Connecticut History

Connecticut History

With our partner, The Connecticut Historical Society, WNPR News presents unique and eclectic view of life in Connecticut throughout its history.

The Connecticut Historical Society is a partner in Connecticut History Online (CHO) — a digital collection of over 18,000 digital primary sources, together with associated interpretive and educational material. The CHO partner and contributing organizations represent three major communities — libraries, museums, and historical societies — who preserve and make accessible historical collections within the state of Connecticut.

The Interstate Highway System Comes to Hartford

Beginning in the mid-1930s, state and federal governments examined ways to improve road transportation around the country. While some federal roads linked…
The Most Modern Room in the House

In a November 1934 article, Agnes Heisler Barton recognized the kitchen as the most modern room in the house. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth…
Life After the Last Shift

What do the Bigelow Carpet Company of Enfield, Underwood Typewriter Company of Hartford, and Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company of Manchester have…
Typing History

Before the age of the computer, typewriters fulfilled our need to write faster than our pens would allow. The gentle click of keys on a keyboard are no…
The Pettibone Ghost

Just off Route 202 in Simsbury is the former Pettibone Tavern, a local landmark that has served travelers since 1780. Built by Jonathon Pettibone Jr., the…
Hair Jewelry: Remembrance That Never Dies

The 19th century saw an explosion in the popularity of jewelry made from human hair. Because hair does not decompose after its removal from the body, it…
“Everyone Can Count on Veeder-Root”: a Hartford-Area Company Changes With the Times

When visitors to the Connecticut Historical Society are told the building was once the home of Hartford industrialist Curtis Veeder, their first question…
The Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper in the U.S.

Newspapers have been called the first rough draft of history. The newspaper that has been filling that role for the United States longer than any other is…
City of Dreams

Richard Welling loved Hartford. He loved its classic 18th- and 19th-century architecture, buildings like the Old State House and the Connecticut State…
Hartford Plans for Tomorrow

By the 1940s, it was clear that many buildings in downtown Hartford needed to be updated. Yearly flooding and deferred maintenance left aging buildings on…