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History of New London, Connecticut, USA
Journey back in time to New London, Connecticut, USA
Visit New London, Connecticut, USA. Discover its history. Learn about the people who lived there through stories, old newspaper articles, pictures, postcards and genealogy.
Old Photos, Pictures, Advertisements and Postcards from New London, Connecticut, USA

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

The Hempstead House, Built 1678
Read more about Joshua HEMPSTED (HEMPSTEAD)

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Nathan Hale School
After teaching at the schoolhouse in East Haddam, Nathan Hale went on to become the schoolmaster at the Union School in New London, teaching there from 1774 until the Revolutionary War began in 1775. Built in 1773, the gambrel-roofed school building was originally located on State Street, was moved to Union and Golden streets in 1830 to serve as a private home and was purchased in 1890 by the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution...... Read MORE...
Read more about Nathan HALE


New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

County Court House, Built 1784, New London, Conn.
Designed by Isaac Fitch of Lebanon, the New London County Courthouse first served as the city's Town Hall and Courthouse. Built in 1784, it was described by architectural historian William Warren as "an ambitious and expensive undertaking for a small region in the New Republic." The Courthouse was built to replace the courthouse burned by the British during the American Revolution.
The original structure was crowned by a distinctive... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Fort Trumbull, West Side
Fort Trumbull is a fort near the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound in New London, Connecticut and named for Governor Jonathan Trumbull. The original fort was built in 1777, but the present fortification was built between 1839 and 1852. wikipedia
The first Fort Trumbull was built to protect the New London Harbor from British attack and later served as part of the country's coastal defense system. The masonry fort (the third) that stands today was... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Artwork

New London and Norwich
Picturesque America... Oliver Bell Bunce, William Cullen Bryant
New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1872-1874.

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Brainerd and Armstrong Co. Silk Mill
museumofcthistory.org
The Brainerd and Armstrong Company, silk manufacturers, located at No. 1 Water Street, was organized under the laws of the State of Connecticut, Sept. 22, 1879, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, all paid in, contributed by James P. BRAINERD (of Hartford, Conn.), Benjamin A. ARMSTRONG (of New London), and Leonard O. SMITH (of Philadelphia), in equal sums of twenty thousand dollars...
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY,... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Union Station
After New London’s main depot suffered a devastating fire in 1885, the city’s two railroad providers decided to construct and share a new “union station.” The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad—commonly known as the “New Haven”—and the New London Northern Railroad (then part of the Central Vermont Railway system) ambitiously turned to the renowned Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson to design a suitable replacement. Opened in 1887, the impressive structure... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Peqout Casino, 1908
The southern end of New London was used primarily as farmland in the first two centuries following the founding of the city. In 1852, the same year the shoreline railroad connecting New London to New York was completed, two local businessmen purchased 35 acres of the Harbor's Mouth Farm and erected the Pequot House, a large public hotel, on the northwest corner of Pequot and Glenwood Avenues with 1000 feet of beach frontage...
As the Pequot's reputation as a summer... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Riverside Park
The park was created by the City of New London in 1893 with land acquired from the Post Hill Improvement Company, and by 1910 it had expanded to nearly 33 acres thanks to gifts from S.D. Lawrence and F.B. Brandegee and from the Palmer Brothers... riversideparkconservancy.org

New London, Connecticut, USA
Advertisement

Embroidery Lessons with Colored Studies for 1899
The Brainerd & Armstrong Co.
No. 6 Union Street, New London, Conn.
The Ladies' Home Journal
September 1898

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Palmer Bros. Quilt Mill on Washington St.
museumofcthistory.org
Elisha and Edward Palmer originally organized their business as a partnership back in 1867. In 1899, they officially incorporated their Palmer Brothers enterprise. Their goal was to produce quality, upscale bedding and accessories for consumers across the country.
By 1928, the company was in a position to enjoy much of the success its founders originally envisioned. Palmer Brothers had a reputation as one of the finest quilt ... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Southwest Ledge Light
New London Ledge Lighthouse was built in 1909 on the southwest ledge. It was originally called the Southwest Ledge light, but this caused confusion with Southwest Ledge Light in New Haven, Connecticut, so it was renamed New London Ledge Light in 1910. The United States Coast Guard took over in 1939 upon its merger with the Lighthouse Service and the light was automated in 1987. The original fourth order Fresnel lens was removed and was later put on display in the Custom ... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Smith Memorial Home for Aged Ladies, Masonic St.
The Smith Memorial Home for Aged, Indigent Ladies who have Resided in New London, was founded by the Late Seth Smith, who Bequeathed the Greater Part of His Fortune for this Purpose. The Home Possesses Accommodations for Twenty-Five Inmates.
Picturesque New London and Its Environs: Grofton, Mystic, Montville, Waterford, at the Commencement of the Twentieth Century
by American book exchange, 1901 - New London (Conn.)

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Connecticut College, New London, Conn.
"Connecticut College... is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1911, Connecticut College is a primarily residential, four-year undergraduate institution, with nearly all of its approximately 1,900 students living on campus... The college was founded as "Connecticut College for Women", in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women in 1909; the college shortened its name to "Connecticut College" in ... Read MORE...

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

New London Junior College
Founded as New London Junior College in 1938 by Richard P Saunders, Waldo Clarke and Alfred M Bingham, it was renamed Mitchell College (after Alfred Mitchell (1832-1911)) in 1950.
mitchell.libguides.com

New London, Connecticut, USA
Postcard

Miniature Railroad & Carousel, Ocean Beach Park
Ocean Beach Park was founded in 1940 by the New London City Council in the aftermath of the 1938 New England Hurricane. After the hurricane left the Ocean Beach property devastated by intrusive sands and ruined homes, the City Council determined that the best use of the property would be to use it as a public beach park... wikipedia
History, News and Stories of New London, Connecticut, USA

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1646 - New London was founded May 6, 1646, by John Winthrop, Jr.
When Winthrop received a charter from the general court of Boston, this village on the Mohegan river was called Nameug.
However, in 1658, the general court at Hartford enacted a statute changing the name to New London. And in keeping with the new name, the river was called the Thames.
The New ... Read MORE...
Read more about John WINTHROP -
1781 - War Battle
One major Revolutionary War battle was fought in Connecticut. This was at New London. On September 6, 1781, British forces under Benedict Arnold landed at New London on the banks of the Thames River. They captured Fort Griswold and burned many buildings in the... Read MORE...
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1784 - Earliest Connecticut cities incorporated - Hartford, Middletown, New Haven, New London and Norwich.
New London was incorporated as a city by the legislature, in January, 1784, being one of five towns in the state on which city privileges were conferred at the same time. The city and town limits are the same, comprising about 2,200 acres, or three and a half square miles... The first city meeting... Read MORE...
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1792 - First turnpike road company, New London to Norwich, incorporated.
After the American Revolution, Connecticut granted franchises for the building of ‘toll’ roads or turnpikes, and in 1792 the first turnpike in Connecticut and in New England (the second in the country) linked Norwich and New London.
www.cthistoryonline.org/ cho/ journeys/ ... Read MORE...
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In 1792, Union Bank New London was established with capital of $500,000.
The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, Volume 3
Author Sir David Brewster
Publisher J. & E. Parker, 1832
Page 229
Timeline of Connecticut History
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GREAT HISTORY PHOTOGRAPHY NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT
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1819 - New London
New-London, the semi-seat of justice of the county, and a considerable maritime post town, is situated up on the west bank of the Thames, bordering upon the sound, 13 miles south of Norwich, 42 miles southeast by south of Hartford, and 53 east of New-Haven; bounded on the north by Waterford, on the ... Read MORE...
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1839 - New London
New London, Connecticut
One of the shire towns of New London county. The first English settlement in New London commenced in 1646. It is situated on the west bank of the river Thames. In its territorial limits it is much the smallest of any town in the state, being about 4 miles in length from... Read MORE...
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1840s-50s - Peak of whaling from Connecticut ports and especially from New London.
New London owed much of its early prosperity to the success of its whaling fleet: it was once the third-largest whaling port in the world—ranking only behind the Massachusetts coastal towns of New Bedford and Nantucket. In 1850 alone, over one million dollars of whale oil and bone passed through... Read MORE...
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1854 - New London
New London, a city, port of entry, and semicapital of New London county, Connecticut, is situated on the right bank of the Thames river, 3 miles from the ocean, and 60 miles E. from New Haven ; lat. 41° 22' N., Ion. 72° 9' W. It is built on a declivity facing the S. and E. The site being... Read MORE...
1872 - ANOTHER STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION. FEARFUL DISASTER AT NEW LONDON, CONN.
A GOVERNMENT LIGHTER BLOWN UP.
THREE MEN KILLED AND THE OFFICERS ALL INJURED.
New London, Conn., June 24, 1872.
A fearful catastrophe occurred here today, which shades every other calamity at this place since the burning of the steamer City of New London. Terrible as the latter disaster was... Read MORE...
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1895 - New London
New London, a city, port of entry, and semi-capital of New London co, Conn., is situated on the right or W. bank of the Thames River, 3 miles from its entrance into the ocean, 50 miles E. of New Haven, and 62 miles S.W. of Providence. Lat. 41° 22' N.; Lon. 72° 9'W. The site of this city is a... Read MORE...
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1898 - November 27 - 27 inches of snow fell at New London CT
The Weather Channel
1908 - PEQUOT HOUSE BURNS. FAMOUS OLD HOTEL AT NEW LONDON COMPLETELY DESTROYED.
Special to The New York Times.
New London, May 7. - At an early hour this morning the famous Pequot House, which crowned the headland at the western entrance to New London harbor, took fire and the blaze lasted for several hours, threatening the entire Pequot settlement of cottages and many... Read MORE...
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1910 - U.S. Coast Guard Academy moves to New London.
The Coast Guard Academy was a shipboard operation until 1890 when the first land-based campus was established in Curtis Bay, Maryland. In 1910, the Academy moved to the Revolutionary War fort and Army post at Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut.
www.cga.edu/ about2.aspx?id=41
Timeline of Connecticut History
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1911 - Connecticut College for Women founded at New London.
The College was founded following a decision by Wesleyan University to stop admitting women. Elizabeth Wright, a Wesleyan alumna, rose to the challenge and convinced women from the Hartford College Club to explore the idea of founding a college. New London, eager to host the new institution,... Read MORE...
1922 - Fight On Rum Was Hot 80 Years Ago
New London, Conn., Was the Center of Liquor Fight Back in 1842.
New London, Conn., April 10. - King Alcohol was vigorously assaulted eighty years ago in this sea port even with more vigor than since the coming in of the Volsteadian Era. His enemies in 1842 fought under the banner of the... Read MORE...
1923 - OLD YALE BREWERY DESTROYED BY FIRE; Loss is $100,000
New London, Jan. 12 - Fire tonight swept through the Old Yale Brewery now used as a storage building destroying the entire structure and its contents and causing a loss estimated at $100,000. Late tonight the building was a bright red shell with its roof gone and a few scattered flames still... Read MORE...
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1938 - The Great New England Hurricane of 1938
CAT 3 - September 21, 1938
The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was one of the most destructive and powerful storms ever to strike Southern New England. This system developed in the far eastern Atlantic, near the Cape Verde Islands on September 4. It made a twelve day journey across the... Read MORE...
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1954 - Hurricane Carol - HURRICANE ROARS ACROSS LONG ISLAND. FIVE KILLED BY STORM IN NEW ENGLAND.
...Emergency Delcared.
A state emergency was declared at New London, Conn., where power lines were blown down and residents were warned to remain indoors. At 9 a.m. the Coast Guard at New London reported it was no longer able to operate its boats on the tossing sound. Submarines at the U. S.... Read MORE...
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New London, Connecticut, USA Genealogy
Ancestors Who Were Born or Died in New London, Connecticut, USA
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Ancestors Who Were Married in New London, Connecticut, USA
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Genealogy Resources for New London
New London Gazette, New London, CTHistory of New London County, Connecticut, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Compiled Under the Supervision of D. Hamilton Hurd J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia, 1882 Press of J. B. Lippincott & Co. Philadelphia
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