Think of the Connecticut and three things normally come to mind: the leaves in autumn, the snows of winter and Yale. Beyond those images, there are many interesting facts associated with this state.
History
The first human inhabitants of Burlington belonged to the Tunxis Tribe. They were members of a confederation of Algonquian Indians. In 1636, the first English settlers arrived in Connecticut and began the plantations of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield.
Settlers arrived in the New London area in 1646. They called the settlement Pequot after the Indians of the same name, then changed it to New London 12 years later, according to 50states.com. While West Haven was named Connecticut’s youngest city in 1972, it became a community 360 years earlier and ranks as one of the oldest American settlements.
Colonial New Englanders gained the name pumpkin-heads due to their hairstyles. Settlers in New Haven used cut pumpkins as guides for uniform, round haircuts.
The year 1705 marked the discovery of copper at Simsbury. The mine became the infamous Revolutionary War New-Gate Prison. The first copper coins in American originated in Simsbury in 1737. By 1728, the town was operating the first steel mill in the country.
The oldest U.S. newspaper still published is the Hartford Courant, founded in 1764. The nation’s oldest public library began in 1771 in Scoville.
Thomas Sanford invited friction matchers in 1834 in Beacon Falls. Two years later, Simsbury residents began manufacturing the first safety fuse. The first cattle branding in the U.S. originated in Connecticut after laws required farmers to mark all of their pigs.
The Connecticut state insect is the praying mantis. The state’s motto is Qui Transtulit Sustinet, or “He Who Transplanted Still Sustains.” New Haven was incorporated as a city in 1784.
Connecticut has had the same capital city, Hartford, since 1875.
The first automobile law was passed by the state of Connecticut in 1901 to set the speed limit at 12 mph. Connecticut became the first state to issue permanent license plates for automobiles in 1937.
Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the Prohibition amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Individuals in Hartford are prohibited from crossing the street walking on their hands.
Geography
The first blast furnace in the state was constructed in Lakeville in 1762. Groton houses the Submarine Force Museum, the official submarine museum of the U.S. Navy, and the Nautilus. The only steam-powered cider mill in the U.S. is B. F. Clyde’s in Mystic.
The name Middlebury comes from the centralized spot of a town meetinghouse. It’s six miles from Waterbury, Southbury and Woodbury.
Other
The first telephone book had only 50 names in it. It was published in New Haven in 1878. Twenty-one citizens became the world’s first subscribers to a telephone exchange service.
Connecticut claims to be the origin of the first hamburger (1895), Polaroid camera (1934), helicopter (1939) and color television (1948). Many consider Bristol “Mum City” of the U.S. due to the quantity of chrysanthemums grown and sold from it.
The state’s most important products include dair items, poultry, forest and nursery stock, tobacco, vegetables and fruit. Wallingford is known for the production of silverware, while the city of Orange is the site of the manufacture of PEZ candy. Stamford is home to the headquarters of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
History is full of famous people who once called Connecticut home, according to SHG Resources. Among them are Revolutionary soldier Ethan Alan, British spy Benedict Arnold, circus magnate Phineas T. Barnum and author Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, who resided in Hartford.
Also from Connecticut are firearms inventor Samuel Colt, vulcanized rubber inventor Charles Goodyear and Revolutionary War martyr Nathan Hale. Ice skater Dorothy Hamill, actress Katharine Hepburn, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell and writer Harriet Beecher were from the state.
Its famous citizens have also included the first woman to receive a U.S. patent, Mary Kies; dictionary author Noah Webster; statesman Dean Acheson; and soprano Eileen Farrell. Connecticut also claims photographer Annie Leibovitz, financier John Pierpont Morgan and pediatrician Benjamin Spock.
