Manchester quiz. Can you answer these questions?

Extra credit: Approximate construction date and date of photo. Name of photographer?

Then & Now exhibit

All welcome to the exhibit at the History Center, 175 Pine Street. The exhibit showcases the history of Manchester from pre-Colonial times to the present and illustrates Manchester’s contributions to the arts and industry. Free. Donations welcome. Open to the public Wednesday through Friday, from 10:00 to 2:00, and Saturday 1:00 to 4:00.

This is the book cover of a history of the Manchester Road Race. Learn about John McCluskey, M.D., the first winner of the Manchester Road Race.

The Farmstead is located at Manchester Green, 496 Middle Turnpike East. There will be a public open house on Sunday, May 15 from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m., highlighting our new Visitor Center.

Wednesday, April 20, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. -- Peg Newton and the Woodbridge Farmstead committee will host a gathering for current volunteers and for those interested in finding out more about us and possibly signing up to volunteer. Refreshments will be available. RSVP by contacting Peg Newton 860-305-7310 or email her at [email protected] if you plan to attend. Parking available off Woodbridge Street behind the barn and through the gate. Please be extra careful when entering and exiting our parking area.

Sunday, April 10, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. -- Visit to see recent updates, including improvements to • "The Dormitory," where the Cheney brothers grew up • Electa's room, where Electa Woodbridge Cheney spent her last years • the beginning of "The Women of the Cheney Family" room, and • the "Industry and Ingenuity Room" still in progress. See how a farm family raised nine children in their modest homestead to become world famous artists, inventors, and silk producers of the mid 1800s. $5 suggested donation.

Inductees will be honored at a dinner on Saturday, April 30, at the Manchester Country Club. Tickets available at Park Hill Joyce Flower Shop, 36 Oak Street, Manchester, phone 860-649-0791. Tickets cost $50.00, cash or check. Due to the pandemic, we're honoring the 2021 inductees in April and possibly 2022 inductees in the fall. Here are the 2021 inductees:

Read more about the Sports Hall of Fame on our website.

More about the New Model Laundry, an ad for which was in last week's e-newsletter. The ad was in the April 1, 1952 Manchester Herald. Lynn Ferris Follett, Beth Albrecht, and the Ferris family send along these memories: "My brother remembers riding down the hill in homemade go-carts, and they survived!" "We lived on Elro Street down the hill and around the corner. And the place is still there...though, not a laundry today. The laundry used to discharge the dirty soap into the stream next door to them and the stream would be foaming. Also, the stream would be different colors depending on the dye that day. We used to play up on the edge of the golf lots and the open areas near there." Editor's note: the "golf lots" were located in the area of today's Manchester High School playing fields.

50 years ago in The Manchester Evening Herald

Page 1 stories include politics, a skyjacker, and "smut bill killed." Here are several ads, including help-wanted ads for males or females....although Arthur Treacher (bottom of third column) would hire either males or females. Fashion riot at Treasure City. There's also a clever horoscope for readers to decode. Read the April 8, 1972 edition. 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.

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. It's usually open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10:00 to 2:00, but may be closed due to Covid concerns. Phone ahead to make sure we're open 860-647-9983. 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. It 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 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.

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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: 268 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.

April TV show airs at noon and 8:00 p.m. Saturdays throughout this month --"Parachutist Adeline Gray and her Jump into Fame,” a 46-minute television show about Adeline Gray (1917-1975) presented by Jim Reuter, describing Adeline's life and times as well as parachute history. Adeline began parachute jumping in 1935, was Connecticut's first true skydiver, jumping from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, free-falling to 1500 feet before opening her parachute. Jim is an engineer who retired from Pioneer Parachute after 52 years. Adeline was nationally famous for being the first person to test-jump a parachute made from nylon rather than silk, which she did in June, 1942. Pioneer Parachute began in the Cheney mills in the 1930s when parachutes were made from silk. The show airs at 12:00 noon and at 8:00 p.m. on Cox cable channel 15 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. You can watch this month's show on the Public Access website "Parachutist Adeline Gray" 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.

Kids and adults -- ongoing and new offerings. Info: art classes at the History Center. Questions may be directed to Trudy Mitchell.

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. .