Connecticut History

Connecticut History

With our partner, The Connecticut Historical Society, WNPR News presents unique and eclectic view of life in Connecticut throughout its history.

The Connecticut Historical Society is a partner in Connecticut History Online (CHO) — a digital collection of over 18,000 digital primary sources, together with associated interpretive and educational material. The CHO partner and contributing organizations represent three major communities — libraries, museums, and historical societies — who preserve and make accessible historical collections within the state of Connecticut.

Scandal in the Beecher Family

The story reads like a soap opera. In 1870, Theodore Tilton accused his wife of being unfaithful to him with the popular preacher Henry Ward Beecher, and…
The Pride of Hartford

The largest artifact in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society is a nine-ton fire engine. When the Clapp & Jones steam pumper was first…
Katharine Hepburn, Fenwick and the Hurricane of 1938

Katharine Hepburn’s mother, “Kit” Hepburn, insisted that the Fenwick house would withstand the rising tides and the gale-force winds. After 25 summers…
American Chairs, Made in Connecticut

There is something very American about a Windsor chair. Although its name points to England, where the chair’s style and manufacture emerged in the early…
A Fascination With Magic

Harry Houdini, David Copperfield, Doug Henning . . . Albert Walker? The first three names are well-known magicians. But who is Albert Walker?Albert was…
Fashion's Changing Silhouettes

Fashion has changed exponentially over the last two centuries. In the 1860s women wore thickly boned corsets, multiple petticoats, steel hoop skirts and…
An Unlikely Pair of Portraits

The lovely lady with the eager look in her eyes is Etha Town, the daughter of Ithiel Town, a New Haven architect, and the inventor of the Town truss, used…
A Revolution On Two Wheels: Columbia Bicycles

The return of spring weather has prompted a marked increase in bicycle traffic all over Connecticut. Country roads, city streets, and scenic rail trails…
Curtis Veeder Builds His Dream House

If you visit the Connecticut Historical Society, at One Elizabeth Street in Hartford, you will discover an unusual and intriguing building that was…
Hepburn Returns to Hartford

Katharine Hepburn’s relationship with Hartford was strong and deeply rooted; it was her birthplace, her hometown, and a place she both supported and to…