Manchester quiz.

Extra credit: What is the significance of today's date, January 27, in relation to the building?

Hint: This photo dates from the 1930s.

The Historical Society will create an art exhibit of Manchester's past, featuring themes from 1823 to 1923. The town-wide art project will include the Lutz Museum, featuring art of the present time, and Work_Space, featuring art of the future. To participate in the Historical Society's exhibit, contact or send art to Manchester Historical Society's administrative assistant. Include name, contact info, title, size, medium, and price of work by March 13. Here's more info from Work_Space: "As we reflect upon our first 200 years of Manchester and look toward the next century, Lutz Children’s Museum, the Manchester Historical Society and WORK_SPACE invite artists to share their talents to mark this momentous occasion. Each organization is bringing a slightly different slant to the celebration."

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 items, pictured at right: Plastic décor from the Kage company. Also for sale: Local-history books, maps, t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets, Herald cookbooks, note-cards, etc.

Hose Company No. 4 located on School Street. This firehouse was a wooden structure until October 23, 1913 when it burned to the ground, along with the Ninth District School and several other wooden structures. Photo by John Knoll. Larger view here.

Open House at the Cheney Homestead

Sunday, February 12 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.

Find us on Facebook!

Kickoff the bicentennial on Wednesday, January 25 at 12:30 at the Town Hall with a "launch party." And our online booklet: 23 hikes for 2023 -- hikes are free and open to the public. Printed copies of the booklet are available at the History Center, 175 Pine Street, Town Hall customer service, and the libraries.

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. 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. In this month's show,"Buckland Times” features Susan Way, now of Coventry, as she tells about the research and interviews that went into the creation of a home-town newsletter she published from 1992 to 1998. The newsletters are available on our website. The 60-minute program was originally presented to the Historical Society's genealogy group in 2015. 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. The television show was produced by Susan Barlow and directed by Kathryn Wilson, volunteers of the Manchester Historical Society. As stated above, you can watch this month's show right now or any time on the Public Access website, by clicking here Current TV Program on Manchester Public Access.

90 years ago in The Manchester Herald

The January 27, 1933 Herald contained these items. Manchester and the whole country were suffering economic woes during the Great Depression See the whole edition: January 27, 1933 Herald, or to peruse all our Heralds, see: Index of Heralds.

Below, adjusted for inflation, those shoes would cost $22.83.

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 depot of the South Manchester Railroad was located north of Forest Street in the 1930s (it was originally closer to Hartford Road, next to Cheney Hall). Note the silk vault on the right side of the picture, partially hidden by the depot. More about the silk vaults. The significance of the date January 27, is that passenger service was discontinued on that date in 1933, although freight service continued into the 1980s. See 90-year-old illustrated story, as it ran in The Manchester Evening Herald, starting on page one. The depot was demolished in 1955.

Did you notice the January 28 history hike along the old railroad? Scroll back up to the blue block above for details.

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. .