1958: 4 Children Killed in Tenement Fire

Middletown, Conn., April 19 (UP)–Four children ranging in age from one month to four years died Friday night in a flash hire which swept their third-floor tenement.

Mrs. Margaret Davis, 25, mother of the children, was hospitalized for shock and burns inflicted when she tried to rescue the children.

Fire officials said the blaze apparently broke out in the kitchen stove and was caused by a defective oil burner.

The dead children were Janice, 4, Bryant, 2, Sally, 1, and Wendy, one month. Their bodies were found close together in a bedroom.

From The Sandusky Register (Sandusky, Ohio), Saturday, April 19, 1958.

April 9 – Middletown 366

1867

Wesleyan Library Donation

“The friends of the late Moses F. Odell propose to raise $10,000, with which to establish a department of American history in the library of the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., an institution in which he had taken deep interest. The officials of the University have set apart an “Odell Alcove” in the Library rooms for this purpose. Over $3,000 have already been subscribed.”– From The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), Apr. 9, 1867.

1873

Shepard Block Collapse

A building on Main Street, during construction, fell on April 9, 1873. The Shepard’s building collapsed on that day, burying at least forty men under the rubble. The building was considered “the finest in the city” and the collapse was a great loss to the city of Middletown. Many regarded the building as unsafe before the collapse, as a crack appeared in the cornice, but workers had reassured the public that the building was stable. By 7 p.m. that day, the bodies of plasters John Kelley and James Linan, joiner E.H. Harrison,  and laborer Owen Sullivan were found. The work of finding the bodies continued through the night and into the next day.

Story contributed by Kimberly Singh.

1876: Steamer Collides with Portland Bridge

The steamer ‘City of Hartford’, ran into the Portland Bridge at Middletown on March 29, 1876.

 

March 20 – Middletown 366

1936

The Great Flood

Spring snow melt from the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont, combined with heavy rain caused the Connecticut River to flood, with the flood stage reaching 30 feet, six feet higher than the record set in 1854.  Seven hundred residents along the riverfront were evacuated and the displaced slept in the National Guard Armory on Main Street and in the Italian Club on Court Street for a month.  In addition, the flood had devastating economic effects, since many businesses on the first floor of buildings were flooded as well as factories, causing widespread unemployment.

Story contributed by Deborah Shapiro.

William Street, looking east.

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1948

Allie Wrubel Wins Academy Award

On this day, Middletown native Allie Wrubel won an Academy Award for his song “Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah,” part of the score for Disney’s Song of the South. Born in Middletown in 1905, young Allie Wrubel helped out in his family’s popular women’s apparel store on Main Street, but his main interest was music. After graduating from Wesleyan University, he went to Hollywood. From 1934 to 1946, he was under contract with Warner Bros. to write songs for movie musicals. In the late 1940s, he began writing songs for such movies as Jennifer Jones’s Duel in the Sun, and Burt Lancaster’s I Walk Alone. . He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Wrubel died in 1973.

Story contributed by Deborah Shapiro.

 

1888: The Great Blizzard Begins

The Great Blizzard of 1888 began in Middletown the evening of March 11, and by the next day three feet of snow had fallen.  This made for some serious snow shoveling, as depicted in these photographs.

1851: Serious Fire at Middletown, Conn.

Sunday, March 2d

A fire broke out in this city at 1 1/2 o’clock this morning, in J. Parmelee’s variety store, and spread to the store of J. C. Beebe’s adjoining, and to the block owned by C. Elliott, and occupied by H. & F. Johnson, shoe store; A. Putnam, book bindery; Baines’s Telegraph Office; F. A. Grant, barber, and the “Sentinel & Witness” office–all of which establishments were destroyed. The goods were removed from the stores in all the blocks adjoining, damaging them to a considerable extent. Stephen Crittenden’s loss was about $2,000; insured for $1,200. Beebe lost $200, and Putnam $1,000, saving nothing and having no insurance. Baines’s Telegraph Office, nothing saved and no insurance.– Elliott’s building was insured $3,100. The loss in the “Sentinel & Witness” office was $2,500; insured for $1,500–books and papers all lost.– Johnson’s insurance on his stock will cover his loss. Grant’s, the barber’s loss, is $300.

From the Poughkeepsie Journal, Mar. 8, 1851.

March 1 – Middletown 366

1906

On March 1, 1906, one of Wesleyan University’s two original buildings was destroyed by fire.  North College was built in 1825, before Wesleyan’s founding.  In 1906 it was used for student housing and offices; 85 students were displaced by the fire.

1894

Oddities and Novelties. … “An armless boy of Middletown, Conn., named William Mylchreet, has completed the painting of a wagon. His feet did the work.”– From the Newton Daily Republican (Newton, Kansas), Mar. 1, 1894.

1889: Students and Dynamite

Middletown, Conn., Feb. 23.–“About midnight Thursday the inmates of the North College building at Wesleyan were aroused by an explosion which shook every beam and rafter in the building and called to mind the blowing up of the Park Central at Hartford. The report could be heard in every quarter of the town. The explosion was caused by a dynamite bomb thrown by some foolhardy student on the fourth floor of the building. It shattered doors and windows, tore a hole down through two floors and knocked out several yards of plastering. In observatory hall the same outrage was perpetrated, only with greater effect. The halls of both buildings are filled with plaster, wood, glass, etc., in such quantities that it seems impossible a dynamite cartridge could have made such havoc.

The worst feature of it all is the accident to N. C. Hubbard, son of ex-Congressman Hubbard of West Virginia. After the explosion in North college, young Hubbard ventured out of his room to ascertain the cause of the racket. He was no sooner in the hall than he saw a small missile lying on the floor near the door and picked it up. It was a dynamite cartridge or bomb and it immediately exploded in his hand. The palm of his right hand was terribly lacerated, his eyes badly cut and pieces entered his abdomen. It must have exploded with terrible force, as it threw fragments of his flesh all around. When the injury to Mr. Hubbard became known several physicians were summoned and they deemed his condition so serious as to warrant his removal to the hospital at New Haven, where four fingers of the injured hand were amputated. It is barely possible that his hand may be saved.” –From The Council Grove Republican (Council Grove, Kansas), March 1, 1889.

1897: A Thousand Tons of Coal Ablaze

Middletown, Conn., Feb. 20.–“Fire has been discovered in a pile of 1,000 tons of coal in the yards of the Middletown Coal company. The fire, which was probably originated by spontaneous combustion, is thought to have been burning several days. A loss of $2,500 has already been sustained.”– From The Sunday Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Penn.), Feb. 21, 1897.

1900: Workmen Hurt by Dynamite Explosion

Middletown, Conn., Feb. 17.–Albert Wells, the foreman of a gang of men employed in building a State highway between Portland and Cobalt, and three Italian workmen who were known only by numbers, were seriously injured in a dynamite explosion to-day. It is feared that the injuries to the Italians will prove fatal. The accident is said to have been caused by one of the workmen striking with his pick a charge of dynamite that was laid yesterday, but which failed to explode. A score or more of other workmen were more or less injured.

From The New York Times, Feb. 18, 1900.