Sunday, June 26 -- Aussakita Acres Farms will be bringing us some baby lambs to pet and watch. You can also see our new Visitor Center with displays showing some of the history of the Manchester Green area. Take a self-guided tour through our late 18th century barn. Guided tours of sections of our 1830s farmhouse will be available. Some games will be set up for the children. Remember to submit a name for our new display cow in the old barn. A $10 gift certificate to Shady Glen will be given in early July to the person whose suggested name is picked for our cow. 495 East Middle Turnpike, with parking in front of the house or at the nearby Senior Center.

Manchester quiz. Can you answer these

Click on the image at right to try your hand at the jigsaw puzzle, which is a portrait of Edson Bailey, principal of Manchester High School from 1935 to 1960. More about the portrait, which is in the foyer of the high school auditorium: Edson Bailey.

Speaking of the 1973 anniversary -- see list on right of the historic markers installed during that year. Some of them are still there.

On our website, you can read the Sesquicentennial booklet.

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

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.

55 years ago in The Manchester Herald

Summer arrived with pick-your-own strawberries, fireworks fund-raising, and a library reading program. Holiday House, which is still there on Cottage Street, was hosting an open house to show off renovations to its 1933 establishment. Here are items from the June 24, 1967 Herald. See the whole edition: Saturday, June 24, 1967 edition, or to peruse all our Heralds, see: Index of Heralds.

Try the trivia quiz by clicking the image on the right. You can also subscribe to "Today in Connecticut History" to receive daily emails.

How many correct answers did you get? Was it especially hard this week?

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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: 191 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. .