History

Ethel Linnell, first SBHS curator

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In its first 75 years, the Salmon Brook Historical Society has had three amazing curators. I have written about Eva Dewey saving Granby history when she stored most of the files, genealogical files, and artifacts in her house while the SBHS was first renovating its campus. I also have written about how Carol Laun helped transform the society as we know it today and became our town historian and educator. Both Eva and Carol followed in the footsteps of our first curator, Ethel Linnell.

History

High school history lesson

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On graduation day, high school seniors receive their diplomas and head off to college or the workforce. Each high school diploma has three signatures: the superintendent, the principal and the chairperson of the Board of Education. For some Granby graduates, those signatures will look familiar because many had a parent serve as the chairperson of the board, including myself.

History

What it was like: A child’s perspective of a natural disaster

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On Sept. 21, 1938, a major hurricane wreaked havoc along the eastern seaboard, especially in New England. Connecticut lost over 680 lives from this storm and Hartford was flooded so badly that the Park River was buried under the city so such an occurrence would not happen again. After the 1938 hurricane, the Granby school district, along with many others, had students record what they remembered from the storm. Below are excerpts of how students who attended the one-room schools in Granby described the 1938 hurricane.

History

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!

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The Neighborhood News was a weekly Granby newspaper, which ran from 1939 to 1943. It was produced by two children, Buddy Pendleton and Mary Teale. Buddy, age 6, was the editor, and Mary, age 6, the assistant editor, although sometimes her older sister, Christine, age 11, would fill in for her.

History

Norwood T. Case, Granby’s weather prophet

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Although spring is in the near future, we can almost certainly expect another winter storm in late February or March. There is always the possibility of an April Fool’s Day blizzard as we had in 1997. While we have television and radio meteorologists as well as the National Weather Service to alert us to incoming storms, that was not the case in the first half of the twentieth century.

History

Celebrating Lovers’ Day over the years

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On Monday, Feb. 14, more than 151 million Valentine’s Day cards will be sent to and received from husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers and significant others across the country.

History

Remembering Carol Laun

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In the June edition of the Granby Drummer, I wrote about Eva Dewey, the curator and archivist for the Salmon Brook Historical Society from 1959 to 1986, who saved much of Granby’s history. In her final nine years she had an invaluable assistant in the archives—Carol Laun, who would go on to transform the Salmon Brook Historical Society into what it is today.

History

Duck & Cover drills remembered

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We all remember participating in fire drills in elementary school. Interrupting the lesson, the alarm would blare, and teachers lined up all the students, leading them out to the parking lot or field. While this was an important drill in case of emergency, I always remember the relief from students and frustration from teachers as a lesson was missed.