Manchester quiz.

Extra credit: Date of and location of these drawings?

E.J. Holl's 1925 design of Hollywood included curving streets with English names such as Westminster and Lancaster, but you could pick your own house and builder. You could hire an architect, work with the builder, or choose a pattern from one of these popular books from the 1920s. More about Mr. Holl and Hollywood: E.J. Holl. The Town Historian will lead a walking tour through Hollywood as part of the Bicentennial festivities during 2023. There are 23 history hikes in 2023. Hollywood, Saturday, March 18, starting at 1:00 p.m. in the Lenox Plaza parking lot at 283 East Center Street. Meet near corner of Lenox and East Center.

Open Wednesday through Friday 10:00 to 2:00, and Saturdays 12:00 noon to 4:00. The exhibit tells the story of Manchester's past as it relates to the future. Photos, artifacts, stories! While you're here, peruse other displays, including vintage signs from former businesses in town.

Museum store: Browse and buy: Local-history books, maps, t-shirts, ornaments, coffee mugs, note-cards. For a partial list of items and prices, including those that can be shipped, see pages 2 and 8 of this month's Courier newsletter.

Please note: The Historical Society will be closed December 24, 2022 and will reopen on January 4, 2023.

Open House at the Cheney Homestead

Sunday, January 8 from 1:00 to 4:00.

Experience Early American lifestyle -- the 1785 homestead with period furnishings as the people experienced life at the time. The house is staged, on the first floor, in 1818. The second floor reflects 1840, with two new exhibit rooms: • "Women of the Cheney Family," and • "Ingenuity and Industry" of the Cheney family, including a re-creation of Timothy Cheney’s 17th-century wooden clock-making workbench. A $5 donation is appreciated for upkeep of the 1785 Homestead and 1751 Keeney Schoolhouse museums. The Homestead is located at 106 Hartford Road. Come for 10 minutes or stay for hours. A $5 donation is requested for the upkeep of the Homestead.

1918 photo from the National Archives, showing two workers at bleaching vats at Cheney mills. For a larger version of this photo, see website of the National Archives.

Our November walking tour included a visit to the Masonic Temple on East Center Street. Blogger Christine wrote this illustrated blog about the history walk: https://manchester-ct.blog/ Thanks, Christine!

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Our friends at WORK_SPACE, Mulberry Pizza, and Imagine Main Street are....

Thursday, December 22, starting at 5:30 in front of Mulberry Pizza, 981 Main Street. Walk along our vintage Main Street and participate in a fun event. More: Sing-along. As promoted in the newsletter of the Downtown Special Services District.

Many activities and events are planned for 2023, including many history events both at the History Center and around the Town. Stay tuned for more information.

The Town Historian is organizing 23 hikes for 2023, commemorating our 1823 incorporation. The Historical Society is organizing year-long lectures and activities. Read about the incorporation in this 1823 Courant; see left-most column on page one.

Upcoming events of interest to history buffs and area residents

You can watch this month's show right now by clicking Current TV Program on Manchester Public Access website. If you live in the Manchester area, you can watch it on TV, but why not just click and watch now? On TV, the show airs at noon and 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays throughout this month. "Pioneer Parachute, Then and Now” tells the story of a home-town industry started in a former Cheney silk mill building. Originally filmed in 2004, the 107-minute program interviews former employees of Pioneer Parachute: Jim Reuter, Fred Ware, Grace Tedford, and Martha Seavy. We visit the current parachute operation with Fred Towle, a WWII pilot, who bailed out of his airplane using a Pioneer parachute. The show airs at 12:00 noon and at 8:00 p.m. 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. The television show was produced by Susan Barlow and directed by Kathryn Wilson, volunteers of the Manchester Historical Society. As stated above, y\You can watch this month's show right now by clicking here Current TV Program on Manchester Public Access website.

65 years ago in The Manchester Herald

The December 16, 1957 Herald includes these snippets. See the whole edition: December 16, 1957 Herald, or to peruse all our Heralds, see: Index of Heralds.

A $3.00 record in 1957, adjusted for inflation, would cost $31.89. Cheaper today, on streaming devises or YouTube!

For our younger readers: Back in 1957, cars would have snow tires for winter and regular tires the rest of the year. You could store them in your garage or basement. We also had chains to install on the tires for driving in "wintry mix," as the weather forecasters describe it. How handy to phone someone who would come over and change the tires for you!

Enjoy the large collection of Somanhis (South Manchester High School) and junior high 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.

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. Weather permitting, 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. Closed for the season.

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. .