by Vonda J. Sines

Created on: July 24, 2010

Picture Connecticut and three things normally come to mind:  the leaves in autumn, the snows of winter and Yale.  Beyond those images, there are many interesting facts associated with this state.

History

The first human inhabitants of Burlington belonged to the Tunxis Tribe.  They were members of a confederation of Algonquian Indians.  In 1636, the first English settlers arrived in Connecticut and began the plantations of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield.

Settlers arrived in the New London area in 1646.  They called the settlement Pequot after the Indians of the same name, then changed it to New London 12 years later, according to 50states.com.  While West Haven was named Connecticut’s youngest city in 1972, it became a community 360 years earlier and ranks as one of the oldest American settlements.

Colonial New Englanders gained the name pumpkin-heads due to their hairstyles.  Settlers in New Haven used cut pumpkins as guides for uniform, round haircuts.

The year 1705 marked the discovery of copper at Simsbury.  The mine became the infamous Revolutionary War New-Gate Prison.  The first copper coins in American originated in Simsbury in 1737.  By 1728, the town was operating the first steel mill in the country.

The oldest U.S. newspaper still published is the Hartford Courant, founded in 1764.  The nation’s oldest public library began in 1771 in Scoville.

Thomas Sanford invited friction matches in 1834 in Beacon Falls.  Two years later, Simsbury residents began manufacturing the first safety fuse.  The first cattle branding in the U.S. originated in Connecticut after laws required farmers to mark all of their pigs.

Government

The Connecticut state insect is the praying mantis.  The state’s motto is Qui Transtulit Sustinet, or “He Who Transplanted Still Sustains.”  New Haven was incorporated as a city in 1784. 

Connecticut has had the same capital city, Hartford, since 1875.

The first automobile law was passed by the state of Connecticut in 1901 to set the speed limit at 12 mph.  Connecticut became the first state to issue permanent license plates for automobiles in 1937.

Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the Prohibition amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Individuals in Hartford are prohibited from crossing the street walking on their hands. 

Geography

The first blast furnace in the state was constructed in Lakeville in 1762. 

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