigadier General Elijah Abel 16. Augustus Jennings House 

House 17. David Ogden House 

4. Jennings Gardens 18. Stone Powder House 

5. Major William Silliman House 19. Pulpit Rock 

6. Isaac Tucker House 20. Bird Sanctuary 

7. Justin Hobart House 21. 'Uncle Ben ' Wakeman House 

8. Nathan Bulkeley House 22. Isaac Jennings House 

9. Old Burying Ground 23. General Gold Selleck Silliman 

10. Town House House 

11. Sun Tavern 24. Fairfield Beach 

12. Fairfield Academy 25. Penfield Reef 

13. Thaddeus Burr House 



142 Main Street and Village Green 

1 9th century. It was the home of Dr. Jeremiah T. Dennison, an early 
homeopath who was relentlessly persecuted. The house was used as a 
mess hall by British troops during the occupation. 

9. The Old Burying Ground (R), Beach Rd., enclosed by a stone wall and 
entered by a lich-gate, contains gravestones dating from 1687 and the 
graves of more than 100 Revolutionary soldiers. 

Retrace on Beach Rd.; L. from Beach Rd. on the Old Post Rd. 

10. The Town House, cor. Old Post Rd. and Beach Rd. (L), on the 
Green, was built in 1794. The central portion, a dignified, hip-roofed, 
white clapboard structure surmounted by a white belfry, has been re- 
stored to the original lines. Restoration in 1937 included the addition of 
wings at either end to provide ofiice space. At the western end of the 
Green was formerly a pond in which suspected witches were given ' trial 
by water.' If they floated they were believed to be guilty, but if they sank 
they were judged innocent. Here Mercy Disbrow and Elizabeth Clawson 
were bound and thrown into the water. According to records of the time, 
'they buoyed up like a cork. 7 At the edge of the Green stands the old 
Town Sign Post, still in use. 

11. Sun Tavern (private) on the southern edge of the Green (L), about 
400 feet back from Old Post Rd., built by Samuel Penfield in 1780 and 
maintained as an inn until 1818, is an exceptionally narrow, high gambrel- 
roofed house with twin chimneys and three original dormers. The fluted 
pilasters of the entrance doorway lend an air of dignity. Washington's 
diary says he spent the night here, October 16, 1789. The third floor 
contains an early ballroom. 

12. F airfield Academy (private] (1804), Old Post Rd., west of St. Paul's 
Church, was nationally famous for more than a hundred years. Its 
simplicity and symmetry are typical of the post-Colonial period when 
conscious design was beginning to affect building. It is essentially a two- 
story, peak-roofed building, and has a central gable slightly projecting 
from the front. Where the two roofs meet is a simple open cupola. The 
flat-topped entrances in the wings contrast with the pedimented door- 
way in the projecting section. 

13. Thaddeus Burr House (private) (L). Old Post Rd. between Beach and 
Penfield Rds., surrounded by lofty elms, is a house whose present appear- 
ance belies its age. Built in 1790 to replace the original Burr Homestead, 
destroyed during the British invasion, it was modeled after the famous 
Hancock House in Boston, and all of the glass for the windows was the 
gift of John Hancock. The heavy colonnaded portico of Tuscan order, 
the front doorway, and the third story were added about 1840. In the 
garden is a hedge of very old arbor vitae. In the original homestead, 
John Hancock and Dorothy Quincy were married, August 8, 1775. Doro- 
thy had been a visitor here during the siege of Boston and carried on a 
gay flirtation with Col. Aaron Burr, much to the discomfort of her fiance. 
R. from Old Post Rd. on Unquowa Rd. 

14. Rowland House, 570 Old Post Rd. (private), with a peak roof and 



Fairfield 143 



an entrance at the left corner, built prior to 1769, has unfortunately been 
considerably remodeled and now has the appearance of a 19th-century 
house. During the British invasion it was saved by a British officer who 
had once been entertained in it. Many old and important documents and 
town records were later discovered in a chest in the attic. 
L.from Unquowa on New Post Rd.; R.from New Post Rd. on Mill Plain Rd. 

15. The old Milestone (R), on Mill Plain Rd., about 1500 feet north 
of the Post Rd., is one of the stones placed along the old coach routes by 
Benjamin Franklin in 1753, and is inscribed *F XX M N H.' (Fairfield. 
20 miles to New Haven.) 

1 6. Augustus Jennings House (private), on Mill Plain Rd. (L), between 
the Post Rd., and Sturges Rd., built in 1760 and painted white, has a 
rather interesting exterior, with the northern end shingled, and the 
southern portion clapboarded, except for the flush boarding which covers 
the main facade at the first story. The porches and short Doric columns 
at the entrances are later additions. The dwelling was saved in 1779 by 
Lucretia Redfield who put out four fires started by the British. 

L.from Mill Plain Rd. on Sturges Rd.; R.from Sturges Rd. on Bronson Rd. 

17. The David Ogden House, Bronson Rd. (R), near the entrance to 
Oak Lawn Cemetery, was built in 1705. Furnished with antiques and 
with old-fashioned flower-beds beside it, this house has been restored 
with unusual skill. Its primitive framing, its L-shaped brick chimney 
and sparse paneling, and a narrow porch with low turned balusters are 
its principal features. 

1 8. The Stone Powder House of 1812 (private), on Unquowa Rd. (L), 
north from New Post Rd., at the rear of 'Roger Ludlow High School, is 
on a plot of land known as 'The Rocks' because of its rugged nature. 
This storehouse for munitions was doubtless built of stones taken from 
the home of Dr. Laborie, which had crumbled to ruins. Dr. Laborie, 
surgeon and preacher, was noted for his missionary work with the Indians. 

19. From the rustic pulpit on Pulpit Rock (L), Unquowa Rd., diagonally 
opposite the Roger Ludlow High School, Dr. Samuel Osgood, D.D., 
preached to audiences gathered in the street and field beyond, during the 
Civil War. An inscription, 'God, and our Country, 1862,' was cut deep 
in the rock by a recruit on the eve of his departure for the front. W 'aid- 
stein, Dr. Osgood's home, stands close by amid cedars, on the rocky ledge. 

20. The Bird Sanctuary (open Tues., Thurs. and Sun., 2-5), on Unquowa 
Rd. (R), a short distance north of Roger Ludlow High School, covering 
some 10 acres given by Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, is now maintained 
by the National Audubon Society. Here, in their natural surroundings, 
birds native to Connecticut are protected and fed throughout the year. 
A museum contains many stuffed native birds. 

21. ' Uncle Ben' Wakeman House (private), 546 North Benson Rd., built 
in 1800, was a rendezvous for a group of early Connecticut peddlers on 
their journeys through the eastern states. This white clapboarded, peak- 



144 Main Street and Village Green 

roofed homestead has an unusually fine doorway, recessed about one 
foot with simple soffit panels and narrow fluted pilasters. 

22. Isaac Jennings House (private), NW. cor. Round Hill and Barlow 
Rds., is a story-and-a-half gambrel-roofed dwelling (about 1780), with 
red clapboarded walls and a flaring Dutch hood over the door. 

23. General Gold Selleck Silliman House (private), Jennings Rd., cor. 
Hunyadi St., 2 blocks west of Black Rock Turnpike, a large, white, 
central-chimney clapboarded structure, originally shingled, was built in 
1756. The modern door, a reproduction, and wide eaves considerably 
change its appearance. It was from this homestead that General Silliman 
of Revolutionary War fame was captured by the British and taken to 
Long Island, and here, that Professor Silliman of Yale (1779-1864), the 
scientist, was born. 

24. Fair field Beach, end of Beach Rd., is one of the safest and most at- 
tractive beaches along the shores of Long Island Sound. 

25. Penfield Reef is a natural breakwater pushing out from Fairfield 
Beach a mile into the Sound; this narrow, rocky reef has been the scene 
of many wrecks. During severe storms, the Reef Light is almost sub- 
merged by the furious waves. 

Point of Interest in Environs: 

Greenfield Hill, Timothy Dwight's first Academy, 3.3 m. (see side- 
trip off Tour 1). 



FARMINGTOIST 



Town: Alt. 200, pop. 4548, sett. 1640, incorp. 1645. 
Accommodations: One inn. 

Information Service: Farmington Museum, High St., Barney Memorial Library, 
School St. 

Annual Events: Winter Carnival, held in January or February at the athletic 
field, Unionville Road, 3 m. from Farmington center; admission 50^. 

FARMINGTON, once a busy trading center, is a residential town of 
leisurely social life, known for its beautiful tree-shaded streets and stately, 
well preserved old houses. An aristocrat among towns, it holds itself 
aloof from the hurry and bustle of the work-a-day world, secure in its 
background of tradition, culture and wealth. 

Often called the 'mother of towns,' because it formerly included land 
which has been divided into nine other towns, Farmington was settled in 



Farmington 145 



1640 by a party of colonists from Hartford, a year after Captain John 
Mason had been sent by the three river towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, 
and Windsor to explore the region then inhabited by the Tunxis Indians. 
Five years later, the settlement was incorporated and named Farmington, 
probably for the English Farmington in Gloucester, though the name may 
have been suggested by the occupation of the settlers. 

After the Revolution, the town entered upon a period of industrial activity 
which continued throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- 
turies. In 1802 and 1803, 15,000 yards of linen were manufactured, and 
2500 hats were made by Timothy Root's shop on Hatter's Lane; leather 
goods were being made in four shops, and muskets and buttons were 
manufactured. Other industries were operated by clockmakers, silver, 
gold, and tinsmiths; candlemakers, carriage-builders and cabinet-makers, 
whose products were shipped to the South and peddled through the States 
by Yankee peddlers. During this period the Farmington East India 
Company did a thriving shipping business, and the town became a 
prosperous mercantile center. 

The opening of the Farmington Canal through this section in 1828 brought 
increased trade and prosperity to the town, which continued until 1848 
when the waterway was closed because of landslides. At present, Farm- 
ington's commercial activity includes only small local stores and a few 
wayside tea rooms. Its principal industries are dairying and agriculture. 



TOUR 

Junction of Main St. and Farmington Ave. 

1. The Rochambeau Monument, a bronze plaque on a boulder in a small 
park at the junction of Main St. and Farmington Ave., commemorates 
the encampment of the French General's troops within the town in 1781. 

E. from the Monument on Farmington Ave. 

2. The Elm Tree Inn (open), first block on the north side of Farmington 
Ave. (L), a brick and frame structure, was erected after the Revolution 
around a 17th-century house where Philip Lewis started an inn in 1665. 
The rear ell encloses the original building in which is preserved a large 
kitchen fireplace. The west end of the house is still covered with beaded 
clapboards and an interior wall is finished with feather-edged boards. 

3. The Whitman Tavern (private), SW. cor. Farmington Ave. and High 
St. (R), a yellow, two-and-a-half story, clapboarded house, is a typical 
example of a sturdy central-chimney dwelling of the i8th century. Built 
by Captain Judah Woodruff, Farmington's master-builder, in 1786, it 
served as a shop for journeymen shoemakers from 1812 to 1854, and 
later housed the village library. In 1791 it was sold to William Whitman, 
whose descendants own the building. 



146 Main Street and Village Green 

R. from Farmington Ave. on High St. 

4. The Samuel Whitman House (open daily except Monday; adm. 
(L), now the Farmington Museum, first block on High St., is a carefully 
restored 17th-century dwelling. One of the oldest frame houses in the 
State (about 1660), it is easily recognized by its gray-brown, unstained 
oak clapboards, its 1 8-inch overhang, and narrow casement windows. 
They look curious and inadequate to a traveler today, but in the iyth 
century when glass was at a premium, a house furnished with double 
or triple casement sash brought from England was luxurious indeed. Two 
of the four exterior doors are studded. 

Exhibits of note are: collections of old deeds and documents; musical 
instruments used in the church choir; an old hymnal printed in Farming- 
ton; old china, including pieces of Lowestoft formerly owned by the Cowles 
family; and some silver made by Martin Bull of Farmington. A collection 
of lamps contains a 'courting lamp/ which timed the length of a suitor's 
visit. 

5. The Judd Homestead (private) (1697), High St. (L), beyond the Samuel 
Whitman House, is a broad, low, gambrel-roofed house with wide clap- 
board siding, typical of the late 17th-century frame dwellings. 

R. from High St. on Mountain Road; L. from Mountain Road on School St. 

6. The Barney Memorial Library (open week-days) (R), first block on 
School St., has several interesting exhibits, including a collection of birds' 
eggs which is one of the finest in the country. Presented by Harry Curtiss 
Mills, the collection includes more than 8000 eggs of 843 species, among 
them eggs of the dwarf screech owl, the only known specimens on exhi- 
bition in the United States. 

Return on School St.; L. on Mountain Road; R. on Main Street to a drive- 
way halfway up the first block; R. on the driveway. 

7. The brown shingled Gleason House (private) (about 1660), behind the 
dwellings on Main Street, is one of the few houses with a framed overhang 
still standing in the State. Although the usual drops have been cut off 
the 1 8-inch overhang, their bases with gouge carving and two of the 
original brackets remain. 

Return on Main Street; L. on Main Street. 

8. Miss Porter 1 s School both sides of Main St., at Mountain Road, an 
exclusive, nationally-known finishing school for girls, was founded in 
Farmington in 1844 by Miss Sarah Porter, sister of Noah Porter, Jr., 
eleventh president of Yale, and Samuel Porter, a leader in education for 
deaf mutes. The main building (about 1828) of the institution, which 
has an interesting irregularity in the placement of its windows, was 
erected for a hotel at the time of the opening of the Canal. 

9. The Samuel Deming House (private) (R), next to Miss Porter's School, 
built in 1768 by Judah Woodruff, has a double overhang and unusual 
wooden leader heads under a delicate cornice. 



Farmington 147 



10. The Gad Cowles House (private) (L), on the grounds of Miss Porter's 
School, opposite the Deming House, dates from 1799. It is the earliest, 
as well as the largest, of a group of houses which are as typical of 19th- 
century Farmington dwellings as the framed overhang is of the iyth 
century. In the tall gable-end facing the street is a Palladian window 
above an elaborate cornice, supported by tall fluted Ionic pilasters. In 
one corner of this facade, the delicate detail of a small open porch con- 
trasts with the grand scale of the house. A portico, on the southern 
wing, with four free-standing columns is the most imposing feature of the 
building. 

11. The Congregational Church (1771), Main St. (L), beyond the Cowles 
house, is one of the few Colonial buildings of which the architect's name 
is known. He was Captain Judah Woodruff, builder of much that was 
good in Farmington. The unusually tall steeple of the church, topped 
with an open-belfry spire, is universally admired as a masterpiece of 
Georgian-Colonial architecture. The main entrance, placed in the middle 
of one side in accordance with iSth-century practice, is now obscured 
by a later Doric portico. The massive scale of the entrance is notable. 
The impression of great height is due to the narrow graduated clapboard- 
ing which materially affects the scale and, in part, to the distance be- 
tween the first- and second-story windows. It is easy to believe that the 
Colonial architect, like the Gothic, tried to give his churches a sense of 
loftiness that houses of the Colonial period lacked. If so, it was a definite 
spiritual expression that later, more conventionalized generations forgot. 
The height of rooms increased in their houses, decreased in their churches. 

12. A driveway to the right of the church leads to the Grange Hall, 
once the Academy (1816), which is distinguished by a delicate octagonal 
belfry on the lower ell at the north end. 

R. from Main St. on Mill Lane. 

13. The Old Grist Mill, still grinding corn, at the end of Mill Lane, on 
the east bank of the Farmington River, was erected by the Cowles 
family about 1778. At one time owned by the late Winchell Smith, 
noted playwright, it attracted national attention many years ago when 
the motion picture ' Way Down East ' was filmed here. Hoping to make 
Connecticut a grain-raising State, Mr. Smith bought expensive harvesting 
machinery and encouraged the farmers to plant rye, wheat and buck- 
wheat on contract for him; he failed in the marketing of his various 
ground flours and mixtures and turned to grinding cowfeeds and mid- 
dlings. 

Return on Mill Lane; R. on Main St. 

14. The Major Timothy Cowles House (private} (1815) (L), SE. cor. Main 
and Church Sts., belongs to the elaborate, Greek Revival group of dwellings 
beginning with the house of Gad Cowles, which made Farmington famous 
in the early i9th century. Projecting two-story porticoes of ornate and 
over-delicate Ionic detail face front, north and south. A Palladian window 
is almost lost from view over the front door; and a doorway, excellent in 



148 Main Street and Village Green 

design, is crowded into the angle of the north wing. An over emphasis 
upon well-executed form, often to the detriment of the whole effect, is 
characteristic of the Greek Revival. 

15. The Simon Hart House (private) (1804) (L), Main St. just above 
Col ton St., designed in the simplicity of the best early ipth-century 
architecture, is long and spacious. On the gable end which faces the 
street is an open Doric portico typical of that period. 

16. The Rev. Noah Porter House (private), SW. cor. Maple and Main 
Sts., the birthplace of the Porter family, was built of brick in 1808 
(without the third story) by the Rev. Noah Porter, who was for 60 years 
pastor of the Congregational Church. The first meeting of the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was held here in 1810. 
Here were born Noah, Samuel, and Sarah Porter (see above). 

R. from Main St. on Maple St. 

1,7. The Riverside Cemetery, one block west on Maple St., on the site 
of an Indian burying ground, ? contains a large, brown sandstone 
monument erected in 1840 in honor of the Tunxis tribe of Indians. 
Another monument commemorates the Civil War dead. One of the 
Mendi captives, who died in Farmington while awaiting trial for mutiny, 
is buried here. The inscription on the stone reads: 'Foone. A native 
African who was drowned while bathing in the Center Basin August 
1841. He was one of the company of slaves under Cinque on board the 
schooner " Amistad" who asserted their rights and took possession of the 
vessel after having put the Captain, Mate and others to death, sparing 
their Masters Ruez, and Mantez.' 

Return on Maple St.; R. on Main St. 

1 8. The General George Cowles House (private) (1803), beyond the Porter 
Homestead on the west side of Main St., an imposing mansion, has a 
rather plain brick front relieved only by a recessed arched entrance, 
unusual in the detail of its downward tapering columns between the door 
and the side-lights. On the southern facade, which faces Hatter's Lane, is 
a two-story Ionic portico and a Palladian window in the gable above. 

19. Opposite the Cowles House lies the Old Cemetery (L), with an en- 
trance in the Egyptian style once much used in Connecticut. The oldest 
stone dates from 1685. 

20. The Samuel Cowles House (private), SW. cor. Main St. and Meadow 
Rd., a large gambrel-roofed house with corner quoins, bracketed cornices, 
and round-headed gable windows of the English Georgian type, is named 
Oldgate from its entrance gate of modified Chinese design. It is not only 
the most elaborate house in Farmington, but interesting also because it 
is the first house in the State (1780) that brought into the plain provincial 
art of the time the influences of the classical renaissance as developed in 
the English Georgian. It is evidently not the work of a local architect. 
Woodruff, whose work was contemporary, never attempted a facade 
like this, which focuses upon a handsome projecting pediment supported 



Greenwich 149 



on four Ionic columns. Above it, pilasters frame a well-designed Palla- 
dian window in the second story. Tradition has it that the design was by 
a British army officer, an architect named William Spratt, who was im- 
prisoned in Farmington for two years. The design of this facade brought 
Spratt his reputation, and other West Indian merchantmen in Litchfield 
and East Haddam subsequently employed him. This same motif appears 
on many other buildings, and sometimes in a debased form was copied in 
many a village of western Connecticut. The small Dutch-roof ell at the rear 
was the home (1661) of Farmington's first minister, the Rev. Samuel 
Hooker, son of the Rev. Thomas Hooker who founded Hartford, and 
grandfather of the wife of Jonathan Edwards. 

21. Another house, contemporary and very simple in contrast with the 
elegance of Oldgate, but with clear-cut lines and an aspect of serenity, 
is the General Solomon Cowles House (1784), on the next or southwest 
corner. It is a square house with a hip roof and long piazza. 

22. The Isaac Cowles House (private), built in 1735, on the east side of 
Main St. (L), facing Meadow Rd., has a double overhang and a well- 
designed doorway, in which the pilaster caps have been strangely omitted. 
The very unusual cornice has small carved panels between the brackets. 

23. The remains of the John Cole Homestead (private) (R), west side of 
Main St. at Tunxis St., have been made into two dwellings. Built in 1661, 
the structure was the first of the 17th-century houses for which Farming- 
ton is famous. Many generations ago the original house was cut in two 
by two sons who quarreled after the property was bequeathed to them. 
The southernmost section is on the original stone foundation; its two- 
foot framed overhang is original. The other half, moved a short distance, 
has a new overhang built in on the long side facing the road. 



GREENWICH 



Town: Alt. 60, tax borough pop. 5981, sett. 1640. 

Railroad Station: Greenwich Station, Railroad Ave. at Greenwich Ave. for 

N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R. 

Piers: Public Dock, Steamboat Road for Island Beach boats, May 30 to Labor 

Day (10^ for residents; 25?f for non-residents; Sun. and holidays 500). 

Accommodations: Three hotels. 

Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 34 East Putnam Ave. 

Swimming: Byram Park, East Port Chester; Island Beach in the Sound, reached 

by boat from Public Dock; Milbrook Country Club (private). 

Bridle Paths: Several miles of marked bridle paths form a network winding 



150 Main Street and Village Green 

through the northern section of the town, passing through some of the finest 
estates in the vicinity. 

Annual Events: The Scottish Games Association holds an athletic and folk dance 
competition July 4. 

GREENWICH, with approximately six miles of coast line along the 
Sound, is essentially an urban community of the New York metropolitan 
area with a sophisticated suburban atmosphere, quite unlike the typical 
Connecticut town. The home of many prominent figures in New York 
social and financial life, Greenwich is distinguished by its palatial land- 
scaped estates in a natural setting of rolling hills and coves, bays, rivers, 
and lakes. 

Modern shops and large hotels are clustered in the elm-shaded business 
district. Residential sections stretch southward to the irregular, rock- 
ridged shore of Long Island Sound, and northward into the hilly country- 
side. On the outskirts are the districts known as Old Greenwich, site of 
the original settlement, which has preserved many of its early home- 
steads; Riverside, where reside many wealthy persons; Milbrook, center 
of extensive estates about the Milbrook Golf and Country Club ; and the 
residential sections known as Belle Haven, Rock Ridge, and Round Hill. 

Settled in 1640 by Daniel Patrick and Robert Feaks, agents of the New 
Haven Colony, who purchased the land from the Indians for twenty- 
five coats, the community, named for the English Greenwich, was re- 
garded as of strategic importance, as it represented the most westerly 
thrust of the English toward the Dutch settlement at New Amsterdam. 
The Director General of the New Netherlands immediately served notice 
that the land was rightfully under his jurisdiction. Fearing attack from 
the Indians, whose friendliness had turned to hostility, and hoping for 
protection from the Dutch, Captain Patrick signed a treaty at New 
Amsterdam in April, 1642, wherein the Mianus River between Stamford 
and Greenwich was agreed upon as the western boundary of Connecticut. 
Disputes over the boundary continued. In 1650, the Dutch, in a treaty 
signed at Hartford, ceded Greenwich to Connecticut, but the jurisdiction 
of territory farther west was disputed for many years. 

During the Revolutionary War, the Continental salt works at Green- 
wich were destroyed, and homes were plundered and burned when the 
town was attacked by General Tryon and a force of 1200 British and 
Hessian soldiers. General Putnam and a force of 100 militiamen at- 
tempted a defense, but were forced to retreat. 

Industry has never been an important factor in the development of the 
town, although considerable shipping and shipbuilding were carried on 
in the early nineteenth century, when agricultural products, especially 
large cargoes of potatoes, were shipped to New York from this port. 
With the advent of the railroad and subsequent development of farm- 
lands to the west of New York, Greenwich agricultural activities were 
greatly curtailed. 



EARLY CHURCHES OF 
CONNECTICUT 



THE theocratic state was the origin of Connecticut's first 
government, and the church was always the most important 
feature of her early architecture. 

The oldest churches that remain anywhere near intact are a 
group from just before the Revolution, in Farmington, Weth- 
ersfield, and Brooklyn. Something of the Gothic aspiration 
for height is to be found in them. The tower is offset, at one 
end of the building, and after one or two belfry stages, open 
and closed, terminates in a narrow, tapering spire. The en- 
trance is at the side, opposite the pulpit. 

With the movement toward the Classic Revival, church archi- 
tecture began in the early nineteenth century to borrow more 
and more of ancient forms. Town's building for Center 
Church, New Haven (1812-14), was the precursor of the 
' golden age' of Connecticut churches. An adapted Renais- 
sance portico now projects from the front of the building, and 
the steeple rises back of this entrance gable, most of it from 
within the main edifice of the church. As time went on, the 
steeple moved backward, as it were, into the church building, 
and the portico became more and more a separate compo- 
sition. 

David Hoadley did more than any other man to influence this 
finest period from 1815 to 1830. Four very similar churches 
culminated in Litchfield (1829) sometimes considered the 
perfect example although Col. Samuel Belcher's church at 
Old Lyme (1817), now reconstructed, is an artists' favorite. 
Country churches, as in Killingworth, often achieved more 
charming results from their very simplicity. Plymouth 
Church, Milford (1834), represents the later, severer tend- 
ency of the Classic Revival. Often this was a careful copy- 
ing; sometimes, as in the stone Congregational Church at 
East Granby, a more spontaneous, free rendering brought 
about an unexpected attractive result. 












ii 



CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, FARMINGTON 














CONGREGATIONAL CHTJUCIf, WETHER SFTELD 





CENTER CHURCH, NEW HAVEN 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LITCHFIELD 




> 



fc&l 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, OLD LYME 




IIIIII 
I II I I 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, KILLINGWORTH 




PLYMOUTH CHURCH, MILFORD 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, EAST GRANBY 



Greenwich 151 



Each year on July 4, at the Charles A. Moore estate, is held an inter- 
national celebration of the Scottish Games Association. Bagpipe bands 
vie for prizes, and contestants from Scotland, Australia, the United 
States, and Canada participate in tossing the caber as well as in native 
dances such as the Highland Fling, sword dance, and foursome reel. 



MOTOR TOUR 

S. from US 1 on Greenwich Ave. to Steamboat Road. 

i. Bruce Museum (open daily during daylight hours; free), in Bruce Park 
at end of Steamboat Road, a four-story, square, stone house of 1850, 
with no adornment except an abbreviated French tower, is devoted to 
exhibits of natural history, art, and history. 

Formerly the Bruce estate, the 80 acres and residence were bequeathed 
to the town by Robert M. Bruce in 1908. The museum is under the 
direction of Mr. Paul G. Howes, who was formerly with the American 
Museum of Natural History. Mr. Howes, chief photographer with the 
scientist William Beebe on the Kalacoon Expedition to British Guiana, 
collected many of the specimens exhibited. 

On the first floor are a herbarium, in which blossoms of shrubs native to 
Connecticut are reproduced in wax, an art department, and a collection 
of mammals. Specimens of the wild animals of Connecticut are shown 
against authentic backgrounds. In addition there are many North 
American, Australian, and Asiatic specimens. 

An ornithological collection occupies the second floor. Here, expertly 
mounted native birds are classified in four large groups illustrating the 
four seasons: spring in the woods, summer at the shore, autumn and 
winter in the woods. An exhibit of birds' nests and eggs has been col- 
lected from many parts of the world. An extensive entomological col- 
lection, including thousands of local and foreign specimens, is also dis- 
played on the second floor. 

A variety of collections occupies the third floor: gems and minerals from 
various countries; fossils illustrating the history of life on the earth; 
models showing the evolution of the horse from his tiny ancestor; and 
extinct reptiles of the Connecticut Valley. A collection of Indian relics 
includes arrowheads, agricultural implements, and specimens of bead- 
work and paintings. An American historical collection includes many 
relics of Colonial days. 

At the end of the Point is the Indian Harbor Yacht Clubhouse, a large 
stucco building in Italian style with tile roofs. On the peninsula to the 
east, the elaborate villa of the late Commodore Elias C. Benedict stands 
near the site of the headquarters of 'Boss' Tweed's 'Americus Club of 
New York.' The Tweed estate (1865) stretched from this point to the 
Post Road. 



152 Main Street and Village Green 

Return to US 1; R. on US I. 

2. The granite Second Congregational Church (L), conspicuously placed 
at the top of the hill, in the center of Greenwich, has a tall, slender broach 
spire at one corner that towers above the trees and can be seen for miles 
in all directions. 

3. Christ Episcopal Church (R), erected in 1908-10, was designed by 
William Francis Dominick. The three granite buildings of this dis- 
tinguished Gothic group include the church, with a square, high pinnacled 
tower and rather flat roof; a cloistered parish house, somewhat recessed 
from the street; and the rectory, a dwelling of Gothic design. 

4. Putnam Cottage (open 10-5, Hon., Wed., Fri., Sat.; free] (1731) (L), 
243 East Putnam Ave., is maintained as a museum by the D.A.R. 
This white homestead with a peaked roof and long, low veranda has 
undergone several renovations, but retains its original round-ended 
shingles on the front. According to tradition, it was from this house that 
Israel Putnam made his daring escape from the British on February 26, 
1779. The General, recently arrived at Greenwich to review the Con- 
tinental troops, was shaving in his room when he saw, in the mirror, the 
reflection of approaching Redcoats. Outnumbered and totally unpre- 
pared, Putnam ordered his men to flee for their lives, and, jumping astride 
his horse, turned the animal toward the brink of the rocky precipice 
near-by. The astonished British saw horse and rider disappear over the 
cliff. Threading his way to right and left, Putnam reached the valley; 
not one of the dragoons dared to follow him. The Post Road is cut through 
the rock at about the spot where Putnam made his escape. A small 
Bronze Tablet at the top of the incline, west of the Putnam Cottage, 
commemorates the adventure. 

The house is completely equipped with old furniture and accessories of 
the 1 8th and early i9th century. In the parlor is an early spinet, a 
handsome flat-topped desk, a secretary, an old spinning wheel, and many 
other objects of interest. In an adjoining room is one of the first Franklin 
stoves, in the rare, arched style; a pair of old pewter candlemolds, and 
many other examples of early pewter, including a teapot, plates, bowls, 
warming pans, etc. There is also on exhibit a chest of drawers made of 
cherry hewn from a Greenwich tree by a local craftsman in the early 
1 8th century. The bedrooms are furnished with Colonial pieces, includ- 
ing a fine example of an early American cradle. 

5. The High Low House, Round Hill Road, a composite structure, com- 



GREENWICH. POINTS OF INTEREST 

1. Bruce Museum 5. High Low House 

2. Second Congregational Church 6. Milbank Mausoleum 

3. Christ Episcopal Church 7. Edgewood School 

4. Putnam Cottage 8. Rosemary Hall 



154 Main Street and Village Green 

bining a 16th-century English manor house, transported to this country 
from England in 1911, and a granite Tudor residence, erected in 1905 
by I. N. Phelps Stokes, architect and owner, is on private grounds, not 
open to the public. British supervision of British-American labor as- 
sured the sympathetic handling of the 16th-century material. The 
English dwelling for which the residence is named was erected in Ipswich, 
Suffolk County, England, about 1507. Built of half timber and brick, 
with seven sharp gables in its red tiled roof, the old house has a great 
i2-panel, heavily studded oaken entrance door with a Gothic top and 
original hardware, a hand-carved header and broad carved lintel. Hand- 
carved half -columns rise to Gothic brackets; a hand-carved frieze on 
the second-floor end-overhang, and random brick and timber panels 
spread to either side of the entrance. The heavy corner posts and brackets 
are elaborately hand-carved, and weathered rift-grain oak shows wherever 
the timbering is revealed. 

6. The Milbank Mausoleum, occupying a commanding position in the 
Putnam Cemetery, Parsonage Rd., is a scholarly reproduction of an 
Ionic temple, with columns extending around all sides. From the road 
below, it appears to be an open colonnade. 

7. Edgewood School, on Glenville Rd. and Brookside Lane, opened in 
1910 on the estate of Mrs. Charles D. Lanier, is a co-educational pro- 
gressive school with an enrollment of about 200 pupils from 3 to 20 
years of age. Conducted on the principle that education to be successful 
must be interesting from early childhood, the courses in this school seek 
first to establish an appreciation of intellectual discipline. 

The main school building, a spreading structure of granite boulders with 
a wide covered porch, stands on a i2o-acre campus across which Horse- 
neck Brook winds, tumbling in falls and rapids and spreading out in 
quiet pools. 

8. Rosemary Hall, at junction Ridgeway and Zaccheus Mead Lane, is a 
preparatory school for girls founded in Wallingford in 1890 and moved 
to its present site in 1900. The 25-acre campus includes six school 
buildings, two hockey fields, two gymnasiums, and a running track. About 
200 students are enrolled. 

Points of Interest Of shore: 

On Great Captain's Island, 3 m. out, in Long Island Sound, opposite 
the entrance to Greenwich Harbor, named for Captain Daniel 
Patrick, first military commander of the town, is a square stone 
lighthouse erected by the U.S. Government in the early nineteenth 
century. 

On Little Captain's Island, 2 m. out, the town has established a public 
recreational center. (Boats, every 20 min. from Memorial Day to 
Labor Day, leave dock at foot of Steamboat Road; 20-minute sail; boat 
fee 25j round trip; Island Beach, bath-house rental 



Groton 155 



Points of Interest in Environs: 

Lyon House; Conde Nast Press, Laddin's Rock; Keofferam Lodge, 
Shore Road; Arcadia (headquarters of National Agassiz Associa- 
tion) ; Perrot Memorial Library (headquarters Greenwich Historical 
Society), Old Greenwich (see Tour 1). 



GROTON 



Town: Alt. 60, pop. 10,770, sett. 1649, organized 1705. 

Airport: Trumbull Airport, Eastern Point; taxi fare from center of Groton, 
75^ for one or two passengers; time, 15 min. Sightseeing planes, $1 per ride, 
over harbor. No scheduled service. 
Taxis: 50^ anywhere in village. 

Accommodations: One large hotel, open in summer only. 

Annual Events: Navy Day Celebration, U.S. Submarine Base, October 26. 

GROTON, spreading along the eastern bank of the Thames River 
opposite New London, clings to the steep slope of Groton Heights, dom- 
inated by the granite shaft erected in memory of the militiamen who 
attempted to withstand two regiments of British regulars in 1781. 
From the water's edge to the hill crest, the old shipbuilding village of 
narrow streets and small vine-grown houses seems to have slumbered for 
years, growing in its sleep and awakening just before the World War 
to be rediscovered by industry. Although submarines, engines, banjos, 
thread and castings are produced here, Groton remains a Yankee com- 
munity with nearly sixty per cent of its population of full native parent- 
age. Village politics, the affairs of the Nation and of the Odd Fellows, the 
principal organization in town, are discussed in the back room of Groton's 
leading ' department store/ In summer, a steady stream of sleek motors 
rolls through the Main Street, en route to Eastern Point, three miles 
south, an exclusive shore resort. 

The countryside around Groton has been drenched with the blood of 
Indians, patriots, and British invaders. Before the white men came, 
some of the bloodiest of tribal wars were fought in this hunting ground 
of the Pequot Indians, who were seldom on friendly terms with the 
Narragansetts, or later, with the English. 

Land in Groton was granted to New London settlers in 1648-49 and, 
originally known as the ' East Side,' was first occupied in 1649 by Jonathan 
Brewster, eldest son of Elder William Brewster of the Plymouth Colony, 
who established a trading post at Brewster's Neck on the Thames River 



156 Main Street and Village Green 

north of the present Groton. Organized in 1705, the town was named 
for the county seat of the Winthrops in Suffolk, England. The settle- 
ment did not develop into a compact little village like most Yankee towns 
but spread over the broken terrains of ' breezy ridges and sunny valleys ' 
into numerous little streamside communities in the back country and a 
fringe of shipbuilding and fishing settlements along the shore of the 
river and Sound. (See NOANK and WEST MYSTIC, Tour 1.) The 
township extends from the Mystic to the Thames Rivers and originally 
reached from the Sound to the Preston line, until Ledyard (then North 
Groton) became a separate town in 1836. The town now includes the 
Borough of Groton, Center Groton, Poquonock Bridge, Noank, and 
West Mystic. Agriculture was not profitable, but fisheries were. By 
1838 some three hundred Groton men and boys were regularly engaged at 
sea, some fishing off Cuba for the Spanish trade, some in West Indian 
trade, and others in salvaging operations up and down the coast. 

Among the distinguished Groton skippers was Captain Ebenezer Morgan, 
who returned to New London harbor on September 18, 1865, in his 
' Pioneer,' with 1391 pounds of whale oil and 22,650 pounds of bone. 
The cargo was sold for $151,060, and as the ship and outfit cost only 
$35,800, a net profit of over 300 per cent was made in the fifteen months' 
voyage. 

Captain James M. Buddington of Groton, commanding the ship 'George 
and Henry,' in 1855 discovered the abandoned British frigate ' Resolute,' 
one of the squadron sent out in search of Sir John Franklin. Ice bound 
in Baffin's Bay, the ' Resolute' was abandoned and drifted 900 miles 
out into the Atlantic. Captain Buddington brought her safely to New 
London harbor and received $30,000 for salvage from the United States 
Government. The English ship was refitted at the Brooklyn Navy 
Yard and returned to England as a gift from the United States to the 
Queen. 

Captain Joseph Warren Holmes, a Groton skipper, doubled Cape Horn 
more times than any man afloat, with eighty-three trips to his credit. 
For pure adventure, little in the annals of the sea surpasses the experience 
of Captain Ambrose H. Burrows, who sailed from New York, January 
24, 1823, commanding the brig 'Frederick' bound for Lima, Peru. At 
Callao, after a passage of 158 days, he found the city in a state of insur- 
rection. General Bolivar arrived with reinforcements and restored order. 
Later, on sailing for Quilca, the seaport for Arequipa, capital of Upper 
Peru, the brig was fired upon and boarded by a crew from a pirate craft, 
'Quintanelia,' commanded by an Italian. Short of navigators, the 
pirates forced Captain Burrows to navigate his own vessel. The skipper 
asked for the company of his sixteen-year-old son and smuggled his 
pistols aboard. At pistol point, Captain Burrows took over the ship 
again, cast the pirates adrift in a longboat, sailed his ship back to Callao, 
and found the city in the midst of another revolt. Rescued by the U.S. 
frigate 'Franklin,' Captain Burrows sold his vessel and returned to 
America on the 'Constitution.' 



Groton 157 



The wanderlust of John Ledyard, born in Groton in 1751, nephew of 
the commander at Fort Griswold, is said to have inspired the recurring 
mystery of ' disappearing freshmen' at Dartmouth College. While a 
Dartmouth freshman, in 1772, Ledyard fashioned a canoe fifty feet long 
from a pine tree and paddled down the Connecticut on the first of many 
voyages which took him to unexplored countries. Arriving at Hartford, 
young Ledyard shipped before the mast and made a voyage to Gibraltar, 
the Barbary Coast, and the West Indies. Sailing from London as a 
corporal of marines under Captain Cook, the Groton youngster was 
absent for four years on a cruise that took him to Hawaii at its discovery, 
China, Siberia, and into the Arctic. On his return to America, Ledyard 
published his journal. In 1786, following Thomas Jefferson's plan for 
exploration of the Pacific Northwest by way of Siberia, Ledyard traveled 
on foot from Stockholm, Sweden, to St. Petersburg, Russia, a distance 
of 1400 miles in seven weeks. He was stopped at Irkutsk and ordered to 
leave Russia. He returned to London, undaunted in his quest for unknown 
places. While fitting out an expedition at Cairo, to explore Africa, Led- 
yard died at the age of thirty-seven. 

Shipbuilding was one of the village's important early industries. Large 
ships were built in Groton yards as early as 1724, and during the Revolu- 
tion a thirty-six-gun frigate was built in the Poquetanock River at the 
order of the Continental Congress. In 1812 many privateers were fitted 
out to run the British blockade. The Eastern Shipbuilding Company 
established a plant in Groton in 1900 and commenced the construction 
of two large steamships for the Great Northern Steamship Company, the 
'Minnesota' and 'Dakota,' largest merchant vessels of their day, with 
a displacement of 33,000 tons each. 

Groton has had its share of strange cults. Spiritualism held sway under 
the banner of the First Spiritual and Liberal Society for some years 
in the early seventeenth century, but gradually died out. The Rogerene 
Quakers, organized by John Rogers of New London about 1675, were a 
very strong sect and were so determined in their efforts to make the 
town of Groton pure that they were occasionally whipped or treated to a 
coat of tar and feathers by their fellow townsfolks. The only remaining 
trace of this sect now is in the back country. 



TOUR 



5. from Post Road (US 1) on Thames St. 

i. The Mother Bailey House (private) (1782), 108 Thames St., is a two- 
and-a-half-story frame building with two end chimneys. The entrance 
porch, supported by Ionic columns, is a later addition. The house 
owes its fame to an episode of the War of 1812. In June 1813, Com- 
modore Stephen Decatur and his small fleet, pursued by a British squad- 
ron, had taken shelter in New London harbor. Fearful of a repetition of 



158 Main Street and Village Green 

the attack of 1781, terrified inhabitants bundled their household goods 
into carts and hastened inland. A messenger from the fort, sent through 
town to collect old rags for gunwadding, was unsuccessful in his quest 
until he met Mother Bailey (Anna Warner Bailey), who promptly re- 
moved her red flannel petticoat and remarked, 'There are plenty more 
where that came from.' When the petticoat and its story reached the 
fort, the garrison promptly displayed 'The Martial Petticoat' from 
a pikestaff planted on the ramparts as a symbol of the devotion of a 
patriotic lady. After the war, President Andrew Jackson is reported to 
have visited Mrs. Bailey and presented the iron fence at the west of the 
house, as a token of appreciation. 

2. The Gary Latham House (private), 157 Thames St., called Ferry 
Tavern, a narrow two-and-a-half-story, peak-roofed structure with a lone 
chimney, is so small that there are only two rooms within, one above the 
other. There is little architectural evidence to justify the early date 
claimed for it (1655). 

3. The Colonel Ebenezer Avery House (1754), NE. cor. Thames and 
Latham Sts., with a peak roof and central chimney, was used as a hos- 
pital for the wounded in 1781. Although it has been remodeled, this 
frame dwelling retains the original paneling around the staircase, a 
fine corner cupboard with a carved rose at the top, and three or four 
paneled and battened interior doors on the first floor. 

L. from Thames on Fort St. 

4. Fort Griswold, Fort and Thames Sts., commanding the entrance to 
the Thames, was the site of one of the tragedies of the American Revolu- 
tion. Here on September 6, 1781, Lieutenant-Colonel William Ledyard 
hastily assembled 150 militiamen in an attempt to repulse the attack 
of two regiments of British regulars and the 3d Battalion of New Jersey 
volunteers, who advanced on Groton after capturing Fort Trumbull, 
New London. Under the direction of Benedict Arnold, who watched 
from across the river, the British stormed the fort and killed Colonel 
Ledyard and most of his brave company. The untrained Colonial rifle- 
men, recruited from near-by farms, sold their lives dearly, accounting 
for 193 British. Looting, mistreatment of the wounded and prisoners, 
and the burning of the town followed the slaughter of the defenders. 
Eighty-five militiamen were killed at the fort and all male members of 
many families were destroyed; of the Avery family alone, nine men were 
killed and three wounded. 

The General Assembly of May, 1792, offered to those involved in the 
tragedy, or to the heirs and legal representatives, a half-million acres 
of land in the Western Reserve, as partial compensation. Ninety-two 
Groton families benefited by this grant. In May, 1842, title to Fort 
Griswold was ceded to the U.S. Government. A stone marker, enclosed 
by an iron fence, marks the spot where Ledyard, the military commander 
of the district, fell by his own sword which he had trustingly extended to 
the conquering officer as a token of surrender. Another marker, strangely 



Groton 1 59 



enough, is a memorial to the Major Montgomery of the British forces, 
who, while leading the attack over the parapet, was killed by a pike 
wielded by Gordon Freeman, a Negro servant of Ledyard. 

The feeling generated by the massacre has not abated despite the passing 
years. Commemorative exercises are frequently held on the old battle- 
ground. For many years Jonathan Brooks of New London (d. 1848) 
delivered an unsolicited address from the breastworks on the anniversary 
of the massacre. One year, when only a few people gathered to listen, 
Mr. Brooks looked out over their heads, cleared his throat, and bellowed, 
'Attention, Universe!' 

5. Groton Monument (grounds open free; 15^ admission to monument) 
(i 830) , Fort St., was erected under State patronage with funds secured from 
a lottery. This monument, commemorating the battle of Fort Griswold, 
is a granite obelisk 22 feet square and 134 feet high. From windows at 
the top, a view unfolds in all directions, including Watch Hill, Block 
Island, Gardner's Island, Montauk Point, and the Connecticut coast as 
far west as the Connecticut River. 

At the foot of the monument a little Monument House (open 9-5 during 
the summer months, free), built of stone left over from the construction of 
the shaft, has been furnished by the D.A.R., with relics of the battle and 
other antiques. 

6. Bill Memorial Library (open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2-6, Saturdays, 
2-7) (1890), NW. of the monument, a brownstone building in the roman- 
tic style of Richardson, has a fine collection of butterflies. 

7. The Joseph Latham House (private) (1717), Monument St., a plain 
story-and-a-half cottage of four rooms, is called the 'Gore House,' 
because so many wounded men were quartered here after the battle 
of Groton Heights. 

8. Electric Boat Company, Eastern Point Rd., probably the world's 
largest builder of submarines, operates almost exclusively for the execu- 
tion of the U.S. Navy contracts. This firm is a successor to the New 
London Ship and Engine Company which was the first concern to install 
Diesel engines in submarines (February 14, 1912). On this site were 
previously located the shipyards of the Eastern Ship Building Company. 

Points of Interest in Environs: 

United States Submarine Base (visitors admitted), Atlantic sub- 
marine headquarters, 5 m. (see Tour 9 A). 

Fort Hill, 4.4 m., West Mystic; Pequot Hill, 5.6 m., US 1 (see Tour 1) ; 
the Governor Winthrop House, Bluff Rd., 5.7 m. (see Tour 1). 



GUILFORD 



Town: Alt. 10, borough pop. 1880, sett. 1639. 

Railroad Station: N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R., Whitfield St. 

Accommodations: One hotel. 

Annual Events: Guilford Fair and exhibit of local agricultural products; held 

last Wednesday in September from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. 

GUILFORD, named for the town of Guildford in Surrey, England, retains 
the appearance of a New England village of the early days. More than 
150 old houses border its quiet streets, and the wide Green, with its 
elms and stately Greek Revival church, has a tranquil simplicity char- 
acteristic of the town. Situated on the irregular shore of Long Island 
Sound, the community has attracted many summer residents in recent 
years. 

Founded in 1639, and originally named Menunkatucket, Guilford was 
settled by a body of Puritans from Kent and Surrey under the leader- 
ship of Henry Wnitfield and Samuel Desborough. Land extending from 
the present Branford to Niantic was purchased from the Mohegan Chief, 
Uncas, under a grant from the British Crown. One of the bloodiest of 
Indian battles was fought between the fleeing Pequots and the combined 
English and Mohegan forces at Sachem's Head (see Side Trip of Tour 1). 
Although Guilford was one of the few shore towns to escape pillaging 
by the British fleet and General Tryon's troops, the residents, determined 
to retaliate for the losses suffered by other towns, organized a whale- 
boat raid, May 29, 1777, on the British provision stores at Sag Harbor, 
L.I. Rowing from Sachem's Head to the beach at Plum Gut, 200 men, 
under Lieutenant Colonel Meigs, dragged their whaleboats overland, 
launched them again on the ocean side, and rowed to a short distance off 
Sag Harbor. They surprised the British sentry, withstood the fire of a 
i2-gun schooner, set fire to about 100 tons of hay, 10 transports, wharves, 
and i armed schooner mounting 8 guns, and returned unharmed within 
24 hours. In return, the British landed at Guilford in June, but met such 
spirited opposition that they retired after burning only two houses on 
Leete's Island. 

Guilford is the birthplace of such distinguished men as Abraham Baldwin 
(1754-1807), member of the Continental Congress, founder of the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, and U.S. Senator from Georgia; the Rev. Samuel 
Johnson, the first president of King's College, now Columbia University 
(1696-1772), and Fitz-Greene Halleck, the poet (see Literature). The 
town's most picturesque political character, Samuel Hill (1677-1752), is 
said to have been responsible for the expression 'Running like Sam Hill,' 
because he ran for office from young manhood. At the time of his death 



Guilford 161 



in 1752, he was not only State representative, but also town clerk, 
probate judge, and clerk of the Proprietors. 

Granite quarrying and oyster culture have flourished in the town through- 
out most of its existence. Quarries opened in 1837 have provided stone 
for the foundation of the Statue of Liberty, for breakwaters at Block 
Island, 13 bridges over the Harlem River, New York City, the foundation 
of the Brooklyn Bridge, the northern half of the Battery wall in New 
York, and the lighthouse at Lighthouse Point, New Haven. 

A leading occupation is the cultivation of roses, carried on at the Pinch- 
beck greenhouse on State St., said to be the largest single hothouse in the 
United States. Covered by more than 125,000 square feet of glass, the 
greenhouse is 1200 feet long, and has produced a record maximum output 
of 18,000 roses in one day; average production is about 7000 daily. 

Schoolroom furniture, canned goods, birch extract, toilet articles, iron, 
brass and bronze castings are made in Guilford. 



TOUR 1 



S. from the Boston Post Road on Fair St. 

Nine salt-box-type houses on Fair St. give an opportunity to compare 

the differing lines of this type of dwelling for which Guilford is famous. 

1. The Spencer Homestead (private) (1761), 101 Fair St., retains its original 
lines, except for the addition of a Greek Revival doorway. 

2. The Stevens House (private) (1726), 77 Fair St., another outstanding 
example, is built around the chimney of an earlier house (1670), which 
measures 17 feet X 26 at the base, probably a record size. 

3. Captain Nathaniel Johnson House (private), another salt-box, at 58 
Fair St., was built in 1732. 

R. from Fair St. on Broad St. 

4. Site of Governor William Leete Homestead, 6 Broad St., is marked by 
a later house, an attractive, modernized salt-box dwelling (private), built 
in 1769 by Caleb Stone. Under the garage behind the house is the cellar 
foundation of the earlier house, where the regicides, Goffe and Whalley, 
were hidden for ten days and fed by Mr. Leete. 

5. Jared Leete's House (private) (1781), 76 Broad St., was the home of 
that injudicious drinker of cider and prolific composer of ribald verse. 
When hunting one day on Moose Hill, he became very thirsty and asked 
at a farmhouse for a drink of cider. The housewife, who recognized him, 
at first refused and then agreed to furnish the drink if he would write 
an epitaph for her. Jared immediately complied with: 

'Margaret, who died of late, 
Ascended up to heaven's gate.* 



1 62 Main Street and Village Green 

The satisfied Margaret brought the cider and he immediately added: 

'But Gabriel met her with a club 
And drove her down to BEELZEBUB.' 

Retrace Broad St. TT^; 

6. The Hubbard House (private) (1717), 53 Broad St., with a five-inch 
overhang at the second-story level, is the largest Colonial house in 
Guilford. In it the Rev. Bela Hubbard, D.D., was born in 1739. So 
beloved was he for his faithfulness in attending his congregation through 
a severe epidemic of yellow fever that he remained an active minister 
in New Haven throughout the Revolution, despite his pronounced 
Royalist sympathies. 

7. The Congregational Church (L), Broad Street, framed through the 
trees on the Green, was built in 1829 during the decade in which the 
Greek Revival reached its fullest development, and offers an interesting 
comparison withjjie Litchfield Congregational Church, built in the same 
year. The church is very broad and has an Ionic portico which repeats 
the lines of the gable. Three arched windows are placed over the three 
square-topped doors of equal height. These details, although authenti- 
cally Greek, are somewhat modified by a freer treatment. The rather low 
steeple has two octagonal stages over the square tower and is surmounted 
by a conical spire. The architect is unknown, but his skill with classical 
forms is evident in the design of this building, distinguishing it from the 
average village church of the time. 

R. from Broad St. on Park St. 

8. Smyth House (private) (1820), 55 Park St., where Ralph Dunning 
Smyth, lawyer, judge, representative, and local historian lived for many 
years, has an elaborate cornice and a hip-roofed portico, supported by 
Ionic columns that are typical of the Greek Revival. The large front 
windows have finely molded heads. According to tradition, Lafayette, 
who stopped for refreshment on the opposite corner of the Green, re- 
marked of this house ' C'est gentille.' 



GUILFORD. POINTS OF INTEREST 

1. Spencer Homestead u. Lot Benton House 

2. Stevens House 12. Ebenezer Bartlett House 

3. Captain Nathaniel Johnson 13. Ruth Hart Homestead 

House 14. Hyland or Fiske-Wildman House 

4. Site of Governor William Leete 15. Levi Hubbard Homestead 

Homestead 16. Caldwell House 

5. Jared Leete's House 17. Ezra Griswold House 

6. Hubbard House 18. Acadian House 

7. Congregational Church 19. Sabbath Day House 

8. Smyth House 20. Daniel Bowen House 

9. Episcopal Church 21. Comfort Starr House 
10. WHitfield House 



1 64 Main Street and Village Green 

9. The Episcopal Church (L), Park St., between Boston and Broad Sts., 
a granite building of 1836, is an example of the Gothic Revival, a style 
popularized in the State by the erection of Trinity Church in New 
Haven. 

R. from Park St. on Boston St.; L. on Whitfield St. 

10. Whitfield House (open 9-5 daily; free), on Whitfield St., is one of the 
earliest stone houses in America and probably the oldest house in Con- 
necticut. It has been remodeled many times in the last century, and was 
restored in 1903 and in 1936, so that only about a third of the heavy rear 
wall, the immense chimney which covers the whole north end of the 
house, and the line of the foundation remain. The original fortified house 
was built in 1639-40 by the Rev. Henry Whitfield to serve not only as his 
home but for all the public uses of the community. The most important 
house in the town often did have to serve community uses and was, 
therefore, likely to be a departure from the usual type. In 1936, under 
a Works Progress Administration project, which was directed by J. 
Frederick Kelly, an authority on early Connecticut architecture, the 
house was restored as nearly as possible to its original appearance, even 
to the odd window which old prints show across the southwest corner. 
Now maintained by the State as a museum, the building houses a varied 
collection of antiques and curios. 

11. Lot Benton House (private), on Whitfield St., half a mile south, was 
erected about 1770 in the center of town where the present Congrega- 
tional Church stands, but was moved to its present site in 1824, drawn 
by 35 yoke of oxen. Dr. Lyman Beecher, a ward of Lot Benton, lived 
in the house occasionally and inherited it. 

Retrace Whitfield St.; L. on Water St. 

12. Ebenezer Bartlett House (private), 15 Water St., dating from the 
second quarter of the i8th century, has a great T-shaped chimney. In 
this house died the poet Fitz-Greene Halleck (1790-1867). 

13. Ruth Hart Homestead (open) (1780), 68 Water St., a little story-and- 
a-half Dutch-roofed house, a type rarely found in Guilford, has one very 
old, many-paned window, with wooden muntins more than an inch wide 
in the southwest room on the first floor. 

Retrace Water St. which becomes Boston St. 

14. The Hyland or Fiske-Wildman House (open 9-5 during the summer; 
adm. 25ff), Boston St. (L), between Graves Ave. and Pearl St., has been 
restored by the Dorothy Whitfield Historical Society, Inc., and is main- 
tained as a museum. Its date has been the subject of much discussion. 
Because of the height of its rooms, the best authorities are inclined to 
believe that it cannot merit the 17th-century date commonly assigned 
to it. Certainly, with its reconstructed casement windows, it closely 
resembles the average house of about 1 700. The beautifully carved over- 
hang, with its molded chamfer, lambs' tongue, and brackets beneath, is 
one of the finest examples in Guilford. In this house lived Ebenezer 
Parmelee, who, in 1727, built one of the first town clocks in America and 



Guilford 165 



installed it in the First Congregational Church on the Green. It served 
in two succeeding edifices until 1892. 

15. Levi Hubbard Homestead (private) (1761), 311 Boston St., tradi- 
tionally known as 'Black House,' was the home of Nicholas Loysel, a 
French refugee, from the Island of Guadeloupe. When Nicholas heard 
of the execution of Louis XVI, he painted his house black, and traces of 
the paint remain. 

16. The Caldwell Home (private) (1740), southwest corner of Boston St. 
and Lovers' Lane, was remodeled in the early igth century, but retains 
features that link it with the first half of the i8th century. It was origi- 
nally a central-chimney house, of the 'hewn overhang' type, predominant 
in the southern portions of Connecticut. The 'hewing out' of the solid 
corner posts into exterior corbels is plainly visible under the second-story 
overhang. The excellent portico, the chimneys and windows, are igth- 
century; the dormers are 20th-century. 

17. On the opposite corner, across Lovers' Lane at 161 Boston St., is 
the Ezra Griswold House (1777), an attractive white salt-box dwelHng on 
a high bank, behind an odd picket fence. Its excellent state of preserva- 
tion and its charming setting have caused it to be the most photographed 
house in Connecticut. 

L. from Boston St. on Union St. 

18. The Acadian House (private), Union St., between Pearl and Market 
Place, a sparsely windowed, primitive salt-box dwelling built about 1670 
by Joseph Clay, sheltered exiles from Acadia who were put ashore by a 
British ship after the destruction of Grand Pre in 1755. 

On Union St. are two of the tiny, seldom preserved Sabbath Day 
houses, built by settlers living in distant outlying districts who came into 
the village on Saturday in order to attend the Sunday services. 

19. One Sabbath Day House (private), at No. 5 Union St., is a story-and- 
a-half house, with a sharp-peaked roof and a wide cornice, dating from 
1730. 

20. The Daniel Bowen House (private), 19 Union St., the other Sabbath 
Day House, is an exceptionally small dwelling of 1734 with a sharp 
gambrel at the front and a lean-to at the rear. 

Right from Union St. on State St. 

21. Comfort Starr House (private), 138 State St., is one of the oldest 
frame houses in the State and one of the few remaining homes of the 
'Signers' who first settled Guilford. Built by Henry Kingsnorth in 
1645-46 and sold to Comfort Starr in 1694, this house retains most of its 
primitive features, including the five-window front and plain doorway, 
the stone chimney, the gable overhang, and the awkward roof-line 
formed by the lean-to added at the rear. The position of this house 
indicates that in Guilford and the larger communities the usual 17th- 
century rule of having a house face the south did not always prevail. 



1 66 Main Street and Village Green 

Points of Interest in Environs: 

Captain Lee House, 0.3 m.; Leete Homestead, Leete's Island, 4 m.; 
Sachem's Head, 4.8 m. (see Side Tour from Tour 1) ; old churches, 
North Guilford, 6.5 m.; old settlement of Nut Plains, 2.7 m.\ 
Thimble Islands, 4.5 m. (see Tour IF). 



HARTFORD 



City: Alt. 40, pop. 164,072, inc. 1784. 

Railroad Station: Hartford Station, Union Place and Asylum Ave., for N.Y., 

N.H. & H. R.R. 

Airports: Rentschler Field, 400 Main St., East Hartford, 3^ m. from center, 

taxi fare $1.05, time 20 min.; American Airlines, Newark-Boston route, 2 

stops each way daily, 3 stops each way on summer schedule, Brainard Field 

(municipally owned), Aviation Rd. at Maxim Rd., 2 m. S. of center, taxi fare 

60^, time 10 min.; United Airlines, Seaplane Dock. 

Taxis: 35^ first mile, 25^ each additional mile, $2 per hour, waiting time; $3 per 

hour, traveling in city; $4 per hour, traveling outside city. 

Accommodations: Five hotels. 

Information Service: Travelers' Aid, Railroad Station, Union Place; Informa- 
tion Desk, Municipal Bldg., Main St.; Hartford Chamber of Commerce, 805 
Main St.; Hartford Better Business Bureau, 190 Trumbull St.; Business & 
Technical Branch, Hartford Public Library, 730 Main St.; Conn. Motor Club, 
Heublein Hotel, 180 Wells St. 

Boat Landing: Hartford Yacht Club, E. bank of Connecticut River, below 
Bulkeley Memorial Bridge. 

Auditoriums: Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall, 166 Capitol Ave. (3227 seats); 
Foot Guard Armory, 165 High St. (1500 seats); Avery Memorial Hall, 35 
Prospect St.; State Armory, Broad St. and Capitol Ave. (10,000 seats). 

Recreation: Tennis courts in city parks, for use after 4 P.M. weekdays or any 
time Sundays, 5^ per hour per player, obtain permit at municipal building. 
Golf: Keney Park, Barbour St. and Windsor Ave., 25f nine holes, $15.00 yearly 
membership, i8-hole course; Goodwin Park, Maple Ave., 15^ nine holes, $10.00 
yearly membership, i8-hole course. 
Swimming: Colt Park Pool; Riverside Park Pool. 
Bridle Paths: Keney Park. 

Annual Events: Community Sing, Christmas Eve, in front of Hartford, Times 
Bldg., Prospect St.; Rose Week, Elizabeth Park, June, date varies; Conn. State 
Teachers Association Convention, Bushnell Memorial, 3d Friday in October; 
Gladiola Show, 3d week in August, Old State House, under auspices of Conn. 
Gladiola Society; Flower Show, Conn. Horticultural Society, June, Old State 



Hartford 167 



House; Shrine Circus, State Armory, April; Sportsmen's Show, February, State 
Armory; Home Progress Exposition, March, State Armory; Automobile Show, 
November, State Armory; Radio Exhibition, October, Foot Guard Armory; 
Hartford County Food Exhibit, September, State Armory; Conn. Pomological 
Show, Women's Club, Broad St., December; Transportation Dinner, C. of C., 
February, Hotel Bond; Lawn Bowling Tournament, August, Elizabeth Park; 
Opera, at Bushnell Memorial, with nationally known opera companies, twice 
yearly, either December and February, or January and March. 

HARTFORD, the State Capital and the largest city in the State, is a 
financial-industrial center on the west bank of the Connecticut River. 
The lofty Travelers' Tower, New England's tallest structure, dominates 
the serrated skyline, reaching 527 feet into the blue. The gilded dome of 
the State Capitol, rising above the trees of Bushnell Park, the tower of 
Trinity Chapel, and the cupola of the JEtna, Building also furnish land- 
marks for aviators. Through the center of the city meanders the narrow, 
muddy Park River, but the Connecticut River to the east is hidden be- 
hind dikes and the railway embankment. 

On a gently rolling plain that gradually rises to merge with the foothills 
of distant mountains, retaining much of the past in the older sections and 
an almost cosmopolitan sophistication in the modern shopping district, 
Hartford offers many contrasts. The group of State and county buildings 
at the crest of the slight rise known as Capitol Hill is one section of na- 
tional interest. The insurance capitols in the business district, and west- 
ward on the edge of the residential area, show a different aspect of Hart- 
ford life. To the north, along Main Street, many ultra-modern depart- 
ment stores reflect the prosperity of the city. In a central triangular plot 
on Main Street is the handsome Old State House. Southward, on the 
main thoroughfare, the imposing pink granite Morgan Memorial reminds 
the visitor that Hartford is the birth and burial place of J. Pierpont 
Morgan and his ancestors. The First, or Center Church building recalls 
the life of the Reverend Thomas Hooker (1586-1647), its first pastor, who 
is credited with the liberal ideas embodied in Connecticut's Fundamental 
Orders of 1639. 

Main Street is only forty feet above sea level; Front Street is much lower, 
and only Capitol Hill and points to the westward are higher than the 
main thoroughfare. Ever conscious of the flood hazard, the city has built 
an extensive system of dikes along the lower meadows and around the 
older factory buildings, and plans have been made for a loftier highway 
bridge. The better residential sections are farther back from the river. 
Hartford has rather distinct foreign residential areas. Front Street, 
along the river, removed barely enough to escape the ordinary freshets, 
has an Italian population closely knit and clannish. Windsor Avenue, 
to the northward, is the quarter where Hartford's Negroes reside. Park 
Street, to the southwest, is the factory section where Slavs flock together 
in dingy tenements. On Albany and Blue Hills Avenues, to the northwest, 
lives most of Hartford's Jewish population, which has enormously in- 
creased, until the city has a proportionately larger number of Jews than 



1 68 Main Street and Village Green 

any other American community except New York or Atlantic City. This 
growth, the result of an influx between the years 1920 to 1930, is the only 
noticeable racial trend other than a gradual elimination of the full native 
parentage group, which has decreased to twenty-eight per cent. 
Hartford is the hub of many excellent highways radiating in all directions 
to the important cities of this and adjacent States. Many of the em- 
ployees of Hartford's insurance offices and industrial plants are com- 
muters from near-by towns, and highways are crowded during business 
hours. 

Fully twenty- two per cent, or 2700 acres, of the total area of the city is 
in municipal parks or squares. A city planning commission has functioned 
in Hartford since 1907, but even before that date careful attention was 
given to the location of buildings and layout of streets. Approaching the 
city from any direction, visitors are impressed with the orderliness and 
width of the main arteries of traffic. 

Known chiefly as an insurance center because of the concentration of in- 
surance companies which outnumber those of any other city in the world, 
Hartford is also an important tobacco and agricultural market. Crops 
valued at $15,000,000 annually clear through the city. The agricultural 
influence is also conspicuous during the sessions of the General Assembly 
when rural gentry from the 169 towns of Connecticut mingle with sales- 
men in hotel lobbies, or gather in front of shop windows to gaze at the 
latest styles. 

The hotels are crowded during the many conventions, flower, or sports 
shows held here. Military balls are gay affairs because this is the home 
city of the ist Company, Governor's Foot Guard and the ancient Putnam 
Phalanx. Bearskin shakoes, brilliant uniforms, even the deep drums of 
Colonial days, are familiar accouterment when the old military organiza- 
tions pass in review on Inauguration Day. 

Hartford has distinct sounds, too. The constant, deep-throated drone 
of powerful motors and the whir of spinning propellers are forever rising 
above the street noises. A fleet of army planes roars in from the west for 
the installation of new motors; a combat ship solos topside, hanging to the 
highest fleecy cloud; or a * flying laboratory' grumbles under a test load 
before attempting to span distant oceans. Motors, ships, variable pitch 
propellers have all been developed by Hartford manufacturers now serv- 
ing world markets from their plants just across the broad Connecticut 
River. The river, ever ready to spread over the lowlands and inundate 
Hartford's own aviation field, has forced this concentration of the air- 
craft industry out of the metropolis itself. 

The stream has ceased to be important in the commercial life of the city, 
except for incoming barges, tankers, and coal carriers. Pleasure craft 
have their anchorage overstream by the left bank, but a hucksters' 
market operates almost on the river level on Commerce Street, where 
now rotting steamboat docks were once piled with incoming and outgoing 
freight. 



Hartford 169 



As a cultural center Hartford has contributed much to the Nation. 
J. Pierpont Morgan was internationally known as a patron of the arts. 
Samuel Clemens, Noah Webster, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dudley 
Warner, and William Gillette have all claimed Hartford as their home. 
More than one hundred periodicals were established in the city, among 
them The Children's Magazine (1789), the first juvenile periodical in 
America. The Hartford Courant dates back to 1764, and the Hartford 
Times first went on the street in 1817. Amelia Simmons wrote, and 
Hudson and Goodwin of Hartford printed, America's first cook book 
(forty-six pages) in 1796. 

The slogan '45 minutes in Havana' was not coined in the Cuban city, 
but in a Yankee cigar factory here. Tobacco sorting, inspecting, and 
packing is an important industry, and there is constant competition 
during the tobacco season between the mechanical industries and the 
warehouses for the limited supply of female help available after the in- 
surance firms have had their choice. A larger number of female employees 
is gainfully employed in Hartford than in any other city in Connecticut 
(23,608). The typewriter plants also furnish employment to many 
women. Other Hartford industries produce electrical equipment, ma- 
chinery, precision tools, gold leaf, firearms, printing, screws, castings, 
tools and dies, coffins, taps, artificial limbs, millwork, forgings, lithogra- 
phy, saddlery, blowers, bedsprings, and pool tables. 

Hartford mechanics gave the world the first standard inch when, in 1885, 
Pratt and Whitney Company perfected a standard measuring machine 
accurate to one one-hundred-thousandth of an inch. The first pneumatic 
tires ever built in America came from a Hartford plant in 1894, and Colt's, 
'The Arm of Law and Order/ has carried a local trademark to the ends 
of the earth. 

A modern electric generating plant occupies almost the exact spot where 
the first white men landed in Hartford. In 1633, Jacob van Curler, under 
orders from the Governor of New Amsterdam (Wouter van Twiller), built 
a fort and mounted two guns at 'Suckiage.' The Dutch called it 'The 
House of Hope,' but today the site is known as Dutch Point. 
The first permanent settlement was made by the English in 1635 when 
John Steel and sixty pioneers from Newtowne (Cambridge, Mass.) 
settled here in October, 1635, followed by the Reverend Thomas Hooker 
and his company in the spring of 1636. The settlement was named in 
1637, from Hartford in England. The General Court of the Bay Colony 
met to consider the authorization of town governments in the Plantation 
of Connecticut on October 10, 1639, and laid down definite rulings on 
April 9, 1640. However, when the colonists discovered that they were 
no longer within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, representatives of the 
river settlements met at Hartford to draw up a plan of government. 
Connecticut's Fundamental Orders, said to have been the constitution 
known to history that created a government, setting forth the radical 
principle that 'the foundation of authority is in the free consent of 



170 Main Street and Village Green 

the people,' was written in Hartford by Roger Ludlow and adopted here 
by representatives of the River Towns on January 14, 1639. 

Hartford County was organized in 1665, but the city and town were not 
incorporated until the May session of the General Assembly in 1784, 
although town meetings and town courts were held and community action 
taken in the usual manner of the New England town. 

The British proved to be better colonizers than the Dutch, and their 
Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford settlements cut off the Dutch trade 
with the Indians to such an extent that the garrison finally left the fort 
unoccupied. The Colonial Court met in 1654 and called on Captain John 
Underbill to occupy the fort in the name of England, a procedure ac- 
complished without firing a shot. The English thereupon posted notices 
on the doors of 'The House of Hope' and the Dutch were seen no more 
along the river. 

By 1662, the Hartford Colony comprised fourteen towns; it was united 
with the six New Haven settlements in 1665, and, by decree of the Con- 
necticut General Court, the legislature was ordered to meet in Hartford. 
For the sake of convenience this agreement was not adhered to, but 
sessions were held alternately in New Haven and Hartford (both main- 
taining State Houses) until 1875, when all sessions were held in Hartford. 

The charter granted by King Charles II on April 26, 1662, made the 
Colony independent. The Great Seal was added to the document in 
May, 1662. John Winthrop, Jr., forwarded it to Connecticut, where it 
was read to the freemen of Hartford on October 9, 1662. Sir Edmund 
Andros, appointed Governor of all New England Colonies in 1687, en- 
deavored to induce Connecticut to relinquish its liberal charter. Failing 
in this, he arrived in Hartford with an armed escort, October 31, 1687, 
conferred with all officials, read his commission aloud, and formally took 
office. When Andros demanded the charter, it was brought forth, but the 
lights were suddenly extinguished and, when the candles were relighted, 
the charter had vanished. Joseph Wadsworth had secreted the parch- 
ment in the hollow of an oak tree on the property of Samuel Wyllys, 
which thereafter was known as the ' Charter Oak.' 

The Andros government lasted only two years and Connecticut returned 
to its charter form of government. The charter was kept by Wadsworth 
until May, 1715. About 1817, the wife of one of the keepers of the 
document is reported to have allowed a neighbor to cut the lining for a 
bonnet from the history-making parchment. A portion of the charter was 
saved and can be seen in the rooms of the Connecticut Historical Society 
in Hartford. The historical duplicate of the original is preserved in a 
special safe in the Memorial Hall of the State Library. The wood of the 
Charter Oak has been made into chairs, gavels, and other odd articles 
now in museums and private collections. A tablet marks the spot where 
the great tree formerly grew; the name 'Charter Oak' has been freely 
used on all manner of places and articles, from soft drinks and cigars to 
a harness-racing track where Grand Circuit horses once pounded down 



Hartford 171 



the homestretch, but where poultrymen now auction off eggs. The Har- 
vester made records at Charter Oak Park; Pop Geers drove there against 
Tommy Murphy and Walter Cox; men and animals as sturdy as the 
great tree itself fought it out for 'The Charter Oak' or 'The Nutmeg' 
purses. Hartford should have copyrighted the name. The proceeds 
would have paid for a forest of oaks. 

There is no record of any serious trouble with the Indians in or near 
Hartford. John Eliot came to preach to the Podunks in 1657, translated 
the Bible into their language, but made little progress in aboriginal soul- 
saving. The Indians answered his pleas with: 'No, you have taken away 
our lands, and now you wish to make us a race of slaves.' 
Hartford's fertile meadows produced bumper crops and an early effort 
was made to control crops and planting. Each landholder was ordered 
by the town authorities to plant the teaspoonful of flaxseed given him. 
When John Winthrop, Jr., went to England to secure the charter, his 
passage was paid with five hundred bushels of wheat and three hundred 
bushels of peas. 

Hartford citizenry took an active part in the Revolutionary War, but 
there is no record of any outstanding accomplishment by any one in- 
dividual. The expedition against Fort Ticonderoga was planned in 
Hartford by Silas Deane, Samuel Holden Parsons, and Colonel Samuel 
Wyllys, but the capture was accomplished by a lad from Roxbury named 
Ethan Allen, accompanied by Seth Warner and Remember Baker. The 
little settlement was already showing signs of becoming a financial and 
cultural center, concerned more with politics and the social side of war. 
The city welcomed George Washington in June of 1775 when he was on 
his way to take command of the Continental Army at Cambridge. 
Major Thomas Y. Seymour of Hartford convoyed General Burgoyne to 
Boston after the surrender. 

Shipping grew to its zenith in the eighteenth century, and a fleet of vessels 
plied between Hartford and English, Mediterranean, and West Indian 
ports. The War of 181 2 caused a depression in shipping circles from which 
the water-borne commerce was never to recover. 

Hartford was a center of anti-slavery propaganda and, after the begin- 
ning of the Civil War in 1861, its banks lent the Governor of Connecticut 
half a million dollars to finance the recruiting and equipment of a regiment. 
Following the Civil War most of Hartford's history concerns industry 
and the development of machinery and transportation. As early as 1876, 
the Hartford Fire Department purchased and operated a steam-propelled 
fire engine with great success and only minor damage to the nerves of 
drivers of horse-drawn vehicles. These pieces of fire-fighting equipment 
remained in service for nearly fifty years and proved an excellent invest- 
ment for the city. 

In 1878, Colonel A. A. Pope built and popularized the Columbia bicycle, 
which did not differ greatly from the British 'Ordinary' formerly im- 
ported by Colonel Pope. The development of the pneumatic tire in 1889, 



172 Main Street and Village Green 

together with the drop-frame machine for lady riders (who were not 
called ' ladies' after their first ride in public), boomed the business. 
Pope employed five hundred workers in 1888 and had thirty-eight 
hundred on his payroll in 1900. 

Colonel Pope built and marketed a high-priced vehicle known as the 
Columbia Electric Phaeton, in 1907. One of these cars is still (1937) in 
operation in Hartford, driven by a very conservative person who looks 
with suspicion on the internal combustion motors of the present day. 
The Pope factory switched from electric-driven cars to gas-propelled 
vehicles, but the Pope-Hartford motorcar was a short-lived venture in 
quality automotive history. 

In the early i89o's the Whitney Steam Car was seen on the streets of 
Hartford. F. W. Manross startled the motor world in 1898 when he 
drove a Winton from Forestville to Hartford, a distance of eighteen 
miles, in fifty-five minutes. Motors became such a traffic problem in 
1901 that the State enforced motor laws, limiting speed to fifteen miles 
an hour in the open country and to twelve miles within the limits of towns 
and villages. 

The United States Rubber Company built tires in the old Hartford 
Rubber Works, but closed the plant after the World War, when local 
labor became too costly. Pipe organs were once an important Hartford 
product, and the Austin Organ Company has been credited with many 
important developments in organ manufacturing, such as the ' Austin 
Universal Air Chest' for the great cathedral instruments such as the 
Cyrus H. K. Curtis Organ in the Public Ledger Auditorium, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, often claimed to be the largest organ in the world, having 
four manuals and two hundred and eighty-three stops. 

Aircraft motors were developed by the Pratt and Whitney plant and 
Hartford forged ahead in that line, hoping to hold its well-earned lead 
over lesser competitors. The concentration of aircraft manufacturing 
plants across the stream in East Hartford promises well for the future of 
the Insurance City as a center of aviation. 

The most unusual industry in Hartford today is gold-beating. Marcus 
Bull started the work prior to 1819, as a pioneer in the gold-beating pro- 
fession. Dentists patronized him and, in 1866, John M. Ney took over 
sole control of the business. The company is still doing a modest business, 
and there are interesting stories about its work. The gold leaf of the 
dome of the State Capitol (440 square feet of it) was beaten in Hartford 
by this concern. A Sioux warrior, killed in a Wyoming mail robbery, 
was found to have all the buttons and metal on his clothing covered with 
Ney's gold leaf. During the Civil War, the Confederacy was so in need 
of gold that books with leaves of the Ney product were smuggled in 
from Havana. Gold leaf takes its name from the fact that it is sold in 
books. 

Insurance was an outgrowth of the banks which grew with early trade 
and commerce at this river port of entry. Marine insurance was written 



Hartford 173 



to cover shipping hazards, but the shifting of commerce to more favorable 
ports resulted in a trend from marine insurance coverage to fire risks, 
and, eventually, to the accident, life, and liability fields. Legislation in 
Connecticut has been favorable to the growth of this business and today 
forty-four companies have home offices in Hartford, and four hundred 
and fifty licensed firms or benefit societies are represented here. 

The growth of the insurance industry in Hartford dates from February 
8, 1794, when a fire insurance policy was issued by the Hartford Fire 
Insurance Company. The present company of that name was chartered 
in 1810. 

The dramatic manner in which Eliphalet Terry arrived at the scene of 
the great New York fire, in 1835, an d, near the smoldering ruins of some 
seven hundred buildings, is reported to have mounted a soapbox and 
assured all of his policy-holders that they would get their money, estab- 
lished public confidence in the firm's integrity. Terry's share of the total 
$20,000,000 loss was only $64,973.34, but the pay-off was handled in such 
a dramatic manner that an immediate rush of business came to the 
Hartford companies. Weathering the Chicago, Boston, Jacksonville, 
and Baltimore fires successfully, Hartford companies next met a severe 
test in the San Francisco disaster of 1906 when they paid a total of 
$15,000,000 in claims. 

The first boiler insurance was issued in June, 1866, by the Hartford 
Steam Boiler Insurance and Inspection Company. The first American 
automobile insurance was also written in Hartford, February i, 1898, for 
a $5ooo-$io,ooo coverage, at a premium of only $11.25. 

Travelers, ^Etna, Phoenix, Hartford Fire, and Connecticut Mutual are 
leading companies operating from Hartford, and their claims paid to 
December 31, 1935, total about six and one-half billion dollars. 



TOUR 1 

W. from Washington Ave. on Capitol Ave. 

i. The State Capitol overlooks the city from the landscaped crest of 
Capitol Hill, with other State buildings standing at a respectful distance 
to the south, and Bushnell Park sloping down to the business district 
on the north. The marble and granite structure, designed by Richard Up- 
john in 1878, was erected at a cost of $2,532,524.43. The architecture 
might be considered Gothic from the profusion of crockets, finials, and 
niches that rise above its somewhat pointed arches to the elongated dome; 
but it is exuberant and eclectic in spirit, and does not confine itself to 
the historical precedents of any one style. The mass of the building is 
dignified and impressive. Two lofty, five-story wings, rising at the 
east and west facades of the central main building, culminate in the 



174 



Main Street and Village Green 



twelve-sided gilded dome, topped with a winged figure of the 'Genius 
of Connecticut' by Randolph Rogers. The well-composed exterior is of 
modified Venetian and French Gothic style with corner towers. 

On the first floor are oifices, and in the lobbies the battle flags of Connecti- 
cut troops hi different wars, Lafayette's army cot, the tombstone of 
Israel Putnam, and a plaster model of the statue on the dome. On the 
stairway to the House of Representatives, on the mezzanine floor, are 
copies of the statues around the dome. The second floor contains the 
offices of Governor, Secretary of State, the legislative halls, and the rooms 
used for hearings. The presiding officer's chair in the Senate is hand- 



HARTFORD. POINTS OF INTEREST 






i. 

2. 

3- 
4- 

5- 

6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 

10. 
ii. 

12. 

13- 
14. 

IS- 

16. 

17- 
18. 
19. 

20. 
21. 



22. 

23- 
24. 

25- 
26. 

27. 

28. 
2 9 . 



State Capitol 

Bushnell Park 

Equestrian Statue of Lafayette 

State Office Building 

State Library and Supreme 
Court Building 

Timothy Steele House 

County Building 

Bushnell Memorial Hall 

Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance 
Company Building 

Butler McCook Homestead 

South Congregational Church 

Charter Oak Memorial 

Municipal Building 

Burial Ground 

First Church of Christ 

Morgan Memorial Art Galleries 

Wadsworth Atheneum 

Avery Memorial Art Museum 

Hunt Memorial 

Daniel Wadsworth Barn 

Hartford Steam Boiler Inspec- 
tion and Insurance Company 
Building 

Travelers' Insurance Company 
Buildings 

Site of Oliver Ellsworth House 

Old State House 

Hartford Courant Offices 

Christ Church Cathedral 

Federal Building, Post Office 
and U.S. Court House 

Connecticut Mutual Life Insur- 
ance Company Building 

Hartford Fire Insurance Com- 
pany Building 



30. State Armory 

31. Caledonia Insurance Company 

Building 

32. Site of the George Catlin House 

33. ^Etna Life Insurance Company 

Building 

34. St. Joseph's Cathedral 

35. Harriet Beecher Stowe House 

36. Charles Dudley Warner House 

37. William Gillette House 

38. John Hooker House 

39. Katherine Hepburn's Birthplace 

40. Mark Twain's House and Memorial 

Library 

41. Children's Museum of Hartford 

42. Hartford Seminary Foundation 

43. Elizabeth Park 

44. Hartford School of Music 

45. Keney Memorial Tower 

46. St. Justin's Roman Catholic 

Church 

47. Connecticut Institute for the Blind 

48. Keney Park 

49. Fuller Brush Company Building 

50. Bulkeley Memorial Bridge 

51. Pratt and Whitney Manufacturing 

Company Plant 

52. Pope Park 

53. Trinity College 

54. Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manu- 

facturing Company Plant 
Colt Park 
Goodwin Park 



55- 
56. 



57. Royal Typewriter Company Plant 

58. Underwood Elliot Fisher Company 

Plant 



178 Main Street and Village Green 

carved from the Charter Oak. The Attorney General has offices on the 
third floor, and the fourth floor is devoted to committee rooms. From the 
Dome (open 11 and 3.30) is a magnificent view of the city and surrounding 
countryside. 

The approach to the Capitol from the east passes the bronze equestrian 
Lafayette Statue, the ugly 13-inch seacoast mortar used at the siege of 
Petersburg by the ist Connecticut Heavy Artillery and known as The 
Petersburg Express, a Statue of Governor Richard D. Hubbard, and the 
Colonel Thomas Knowlton Statue, erected in honor of the officer in direct 
command of Connecticut troops at Bunker Hill, the commander of 
Knowlton's Rangers (see Tour 3, ASHFORD). 

E. from Capitol Grounds into Bushnell Park. 

2. Bushnell Park (1853), between the Capitol Grounds, Trinity, Ford, and 
Asylum Sts. (41.27 acres), was purchased by the city of Hartford in 
1853, from Horace Bushnell, for whom the park is named. The Park 
River, winding along the eastern, northern, and western boundaries, 
increases the beauty of the tree-lined walks, flower-beds, shrubbery, lily 
pond, Music Shell, and children's playground. The most pretentious 
statuary group here is the Corning Memorial Fountain, near the north 
end (Asylum St.) of the park by the river, erected in 1899 by John J. 
Corning, as a tribute to his father. Designed by Massey Rhind, the 
fountain has a granite basin and column about which stand the full- 
sized figures of four Indian maidens and four braves. The Spanish War 
Memorial, at the corner of Trinity and Elm Sts., is the work of the 
Windsor sculptor, Evelyn Beatrice Longman Batchelder. Its massive 
central figure of golden bronze represents Columbia with an uplifted 
torch above bas-relief figures of a soldier and sailor on either side. The 
Soldiers' and Sailors 7 Memorial Arch, at Trinity St. approach to the Capi- 
tol, was designed by Sylvester Bissell in 1 88 5 . A medieval arch, 30 feet wide, 
supported by free-stone round towers at either end, each over 100 feet 
high and 63 feet in circumference, the structure is enlivened by a terra- 
cotta frieze representing Civil War soldiers in action. Among other 
statues in the park are the Anders onmlle Prison Boy, a bronze memorial 
by Bela Lyon Pratt, to Northern soldiers who died in Southern prisons 
during the Civil War; the tall bronze Statue of General Israel Putnam, 
just west of Trinity St.; and in the eastern section of the park, a Statue 
of Dr. Horace Wells % the discoverer of the use of nitrous oxide gas as 
anesthesia; and the Dahlgren Guns, taken from the warship ' Hartford. 7 

S. from Bushnell Park on Trinity St.; R. on Capitol Ave. 

3. The Equestrian Statue of Lafayette, center of Capitol Ave., at the 
north end of Washington St., was cast from the plaster model of the 
original by Paul W. Bartlett, the gift of American school children to the 
city of Paris. 

4. The State Office Building, Capitol Ave. (L), between Washington and 
West Sts., erected in 1930-31, is of modern design. Bronze plaques 
between the floors are in contrast to the limestone walls ; a course v of 



Hartford 1 79 



heavy dentils lines the cornice below the top floor. J. Henry Miller, 
Inc. was the architect. The offices of various State departments are 
housed here. 

5. The State Library and Supreme Court Building, opposite the Capitol, 
on Capitol Ave., between Lafayette and Oak Sts., was built in 1910 from 
designs by Bonn Barber. It is of Italian Renaissance design, a style 
popularized for public buildings by the great expositions, but is here 
treated with a special vigor and nobility of proportions. An imposing 
entrance pavilion, with Roman columns, arched doorways, and a heavy 
superstructure, is flanked with two great sculptural groups over a pro- 
jecting pair of columns at each end. A long broad flight of steps com- 
pletes the composition. 

The State Library (open weekdays 9-5), in the east wing of the building, 
combines the State law, legislative, war, and archives libraries, and is 
the depository of public records and official publications, and many 
historical and genealogical collections per taming to towns, States, the 
United States, and the British Empire. 

The Connecticut Supreme Court occupies the west wing in which is 
Albert Herter's mural, ' Signing of the Colonial Orders. 7 

Memorial Hall, in the south wing, facing the main entrance, houses some 
of the State's most cherished relics, among them the Gilbert Stuart 
'Portrait of George Washington,' the historical duplicate of the original 
charter of 1662, signed by Charles II, and complete except for the loss 
of its green wax seal, portraits of Connecticut governors, the table on 
which Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Mitchelson 
Collection of coins and medals. 
Return on Capitol Ave.; R. on Lafayette St. 

6. The Timothy Steele House (private}, 91 Lafayette St., behind the li- 
brary and erected in 1715, is the oldest building in Hartford. Its T-shaped 
chimney rises behind a roof that was originally salt-box. 

L. from Lafayette St. on Russ St.; R. on Washington St. 

7. County Building, 95 Washington St., rising from a low stone terrace, 
is a limestone building designed in a modified Roman style by Paul P. 
Cret of Philadelphia, and Smith and Bassette of Hartford. It was com- 
pleted in 1929. The austerity of the facade, with its flat columns and 
heavy entablature, is relieved by a bas-relief in the center of the latter, by 
grilles between the columns, and by four large Roman votive urns. 
Unlike the usual building of its type, it has only a center entrance to its 
long hall. Three Murals by J. R. L. St. Hubert, a French artist, adorn 
the main lobby, and the corridor ceilings are decorated with Homeric 
scenes. 

Return on Washington St.; R. on Capitol Ave. 

8. Bushnell Memorial Hall, 166 Capitol Ave. at Trinity St., a red-brick 
and limestone building designed by Harvey Corbett, was erected in 1930 
by members of the family of Dr. Horace Bushnell, D.D., and contains a 






i8o Main Street and Village Green 

large auditorium (seating capacity 3227). This building has provided 
Hartford with a perennial topic of discussion. Neither conservative nor 
modern, its architecture fails to achieve distinction except as a hybrid. 
The Capitol Ave. facade, taken by itself, is a conservative rendering 
of old forms, although the Bulfinch-inspired cupola bears little relation 
to the big foyer building devoted to the many secondary purposes of a 
community building. The gable end of the building, toward Capitol 
Ave., with its raised pediment and unevenly spaced Ionic columns, is 
distinctive, but loses force from the long mass of the auditorium stretch- 
ing down Trinity St. 

The interior of this hall, as large as the Metropolitan Opera House in 
New York, is a surprise, a bizarre medley of gold leaf and barbaric de- 
sign. The stage is rimmed in concentric circles of gilt ornament con- 
ventionalized bossed stars caught in a seeming cobweb of cross-lines; 
and finally, lifted above the center of the auditorium, a zodiacal composi- 
tion gleams from a field of stars. Torchlike, indirect lighting at the sides 
makes it all shine in fantastic brilliance, which dims gradually to a sort 
of moonlight before the curtain goes up. It has a four-manual organ, and 
complete stage equipment. Metropolitan operas, as well as a series of 
concerts, are produced here every year. A smaller hall, the Colonial 
Room, seating 300, is available for chamber music. 

L. from Capitol Ave. on Clinton St. 

g. Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company Building, 79 Elm St., at 
Clinton St. (1917), is a 7-story, dark green ornamental brick structure 
with inlaid designs of red and blue tile, and a red, Spanish tile roof. 
Chartered in June, 1851, as the American Temperance Life Insurance 
Company, insuring only those who totally abstained from alcoholic bev- 
erages, the firm in 1861 changed its name and policies, and is reputed to 
be the first insurance company in this country to have conducted a 
school for insurance agents. 

Return on Clinton St.; L. on Capitol Ave.; L. on Main St. 

10. The Butler McCook Homestead (private), 396 Main St., is a two-and- 
a-half-story, central-hall, end-chimney house with four yellow, fluted 
columns at the entrance, built about 1782. Dr. McCook, the present 
occupant and great-grandson of the builder, has in his possession his 
doctor-ancestor's record books, antiquated scales, and the old mortar 
and pestle used for preparing drugs. This is the ancestral home of the 
'fighting McCooks,' celebrated in the book of that name. 

11. South Congregational Church, 307 Main St., at Buckingham St., was 
organized in 1670 and the present church building, of red brick with 
wooden trim, was built in 1827. While not of the exquisite proportions of 
New Haven's churches, it has a restrained Georgian sophistication of 
spirit that is very pleasing. Three fan-lighted doors in the projecting 
pediment are separated by composite columns. The steeple rises in 
several stages, the lowest of brick with clock faces on three sides. 



TOWN AND COUNTRY 



THE average Connecticut city is an overgrown town with 
little evidence of planning beyond the central square. Irregu- 
lar skylines show clusters of stacks, church spires, and an 
occasional tall building rising above the roof-tops of the more 
ordinary structures. Shade trees are evident everywhere. 

The township is an important political and social subdivision 
in the State. Every city retains certain town officers and the 
old town boundaries. In the snug conservatism of the smaller 
towns, the Yankee 'winds up the world.' The church, a gen- 
eral store, sometimes a pre-Revolutionary inn, the town hall, 
a Soldiers' Monument, and the village Green form a center 
from which radiate shady streets lined with comfortable frame 
dwellings, painted white with green trim. The picket fence is 
vanishing, but lilac bushes mark the old fence lines. Back- 
yard gardens bloom from spring until early fall, and the tiger 
lily and lily-of-the-valley hug the foundation stones of mod- 
est houses. The village barn is now a garage, and gayly 
painted gasoline pumps stand in front of the Post Office. In 
many of these small towns the socio-economic scheme of 
things has changed but little since the last century. 







LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, HARTFORD 



THE STATE CAPITOL, HARTFORD 




OLD STATE HOUSE, HARTFORD 



OLD ACADEMY, BRANFORD 





CEMENT KILN, WOODBRIDGE 



ELY HOMESTEAD, KILLINGWORTH 



^^fct ' 



I 







IN SOUTH BRITAIN 



TOWN HALL, SALISBURY 





THE NEW HAVEN GREEN 



HARTFORD SKY LIN! 





RAILROAD STATION, WATERBURY 



OLD IRON FURNACE, ROXBURY 



WORLD WAR MEMORIAL, NEW BRITAIN 







HART S BRIDGE, WEST CORNWALL 



OLD NEWGATE PRISON, EAST GRANBY 





STANTON STORE, CLINTON 



Hartford 181 



L. from Main St. on Charter Oak Ave. 

12. Charter Oak Memorial (1906), at the junction of Charter Oak Ave. 
and Charter Oak Place, a large granite column, a gift of the Society of 
Colonial Dames, bears this inscription: 'Near this spot stood the Charter 
Oak, known in the history of the Colony of Connecticut, as the hiding 
place of the Charter, October 31, 1687.' The tree was 33 feet in circum- 
ference when it was blown down in 1856. Mark Twain mentioned that 
he had seen 'a walking-stick, dog collar, needle-case, three-legged stool, 
bootjack, dinner table, tenpin alley, toothpick, and enough Charter Oak 
to build a plank road from Hartford to Salt Lake City.' 



TOUR 2 

N. from Arch on Main St. 

13. Municipal Building, 550 Main St., a four-story stone structure in 
the French Renaissance style, was designed by Davis and Brooks, local 
architects, in 1915. Rich and sophisticated, its style more delicate and 
elaborate toward the upper stories, with its arched windows, Corinthian 
columns and pilasters, it is an imposing structure. 

L. from Main St. on Wells St.; R. on Gold St. 

14. Burial Ground, Gold St. (L), next to Center Church House, is the 
oldest cemetery in Hartford, used from 1640 to 1803. One and one-third 
acres are enclosed by a high, block, iron fence, with two red-brick ports 
at each side of the gate bearing inscribed tablets. Many of the early 
governors of Connecticut are buried here. 

R. from Gold Street on Main St. 

15. First Church of Christ (Center Congregational) (1807), 675 Main St., 
is the oldest ecclesiastical society in the State (1632). The building 
dates from the early days when experiments in design were being made. 
The architecture of Hartford, influenced by that of Boston, never quite 
fitted into the Connecticut style. The unusual features of this building are 
the squared fronts disguising the pediments and the profusion of urns 
and classical ornamentation. The steeple, too, is unusually tall and heavy, 
with four wooden sections surmounting the square brick tower which has 
clocks in all four faces. It is more elaborate, but not so perfectly pro- 
portioned as the churches on the Green at New Haven. Seven of the 
stained-glass windows came from England. One of them, called the 
'Pastor's Window/ was installed in memory of Thomas Hooker, first 
pastor of the church. 

1 6. Morgan Memorial (temporarily closed to the public), 590 Main 
St., built in 1910 of Tennessee marble from the plans of Benjamin Wistar 
Morris, was donated to the city by J. Pierpont Morgan as a memorial to 
his father, a former Hartford merchant. The square Gothic windows of 



1 82 Main Street and Village Green 

the first story are in contrast with the Renaissance pilasters, framing 
medallions in the windowless portion above. A carved head of Minerva 
in the keystone of the arched entrance and an ornate balustrade around 
the roof-line are the only conspicuous embellishments. 

The Morgan Memorial (1910) is connected, through the Colt Memorial 
Wing, with the Wadsworth Atheneum. Designed by Benjamin Wistar 
Morris in rough granite with marble trim to harmonize with the build- 
ings on either side, this memorial in Neo-Classic Italian Renaissance style, 
now housing paintings and objects of art from the Colt home ' Armsmear ' 
and the James B. Cone Collection of Firearms, was provided through the 
bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth Colt, widow of Colonel Samuel Colt. 

Return on Main St. 

17. Wadsworth Atheneum, 624 Main St., covering one city block, was the 
first of a group of buildings, including the Colt Memorial Museum, 1910, 
the Avery Museum, 1934, and the Morgan Memorial, 1910. It was 
designed in 1842 by Ithiel Town in Gothic Revival style to house a 
gallery of fine arts, the public library, the Historical Society, and the 
Hartford Young Men's Institute. The Yale Library had just been done 
in a collegiate rendering of the style : this structure, somewhat reminiscent 
of a castle, with its turrets and machicolations, was to be more secular. 
Funds for the provision of this large Gothic creation of South Glaston- 
bury granite were in the main donated by Daniel Wadsworth and added 
to by public subscription. 

The Hartford Public Library (open weekdays 9-9) (1844), first floor of 
the Wadsworth Atheneum, has a collection of more than 208,000 
volumes. Among these are about 4000 bound volumes of music, a col- 
lection of over 50,000 photographs, engravings, and reproductions, and 
10,000 books printed in foreign languages. 

The Watkinson Reference Library (open weekdays 9.30-5.30) (1857), 
in the east wing, second floor of the Wadsworth Atheneum, contains 
approximately 118,000 volumes of reference books. Among the priceless 
and important collections of this library, which was established in con- 
nection with the Connecticut Historical Society through the bequest of 
David Watkinson, a local merchant, are the Trumbull-Prime Collection 
of looo rare books including 200 incunabula (printed before 1500), a 
58-line German Bible, believed to be the first illustrated Bible, and six 
copies of the Nuernberg Chronicle, printed in 1492, a library of American 
Linguistics, and the Trumbull Documents on the Indian language. 

The Connecticut Historical Society (open weekdays 9.30-5.30), on the 
second floor of the Wadsworth Atheneum, is noted for its newspaper 
files and books on Connecticut history and genealogy. Besides numerous 
rare maps, manuscripts, and unbound pamphlets, the society has on 
display a portion of the original Connecticut Charter, Mark Twain's 
bicycle, Nathan Hale's Diary, two bricks from the Dutch fort on the site 
of Hartford, and Elder Brewster's sea chest, on which the Mayflower 
Compact was signed. 



Hartford 183 



R. from Main St. on Atheneum Sq. N. 

18. The Avery Memorial Art Museum (open weekdays free, W-4, Oct. 
March; 10-5, April Sept.; Sun. and holidays 2-5), 25 Atheneum Sq. N., 
is a three-story structure of gleaming Tennessee marble, completed in 
1934. Its Prospect St. facade is unadorned, except for four sculptured 
medallions designed in the conventionalized Greek style, wide fluted 
pilasters, and a bronze grilled door. Funds for this building, designed by 
Morris and O'Connor, in the modernistic style, were provided by the late 
Samuel P. Avery. Benjamin Wistar Morris designed the Morgan Memo- 
rial and the State Armory. Built around a central court in which stands 
a marble statue done by Pietro Francavilla about 1600, the museum is 
notable for its splendid indirect lighting effects. In rooms to the right of 
the main entrance are prints and water-colors including the work of such 
outstanding artists as Cezanne, Sargent, and Picasso; to the left of the 
entrance are three rooms containing the Avery Collection of European and 
Oriental objects of art. On the second floor is a notable collection of 
paintings including Copley's portrait of Mrs. Seymour Fort and several 
by Gilbert Stuart. In the Marine Room near the stairway, are paintings 
and models of ships. The rest of the second floor is devoted to the Wallace 
Nutting Collection of Early American Furniture, the gift of J. P. Morgan; 
the Brainard Collection of signs from early Connecticut inns; and the 
Pitkin Collection of pottery. In the third-floor galleries hang works by 
Goya, Tintoretto, Whistler, Veronese, Poussin, Greuze, Bellotto, Cana- 
letto, Guardi, Strozzi, Giordano, Magnasco, Reni, Rosa, Daumier, Tie- 
polo, Longhi, Piero di Cosimo, Cranach, Largilliere, Murillo, David, and 
Degas; in addition there is a section reserved for the Welch Collection of 
works by William Gedney Bunce, one of Hartford's foremost artists, and 
for the Diaghilew-Lifar Collection of designs for the Russian Ballet. The 
auditorium is notable for the skillful suppression of all lines except the 
horizontal curves of the ceiling. 

L.from Atheneum Sq. N., on Prospect St. 

19. Hunt Memorial (open free, 9-5) (1897), 38 Prospect St., opposite 
Atheneum Sq. N., designed by McKim, Mead and White, is a three- 
story, red-brick building in modified Georgian style, given by Mrs. E. K. 
Hunt, in memory of her husband, Dr. Ebenezer K. Hunt, for use by the 
Hartford Medical Society. The library of the Medical Society is on the 
second floor and contains more than 17,000 books dealing with medicine 
and medical problems. 

20. The Daniel Wadsworth Barn, built in the early i9th century, is at the 
rear of the Henry A. Perkins House, owned by the Hartford Public 
Library (private) (1843), 43 Prospect St. 

21. Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company Building, 
56 Prospect St., cor. of Grove and Prospect Sts. was designed by Carl J. 
Malmfeldt. This three-story limestone building has the flat facade, 
square, plain windows, and fluted pilasters characteristic of many modern 
buildings, but with notable references to traditional ornament in the 



1 84 Main Street and Village Green 

scroll course between the stories, the diaper panels between the second- 
and third-floor windows, and fluted triglyphs and circles beneath a row 
of conventional dentils in the Prospect St. cornice. This company wrote 
the first boiler insurance policy in America in the year of its organization, 
June, 1866. 
L. from Prospect St. on Grove St. 

22. Travelers Insurance Company Buildings (tower open free weekdays 
9-1.30, 2.30 to sunset}, 26 Grove St., three in number, form a single 
architectural unit. Designed by Donn Barber of New York, the building, 
of pink Westerly granite (faced with a light brick on the courtyard side), 
is the highest in New England (527 feet), its tower, rising from the gth 
story, topping the structure above the south wing to the height of 34 
stories. It is an architectural focal point in Hartford, a business capitol, 
dwarfing even the old legislative capitol on the hill. On the i;th and 
1 8th stories is a loggia, and above the 2oth, a recession in the long face 
of the tower brings it into a square. It is very effective seen from the 
broader sides, but suffers from its narrowness seen from the east or west. 
Above the pyramidal roof is a metal cupola, the lower portions serving as 
an outlet for the smokestack, and the upper portions supporting a finial 
with a cluster of metal balls. The cupola is really a great lantern, 81 feet 
high, constructed of copper, and covered with gold leaf. A beacon here 
consists of 36 4oo-watt projectors and 8 of 2oo-watt power. The band 
of white light cast skyward is visible for many miles. 

A tablet on the wall of the Travelers Building states that here once 
stood the Zachary Sanford Tavern, scene of many General Assembly 
sessions and of the celebrated Charter hiding episode. Radio Station 
WTIC (open), owned by the insurance company, operates from the 6th 
floor of this building. 

The first American accident policy was written by the Travelers 
in 1863. It offered $1000 protection to James Bolter and covered only 
the time he spent walking from the post office to his home. During 1866 
the Travelers offered accident tickets to passengers on train, ship, or 
coach; the first aircraft liability and property damage insurance was 
issued in 1919. The company employs 4200 people. 
R. from Grove St. on Main St. 

23. Site of Oliver Ellsworth House (1790), 740 Main St., which was for- 
merly a tavern and for a while the home of the famous jurist (see WIND- 
SOR}. 

24. Old State House (1796), Main St. at Central Row, contrasts the 
epoch-making architecture of the early Republic with^such skyscraper 
developments as its neighbor, the Travelers Tower. It was designed by 
Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the State House in Boston (1798). 
The entrances, on the west toward Main St., and the original main 
entrance on the east, are unpretentious doors hi the substructure of 
high enclosed porticoes. The dominant feature is the arched windows 
over the doors. The balustrade, added in 1815, ties the whole together, 



Hartford 185 



and the cupola, without which the design would seem unfinished, was 
added hi 1827; the clock was installed in 1848. The wide paneled stair- 
case, with its elaborately turned balusters, rises on either side of the 
hall, joining in one and turning back on itself. On the landing is the 
Secretary of State's little office, outfitted by the Daughters of the 
American Revolution in period furniture and containing the famous, 
unsupported spiral staircase against the rounded north end. The Senate 
Chamber, at the south end upstairs, is elaborate with fluted pilasters (a 
combination of Ionic and Corinthian), and a false balustrade above them 
around the whole room. Two fireplaces, which look totally inadequate 
today, once heated the room from the side of the hall. The House of 
Representatives' Chamber, opposite, contains a paneled gallery sup- 
ported by fluted Ionic columns over the entrance doorway and the two 
fireplaces. Downstairs, under this chamber, is the Supreme Court Room. 
Fluted columns on paneled bases support the ceiling, and corresponding 
pilasters divide the window spaces on the three outer walls. Only Rhode 
Island, of the New England States, has an older State House, and nowhere 
is there a finer example of the civic architecture of the early Federal 
period. 

R. from Main St. on Central Row. 
L. from Central Row on American Row; L. on State St. 

25. Hartford C our ant Offices, 64-66 State St. This 5-story, red-brick build- 
ing houses one of the older daily newspapers in the United States, founded 
by Thomas Green, on October 29, 1764. The Hartford Courant was 
awarded the N. W. Ayer Cup in 1932, for having the best typographical 
appearance of any newspaper in the United States. 

R. from State St. on Main St. 

26. Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal), at 955 Main St., cor. of Church 
St., is interesting as a Gothic Revival church built at a time (1829) 
when the Post-Colonial style of church architecture in Connecticut was 
reaching its peak. It is a dark, ornate building, neither as large nor as 
early as Trinity Church, New Haven (1814-15). The parish was or- 
ganized in 1762, and the church was declared a Cathedral in 1919. 

L. from Main St. on Church St. 

27. Federal Building, Post Office and U.S. Court House (1931), Church 
St. between High St., Foot Guard Place, and Hoadley Place, is a long 
modernistic structure of Indiana limestone. A square, heavy entablature 
rests on a series of pilasters, with elaborate grille work over the interven- 
ing windows. The facade would be monotonous if not broken by a long 
inscription and a central bas-relief of a youth on horseback passing the 
torch of life to another youth. Surmounting either end are huge bronze 
eagles with folded wings. Adams, Prentice, and Malmfeldt were the 
architects. 

Church St. becomes Myrtle St.; R. from Myrtle St. on Garden St. 

28. Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company Building (1926), 140 
Garden St., cor. Myrtle and Collins Sts., houses the oldest life insurance 



1 86 Main Street and Village Green 

company in Connecticut, organized in 1846, and the sixth oldest in the 
country, noted for having fought against speculative types of insurance 
for many years. 

Return on Garden St.; R. on Cogswell St.; R. on Asylum St. 

29. Hartford Fire Insurance Company Building (1921), 690 Asylum St., 
between Summer and Collins Sts., Garden and Cogswell Sts., is one of 
the oldest insurance companies in the city and State, organized in 
1 8 10. Its portico of six columns and flat dome relieve the severity of 
its mass. It stands on the site of the American School for the Deaf, 
existent here from 1821 to 1921. 

Return on Asylum St.; R. on Broad St. 

30. State Armory (1909), Broad St. (R), on twelve and a half acres of 
ground bordering Bushnell Park, is the largest armory in the State, with 
quarters for thirteen units of the Connecticut National Guard, a divisional 
headquarters, and an auditorium that seats 10,000. This building stands 
just west of the Capitol where a railway roundhouse once stood. 
Return on Broad St., which becomes Cogswell St. 

31. The Caledonia Insurance Company Building (1936), Cogswell St., 
cor. of Garden St., is a branch of the oldest insurance company in Scot- 
land. The structure, designed by Carl J. Malmfeldt, is of modified 
Georgian design. A bronze bas-relief, representing the company arms in 
the pediment, and slight flutings around the windows are the only orna- 
mentation. The design of the building recalls the Leominster House in 
Dublin, which is reputed to have been the basis for the design of the 
White House in Washington. 

R. from Cogswell St. on Garden St.; L. on Asylum St.; R. on Hurlburt St. 

32. The Site of the George Catlin House (1820), 17 Hurlburt St. Here was 
the former home of Lydia Huntley Sigourney (Mrs. George Catlin, 
1791-1865), Connecticut's famous poetess (see Literature), who was 
allegedly visited by every President in office during her lifetime with 
the exception of Washington and Polk. 



TOUR 3 



W. from Asylum St. on Farmington Ave. 

33. The &tna Life Insurance Company Building, 151 Farmington Ave., 
on 28 acres of landscaped grounds, at the geographical center of Hartford, 
is the most monumental of the city's insurance capitols (1929). It was 
designed by James Gamble Rogers, in a Georgian style. The building is 
approached by a semicircular courtyard which. leads up to a colonnaded 
portico. Here the main building, six stories in height, is topped with a 
lofty cupola. The square cupola is designed with a high Greek pediment, 
and a New England belfry above it. The plan consists of two main wings 



Hartford 187 



which cross the building like transepts, near the ends, and a larger one 
at the center, from which rises the tower and cupola. The Colonial 
lines are especially evident in the eighth floor. 

The executive offices on the eighth floor are elaborately finished with 
teak floors and paneling taken from an old house in Torrington. They 
open on a roof garden. The hand-carved mahogany table in the directors' 
room once belonged to Jefferson. The total floor space is 769,000 square 
feet, so arranged that the building is a unified, though complicated plan, 
without the usual recourse to a skyscraper solution. The 250-foot belfry 
is illuminated at night. 

34. St. Joseph's Cathedral, 150 Farmington Ave., a brownstone edifice, 
is opposite the ^Etna Life Insurance building, and the center of the Ro- 
man Catholic Diocese of Connecticut. 

L. from Farmington Ave. on Forest St. 

35. Harriet Beecher Stowe House (private) (about 1870), 73 Forest St., 
a mid- Victorian gray-brick structure entered through a gabled porch, 
is famous as the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of ' Uncle Tom's 
Cabin' (see Literature), who lived here during the last twenty- three 
years of her life (1873-96). 

36. Charles Dudley Warner House (private) (1872), 57 Forest St., a red- 
brick structure with many gables and chimneys, was the home of the 
former literary editor of Harper's Magazine, who was often hailed as 
'the greatest literary man of his day' (see Literature). 

37. William Gillette House (private) (1830), 49 Forest St., was the home of 
the former U.S. Senator Francis Gillette and his noted son, the late 
William Gillette, Shakespearian actor. 

38. The John Hooker House (private) (1857), 34 Forest St., a red-brick 
structure with yellow wooden trim, was a noted gathering place for literary 
celebrities during the lifetime of Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, pioneer 
woman suffragist and the sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe. For several 
years preceding the erection of the Twain House, now the Mark Twain 
Memorial Library, Samuel Clemens and his wife boarded here with the 
Hookers, occupying a western semicircular room, with fireplace and 
French windows, that has been changed but little. 

L. from Forest St. on Hawthorne St. 

39. Katherine Hepburn's Birthplace (private), 133 Hawthorne St., was 
the home of the motion-picture star, who lived here with her parents until 
she began her career in the theater. 

Return on Hawthorne St.; R. on Forest St.; L. on Farmington Ave. 

40. Mark Twain's House and Memorial Library (open weekdays 9-5; 
free) (1873), 351 Farmington Ave. This huge, rambling, twenty-room, red 
and yellow brick structure of Victorian-Gothic architecture was built by 
Mark Twain who resided here from 1874 to 1879. In 1929 it was ac- 
quired by the Mark Twain Library and Memorial Commission and par- 
tially restored. The stair hall is rich with quartered oak and inlaid paneled 



1 88 Main Street and Village Green 

walls of various woods. In the Memorial Room is a bust of the humorist 
modeled from life by Louis W. Potter, and a large model of the Mark 
Twain Memorial; the latter, representing characters from his books 
flanking the seated figure of Clemens, is to be erected at Hannibal, 
Missouri, the author's birthplace. Mr. Clemens had the kitchen and 
servants' quarters built in the front part of his house so that they could 
look out of the windows ' to see the parade go by.' As he commented, ' It 
saves time and wear on the rugs.' Unusual features in the Mark Twain 
House are a Tiffany window over the main fireplace and, in the rear, an 
addition constructed like a pilot house, which served the elderly author 
as a reminder that he had, at one time, been a Mississippi River steamboat 
pilot. 

41. The Children's Museum of Hartford (open weekdays 10-5; Sun. and 
holidays 2-5), 609 Farmington Ave., at Oxford St., maintained by the 
city, instructs and entertains young people with many fine exhibits, 
lecture programs, and motion pictures. As floor space is limited, the 
museum has adopted a system of rotary exhibits, displaying from time 
to time a variety of collections of minerals, insects, plants, animals, and 
birds, as well as dolls, stamps, handicraft, and articles from foreign lands. 
Classes from the primary and grammar schools of the vicinity make 
regular trips to the museum, which is particularly popular during sum- 
mer vacations. 

Return on Farmington Ave.; L. on Girard St.; R. on Elizabeth St. 

42. Hartford Seminary Foundation (1926), at 55 Elizabeth St., was or- 
ganized in 1833 by 36 Congregational ministers at East Windsor, and called 
the Congregational Ministers College. It received its charter as the Theo- 
logical Institute of Connecticut in May, 1834, and in 1865 removed to Hart- 
ford. The Hartford School of Religious Education and the Kennedy School 
of Missions are housed in the Foundation and continue to function as in- 
dividual units of religious education. Special training is given students 
seeking to qualify for a missionary career. The 35 acres of landscaped 
campus contain administrative offices, library, dining-hall, dormitory for 
women, dormitory for men, furnished apartments for missionary families, 
and furnished apartments for married students. Parts of the building 
program were carried out in 1924-25 by Allen and Collens. The buildings, 
though as yet they seem unrelated, are in sturdy, unassuming Gothic 
in the Perpendicular style, enlivened by some Elizabethan half-timber 
work. The design of the tower at the entrance is based upon that of 
Magdalen College, Oxford. 

Case Memorial Library (open), Avery Hall, on the campus of the Hart- 
ford Seminary, contains 140,890 volumes and 61,062 pamphlets of special 
interest to students of theology and related subjects. Books in the 
exceptionally fine Mission Department include, in addition to works on 
history, philosophy, and religion, the classical literature of the Japanese, 
Chinese, Arabic, Moslem, Turkish, and Armenian civilizations. 

Return on Elizabeth St.; R. on Whitney St.; L. on Asylum St. 



Hartford 189 



43. Elizabeth Park (1895), entrance Asylum St., comprises 100 acres, 
the gift of Charles M. Pond in memory of his wife Elizabeth, for whom it 
was named. Thousands of people annually visit here during Rose Week 
in June, to view the 500 varieties of roses in a natural setting of lily 
ponds, streams, and groves. In hothouses and experimental houses not 
far from the rose-beds, specialists continually develop more beautiful 
varieties. National lawn bowling tournaments are held here annually in 
June; other facilities include the children's playground, picnic groves, 
tennis courts, and baseball diamond. Most of the park is in West Hart- 
ford, but it is owned and cared for by the city of Hartford. 

Return on Asylum St. 

44. Hartford School of Music (1890), 834 Asylum St., reputedly the oldest 
endowed school of music in Connecticut, is a non-profit corporation 
providing musical instruction and encouragement to gifted students. 
Junior and Senior string ensembles are maintained and concerts rendered 
in both Bushnell and Avery Memorials. 



TOUR 4 

N. from Pleasant St. on Main St. 

45. Keney Memorial Tower (1898), cor. of Main and Ely Sts., a French 
Gothic tower like the Tour St. Jacques in Paris, was built to house a 
clock and chimes, and to provide 'a monument to a Mother/ by Walter 
and Henry Keney, Hartford merchants, on the site of their former home. 
It is said to be the first monument erected to commemorate a woman 
who had no other claim to greatness than that of being a true and self- 
sacrificing parent. 

L. from Main St. on Albany Ave.; R. on Blue Hills Ave. 

46. St. Justin's Roman Catholic Church, 256 Blue Hills Ave., attached 
to a convent, is the most interesting modern church in the city. Erected 
in 1931, the design of the structure by Whiten and McMann is hard to 
classify, having Gothic elements, such as its crossing tower and its per- 
pendicular windows, and a Romanesque basilican interior, all treated with 
a rigorous modern suppression of unnecessary lines. But the perfect 
proportions, the light and shade concentrated at the altar, and the 
facade, which might be called a composition of block surfaces, are admi- 
rably handled in spite of stylistic inconsistencies. 

R. from Blue Hills Ave. on Holcomb St. 

47. Connecticut Institute for the Blind (open) (1911), 260 Holcomb St., 
at Blue Hills Ave., a three-and-a-half-story red-brick, Georgian-Colonial 
structure, accommodates 60 blind and partially blind pupils, who re- 
ceive general elementary education and board. Using the latest aids for 
the blind, such as guide dogs, the Braille system of writing, and talking 



190 Main Street and Village Green 

books, every effort is made to make the students as self-supporting as 
possible. 

48. Keney Park (1924), entrance at end of Holcomb St., was donated to 
the city by Henry Keney in August, 1924. This park contains a difficult 
i8-hole golf course, clubhouse, archery, and lawn bowling grounds, 
tennis courts, a children's playgound, a refectory, football, baseball, and 
soccer fields, and bridle paths. Throughout its 694 acres, the scenic 
drives wind past streams and ponds in acres of natural woodland. 

Return on Holcomb St.; R. on Coventry St.; R. on Tower Ave.; L. on Main 
St. 

49. The Fuller Brush Company Building (adm. on application at office} 
(1906), 3580 Main St., houses a firm founded in 1906 and incorporated in 
1913; this three-story, yellow-brick building occupies more than 160,000 
square feet and is the largest brush factory in the world, manufacturing 
brushes for household use sold on a direct- to-consumer basis. These 
brushes are sold from door to door by young men, who are as clever sales- 
men as the original Yankee peddlers. 



OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST 



50. Bulkeley Memorial Bridge, at the end of Morgan St., erected in 1908 
at a cost of $1,600,000, spans the Connecticut River between Hartford 
and East Hartford. Named for Morgan G. Bulkeley, former Mayor of 
Hartford, Governor of Connecticut, and U.S. Senator, the 9 spans and 
approaches, 1192 feet long and 83 feet wide, include 100,000 cubic yards 
of masonry. 

51. Pratt and Whitney Manufacturing Company Plant (adm. on applica- 
tion at office] (1860), 436 Capitol Ave., at Flower St., is noted for its 
development of standard-length precision gauges and tools. The Sharps 
rifle was first manufactured on this site by the Sharps Company (1851). 
Through history-making Civil War and western pioneering days, this 
early br