City Of Danbury history

Danbury, in Fairfield County, is located in southwest Connecticut, on the Still River. It was named in 1687, incorporated in 1702, and chartered as a city in 1889.

Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia on February 27, 1897 with the gift of music and the curse of racism.

Charles Ives constructed his "shanty" on top of a mountain in the Ridgebury section of Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1903.

Saint Joseph Parish was founded on June 7, 1905, as the second parish in the City of Danbury.

Saint Joseph Parish School was opened on September 7, 1924, with 185 boys and 110 girls enrolled.

In 1933, Saint Joseph School became a part of the Region IX Catholic School System of Greater Danbury.

Rose Wilder Lane moved to Danbury in 1938 and bought a home on King Street.

When she was denied the opportunity to perform in Constitution Hall in 1939, she triumphed over adversity to sing before a crowd of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial.

Finally, in 1947 Charles Ives was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for the Third Symphony he had written forty years earlier.

In 1953, the Diocese was canonically divided and Saint Joseph Parish and School passed from the Archdiocese of Hartford to the newly created Diocese of Bridgeport.

Not until 1955 did Marian Anderson--by then, 58 years old--break the color barrier at the Metropolitan Opera house.

In 1970, to help defray the costs of maintaining the building, part of the school was rented to a city/state funded day care center – Action Day Care.

Discontinued in 1981, a shopping mall now occupies the former fairgrounds.

In 1990, a full day Kindergarten program was opened by the school in addition to the Kindergarten programs offered by the parish sponsored organization.

The city's strengths are recognized by its sixth place ranking among Connecticut's 17 major cities by Connecticut Magazine in 2004 in terms of education, crime, and economic condition.