Southington High School - Chronicle Yearbook (Southington, CT)

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Greenwich, Connecticut, boasts of a Revolutionary Tavern of quite unusual interest. Lafayette and Washington are only two of the people Wl'lO HlCICl9 if famous by passing by, or stopping there. Now, automobiles by the hundreds rush by and passengers still stop in for re- freshments at the Putnam Cottage Tea- room. The Newgate Prison, located in East Granby, some miles beyond Simsbury, dates far back into history. lt was first made into a prison from an abandoned copper mine in l773 and named after that dreaded place in London. Newgate, as a prison, was always more romantic than secure. Trying to keep wrongdoers there was like carry- ing water in a sieve. Prisoner after prisoner escaped. Men tore their blan- kets into strips, wove them into ropes, and hauled one another from the murky depths. Tools were improvised from bones to dig tunnels through the sand- stone rocks. ln spite of these escapes, Newgate gained the reputation of being one of the strongest prisons in the country. A few years later, N ewgate was made into a government jail for prisoners of war. Prisoners continued to escape and to disappearg wild and romantic fiction was written about them: and finally, when Wethersfield was made the state prison, Newgate was permanently abandoned. The Whitfield House in Guilford is the earliest house now standing in Connecti- cut, and it is believed to be the oldest stone house in the United States. This house is regularly open to inspection and attracts many sight-seers every season. ' The Whitman House located in Farm- ington is the last of the three original seventeenth century houses. lt stands today, as it did in l66O, without paint or ornament, yet as fine and lovely in line as when it was first built. Since houses of this kind are few, it is easy to see why our State is proud of this beautiful relic of its early days. Page Twenty-four T -..ltr cl-1RoNlcLE Jw- The Ioseph Webb House in Wethers- field is of great interest to many people because of the fact that the CCf1'I1pCfign which resulted in the victory' at York- town was planned there. We must not forget to mention the Old State House in Hartford, now restored to its original architecture, a truly beautiful building. I ' Yale University was the idea of the early settlers in the New Haven Colony. lt had been their ambition for a long time, but they believed that Harvard was sufficient to supply the needs for higher education for a while. By the end of the seventeenth century, however, it be- came clear that there was room for an- other college and as a result, Yale was founded. lt first began its existence in Saybrook with one student, but it grew rapidly and was transferred to New Haven in l7l6 and was renamed Yale after Elihu Yale, who donated money and books. Early in the nineteenth cen- tury, professional schools were organ- ized in connection with the college, but it did not become a university until l887. There are now in 1938 ten profes- sional and graduate schools in addition to the original Yale College. It is interesting to note that even before the founding of Yale, a law school was established in Litchfield, Connecticut, the first in the United States. Many famous people lived in Connec- ticut. Nathan Hale, the great American soldier and patriot was born in Coven- try, Connecticut, and was a graduate of Yale University. Mark Twain, famous author of Huckleberry F inn and Tom Sawyer, lived in Hartford, and his home is visited daily by school children. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the great book Uncle Tom's Cabin, was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, and made her home in Hartford. Amos Bron- son Alcott, the father of Little Women, was born in Wolcott, Connecticut, and began his career there as a Yankee peddler and a school teacher. 'K

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to Mr. Chairman, Members of the Board of Education, Mr. Superintendent, Mr. Principal, Members of the Faculty, Parents and Friends: It is my great privilege to welcome you here this evening on behalf of the class of 1938, and to thank you for the educa- tional opportunities that you have pro- vided for us, and for which we are truly grateful. Many cities and towns in Connecticut the last few years have been celebrat- ing the three hundredth birthday of our State. lt is amazing how little thought we give to our history until something like a Tercentenary brings to our minds that our State, too, is famous for many things: that in our State, too, many memorable things have happened in the past, and are still happening. Connecticut should be more to us than just a piece of land that fills in the space between Rhode Island and New York. We should take pride in her history, not just on special occasions, but keep it constantly before us to spur us on to greater things: for she has been impor- tant in the building of our nation, and must keep her place as a leader in future building. I should like to refresh your memories for a few minutes by pointing out to you a few incidents and places of historic Connecticut. A great writer recently said, They are always having picturesque things turn up in Connecticut. For instance, did you ever hear of the story of the Amistad ? The Amistad was a slave ship that had brought a cargo of Negroes from Africa to Havana. Here some Spanish planter bought the cargo, and the slaves were to be carried in the Amistad to his plantation. When the Negroes got the chance, they turned Sczlutazfory the tables on the Portuguese crew. With the blacks now in command, they steered North. They knew North meant freedom, and continued their course until a revenue cutter brought them into a Connecticut Harbor-New Haven. The Connecticut farmers received these slaves, but when President Van Buren heard of it, he began to take steps to make the slaves return to Cuba. A great trial was held of the whole Southern Crew and the Negroes. The day of the decision came and everybody voiced the same question: Are the blacks to be set free? But fate certainly played into the hands of the Negroes. On the night before the decision, one of the leading Southern judges died of apoplexy and the balance of the court was changed. The fifty-three black men were set free, and their children are free men today in the valley of Congo. Who has not heard of Putnam's Wolf Den in Pomfret? The farmers in the Pom- fret district had been having trouble. From time to time, sheep had been dis- appearing, and finally these thefts were traced to a vicious offender-the wolf. This could not go on. The farmers had heard that wolves once frequented this region, and they made up their minds to kill this one. His living quarters, they soon found out, was an old den, not far from their farms. Israel Putnam or Old Put volunteered to go into the den to kill the wolf. The farmers made ready to witness the death of their enemy. A rope was tied about Old Put and he, with his gun, was lowered into the cave. Should he fail to shoot the wolf, the farmers were ready to pull him up before the wolf could attack him. But Old Put was successful, and the wolf would no longer molest the fa:rmer's sheep. Many peoplenowmake their homes in Pomfret, and take pride in this historical land- mark. Page Twenty-three

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5 Exif . . 'HQ 4: - . 1'-I if, y. 1:4 ' 'sf it-'M' .-.fy ,- . K vb' t . n E -Stiff 333:-f.':2.I! ' A . ix ta ' lg. 6 , .F '-iii 4 CHRONICLE 3+ 'No writing on historic Connecticut ould be complete without mention of the famous Charter Oak. Who but a Cori- necticut Yankee would have thought of hiding a charter in a tree? The charter, believed to be the original one now hangs in the office of the Secretary of State. The oak tree on the lawn of our own Lewis High School is an offspring of this famous parent tree. The Tercentenary Committees have unearthed many other historical facts, too numerous to mention here, but I am sure that their work has tended to make the people of our state more Connecticut- minded than ever before. May we always cherish in our hearts the noble history of om' great State! CATHERINE COOK miuszfffies of Connecticut Essay by FRED BAUER Mr. Principal, Mr. Superintendent, Members of the Board of Education and Faculty, Fellow Students and Guests: Since the majority of the Class of 1938 will this night go forth from the shelter- ing walls of Lewis High School into the world of business and industry, I should like to tell my classmates something about the inception and growth of Con- necticut industries. Although agriculture has always oc- cupied a prominent place in Connecti- cut life, manufacturing early began to outstrip the farms in material productiv- ity. Since Connecticut's agriculture is less important, I shall dispose of that first. Because of the fertility of the soil of the Connecticut River Valley, the first settlers were lured into the state. How- ever, in the first century and a half, nearly all land outside this strip proved to be rocky and not very good for inten- sive agriculture. The cultivation of potatoes was not extensive, being con- sidered as little more than cattle food: small fruits were likewise treated and were used in the brewing of Appleiack which formed quite a profitable occupa- tion for the enterprising Hartford Coimty farmers. In the early colonial times Connecticut Park was considered the acme of quality and economy. The early Connecticut farmer, I am sorry to say, was not very kind to his land. The prac- tices of continued planting without fer- tilization and the lack of crop rotation rapidly depleted the soil until it was gradually turned into pasturage. This gave rise to the dairy industry in which Connecticut excelled. Connecticut dairy products were sold extensively all over the eastern seaboard. Nowadays, dairy- ing is a highly specialized division of agriculture, in which at least three- fourths of the state's farmers engage. An early attempt was made to en- courage the raising of hemp in Connecti- cut but it soon died out. The tobacco industry, however, began to outstrip all others in the return of wealth to the farmer. Progressive methods of culture brought about the production of the world's finest tobacco, a distinction which Connecticut holds to this day. A decade ago the acreage was halved, yet Connecticut continued to produce thirty- five million pounds of fine tobacco an- nually. ln closing this account of agricul- ture, I must not forget to mention that famous product of Connecticut ingenu- ity, the wooden nutmeg. And now we come to the manufactur- ing industry. Almost as soon as the first settlers came to Connecticut, the manu- facturing industry began in a very modest way. From these beginnings, Page Twenty-five