Historical Society of Glastonbury CT

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The Town of Glastonbury

As early as the mid 1600's, a handful of Wethersfield residents worked the land "east of the river." In 1690, they petitioned the General Court to become a separate entity. By 1693, those determined people convinced Reverend Timothy Stevens to serve as their minister and built their meeting house as part of the requirements of the Connecticut General Court for township. Glassenbury thrived and the town began to take shape.

Today, we're familiar with East and South Glastonbury, maybe even Buckingham and Bucks Corner. But what about Curtisville? Shingle Hollow? Walker's Corner? Taylor Town? These neighborhoods, and over two dozen others, were the heart and soul of the town and still exist in our vocabulary today. Each played a role in the development of the town and each helps personify our "community" spirit.

"Glistening Town" from the Anglo-Saxon ties us directly to Glastonbury in Somerset, England. The spelling of our town varied until the mid-1800's when it was decided to conform to the "proper" English spelling. The thorn on our town seal is a replication of the Somerset thorn, which visually links us to our European past.

Over two dozen sites in town tell tremendous and often scintillating tales of Glastonbury's past. We still boast the oldest continuously operating ferry in the country. The Cotton Hollow Powder Mill gives us a chilling description of the revolutionary war era. The Welles Chapman Tavern was the stop-over from Hartford to New London. Stone from the town's quarry built the Wadsworth Atheneum. The Hollister parcel is thought to be an ancient Native American burial ground. The William Welles residence housed and educated some of Yale University's students during the revolutionary war while British warships plied New Haven Harbor.

Time Line

year

event

1614

Adriaen Block sails up Quinnihticut River

1631

Wahquinaucus and Jack Straw try to entice John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay Colony to come to Pyaug/Nayaug

1633

John Oldham settles in Pyaug

1635

Thomas Hooker comes

1636

30 families in Pyaug:  tract of land on river in Glastonbury purchased from Sowheag for 12 yard of trading cloth

1639/40

First house:  cow herder’s cellar hole, employee of Matthew Mitchell of Wethersfield

1639

Survey show 34 strips of land each going 3 miles into wilderness:  “Naubuc Farms” (First survey in CT)

1653

General Court gives Glastonbury recognition separate from Wethersfield with permission to drill for military defense

1667

First sawmill

1670

Main Street laid out along Indians’ “Long Path”; called “Country Road”

1672

General Court grants permission to Wethersfield and Hartford to extended their boundaries 5 miles to the East

1675

War between Nayaugs and Pequots:

Red Hill Indians many centuries before Christ:  Nayaugs, Naubucs, Wongunks

1684

Second survey

1684

Boundary dispute:  Glastonbury looses 85 ˝ rods to East Hartford

1689

Glastonbury petitions Wethersfield to be a separate township

1690

Permission granted from Wethersfield to be a separate township

1690

First Town Meeting

1692

Rev. Timothy Stevens appointed pastor of the First Society

1692

Town named Glassenbury

1693

40 ft. home built for Rev. Stevens corner of Main Street and Morgan Road

1693

First Meeting House on Green

1694

Eleazer Kimberly first delegate to General Court

1700

First shipyard:  Naubuc Ship Yard

1703

Fine of 1 shilling levied against disorderly conduct; ˝ goes to complainer, ˝ to help poor of town

1711

First School House completed; Robbard Poole hired as schoolmaster

1731

Eastbury established

1731

School assessment for all children 6 to 12 years of age whether attending school or no is often paid in wood for schoolhouse stoves

1734

Meeting House burns and is rebuilt on west side of Main Street

1740

Yellow fever wipes out men of Eastbury

1747

Portion of Eastbury become Marlborough

1750

Thomas Welles Shipyard at Log Landing

1755

Wells Shipman Ward House built

1760

The Great Gristmill of Nayaug with oven and bakeshop erected

1765

Last acreage of Wongunk/Nayaugs (in Portland) broken into building lots and sold.  The Indian population had dwindled to 12 or 13.

1767

Townshend Acts

1769

Elisha Treat’s “Lineet” (linseed) oil mill in operation

1770

Meeting at New Haven to discuss non-importation

1774

Portland applies to be reimbursed 70 pounds for care when last of Indians dies

1776

Declaration of Independence

1776

Dr. Asaph Coleman organizes small hospital between Knob Hill and Apple Hill, works with small pox inoculations; hospital includes “pest house” for worst small pox cases

1777

Stocking powder factory explodes

Yale holds classes in Glastonbury homes (including Welles house)

1780

Talcott Camp and Co. Forge in operation

1780

Glastonbury frees its slaves (over the decade)

1785

Wells Tavern built by Joseph Welles

1786

Spelling appears as Glastenbury

1787

Tornado kills woman and her son in Rocky Hill; her wedding dress is blown to barn roof of her sister who lives in Glastonbury

1789

Bids for care of poor solicited by Town Selectman; selectman have charge of care of poor (see 1703)

1791

At least 7 sawmills in operation to feed shipping industry

1792 Joseph Welles receives his first tavern license and is licensed by the Hartford New London Stage Coach Company as a stage coach stop

1793

Methodist circuit preacher in Eastbury

1795

Public School governed by churches:

1.      Mr. Alger’s (Hopewell)

2.      Mr. Taylor’s South Part

3.      Mr. Woodbridge’s South Village

4.      Mr. Gideon Hale’s (Center – Hale House

5.      Mr. Griswold’s (Green)

6.      Mr. Welles’ (No. Glastonbury at current center)

7.      Mr. Smith’s (Pratt’s Ferry)

1796

Methodist Parish organized

1798

Academy on the Green between Welles Shipman Ward house and Hopewell Street is best high school in Hartford Area

1800

John W. Purtill Papermill in Wassuc near Smut (late 1800’s); he moves to old Hartford Mfg. Building @ Cotton Hollow

1801

Oswen Welles wooden ware shop in operation

1803

Dr. Asaph Coleman et. al. library that is short lived because of lack of books

1806

Tavern is first official Post Office; Joseph Welles is Post Master

1806

Episcopal Society formed

1808

Nayaug school district added

1810

Methodist church in Eastbury; Rev. Jeremiah Stocking pastor – he also carries Connecticut Courant and mail as far as Saybrook from 1799 – 1824

1813

Episcopal church built

1814

Hartford Manufacturing Co. built at Cotton Hollow

1814

Cotton mill in South Glastonbury

1816

Glastenbury Glass factory in operation

1818

Legal separation of church and state

1819

New Eastbury Congregational Church

1820

Blome’s  Cigar Mfg. And Tobacco Pkg. in operation

1822

Samuel Welles organizes Eagle Mfg. Ct. to produce woolen goods

1828

Methodist Church on High Street built (current So. Glastonbury Library)

1835

Wells Tavern bought by Azel Chapman

1836

Second meeting house is demolished and rebuilt on present site of First Congregational Church

1836

Azial Goslee’s Hoe and Farm Implement Factory in operation

1836

South Congregational Church built

1837

First Congregational Church built

1837

Joseph Wright et. al. Establish library that last three years

1839

Glastonbury votes to construct Town House (town hall) at corner of Main and Hubbard Streets

1840

James B. Williams has drugstore in Manchester, experiment with shaving soap.  He and his brother take over Hubbard’s Grist Mill

1840

Connecticut frees its slaves

1840

Irish immigrants to escape potato famine

1845

Charcoal is Glastonbury’s sixth largest industry

1845

Glastonbury Seminary burns

1846

Blome’s  Cigar Mfg. And Tobacco Pkg acquired by Frederick Curtis of Curtisville German Silver

1848

Eagle Mfg. Fails

1850

Strong anti-slavery sentiments in town

1850

German immigrants establish St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

1854

School tax mandatory

1855

Eagle building bought by Glastenbury Knitting Mills

1856

18 autonomous school districts (until 1906)

1857

St. James Episcopal organized

1859

Cornerstone for St. James laid

1861

Gideon Welles serves as Secretary of the Navy under two administrations through 1869

1861

Confederate troops fire on Fort Sumter

1862

Eastbury Congregational becomes renames itself East Glastonbury Congregational

1862

So. Glastonbury Academy School is high school until 1884

1865

Mandatory months of school operation increased from 4 mos./year to 6 mos./year

1865

Roaring Brook Paper Company  established

1865

Peace at Appomatox Court House

1866

First Congregational Church burned and rebuilt

1866

Larger Eastbury Congregational Church built next to first

1866

John and George Hale begin fruit business with strawberries

1868

Railroad bridge spans Connecticut River at Middletown

1870

Spelling officially changed to Glastonbury

1870

Geo. S. Andrews feldspar mine and mill’ builds Old Maids’ Lane to get ground feldspar to river for transport

1873

Eastbury Congregational renames itself 1938

1873

Smith Sisters, Julia (77) and Abby (72) stand up against Glastonbury taxation of widows and single women; petition that women be exempt form taxes until they are able to vote

1876

Last Glastonbury built ship completed

1876

Case Brothers’ paper mill on Salmon Brook

1878

St. Augustine’s church established in South Glastonbury

1880

Laying of trolley tracks brings immigrants to lay them – Italians who take over orchard industry after tracks are complete

1881

Town Records Building constructed

1883

First telephone

1884

P.H. Goodrich opens Riverside Mfg.

1884

The Weekly Gazette published in East Hartford, delivered to Glastonbury

1886

Herman Roser buys Isaac Broadheat plant and set up tannery

1888

Blizzard – 3 ˝ feet of snow, 10 foot drifts

1890

Weekly news paper, The Glastonbury Bulletin

1892

Electric trolley goes from East Hartford to Hubbard Brook

1895

Town buys Still Hill Boarding Home for use as Town Farm to replace prior poor houses

1895

First public library

1900

First water main on Main Street

1902

Glastonbury votes to establish high school, closes Free Academy

1902

Charles Raze Gager dies of broken neck from football accident; football banned from GHS

1902

St. Paul’s established

1903

First car

1904

St. James destroyed by fire; only tower remains

1907

Frank H. Harriman’s airplane

1909

Consolidation of schools begins

1913

East Haddam Electric Light Co. provides power for Glastonbury to have street lights on Main Street

1914

Examinations required to obtain driver’s license

1914

Polish National Alliance established

1914

Glazier Mfg. produces overcoats for British, Belgian, and Italian governments

1917

U.S. enters World War I – Glastonbury forms “Home Guard

1917

Glazier Mfg. produces 200,000 yards melton for U.S. and French Troops,

Glastonbury Knitting Mills :  400,000 undergarments for U.S. soldiers

Williams Bros. Makes forceps, etc

Roser’s Tannery produces leather for shoes, watchstraps, etc.

1917

Formation of Women’s Committee of Glastonbury Council of Defense

1917

Influenza epidemic; formation of Glastonbury VNA

1917

Formation of Glastonbury Council of Defense

1917

First motorized school bus

1920

Mill @ Cotton Hollow burns

1920

Volunteer fire companies organized

1920

Consolidated Cigar Corporation comes to Glastonbury

1922

GHS built – the current Academy School building

1923

Agricultural Ed put permanently into curriculum with grant from state

1925

St. John’s Ukranian church established

1926

So. Glastonbury Library established by volunteers

1930

Zoning Board formed

1936

Historical Society organized

1936

WPA funds build Post Office on corner of Main Street and Hebron Avenue (completed 19370

1936

Connecticut River floods at 30 feet; crests at 37 ˝ feet; 247 families evacuated

1937

Police force formed

1938

First Congregational Church built demolished by hurricane

1938

Buckingham Congregational demolished by hurricane

1938

Hurricane

1939

Last one room school house closes

1940

Federal Educational and Recreation program adds training for Air Raid Wardens, Auxiliary Police and firemen, first aid home nursing

1941

Home Defense training, Martin Roser head of Defense Council (formerly War Council)

1942

Blackouts and air raid protection

1944

Hometown News mimeographed and sent to all servicemen from Glastonbury

1946

High Street School expanded

1947

Zoning Board becomes Planning and Zoning

1947

Naubuc School expanded

1948

The Glastonbury Bulletin re-established

1948

Eastbury School built

1948

Henry Saglio awarded highest rating of nation’s purebred entries in A&P’s “Chicken of Tomorrow” contest; brothers John and Charles join to form Arbor Acres

1950

The Glastonbury Citizen established

1952

Junior/Senior High School built on Hubbard Street

1952

Welles-Turner Library opens

1954

Police Auxiliary Ambulance Assoc. established

1955

Buttonball School opens

Funds appropriated to expand jr./sr. high

1957

J.B. Williams sold

1958

Glastonbury changes form Town Meeting/Selectman form of government to Council/Manager government (approx. year)

1959

Kindergarten established

Federally funded program to teach modern foreign languages established

1960

Glastonbury Free Academy building demolished

1960

Glastonbury leases old Town Hall to Historical Society

1960

East Glastonbury Library established by volunteers

1960

J.B. Williams moves to New Jersey

1960

Heritage committee forms historic district (over decade)

1961

Conservation Commission established

1964

Welles-Turner Library expanded

1965

So. Congregational Church turned and enlarged

1965

Roser’s Tannery sold

1966

Football returns to GHS

1969

Roser’s Tannery closes

1969

Flannagan Bros. Buys tannery building

1970

Glastonbury Toiletries formed by former employees of J.B. Wms.

1970

Land use plan to 1986 completed

1970

Crime prevention unit formed

1970

Modern, multi-function fire house replaces old school/firehouse on corner of Main and Pratt Streets – competed 1972

1971

Redevelopment begins

1972

911 instituted, volunteer rescue squad organized

1974

St. Dunstan’s established

1981

Academy School A building becomes town offices, Town Office building becomes police department

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