TBT: 1930s
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Stage actress Katharine Hepburn is shown in this publicity handout from the Theatre Guild’s production of Philip Barry’s comedy, “The Philadelphia Story,” at the Shubert Theatre, April 19, 1939. (AP Photo/Theatre Guild)
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The United Church of Rowayton, just over the New Canaan town line, was designed by architect Joseph Salerno. This shot from 1962 is one of dozens of photos on display in “Pedro E. Guerrero: The Photographer of Mid-Century New Canaan,” exhibition through Dec. 9. Below, the photographer in 1938 and his camera.
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Future President George Bush, left, with his brother John, at their home in Greenwich in the 1930s. George was 13 at the time and his brother was 6.
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Three women perch on the rocks while enjoying an afternoon at the Shorewood Beach Club in Stamford, Connecticut, circa 1930.
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1939 – Hoyt Marine Hall Exhibit at Stamford Museum and Nature Center
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Laurel Athletic Club president, John “Skip” D’Amato, looks over old photos including one of 1939 Laurel Athletic Club football team Wednesday, May 8, 2019, at the Club in Norwalk, Conn. The Laurel Athletic Club will celebrate its 100th anniversary on Saturday, May 18, at their 13 North Ave. location where the public is invited to join members of Norwalk’s oldest athletic club for a buffet dinner and cocktails as they celebrate a century of memories. Tickets cost $75 per person, which includes dinner, open bar and entertainment courtesy of Tony Massi and The Summertime Band.
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The huge hurricane of 1938 struck this area with force, downing trees along the Merritt Parkway, parts of which were still under construction.
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Five women and one man seated or standing next to a table, poster and blackboard. Poster solicits contributions for the World Student Relief Drive. Team totals for contributions shown on blackboard.Thomas J. Dodd Research Center/University of Connecticut Photograph Collection (ONE TIME USE)Show MoreShow Less
The beauty and function of the Merritt Parkway design were considered so revolutionary 80 years ago that models and photographs of the Connecticut road were featured in the “World of Tomorrow” Pavillion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
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The Music Shell in Bushnell Park which was now functioning as a reflecting pool. Flooding in the aftermath of the 1938 New England Hurricane. Hartford, Connecticut – September 22, 1938
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A flooded cellar in a neighborhood alnog the Byram River after the great hurricane of 1938 brought 80-mile-an-hour winds and a tidal wave to Greenwich shores leaving devastation in its wake.
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The 18 year old woman leaping over the tennis net was named ‘Typical American Girl Athlete’ by the Athletic Committee of the Longshore Club in Westport, Westport, Connecticut, May 23, 1936. (Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
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A man working on his car in front of his garage, Connecticut, 1936.
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From left, Walter Green, Julianna Smith and Mrs. John Colby in 1939 at an event sponsored by the Sharon Woman’s Club, marking the bicentennial of the town’s founding. Show MoreShow Less
The Mill Street Bridge after the great hurricane of 1938 brought 80-mile-an-hour winds and a tidal wave to Greenwich shores, leaving devastation in its wake.
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Courtesy of theNew Milford Historical Society and MuseumContributed Photo/ Credit âÄì Ne/Contributed PhotoShow MoreShow Less
Historic photo of Stevenson Dam from spring 1936.Contributed PhotoShow MoreShow Less
A vintage photograph shows The Four Corners Gas Station on Route 80 in Guilford. The gas station has been family run since 1933.
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‘The high school’
For most Greater New Miklford area residents, this proud, old building along East Street in New Milford is simply home to the school district’s administrative offices and to the New Miford Youth Agency. To some, it might be a target for closure to save the town some cold cash. Yet for those in their late 60s and older who grew up in town, this was their New Milford High School. From the early 1930s until June of 1962, thousands of young New Milfordites grew into young adults while prepping for college, a job or military service with its wals. This image was taken soon after the building was finished nearly 84 years ago.Those who would like to loan or contribute a photo from any of the Greater New Milford-area towns should bring it to Norm Cummings at the Greater New Milford Spectrum office at 45B Main St. or email [email protected]. If the photo is to be returned, please leave a phone number and mailing address.
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Photo taken in 1937 relating to standing up to the Nazis.
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NMHS freshmen Courtesy of New Milford High School. These 86 freshmen took a break from their classes at NMHS to pose for a photo in September 1937. The school was in its first decade occupying the state of the art edifice on East Street now known as the Lillis Administration Building. That building served the town as its high school for more than 30 years until a new NMHS was built in Sunny Valley.
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The business survived the Great Depression and the store was remodeled in the 1930s. The business was taken over by his son
Abraham Dick in 1938. The store closed in 1996.Contributed PhotoShow MoreShow Less
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in 1932, Thomas Lake took a trial spin in his latest invention on the shore of Milford. He is the son of Simon Lake, famous submarine expert. His hydroplane was 20 feet long, seated two, and had a speed of one mile per each horsepower.
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Photo is courtesy of the Public LibraryâÄôs Bridgeport History Center.Bridgeport History Center/ContriShow MoreShow Less
A group of students in the 1930s at Greenwich Academy
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1936 – 300 Main Street, Stamford
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The stone bridge at Rings End Landing was built in 1930, and still stands today.
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The beach scene at the Shorewood Beach Club in Stamford, circa 1930.
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Student athletes in the 1930s at Greenwich Academy.
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Bridge over the Shepaug
Courtesy of Honey Stoeffler
The old Green Hill Road (Route 47) bridge over the Shepaug River, leading into Washington Depot, is shown here in this circa 1930 photo on a cold and snowy morning. The photo looks toward the current location of Marty’s Cafe. Back then, the buildings in this picture were, from left to right, the old town hall, the original Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, the Engles house (later the A & P market, and Paul Gage’s harness shop and home. The Washington History Club will meet Tuesday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the Wykeham Room of Gunn Library. Those interested in the history of Washington, and the villages of New Preston, Marble Dale and Woodville, are welcome and may bring Washington pictures and objects for show and tell. The Gunn Library & Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road. For more information, call 860-868-7756. Those who would like to loan or contribute a photo from any of the Greater New Milford-area towns should bring it to Norm Cummings at the Greater New Milford Spectrum office at 45B Main St. or email [email protected]. If the photo is to be returned, please leave a phone number and mailing address.
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‘Sisters Susie’
Courtesy of Gunn Memorial Museum
A recent “Reading from the Archives of the Gunn Museum” in Washington fcused on the World War I-era Sister Susie Society of 1914-18, written by Dorothy Abbot Loomis and Edith Rossiter Bevan in 1930. Prior to the United States’ involvement in World War I, a group of girls living around Washington Green met weekly during the summer at each other’s houses for a morning of reading and sewing. They were known as the Junior Reading Circle. With the outbreak of the war, they started working for the Allies sewing refugee garments and surgical dressings and renamed themselves âÄúThe Sister Susie Society,âÄù from the popular war song âÄúSister Susies Sewing Shirts for Soldiers.âÄù The 1916 photo above, from the Gunn Museum archives, depicts the Sister Susie Society active during an Allied market fundraiser on the Washington Green. Gunn Museum presents coffee-hour readings the first Monday of each month at 10 a.m. from October to May at the Washington Senior Center.The program is free and open to the public. The Washington Senior Center is located at 6 Bryan Memorial Hall Plaza in Washington Depot. For information, call the museum at 860-868-7756 or visit www.gunnlibrary.org. Those who would like to loan or contribute a photo from any of the Greater New Milford-area towns should bring it to Norm Cummings at the Greater New Milford Spectrum office at 45B Main St. or email [email protected]. If the photo is to be returned, please leave a phone number and mailing address.
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The Townies
Courtesy of Stan Kwasniewski
The rich history of our national pastime, baseball, in New Milford is chock full of tales of diamond derring-do by the local stars. For many years, a men’s team called the Townies were a source of great pride to the community with their warm-weather exploits. The team comprised those just out of high school, including some exercising their talents in college ball, and those longer in the tooth but still capable as ballplayers. Among those seen here is Fred Collins, front row, second from the left, just recently graduated in this early 1930s photo from New Milford High School, where he’d led the team to several Housatonic Valley Schoolmen’s League titles. Collins would go on to star at Providence College and was a top prospect in the New York Yankees’ organization as a first baseman, charted to take over for Lou Gehrig, when injury shortened his career. Seen here on the bleachers at the old Young’s Field diamond are bat boy Ed Wojciechowski; front row, from left to right, Denny Faure, Fred Collins, Paul Travaglini, Frank (Swivel) Adams, Bill Marshall, Ken Law and Paul (Baldy) Cartellli; back row, Art Smalley, Ray Hagstrom, Pat Peet, Ben Travaglini, Ray Lumley and Tony Kwasniewski. Those who would like to loan or contribute a photo from any of the Greater New Milford-area towns should bring it to Norm Cummings at the Greater New Milford Spectrum office at 45B Main St. or email [email protected]. If the photo is to be returned, please leave a phone number and mailing address.
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Park Pharmacy
Courtesy of the DeCosa family
Passersby in downtown New Milford this week will note renovations underway to the building at the north corner of Main and Bank streets. The site for more than 80 years had been the home of a phamacy, beginning in the early 1930s as the Park Pharmacy during the years of the Great Depression before a more than 50-year run as The Slone Pharmacy. For many of those years, the business offered a popular family luncheonette. In more recent years, the pharmacy was first called the New Milford Pharmacy and then operated by the Big ‘Y.’ Sherman entrepreneur Gary Goldring purchased the property recently and is undertaking extensive renovations in preparation for the site’s next tenant. Those who would like to loan or contribute a photo from any of the Greater New Milford-area towns should bring it to Norm Cummings at the Greater New Milford Spectrum office at 45B Main St. or email [email protected]. If the photo is to be returned, please leave a phone number and mailing address.
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Courtesy of The Stamford Historical Society.Stamford Historical Society.Show MoreShow Less
#ThrowbackThursday is part of an ongoing series highlighting the culture of Connecticut throughout the past few decades.
Prepare your aviator goggles, and find your best flying contraption – we are about to take off into the uncharted skies of Connecticut in the 1930s.
1930s Connecticut proved to be a strange time as the boom of industry due to war, was dying down, which in turn paved the way for the Great Depression. However, the Great Depression may have been the least of many people’s worries in the 1930s as Connecticut experienced its most severe storm to date, the 1938 New England Hurricane, which killed hundreds in its path along the coast of the Nutmeg State.
However, with destruction came progress, which manifested itself in the form of Russian inventor, Igor Sikorsky, who would begin to successfully test his first attempts at building the world’s first practical helicopter.
By the time 1939 came around, which brought the advent of WWII, Connecticut would have weathered its roughest storm, and have prepared itself for its technological rebirth in the 1940s.
Again, we have combed our archives to find the best photos of life of Connecticut residents during the 1930s.
Scroll through the slideshow above to see how Connecticut flew through the 1930s.