Stamford History Real Time

Welcome!

This blog keeps readers up-to-date about what's happening at The Stamford Historical Society.  The society is committed to putting  information about  its function and Stamford's history into cyberspace, both through its website and here.

Readers' comments on blog posts are welcome!  Comments are moderated to weed out spammers.

HISTORY CENTER OF STAMFORD
preserving the past / defining the present / connecting with the future

VOLUNTEER MATTERS — VOLUNTEERS MATTER!
The society is largely a volunteer powered organization and always in need of volunteers.    

FALL CALENDAR 2012 TO COME

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Blog authors:  Stamford Historical Society.

Useful links to Connecticut history and genealogy plus Library of Congress, Internet Archive, etc.

Still in the process of updating and redesigning our web pages before migrating them to our planned new site – we are getting there – here is a streamlined and updated list of local and regional cultural, historical, and library web links.

We've always had the Library of Congress link for our patrons' convenience, but now added the Internet Archive which has a lot of digitized books, audio, and moving images.

Update 1/29:

Ron Marcus reminded me of the Connecticut Ancestry Society, Inc.

Founded in 1954 as the Stamford Genealogical Society, it is the oldest genealogical society in Connecticut. It's original bulletin continues today as one of the best genealogical publications of its type in Connecticut. It publishes a large amount of Stamford related historical material in addition to other informative articles.

Connecticut Ancestry Webmaster Blog

Vertical Files Index, updated September 2009, now online

We are pleased to report that the updated Vertical Files Index is now online.

The Stamford Historical Society, Index of Vertical Files
Revised September 2009

The Vertical Files in the Marcus Research Library are organized in file drawers by category and subject. They contain paper based material such as news clippings, letters, brochures, and more.

Kudos to Grace Bounty who purged and updated the files over the summer!

Research requests may be sent to
[email protected]
Research Fees

The Stamford Historical Society: Mission Statement

The Stamford Historical Society
Mission Statement

The Stamford Historical Society, the municipal historian of Stamford, is an educational and research institution, whose primary functions are to collect, preserve, conserve, interpret, and exhibit materials relating to Stamford, Connecticut and our region in order to engage citizens in the telling of their stories.

The Society is dedicated to preserving regional history and providing opportunities for the community to understand and experience the past through the presentation of exhibits and displays, lectures, demonstrations, special events and participatory programs. In particular, we preserve and offer tours of the unique Hoyt Barnum house, built in 1699. As the city of Stamford’s history center, we have a responsibility to all citizens of our community to preserve the varied experiences that reflect our cultural heritage.

Our History

Why Do We Need A Historical Society?

February Photo Selection of the Month: Hotels in Stamford

It's postcard time again! This time postcards of hotels from the late 19th to the late 20th centuries, albeit less of a selection than we could wish.

The Roger Smith Hotel stood on Washington Blvd. (formerly River St.)
from 1928 to 1981.

Postcards: Hotels in Stamford

February Photo Selection of the Month: Blacksmiths in Stamford

This one goes way back in photographic time, inspired by Whitman Bailey's sketches:

Blacksmiths in Stamford

Before the advent of automobiles, blacksmiths were an important part of local business.  A blacksmith is defined as "a person who makes and repairs iron tools and horseshoes."  Or, as described in one caption:

Horse power was not a cheap means of transportation. Horses required daily care, were regularly shod and still had to be fed when idle. There were many blacksmith shops in Stamford whose primary business was the shoeing of horses.

January Photo Selection of the Month: High Ridge in the Snow

In this consistently frigid and somewhat snowy winter, what else to show but snow photos …

Photo Selection of the Month: January 2009

Sometime last year we were given scans of photos of the High Ridge/Trinity Pass area as part of the Jones Collection.  The donors, Janet Jones Outerbridge and Audrey Jones Dean, grew up near the corner of Trinity Pass and High Ridge Road and later lived in the Jones homestead on High Ridge Road near the New York State border.  They were the daughters of Cortland and Helen Jones, and the grand-daughters of Elbert and Abbie Jones, owners the Jones's Store.  This general store at the corner of High Ridge and Trinity Pass was built in 1860/61 by Smith Jones, and the business was sold to Elbert Jones in 1890.  He bought the store property in 1904.  Elbert celebrated 50 years of being in business in 1940. 

On the CD, there were a number of snow photos from various snow storms, some with dates, most without.  The biggest storm within the time frame was the Blizzard of December 26, 1947 – sometimes compared to the Blizzard of 1888. This is what it looked like downtown.

Our thanks to Margaret Bowen for helping identifying locations.

If readers have photos of major storms such as 1947, we would be pleased to add scans of their photos to our collection.   [email protected]

November Photo Selection of the Month: The Stamford Baptist Church

The recent posting on the blog of a 1924 Whitman Bailey sketch, Part of Broad Street Where Proposed Widening Would Begin, led us to some research on the Stamford Baptist Church and gave us enough material for a photo selection and related history.

The Stamford Baptist Church

The Stamford Baptist Church was founded November 1773.  The original church stood on the corner of Atlantic & Broad Streets, on the current site of the Landmark Building.  Picturesque Stamford covers the church history until 1892:  The Stamford Baptist Church.

The infamous Hurricane of 1938 severely weakened the steeple and it was removed.  The church was demolished in December of 1954, and while the new church was being built on 602 High Ridge Road, members met at the Odd Fellows' Hall on Suburban Avenue.  Stained glass memorial windows and the bell from the old church were salvaged and put into the new church.

For all this and more go to our November Photo Selection of the Month.

With the elections on everyone's mind, a reprise of an election story from 1936

(click on image to enlarge)

Running for office in 1936 were two remarkable gentlemen from Connecticut:  Alfred Noroton Phillips Jr. and Wilbur Lucius "Uncle Toby" Cross.

Read all in our Photo Selection of the Month of October 2000:  As It's Almost Election Time …

October Photo Selection of the Month: Columbus Day Parade 1975 – Update 1

Columbus Day Parade, 1975

We found these photos of the 1975 Columbus Day parade in our collection, albeit lacking most of the parade itself.  However, Governor Ella Grasso honored the parade, so it was newsworthy:  Ella Grasso was the first female governor in the nation elected in her own right.

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame

Update 1:  The Advocate of Monday, October 13, under "From the Archives, The Week of Oct.12) "notes that 50 years ago (October 12, 1958), West Park in downtown Stamford was dedicated as Columbus Park.