by Kathryn Kirby

Created on: August 20, 2008   Last Updated: August 31, 2010

Within its tiny borders, Connecticut has given a home to many important inventions in our lives and has cemented its place in history. General George Washington referred to Connecticut as "The Provision State" due to the supplies contributed to his army by then Governor Jonathan Trumbull. This simple patriotic act led to Connecticut being known as the only Colonial State to support our independence from Great Britain.

Through its first 172 years, Connecticut had two capitals, one in Hartford and the other in New Haven. It was not until 1875 that Hartford became the only official capital of Connecticut. Many famous people claim Connecticut as their home state such as George Walker Bush and Charles Goodyear. In 1741 the famous traitor of the American Revolution, Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich. The father of the American Dictionary, Noah Webster was born in West Hartford in 1758.

Below you will find more interesting facts about Connecticut that you may not already know.

* Famous For: Inventors, Inventions, Watch making, Typewriters, Insurance, Submarines

1656 - First municipal public library in America

1775 - First submarine - The Connecticut inventor David Bushnell called his submarine the Turtle because it resembled two large tortoise shells of equal size joined together. The watertight hull was made of 6-inch-thick oak timbers coated with tar. On September 6, 1776, the Turtle targeted the HMS Eagle, flagship of the British fleet. The submarine was supposed to secure a cask of gunpowder to the hull of the Eagle and sneak away before it exploded. Unfortunately, the Turtle got entangled with the Eagle's rudder bar, lost ballast and surfaced before the gunpowder could be planted.

1836 - First revolver

1842 - First public art museum

1844 - First use of anesthesia

1861 - First Ph.D. Degree, Yale University awarded in Philosophy

1868 - First tape measure

1877 - First pay phone

1877 - First telephone exchange,

1908 - First lollipop

1920 - first Frisbee, Yale students discovered empty pie plates from Mrs. Frisbie Pies
in Bridgeport could be sailed across the New Haven Green

1934 - first Polaroid camera

1939 - first helicopter

1948 - First color television

1954 - first nuclear submarine, launched in New London

1982 - First artificial heart, Dr. Robert K. Jarvik, a Stamford native, invented the world's first artificial heart

* Connecticut has no county government. Below the state level, governing units are either cities or towns.

* Marine insurance, the great grandfather of all modern forms of insurance, had its start in Connecticut. Fire insurance got its formal start in 1794.

* There are 106 insurance companies based in Connecticut.

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