Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/category/history/)
For many years, the only building on the main intersection in Granby was the Meeting House built in 1736 on the northwest corner hill, which once was much closer to the corner. The cemetery was established around the Meeting House.
The Granby Land Trust acquired the Wilcox property on Simsbury Road, owned by the late Steve Wilcox Hastings, in 2019. Since it does not have houses on its property, the Trust generously offered the late 18th century home to the Salmon Brook Historical Society if we agreed to preserve and maintain it.
If you missed the Salmon Brook Historical Society’s Stroll Through Granby History on Salmon Brook Street in the fall, or you did not make it to all the sites, you can see the same information on the society’s website.
“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.
There have been black families living in Granby since pre-Revolutionary times. Since even the free blacks could not vote or hold public office, were not leaders in the church or government and rarely owned businesses, they are practically invisible in the history of a town.
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.
The first Memphis public library opened in 1893. The benefactor was none other than Frederick H. Cossitt, the former Granby resident and philanthropist.
Frederick and Catherine Cossitt had four children. The oldest was Helen Marcellus Cossitt who married Augustus D. Juilliard in 1877.
Where do spirits go when their home is destroyed? An early 19th century dwelling at 18 East Granby Road was torn down late in 1998.
The stone house at 109 West Granby Road is where Helen Green lived all her life. Green was the first woman from Granby to represent the 7th District in the state legislature and she dedicated her life to public service and education.