Residents of the Town of Durham, CT history

First Town Hall, built in 1800

The “new” 1835 Town Hall became the center of the community where it hosted over a hundred Town Meetings and probably hundreds of community functions as well a many town fairs, dances and theatrical performances in the upstairs auditorium.

1854 - Durham Durham, a post-township of Middlesex county, Connecticut, 20 miles S. of Hartford.

Bruce was a New Yorker who, in 1858, purchased the Victorian mansion, “Hawk’s Nest”, on the bluff situated just south of the railroad on Steamboat Road.

1859 DURHAM, a township of Middlsex co., in the state of Connecticut, 21 m.

The Littleton Independent Publishers, 1888- .

1895 - DurhamDurham, a post-village of Middlesex co., Conn., in Durham township, 3 miles from Middlefield Railroad Station, and about 17 miles N.E. of New Haven.

It replaced the town hall purchased by the city in 1898 on the same site.

Bruce’s unostentatious munificence is the land and original buildings that housed the Greenwich General Hospital (1903) on Parsonage Road, which has since been further developed with funding from Rebecca Witherell in memory of her husband, Nathaniel.

In 1909 he began a musical career that spanned nearly eight decades, touring internationally.

He had designed the city's Carnegie Public Library in 1916, and, because of the beautiful work he had done on that building, it was felt that he would, as a Littleton resident, work hard to make the town hall an architecturally distinctive structure.

In 1917, the Durham Fair Association was incorporated as the Durham Agricultural Fair Association, Inc.

A bond issue was approved in April 1919 to fund the project at 2450 West Main Street.

The memorial was held on the second anniversary of the political radicals arrested in 1920 on the charge of murdering a shoe factory guard in South Braintree, MA during a robbery.

Founded by a group of suffragists (The League for Political Education) seeking to build a space where the people could be educated, The Town Hall was built in 1921, designed by renowned architects McKim, Mead & White to reflect the democratic principles of the League.

A feature of the first fair and every fair through 1924 was a parade down Main Street, which began at Burckel’s Corner (intersection of Haddam Quarter Road and Main Street). The parade was discontinued after the 1924 fair because of traffic concerns.

The first permanent building on the fairgrounds was a cattle barn (presently known as Presidents’ Hall) which was built in 1925.

After their execution in 1927 after a special committee found the trial to be unfair in their execution.

She founded the Society of Spiritual Arts in 1931 and "promoted the dance as a sacred art."

In 1934, Brico founded the Women’s Symphony and with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Brico and the all-female orchestra made their debut at Town Hall.

American composer and musician, Philip Glass (1937-) discovered an interest in Indian music when working with Ravi Shankar in Paris.

Anderson went on to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 (after being denied access to Washington's Constitution Hall), and become the first African-American to perform at New York's Metropolitan Opera.

Diz and Bird were joined by Max Roach in this 1945 concert, the record of which was not initially released, either due to the controversial nature of bebop at the time, or simply because the record was misplaced.

Holiday would return in 1948 for her first major solo show.(Photo by Chuck Stewart)

Sawyer, on March 19, 1949, the HAMPTON TOWN HALL burned and was never rebuilt.

After that, no further major construction took place until 1954 when a bandstand was converted into a building presently used as the upper first aid building.

Pandit Ravi Shankar made his New York solo concert hall debut at Town Hall in 1957.

The child star and tap phenomenon, filmed both Porgy and Bess and Ocean's 11 in 1959, the latter catapulting a group of performers to shared fame as The Rat Pack.

In the 1960's, Gilberto's iconoclasm and cosmopolitan ambition marked him as a troublemaker; Mr.

On April 12, 1963 at Town Hall, Bob Dylan played his first major concert.

Twenty-four-year-old folksinger Judy Collins’ performance at Town Hall in New York City on March 21, 1964, was billed as her first concert, which is to say, her first appearance in a theater, as opposed to the folk clubs she was accustomed to playing.

In 1967, a toilet building was built giving the Durham Fair its first flush toilets.

Since the 1970's, much construction has taken place on the fairgrounds as the fair has grown at a rapid pace.

Meredith Monk made her Town Hall debut with her work "Our Lady of Late", composed in 1972 to a dance by performance artist William Dunas.

Phase II. Littleton, Colo.: Littleton Historical Museum, 1973.

In 1979, Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker released a documentary about the evening entitled 'Town Bloody Hall."

By 1983 it was under long-term lease by the non-profit Littleton Center for the Cultural Arts who restored the exterior of the building and once again opened up the interior spaces.

In 1985, Hurricane Gloria passed through the area and prevented the fair from opening on its first day (Friday). However, as a result of the efforts of hundreds of dedicated volunteers, the fair was able to open at noon on Saturday.

Town Hall, 2450 West Main Street." Littleton, Colo.: The Museum, 1992.

In 1994, having already won a Grammy and Oscar for the duet "Beauty and the Beast" with Peabo Bryson, the 26 year old just had achieved her first number one single with "The Power of Love" and began her decade long dominance of the adult contemporary charts.

Made charitable donations totaling over $50,000 through the work of the Durham Fair Foundation since it began in 1996?

On March 20, 1998, trumpeter Mark Morganelli celebrated the richness of '70s jazz by organizing a special concert that was held at New York's Town Hall.

After a sold-out tour of the UK, British comedian Eddie Izzard brough his hilarious one-man show Circle to Town Hall for three nights from June 22-26, 2000.

Rashad later returned to the stage and in 2004 became the first African American woman to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

In 2006, Simone’s daughter performed a tribute concert at Town Hall honoring her mother.

©2022 The Durham Agricultural Fair Association, Inc.