Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/author/todd-vibert/)
Had kids been selling newspapers in Granby in 1906, as they did in the major cities such as New York or Boston, that February they would have been yelling “Read all about it! White Cappers drag Willis Griffin out of town!”
When I was in the sixth grade at Kelly Lane, I had Mrs. Cowper for English. However, months later, her husband accepted a job transfer to Baltimore and they moved away.
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.
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.
Picking up from last month, where we met Bertram Dewey and his career as a rural free delivery man for the U.S. Postal Service in Granby, this month we introduce his wife, Eva, who was equally committed to Granby and public service.
One of the most interesting things about living in Granby is that there’s a good chance you or your neighbor lives in a home important to Granby’s history. This month, I’ll be discussing my neighbor’s historic home and its importance to our town.
The coronavirus pandemic is affecting us all, our small town and across the entire nation. This was also true of the Spanish influenza from 1918 to 1919 when 675,000 Americans lost their lives. At that time, Granby was a small agricultural community but not immune to its effects as well. Six citizens lost their lives.
Last month I discussed two native Granby residents, Harry Wilcox and William Case as having served in the Spanish-American War in 1898. They were born in Granby, but lived outside of Granby after the war.
“Remember the Maine, the Hell with Spain” was the cry from U.S. citizens after a United States Court of Inquiry determined that in the Spanish-held Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, an underwater mine had blown up the U.S. battleship, the Maine. After the court’s decision, President McKinley asked for 125,000 men to volunteer for two years to help fight Spain in support of Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain.
Each time I drive by the house at 28 Copper Hill Road, I think of George Guay. Guay lived in that house while running his grocery store for nearly half a century.