Town of Suffield history

In 1802, Royal Pease came to the Western Reserve from Suffield, Connecticut.

1805 – Second Baptist Church is established to serve the eastern population of town.

1806 – Noah Webster prints first American dictionary, in New Haven.

Oliver Phelps (1749-1809) was at one point considered to be the largest land holder in the country after buying 4,940,000 acres in Genesee County New York (then Massachusetts), for $1,000,000 between 1787-1788.

In 1810 a covered bridge to Enfield was completed.

In 1812 a subscription library was started by West Suffield residents at a cost of $2.00 to each subscriber.

A second paper mill called Eagle Mill was built in 1816 on Stoney Brooke about a mile west of the earlier Franklin Mill.

The area was called Peasetown, but on April 6, 1818, the settlers met and formed a township and changed the name to Suffield.

Seth Pease (1764-1819) played an important role as surveyor of the Western Reserve lands in Ohio and his field notes are the main account of those surveys.

1820 – Masonic Lodge established in Suffield.

The bridge collapsed and was rebuilt in 1826.

A canal was built in 1829 that bypassed the Enfield rapids.

By 1830, broad leaf tobacco for cigar wrappers was developed, as was the process of "sweating" tobacco.

Suffield Academy, a private high school founded in 1833 as the Connecticut Baptist Literary Institution, graces the town green.

1835 – Farmington Canal opens from New Haven to Northampton, passing through the west end of Suffield.

1836 – Samuel Colt invents the first revolving cylinder for firearms.

1837 – Post Office opens in West Suffield, with Erastus Weed, as first postmaster.

1839 – The first Methodist church in Suffield is built, after services in private homes.

The present building was built in 1840.

1864 – First National Bank chartered.

1865 – Calvary Episcopal Church organized.

A fire destroyed the mill in 1866 and was rebuilt.

1869 – Suffield Savings Bank opens as a mutual bank.

1870 – Railway branch line connects main line at Windsor Locks to Suffield.

1875 – The town’s first public library is organized, following several subscription libraries.

1876 – First record of fire equipment bought: two hand-drawn pumps.

1878 – Required by State law, Suffield begins sending secondary school students to what is now Suffield Academy.

1880 – Suffield Grange established, occupies Mapleton Hall.

The first public library really began in 1884 when interested citizens raised money, purchased books and opened two afternoons a week in a building on the corner of Day Avenue.

The Soldiers Monument was dedicated in 1888.

1893 – The Village of Suffield is established as a governmental borough occupying the Center School District.

1894 bridge to Thompsonville soon closes.

1896 – First Henry Ford car produced.

In 1897 Sidney A. Kent, a Suffield native, graduate of C.L.I., and successful Chicago businessman offered to build a $35,000 library as a memorial to his parents.

1899 – Sidney A. Kent gives Suffield a new public library building, built on land of his original settler ancestor, Samuel Kent.

Early in the 1900's higher grade tobacco were grown under cheesecloth tents, but decreasing cigar consumption brought reduced production.

1901 – First tobacco grown under cloth, by W. S. Pinney of Suffield.

1902 – Central New England Railroad connection opens, with depot in West Suffield center.

Church building opens in 1916.

Information for this sketch was taken from Celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Suffield, Connecticut October 12, 13, and 14, 1920 with sketches from its past and some record of its last half century and of its present.

1922 – First radio station in Connecticut: WDRC, followed closely by WTIC.

In 1930 Mathais Spiess, an amateur historian, compiled a map of where he determined Native American villages and trails existed in Connecticut as of 1625.

1932 – First Suffield zoning districts are established.

1940 – Suffield Historical Society established.

1944 – First town fire department; Frank Smith, chief.

1945 – First atomic bombs end World War II. (United States)

1949 – Calvary Episcopal Church is revitalized.

1956 – IBM introduces first computer hard drive.

1962 – Cuban missile crisis creates widespread concern about impending attack.

1967 – Frances Woods is first women elected to the Board of Selectmen.

The Biography of a Town; Suffield Connecticut 1670-1970.

1972 – New Kent Memorial Library built on site of old Town Hall.

1980 – Bruce Memorial Park development voted.

School closes in 1990 and is later used by Lincoln Institute for their Connecticut Culinary Institute and other schools.

1991 – First Connecticut state income tax imposed.

1999 – Construction of Space Station Alpha begins (USA, Russia, Europe).

2007 – Apple introduces first iPhone.

2008 – Great Recession begins.

2012 – Suffield library reopens after roof repair and interior remodeling.

2017 – Millions march for women’s rights in United States