Manchester Historical Society
Open House Day, Saturday, June 11 from 11:00 to 3:00
See addresses in poster at right
  • History Center with Then and Now exhibit, and museum store.
  • Old Manchester Museum, with hosts Art Pongratz and Bob Kanehl. Exhibits, some research resources available, museum store, and Manchester Sports Hall of Fame.
  • Cheney Homestead, grounds and 1785 house. Cheney Homestead Arts, visit the classroom and studio.
  • Woodbridge Farmstead with floral arrangements by Manchester Garden Club members, plus annual egg hunt with prizes.
  • Pitkin Glass Works, with an archeological dig for kids.
  • Fire Museum, exhibits and commentary on the collection of vintage fire engines.
Manchester quiz. Can you answer these
questions?

Who is this woman? What is she holding?


Scroll down for answers.
Cheney Homestead, 106 Hartford Road
Threads & Strings
A weaving and live music event for all ages
Sunday, June 12 , from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m.
Weaving Threads • Weavers from the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center will show their weaving skills and share information about local weaving classes. • Along with demonstration of thread spinning, you will have a chance to try your own hands on loom and wheel.
Musical Strings • The Connecticut Classical Guitar Society and local harpists will share their music and tell about learning opportunities. • Try your own hands on a harp.
Handweaving • “Historical Techniques and Samples” with a reproduction of an Electa Cheney reproduction 1820s flannel in progress. • Hear a talk about the beauty and complexity of historical handwoven cloth.
Tour the 1785 Homestead, gardens, 1751 Keeney Schoolhouse and learn about Manchester, the Cheney family and Early American life.
Suggested donation $5 per person / $15 per family
Homestead also open on Connecticut Open Museum Day, Saturday, June 11, 11:00 to 3:00. Free.
Research project volunteer
Bettylou Sandy asks for help at the Homestead -- "Looking for someone who likes mysteries, history, and research to help to help our team to sift through We need someone to help sift through 45 years of paper files, to organize and categorize the topics. For more information, please contact Bettylou Sandy at 860-268-6270 or via email: Bettylou Sandy
Jigsaw puzzle
The former train depot in the old North End. Photo by Dr. Ralph Thrall. More about Manchester's railroads.
Our friends at the Manchester Sculpture Project invite you to a miniature golf tournament to raise funds for the next historic statue: Miss Elisabeth Bennet. Details and to register: Mini-Golf at the Mar-Lea. Walk-up registration available between 9:00 and 9:50, Saturday, June 11.
At left, the statue of Joe McCluskey on Highland Street.
June television show
The Historical Society television show airs at noon and 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays throughout this month -- "Floyd Welch Remembers Pearl Harbor,” an 84-minute television show interviewing the late Navy veteran Floyd Welch, at the time of the recording, the last living Connecticut survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Manchester Elks honored Floyd at a lunch on December 7, 2017. Floyd Welch passed away in August 2020 at the age of 99. In the recording, Floyd reminisces about the Pearl Harbor attack, and also about the battles he was in throughout World War II. The show airs on Cox cable channel 15 on Saturdays, and runs on all the Saturdays of the month. The show changes each month. This Channel 15 broadcasts in Manchester, Glastonbury, South Windsor, Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Newington. Some previous local-history shows can be borrowed at Mary Cheney Library. You can watch this month's show on the Public Access website "Floyd Welch" show.You can watch some of our previous shows by selecting "Manchester Program Schedule" (the second tab) on the local Public Access website and on the next screen, type Historical into the search box.Unfortunately, during the pandemic, the cable TV studio and equipment are unavailable to the public, so we will not be able to make new TV shows for a while.
Requesting tavern photos, mannequins, and volunteers!
For a project, Society president, Jack Prior, asks for photos of Manchester taverns. Thanks to Bruce Anderson and family for this 1940s view of Hartford Road Café. Reply to this email with high-resolution photo if available. Thanks!
Mannequins: Can you lend or donate mannequins for a historic clothing exhibit?
Respond to [email protected]
70 years ago in The Manchester Herald
Items from the June 10, 1952 Herald. See the whole edition: Tuesday, June 10, 1952 edition, or to peruse all our Heralds, see: Index of Heralds.
State Historian's trivia quiz.
Try the trivia quiz by clicking the image on the right. You can also subscribe to "Today in Connecticut History" to receive daily emails.
Find us on Facebook!
For frequent photos and tidbits, check out our Facebook page.
High school yearbooks
Enjoy the large collection of Somanhis (South Manchester High School) yearbooks on our website. In addition to photos of the graduating seniors, these books have ads for local businesses, photos of school activities, and sometimes poetry and prose by the students. Thanking our volunteers, especially Bob Gauthier, Noreen Cullen, Jim Hall, Joshua Pruden, Dick Jenkins, Susan Barlow.
Counting down to Manchester's 200th anniversary year, which begins January 1, 2023: 205 days.
The Manchester Historical Society is planning exciting activities for the Town's year-long bicentennial celebration. Check out the activities of the 1923 celebration, documented in this booklet on our website.
Answers to quiz
Adeline Gray, (1915-1975), is pictured with a packed parachute. She is thought to have been the only female parachutist in the United States before the 1940s. During World War II, when nylon parachutes replaced silk parachutes, Adeline Gray test-jumped the nylon parachute from 2,500 feet at Brainard airport. More: Pioneer Parachute stories.
Art classes -- summer programs
Kids and adults -- ongoing and new offerings. Info: art classes at the History Center. Questions may be directed to Trudy Mitchell.
Request for donations of small counter-top ovens in good working order for the sculpture classes offered the second week of July.
Our properties
The Homestead at 106 Hartford Road, Manchester, was donated to the Manchester Historical Society by the Cheney family in 1968 for use as a house museum. It's usually open to the public on the second Sunday of the month and for special programs at other times throughout the year. For old photos and history of the Homestead, built in 1785, visit Cheney Homestead history. The replica Keeney Schoolhouse is on the grounds of the Homestead. Originally built in 1751, the schoolhouse had deteriorated so much that new materials had to be incorporated in the 1976 reconstruction.
The History Center at 175 Pine Street, Manchester, was purchased in 1999. Our offices and many collections are in this building, which is the former Cheney Brothers Machine Shop, a 40,000-square-foot building constructed in several phases beginning in 1895. For the current exhibit, it's open Wednesday through Friday from 10:00 to 2:00, and Saturday noon to 4:00. Visit: photo tour of lower level of History Center.
The Old Manchester Museum at 126 Cedar Street, Manchester, is owned by the Town of Manchester, and the Society has rented it since the 1980s. We store collections there, and open it to the public on the first Saturday of the month, May through December from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., staffed by hosts Art Pongratz and Bob Kanehl. The building was formerly a school, built in 1859, and moved to this location in 1914. More: Old Manchester Museum.
Woodbridge Farmstead at 495 East Middle Turnpike, at Manchester Green, is a charming combination of vintage buildings and a bucolic landscape. The farmhouse dates from 1830. The Woodbridge Farm and Meadowbrook Dairy once encompassed many acres at Manchester Green. Today, the house and grounds are owned by the Manchester Historical Society – a gift from the late Raymond and Thelma Carr Woodbridge, who gave the property in 1998, reserving a life use. The farmstead is open for free tours and programs generally on the second and fourth Sundays of the warmer months, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m., but this year, starting the twice-a-month schedule in mid-June.
Silk Vault Building at 110 Elm Street, Manchester, was purchased by the Society in 2017. A unique building, constructed in 1920. More: Silk Vault. The vault is rented out, and isn't open to the public.
Membership for yourself or --
Consider a gift membership for a friend or loved one. Why join a local historical society, even if you don't live in that town? Some reasons: • support education about the history of the town • support preservation of artifacts and vintage photos • join in advocating for preservation of historic buildings and parks that make Manchester charming.
Print this online donation form and mail to 175 Pine Street. Or drop by the History Center, Tuesdays through Fridays from 10:00 to 2:00. Direct questions to 860-647-9983.
Additional ways to donate: Employer matching gifts! Direct United Way donations to the Society. Sign in to Amazon via Amazon Smile and have a percentage of your purchases go to the Society. .