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Connecticut was founded in 1636
Leaders. Governor John Haynes of the Massachusetts Bay Colony led 100 people to present-day Hartford in 1636. He and Thomas Hooker, a prominent Puritan minister, are often considered the founders of the Connecticut colony. -
The Pequot War
The Pequot were defeated by the colonists, who were led by John Underhill and John Mason, and the Narragansett and Mohegan who were their allies. -
The first constitution of Connecticut
Ludlow and other principals drafted the Fundamental Orders, which were adopted on January 14, 1639 OS and established Connecticut as a self-ruled colony. Major John Mason was a magistrate and is credited with being one of the writers of this document. -
Connecticut was convicted of “familiarity with Satan."
Mary Sanford (~39) of Hartford, Connecticut, was convicted of “familiarity with Satan." Historians later surmised that she was hanged for her crimes. In 2006 a descendant of Sanford worked on legislation to clear her ancestor as well as a dozen or so other women and men convicted for witchcraft in Connecticut from 1647 to the 1660s. -
Charles II gave large tracks of land
Charles II gave large tracks of land from west of the Connecticut River to the east of Delaware Bay in North America to his brother James, the Duke of York. -
King Philips War
Connecticut participates in King Philip's War which was fought in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. -
Taking away the charter
In October of 1687, the English Governor, Sir Edmund Andros, who had been appointed by King James, came to Connecticut to take away the charter and the colonists' legal rights. A large assembly was called to discuss the situation, and the charter was put on a table. -
Stamp Act
The English Parliament passed a law called the Stamp Act. This law said that the American Colonies would have to pay to have official seals, or stamps, as they were called, placed on all printed documents such as deeds, licenses or newspapers. Newspapers included the Connecticut Gazette of New Haven, the Colony's first newspaper (1755), and the Connecticut (Hartford) Courant (1764), the oldest American newspaper in continuous existence. -
Declaration of Independence for Connecticut
Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, William Williams and Oliver Wolcott signed the Declaration of Independence for Connecticut. Most Connecticut citizens supported it, but not all. In that same year, a young Connecticut patriot, Nathan Hale, was captured by the British while on a spy mission for General Washington. Before he was executed, Nathan Hale said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." -
Federal musket contract
Eli Whitney procures his first Federal musket contract; within next decade develops a system of interchangeable parts, applicable to industries. -
Noah Webster publishes the first abbreviated edition of his dictionary of the American language
Noah Webster publishes the first abbreviated edition of his dictionary of the American language. The full edition published in 1828 contained 70,000 entries and largely replaced English dictionaries. The American language now had a legitimate reference source. -
War of 1812
History of the Hartford Convention: With a Review of the Policy of the United States Government Which Led to the War of 1812. New York; Boston: N. & J. White; Russell, Odiorne, & Company, 1833. Link. Buckley, William E. Letters of Connecticut Federalists, 1814-1815. -
The Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was held at the Old State House. This meeting of Federalist leaders from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, secretly adopted seven proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution that were later accused of being treasonous. -
School for deaf in Hartford
The American School for the Deaf (ASD) is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States. It was founded April 15, 1817, in Hartford, Connecticut, by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Dr. Mason Cogswell, and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school later that year. -
Women are recruited from the farms
Women are recruited from the farms to work in the city factories with promises of riches which was a myth -
Herbert Hayden
Sep, Herbert Hayden, a prominent Connecticut minister, used arsenic to murder Mary Stannard, a young servant girl that he thought he had made pregnant. The reverend, who was tried 1st for physical assault and later for murder was acquitted. In 1880 he produced an exculpatory account of the case. In 1999 Virginia A. McConell authored “Arsenic Under the Elms: Murder in Victorian New Haven." -
The Knights of Columbus
The Knight of Columbus was granted a charter by the state of Connecticut. -
Linen trade
James McCutcheon, who made a fortune in the linen trade, hired a Boston architect to build him a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. In late 2007 the property was sold to Rene Kern, managing director of the General Atlantic hedge fund, who planned to demolish it, despite protests, and build a new home. -
The first coin-operated telephone
1889 Aug 13, the first coin-operated telephone was patented by William Gray of Hartford, Conn. A foreman had refused to let Gray call his sick wife from the company phone. -
Flag of Connecticut
The Connecticut General Assembly approved the flag in 1897 after it was introduced by Governor Owen Vincent Coffin in 1895. The design comes from the seal of Say brook Colony, designed by George Fenwick when it was established in 1639 -
Gustave Whitehead
Gustave Whitehead, a German-born aviator and resident of Bridgeport, Conn., reportedly made the first powered airplane flight, two years before the Wright brothers. In 2013 Connecticut went on record acknowledging Whitehead’s flight. Ohio and North Carolina both disputed the Connecticut claim. -
The US Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court, in Loewe v. Lawlor, ruled the United Hatters Union had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by organizing a nationwide boycott of Danbury Hatters of Connecticut. -
Hiram Bingham
The American explorer Hiram Bingham discovered several Inca ruins and found the mountaintop citadel of Machu Pichu. He was in search of the lost city of Vilcabamba, the Inca’s legendary last refuge from the invading Spaniards. Bingham was an archeologist from Yale and later served as a Connecticut governor and US senator. -
Bill of Rights
Connecticut finally approved Bill of Rights -
1st helicopter
1st helicopter flight of 1 hour duration took place at Stratford, Ct. -
4-day storm began in New England
4-day storm began in New England. It deluged Connecticut with 14 inches of rain, breaking 23 dams and destroying two. Damages were estimated at close to $276 million. -
Leo Connellan
Leo Connellan state poet laureate, died at age 72. His books included “Crossing America," “Provincetown and Other Poems," and “The Clear Blue Lobster-Water Country." -
The Bridgeport
The Bridgeport, Conn. Diocese announced a $21 million settlement with 40 people who said they had been molested by priests when they were children. -
US Supreme
In Kelo vs. London a divided US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development. In 2006 a group petitioned for signatures in Weare, New Hampshire, to seize the home of Justice David Souter in order to build an inn called the Lost Liberty Hotel. In 2009 Jeff Benedict authored “Little Pink House," the story of Susette Kelo’s battle in New London, Connecticut, against eminent domain. -
M. Jodi Rell
M. Jodi Rell becomes Connecticut's second female Governor elected in her own right.
