Today in 1980, at the tender age of 51, hockey legend and Hartford Whaler Gordie Howe became the first NHL player – and still only one of two players – to score an astonishing 800 goals. He did so in a 3-0 Whalers’ victory over the St. Louis Blues. Known as “Mr. Hockey” and…
Author: waltwould
I am the State Historian of Connecticut and an Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. Check my links to 1) See What Happened Today in Connecticut History; 2) Listen to our latest Connecticut History podcast
January 25: A Building Built for the Battles to Come
Today in 1940, nearly 3000 people came to East Hartford to go on a three-quarter mile walking tour of a brand new two-million-dollar factory expansion at the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft company. The 280,000 square foot expansion, for which planning had begun the previous February and ground had been broken and construction started only four…
January 24: A. C. Gilbert, the Greatest Generation’s Toymaker
Today in 1961, A. C. “A. Co.” Gilbert, the man whose hands-on-learning toys were the foundation of the American toy industry during the first half of the twentieth century, died at age 76. A gifted athlete and pole-vaulting gold medalist at the 1908 London Olympics, Gilbert was also a talented illusionist who financed his Yale…
November 28: State Librarian Rewrites the Book.
Today in 1900, Granby native George Seymour Godard was appointed Connecticut’s third State Librarian. The hand-picked choice of his predecessor Charles J. Hoadley, who had died the month before, Godard served as State Librarian for 35 years. He radically expanded the mission of the state library system, making it a nationally and internationally acclaimed…
November 21: Football’s Largest Crowd Gathers to Launch Football’s Largest Stadium
Today in 1914, over 68,000 fans gathered in the largest sports arena the world had ever seen to watched Yale University’s football team lose to Harvard in a 30 – 0 shutout in the first game ever held at the Yale Bowl. The Yale Bowl was an architectural marvel upon its completion in 1914….
November 20: A Great American Mastodon Challenges the Bible in a Hartford Saloon
Today in 1845, awestruck visitors gathered at Gilman’s Saloon in Hartford to view the skeleton of an extinct great American mastodon recently unearthed at a marl pit near Newburgh, New York. At a time before the discovery of the great dinosaurs, when ideas about the world’s origins conflicted with deeply held theological views of…
November 19: The International Silver Company Founded in Meriden
Today in 1898, the International Silver Company, one of Connecticut’s most famous and globally-recognized brands, was formally incorporated in Meriden. The central Connecticut city had already established a national reputation as a leading producer of silver and silver-plated goods by the late 19th century, earning it the nickname “the Silver City.” By 1898, over…
November 18: Samuel Colt’s Murderous Brother John Cheats the Hangman
Today in 1842, hours after he had married his beautiful mistress and moments before he was to be hanged for murder, gunmaker Samuel Colt’s brother John took his own life with a six-inch-long Bowie knife in a New York City prison cell. In doing so, he cheated the “sweating, swearing mob” of 400 invited…
November 17: The First Clock Patent in United States History
Today in 1797, inventor and famous clock manufacturer Eli Terry of Plymouth received the first clock-making patent ever issued in the United States, launching an incredible career in manufacturing that helped make Connecticut the epicenter of quality clock manufacturing for the duration of the 19th century. Born in the eastern division of Windsor in…
November 16: Joseph Talcott, The First Connecticut Governor Born in Connecticut
The first thirteen chief executives of colonial Connecticut (including the governors of Saybrook and New Haven colonies, which merged with Connecticut by 1665) were all born in England. It was not until the second decade of the eighteenth century that Connecticut’s governor was a person actually born and raised in the Land of Steady…
November 15: From a Meriden Movie House to Musical Greatness.
Born to Italian immigrants living in Meriden, Connecticut in 1897, Rosa Ponselle (born Rosa Ponzillo) displayed a natural talent for both singing and instrumental music at an early age. Ponselle, who was destined to become a musical celebrity and one of the most famous opera singers in American history, began her musical career as…
November 14: Paul Sperry Invents the Boat Shoe
Today in 1939, New Haven-born sailor-turned-shoemaker Paul Sperry received a patent for one of the most famous and enduring pieces of American footwear: the Sperry Top-Sider, or “boat shoe.” Born in 1895, Sperry’s life revolved around the sea; growing up along the Connecticut coast, he developed a lifelong love for sailing at an early…