Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/category/history/)
Since the Fiscal Year 2022-23 adopted budget did not include an amount designated for preservation of historical documents, Town Manager Erica Robertson requested the Granby Board of Selectmen to authorize a budget amendment of $5,500 for this purpose.
Many homes in Granby are over a century old, with rich and complex histories reflecting the transformation of Granby from a solely agricultural community to a thriving suburb.
From 1929 to 1935, the Manitook Hotel, and guest cottages on the west shore of the lake, was a thriving, bustling place. Tourists from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and many other states visited to canoe, swim, play tennis, fish, hunt, and enjoy a vacation in Granby.
For the past two years the Salmon Brook Historical Society has been restoring the Captain Sadoce Wilcox House and Lyman Wilcox Barn in West Granby.
September is the time of year when the small-town fairs begin around Connecticut. For the early 20th century resident, the Granby Fair was the biggest thrill of the year.
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.
The Salmon Brook Historical Society (SBHS) participated in Granby’s first Juneteenth celebration with six interactive signs that revealed some of the early history of Granby’s Black residents.
Originally published in June 1988.
I say it simply—unashamed and unabashed—I love this town.
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.
Originally published May 1987: If the words “Historical Society” evoke an image of grim reverential silence and dull stodgy people—you have not visited the Salmon Brook Historical on a Thursday morning.