Connecticut’s historic Merritt Parkway is the oldest scenic parkway in the United States. One of the first limited-access, divided-lane highways in the country, its novel use of entrance and exit ramps preceded the Eisenhower interstate system by decades. Lined with trees, carefully maintained green spaces, and with dozens of uniquely designed stone overpasses, the…
Tag: transportation
January 2: Interstate 95, “The Connecticut Turnpike,” Opens — & the Headaches Begin
January 2nd is a date bound to provoke strong feelings among our state’s road warriors. Today in 1958, the Connecticut Turnpike — better known now as Interstate 95 — first opened to the public. The national route of the interstate largely paralleled the path of U.S. Route 1, a major north-to-south highway stretching from…
December 29: A Timely Move in a Great Depression — Preserving America’s Golden Age of Sail
The village of Mystic, Connecticut — which is actually not its own town, but a borough straddling the two towns of Groton and Stonington — has been associated with sailing, fishing, and shipbuilding for hundreds of years. The village’s earliest shipbuilding enterprises date to the late 17th century, when English settlers set up shop…
December 16: First Connecticut Stretch of Interstate 84 — the “Yankee Expressway” — Opens
By the 1950s, overcrowded highways became an increasingly familiar annoyance to Connecticut commuters as the state basked in post-WWII economic prosperity and the increase in population — and automobile traffic — that came with it. At the time, most of Connecticut’s inland east-west travel utilized U.S. Route 6, an old and overburdened road that…
December 11: The World’s First Jet-Powered Helicopter Flies Over Bloomfield
Today in 1951, aerospace engineer Charles H. Kaman’s modified K-225 helicopter took its first test flight in Bloomfield, Connecticut, changing the future of helicopter aviation forever. As the first helicopter to use a jet engine to power its drive shaft, the K-225 demonstrated a way to make helicopters fly faster and higher, with less…
December 4: Four Trains, Two Tracks –– The Great East Thompson Train Wreck
Today in 1891, one of the largest train disasters in American history — and the only one to involve four different trains — occurred outside of the small town of East Thompson. Located in the extreme northeast corner of the state, nestled right against the Massachusetts and Rhode Island borders, the tracks in East…
December 3: A “Lighthouse” For Outcasts, Far From the Ocean
The Connecticut shoreline is home to many beautiful, historic lighthouses that have steered ships in Long Island Sound to safety for hundreds of years. One of the state’s most historically significant “lighthouses,” however, is located over 60 miles inland — and refers not to a navigational structure, but to a unique settlement established on…
November 28: The Portland Gale Leaves Connecticut Buried
Today in 1898, after two relentless days of wind and snow, a massive storm that became known as The Portland Gale finally moved off the Connecticut shoreline, but not before bringing the state to a stand-still. The storm had formed on November 26th, when two large storms intersected over New York state, then marched…
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 not infrequently fabricated to boost business — that the term has almost become a tourism cliché. Connecticut, however, can point to many locations where George Washington did pass by or spend…
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…
November 1: A Popular Governor Gets a Parkway
Today in 1949, 10 long years after construction first began, the Wilbur Cross Parkway finally opened to the public following a formal ceremony at the brand-new West Rock Tunnel adjacent to the New Haven-Woodbridge town line. There, after a motorcade procession through the 1200-foot-long tunnel, Lieutenant Governor William T. Carroll proclaimed the newest stretch…
October 22: A Poor Yankee Peddler from Harwinton Becomes a Railroad Tycoon
Collis Potter Huntington was born today in 1822, the sixth of nine children born to William and Elizabeth Huntington of Harwinton, Connecticut. The Huntington family, owners of a farm in a section of Harwinton fittingly known as “Poverty Hollow,” constantly struggled to make ends meet, forcing Collis to set off on his own as…