Today, PEZ candy conjures up images of whimsical plastic dispensers full of small, brick-shaped little candies. First invented in Austria in the early 20th century, PEZ candy has quite a storied history — one that visitors can learn for themselves with a visit to the PEZ Visitors Center in Orange, Connecticut, which first opened…
Tag: connecticut industry
November 19: Bold as Brass, The Silver City Goes International
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,…
November 17: Eli Terry Gets the First American Clock Patent –– His First of 10
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 2: Introducing the “Best Built Car in America”
Today in 1902, former race car driver Andrew Riker, personally drove the first production model of the luxury $4000, four-cylinder, gasoline-powered car he had designed, engineered and manufactured in Bridgeport into New York City to present it to its new owner. Since its founding in 1899, the Locomobile Company, whose headquarters and main factory…
September 24: Connecticut’s Whaling Industry Sets Sail For Extinction
In the 19th century, New London, Connecticut was one of the busiest whaling hubs in the entire world, outranked only by Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Whale oil was a crucial and versatile resource that played a huge role in powering the Industrial Revolution, serving as both fuel for lamps and as a lubricant…
September 15: Catastrophe at the Climax Fuse Company.
Today in 1905, an employee using a hot iron to clear fuse debris from a reeling machine touched off a muffled explosion in the main building of the Climax Fuse factory in Avon. Though the blast was barely heard 300 feet away, the sheets of flame it triggered instantly engulfed the factory, suffocating seven…
September 1: Connecticut’s Unknown Industrial Genius
The largely unknown man at the center of Connecticut’s 19th century industrial greatness – Elisha King Root – died in Hartford today in 1865. Root’s machine tool genius first revolutionized axe production in Collinsville and then made the Colt Firearms Company a worldwide icon of precision manufacturing. Born in western Massachusetts in 1808, Root…
August 23: Circumnavigating Celebrity Aviator Lands in Connecticut
Today in 1933, the man whose fame as a fearless American aviation pioneer was second only to that of Charles Lindbergh, flew into Hartford’s Brainard Field just weeks after completing a record-breaking solo flight around the world. His career was more remarkable because of the accident that gave rise to it. As a young…
June 12: The “Silver City” Celebrates a Century with Parade after Parade after Parade . . . .
Today in 1906, three parades commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of Meriden took place throughout the city. The day’s main parade — comprised of 162 automobiles, which the Hartford Courant described as “of every sort and description” decorated with “flowers in profusion, vines and greens, flags and bunting, plumes and every other…
May 13: The Automobile’s Electric Future Debuts — in 1897
Today in 1897, outside his factory in Hartford, successful bicycle manufacturer Albert Augustus Pope unveiled what he considered to be the future of the automobile industry: the battery-powered Columbia Motor Carriage. It was the first demonstration of a mass-produced electric car in American history. Weighing in at 1800 pounds and reaching a top speed…
April 25: Oliver Winchester Aims for Success in The Rifle Industry.
In early 1857, businessman Oliver Winchester bought controlling interest in a struggling Connecticut firearms company from two inventors named Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson. With access to machine tools, raw materials, and a number of valuable patents — especially rights to the Henry Repeating Rifle, the world’s first multiple-round-firing longarm — Winchester formed the…
April 13: Eli Terry, The Man Who Made Us All Clock-watchers
Eli Terry, the man who revolutionized clock manufacturing and whose timepieces became featured objects in millions of American homes, was born in South Windsor (then a part of East Windsor), Connecticut today in 1772. Terry was a mechanical engineering prodigy who set his ambitions into motion at an early age, apprenticing himself to a…