One summer evening in 1953, David N. Mullany, a father, former college baseball player, and recently laid off salesman, was watching his son attempt to play baseball with his friends in the backyard of their Fairfield, Connecticut home when a curious idea came to him. The boys were playing with a broomstick and tennis…
Tag: 20th century
February 13: Dorothy Hamill Goes for the Gold
On this day in 1976, 19-year-old ice skater Dorothy Hamill captivated audiences worldwide with her masterful, gold-medal-winning performance at the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Unbeknownst to her at the time, her routine would catapult her to international stardom and set her on a path to becoming one of the most beloved U.S….
February 12: Sherlock Holmes’ “Farewell Tour”
A scion of one of Connecticut’s oldest and most prominent families, world-famous actor and playwright William Hooker Gillette was born in Hartford in 1853. He left Hartford at the age of 20 to seek his fame and fortune as an actor and stage producer and met with moderate success until 1899, when he landed…
February 9: Connecticut’s 1st African-American Congressman
Today in 1953, future Congressman Gary A. Franks was born in Waterbury. The youngest of six children in a family of limited means, his parents put a high value on education. All six of their children went to college, and three obtained doctoral degrees. Gary was an All State high school basketball player, and went…
February 7: Electric Boat Begins a Century of Submarine Building
For over 100 years, Electric Boat has been the primary producer of submarines for the United States and allied countries around the world. From its headquarters and shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, and auxiliary shipyards located in Quonset, RI and Newport News, VA, Electric Boat has designed and built dozens of technologically-advanced submarines for the…
February 5: World War I’s Most Decorated Pet
Today in 1918, an unlikely war hero in the shape of a small, short-tailed puppy arrived at the front lines in France alongside the 102d Regiment of the Yankee Division, a unit composed of mostly Connecticut soldiers who had been recruited in New Haven. That puppy, named “Stubby” by his comrades on account of his…
February 2: The World’s First Two-Sided Building
Today in 1961, the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company unveiled plans for a new corporate headquarters building in downtown Hartford, featuring a bold and revolutionary elliptical design unlike anything the city — or the world, for that matter — had seen before. Designed by the famous modernist architect Max Abramovitz, the new Phoenix Mutual Life…
January 30: Bridgeport’s Henry Mucci Leads “The Great Raid” of World War II
On this day in 1945, Bridgeport native Lt. Col. Henry Mucci led a coalition of U.S. Rangers and Filipino allies in a daring raid into heavily-occupied enemy territory to rescue over 500 Allied prisoners of war from a Japanese concentration camp. The mission, known as the Raid on Cabanatuan or simply “The Great Raid,”…
January 27: Never On A Sunday.
Willard C. Fisher was one of a handful of early 20th century professors at Middletown’s Wesleyan University who gained national recognition — although in his case through controversy, not his economics lectures. Professor Fisher was a strong-willed man who never hesitated to voice his opinions, regardless of whose sensibilities he might offend. But he…
January 25: The Mohegan Tribal Nation’s Quest for Federal Recognition
Today in 1994, members of the Mohegan Tribe in southeastern Connecticut saw their fifteen-year-old petition for federal recognition move forward, as the 103rd Congress convened in Washington D.C. and legislators, for the first time, began crafting the act that would formally recognize the Mohegan Tribe on the highest (and most highly-coveted) federal level. While…
January 23: A Pie in the Sky Idea Takes Off.
In 1871, a Civil War veteran and baker by the name of William Russell Frisbie opened the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, later building a large factory on the city’s east side to accommodate the growing demand for his pastries. Little did he know that one day, several decades in the future, his name…
January 22: NYC’s “Mad Bomber” Arrested in Waterbury
On this day in 1957, millions breathed a collective sigh of relief as detectives arrived at the Waterbury home of George Metesky and arrested the man responsible for terrorizing New York City residents for sixteen years by placing pipe bombs throughout the city. New Yorkers first encountered Metesky’s handiwork in 1940, when an unexploded…