Stafford Historical Society - Stafford, CT

Stafford Historical Society - Stafford, CT The Stafford Historical Society, founded in 1962, preserves and promotes the history of Stafford, Connecticut. See Events for upcoming museum openings.

The museum is at 5 Spring Street and the Patten One-Room Schoolhouse is in Heritage Park. The Stafford Historical Society is dedicated to promoting and preserving the rich history of the town of Stafford, Connecticut. Our main museum, at 5 Spring Street, has two floors of exhibits and photos showing some of the highlights of the town's history. We also maintain a research area with files of photos

, articles, and books on the town and subjects relating to the area and the people who have lived here. The museum is open to the public, free-of-charge. See below for Summer 2025 hours. The historical society also maintains the Patten District One-Room Schoolhouse located in Heritage Park on Rte 190 in Stafford. Dating to around 1799, the schoolhouse is the oldest school still in existence in town. The restored school is open to school groups and to the public at special events throughout the year. The historical society meets September through November, and March through June on the second Tuesday of the month, usually at the Stafford Community Center. The September and June meetings are for members only, but the other meetings offer presentations about subjects relating to Stafford or Connecticut history. We welcome new members and are grateful for volunteers to act as docents, help with special occasions, and work on special projects. If you love Stafford history, please join us and help preserve the history of the town. Almost every first and third Monday of the month, we have a museum workshop where volunteers work on projects at the museum including filing, cleaning, and hanging signs. For the Summer of 2025 these workshops will be held 6:30 - 8:00 on the following Mondays:
Monday, April 21 6:30 - 8:00
Saturday, April 26 9:00 - 12:00 (Spring Clean-up Day)
Monday, May 5, 6:30 - 8:00
Monday, May 19, 6:30 - 8:00
Monday, June 2, 6:30 - 8:00
Monday, June 16, 6:30 - 8:00
Monday, July 7, 6:30 - 8:00
Monday, July 21, 6:30 - 8:00
Monday, August 4, 6:30 - 8:00
Monday, August 18, 6:30 - 8:00

Museum Open Houses will be held during the Summer of 2025 on the following dates and times, as long as we have enough volunteers to man the museum:
Sunday, April 13, 2:00 - 4:00
Sunday, May 18, 2:00 - 4:00
Sunday June 8, 2:00 - 4:00
Friday, June 13, 6:00 - 8:00, Arts on Main
Friday, July 11, 6:00 - 8:00, Arts on Main
Sunday, July 13, 2:00 - 4:00
Friday, August 8, 6:00 - 8:00, Arts on Main
Sunday, August 10, 2:00 - 4:00

Someone asked for a photo of the Springs House that used to stand where Hobbs Medical is today. The Springs House Hotel...
06/21/2026

Someone asked for a photo of the Springs House that used to stand where Hobbs Medical is today. The Springs House Hotel was first built about 1804 and was torn down and rebuilt in 1895. This is the second incarnation of the hotel. It stood until 1959 when it was destroyed by a fire. The building to the left of it is still standing without the spire. It was the Stafford Springs Fire Department and the hoses were hung in the tower to dry. Today that building is the Shamrock Laundry.

Another digital donation that we received a couple of years ago. This is the Foster Block which stood on lower Main St...
06/19/2026

Another digital donation that we received a couple of years ago. This is the Foster Block which stood on lower Main Street where Rustology stands today. Hurley Brothers and Otis Chapman had stores in here and above there were rooms for rent. There is a sign for Featherstone Bicycles in the window on the right which dates this to around the turn of the 20th century. And, check out the tennis rackets in the windows on the left.

This is a photo that was loaned to us so we could scan it! It shows Spring Street with the Old Library, Grace Episcopal...
06/19/2026

This is a photo that was loaned to us so we could scan it! It shows Spring Street with the Old Library, Grace Episcopal Church, and Christopher Allen Bridge, from Lower Main Street. I looked up what the name of a retaining wall of stone along a river and found several words that I had never heard of including rip rap and revetment. But, whatever it is called, the wall of stone along the river looks so neat without weeds and trees growing out of it! Car people - you will have to give me a date range for this photo. I am guessing the 50s?

We have a series of photos that are printed on heavy paper and have a title banner along the bottom. The photos are 20...
06/18/2026

We have a series of photos that are printed on heavy paper and have a title banner along the bottom. The photos are 20th century but vary in date. This one is of Stafford rotary in Haymarket Square, seemingly taken from the 2nd floor of the Town Hall. I assume it is from the 1950s from the fins on the car under the street light (car people - you know much better than I do about a possible date).

Our neighbor, the Ellington Historical Society, has some wonderful events coming up!! Friday, June 26, they are going ...
06/18/2026

Our neighbor, the Ellington Historical Society, has some wonderful events coming up!! Friday, June 26, they are going to have Wickets & Whimsy - an evening of croquet and fun. (I can almost feel that wire wicket on my ankle as I trip over it.) And, on July 31, they are going to have evening on the 14th Connecticut in the Battle of Gettysburg - in collaboration with the New England Civil War Museum. There were Stafford boys in the Connecticut 14th!! Make sure you add these to your calendars!

Here is a flashback photo of the xtraMart on River Road in April of 1980. They had just gotten new gas pumps four mon...
06/17/2026

Here is a flashback photo of the xtraMart on River Road in April of 1980. They had just gotten new gas pumps four months before. Thank goodness that is all paved now!

This late 1890s photo was taken by F. C. Thompson of Staffordville. This young man is dressed in his Sunday best, show...
06/17/2026

This late 1890s photo was taken by F. C. Thompson of Staffordville. This young man is dressed in his Sunday best, showing off his prized bicycle, which was costly item at the turn of the century. This bike has pneumatic tires, which became the craze about 1892. Previous to that, bicycle tires were made of solid rubber tires or were just iron bands tires so the rubber tires with air in them were a huge improvement.

The photos of the 1938 and 1955 floods are wonderful because they often show buildings or elements that don't ordinarily...
06/16/2026

The photos of the 1938 and 1955 floods are wonderful because they often show buildings or elements that don't ordinarily get photographed. Here is the water tower, smoke stack and power building of Rhode Island Worsted (Stafford Printers) on West Street.

Here is a American Legion Banquet at the Italian Club (Italian Benefit Society) from 1948. I assume most of these men, ...
06/15/2026

Here is a American Legion Banquet at the Italian Club (Italian Benefit Society) from 1948. I assume most of these men, and maybe some of the women, are veterans of WWII. The IDs are rolling in - does anyone look familiar to you??

1. Joe Introvigne, Sr. (Sr to the Sr)
2.
3.
4. John Pisciotta?
5.
6.
7.
8. Joe "Shat" Corsini
9.
10.
11. Joe Negro
12.
13. Emery Galotto
14.

We didn't have many people visit the museum yesterday but one fellow did stop in to drop off a photo for us!!! This gro...
06/15/2026

We didn't have many people visit the museum yesterday but one fellow did stop in to drop off a photo for us!!! This group of men were mill workers at Cyril Johnson Woolen Mill - probably in the 1940s (until proven otherwise). We need more IDs:

1.
2. Dick Amprimo, loom fixer
3. Stefano Gianantoni
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Al Pellegrini
11. ? Tonidandel
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. Benjamin Calchera
18.

Thank you, John Calchera!!!

Address

5 Spring Street
Stafford Springs, CT
06076

Telephone

+18606847978

Website

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