Connecticut Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

Looking for Connecticut trivia? Try our list Connecticut little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Pulitzer-prize winning composer Charles Ives (1874-1954), whose compositions incorporated many American folk melodies, was born in Danbury (pop. 61,000).

first appeared: 6/3/2001

America’s first planetarium was built in 1743 in New Haven by Thomas Clap, a leader in the founding of Yale University.

first appeared: 5/27/2001

From 1944 to 1947, residents of New Canaan (pop. 18,000) planted 36 trees, each commemorating one of the town’s fallen servicemen in World War II. The memorial trees line a path called the “Gold Star Walk.”

first appeared: 5/20/2001

Thomas Sanford, imitating “Lucifer Matches” invented in England, became this country’s first manufacturer of friction matches in Beacon Falls (pop. 5,180) in 1834.

first appeared: 5/13/2001

Guilford (pop. 20,000) is home to one of the oldest existing houses in America. Built by Henry Whitfield in 1639, the structure is now a state museum housing artifacts of early New England settlers.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

Born in Windsor Locks (pop. 12,500), Ella Tambussi Grasso (1919–1981) became, in 1974, the first woman in America elected governor. During the blizzard of 1978, she stayed at the State Armory around the clock directing emergency operations.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

The Quinebaug Valley Trout Hatchery in Central Village (pop. 2,200) is one of the largest hatcheries in the eastern United States, annually producing more than 280,000 pounds of trout for distribution in state streams and rivers.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

Cannons and cannonballs cast in Litchfield (pop. 1,500) earned the town the name “The Forge of the Revolution.” The production of war materials followed the discovery of iron ore in the area.

first appeared: 4/15/2001

Danbury called itself the “hatting center of the world” during the 19th century. Starting in the 1780s, its residents made hats of beaver and later silk, sometimes producing as many as 20,000 hats a year.

first appeared: 4/8/2001

Haddam’s (pop. 1,399) Goodspeed Opera House was built in 1876 and later became a general store and storage space for the Connecticut Highway Department. Restored in 1950, it again is being used as a theater and is a National Historic Landmark.

first appeared: 4/1/2001

A local ordinance of unknown origin in Atwoodville (pop. 980) prohibits people from playing Scrabble while waiting for a politician to speak.

first appeared: 3/25/2001

Hartford-born Samuel Colt (1814-1862), who created the revolver “that won the West,” also invented an artillery battery used in harbor defense and an underwater telegraph cable.

first appeared: 3/18/2001

Founded in 1831, Wesleyan University in Middletown once employed the 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), as a history and economics teacher.

first appeared: 3/11/2001

Steel golf club shafts, an important innovation in the game of golf, were first made in Bristol in 1910. Earlier shafts were wooden.

first appeared: 3/4/2001

Eli Whitney (1765-1825) of New Haven, creator of the cotton gin, also invented muskets with interchangeable parts. Whitney, proficient in mechanical work even in boyhood, made and repaired violins, worked in iron, and at age 15 manufactured nails in his father’s shop.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

Jonathan Trumbull (1740-1809) was the only colonial governor to side with the rebels during the Revolutionary War. While Washington’s troops were in Valley Forge, Trumbull rallied the farmers of Connecticut to send food to the near-starved continentals, thus earning Connecticut the nickname, “The Provision State.”

first appeared: 2/18/2001

While living in Torrington, Gail Borden, founder of the Borden Milk Co., produced the world’s first commercially available condensed milk, patented in 1856. Its use spread during the Civil War as the military made it available to civilians.

first appeared: 2/11/2001

Hartford’s Trinity College (with about 2,000 students), founded in May1823 in the rented basement of a church, has counted 11 Pulitzer Prize winners among its faculty over the years. The school donated land to the city of Hartford in 1872 as a site for the new state capitol building.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

—Stonington (pop. 16,500) is home to the American Velvet Co. Founded in 1895, it’s one of the few remaining producers of felt in the United States.

first appeared: 1/28/2001

The 365 Thimble Islands southeast of New Haven—some large enough for several homes, others little more than outcroppings of rock—were called “the beautiful sea rocks” by the Mattabec Indians.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

jump to page: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17

newspaper partner login create account

Recent

Popular

Recipes

Below are the most recent American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile recipes:

Relish

Spry

Below are the most recent articles from our Relish sister site. Click on the "Spry" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.

Below are the most recent articles from our Spry sister site. Click on the "Relish" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.