Today in 1913, British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst delivered her famous “Freedom or Death” speech to a crowd of supporters at the Parsons Theater in Hartford, Connecticut. The famous activist, well known to Americans for the aggressive tactics she employed at suffragist rallies in England, was invited to speak by architect Theodate Pope of Farmington,…
Tag: november
November 12: A Two-President Celebration Draws a Huge Crowd in Middletown
November 12, 1909 was a momentous day for the city of Middletown, as thousands of cheering, flag-waving residents lined the streets to enjoy a day full of pomp and circumstance and an evening full of dancing and fireworks. The Hartford Courant covered every detail of the day’s festivities in a breathless, three-page spread under…
November 11: Member of the Famed Yankee Division the Last Connectican to Die in World War I
In many countries around the world, November 11 is Armistice Day, named in honor of the truce, enacted on November 11, 1918, that marked the end of hostilities on the Western Front between German and Allied forces. While a lasting peace was not formally established until the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919,…
November 10: Unusual Funeral Ends Connecticut’s Tong Wars
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, as Chinese immigrants flocked to American shores in increasing numbers, insular Chinese-American communities known as “Chinatowns” sprang up in large coastal cities like San Francisco and New York. Here, recent immigrants could more freely speak their native language and observe Chinese customs while adapting to…
November 9: The First Person Buried in New Haven’s Epidemic-Created Grove Street Cemetery
In the 1790s, a deadly epidemic of yellow fever swept throughout the eastern United States, hitting densely populated urban centers like New Haven especially hard. As fever-related fatalities multiplied, the burying grounds located behind the churches on the New Haven green — which had been in operation for nearly 150 years — quickly reached…
November 8: The World’s Last Wooden Whaling Ship Comes Home to Mystic
Today in 1941, the last remaining wooden whale ship in the world made her permanent home in Mystic, Connecticut. The Charles W. Morgan was a massive vessel with a deck measuring over 110 feet in length and a main mast rising 110 feet into the air. It once numbered among a combined fleet of…
November 7: Washington Slept Here — Not His Favorite Place
Throughout the eastern United States, claims that “George Washington slept here” at some local home or landmark are so exceedingly plentiful — and frequently fabricated to boost business — that the term has become something of a cliché. Connecticut, however, can point to many locations where George Washington did pass by or spend the…
November 6: The “Greatest Night” of JFK’S Presidential Campaign
The first week of November 1960 was grueling for Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was in the final stretch of his rigorous — and ultimately successful — campaign for President of the United States against Republican Richard Nixon. In the early morning of November 6, after a full day and night of…
November 5: Ella Grasso, America’s First Female Governor Elected In Her Own Right
Born to Italian immigrants in 1919, Ella Rosa Giovanna Oliva Tambussi grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood of first- and second-generation Americans in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Her parents, determined to invest in a better future for their daughter, saved up enough money to send Ella to the prestigious Chaffee School in Windsor. Afterward, she…
November 4: Connecticut Founder & Alchemist John Winthrop Jr. Arrives in America
Today in 1631, John Winthrop, Jr., one of the most important figures in Connecticut history, first set foot in the New World, having arrived in Boston where his father, John Winthrop Sr., was governor the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A Renaissance man of many talents, the younger Winthrop was well-versed in alchemy, medicine, and early…
November 3: 47 Years & 700 Pages Later, Joshua Hempstead Makes His Final Diary Entry.
Born in New London in 1678, Joshua Hempstead lived a rather unremarkable life for a colonial freeman. He was one of nine children, and being the only son, he inherited his father’s house. After marrying in his early 20s, Joshua and his wife had nine children before she passed away in 1716. He never…
November 2: Rolling Out the “Best Built Car in America”
Today in 1902, the Locomobile Company of America delivered its first four-cylinder, gasoline-powered car, designed by engineer and former racecar driver Andrew Riker, who personally drove the $4,000 car from Bridgeport, Connecticut to New York City to present it to its new owner. Since its founding in 1899, the Locomobile Company, whose headquarters and…