2023 Annual Meeting – details coming soon!

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Details for this meeting and presentation will be posted here as soon as they are available.  Please check back regularly. This presentation is open to the public.  Anyone with an interest in Enfield history is welcome to attend. The Enfield Historical Society is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that has preserved and shared Enfield’s history for[...]

Free

The Vail Sanitarium and the Strange Disappearance of Samuel F. Crowell

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Return to the Enfield of the early 1900s and learn about Edwin Smith Vail and Elmcroft, the Sanitarium Dr. Vail established in 1890 for the treatment and care of patients with nervous and mental disease. As stated in an advertisement, the facility was "situated in the beautiful New England town of Enfield on the N.Y.,[...]

Free

Martha Parsons House Museum Open

Martha Parsons House Museum 1387 Enfield Street, Enfield, CT

Built in 1782, the Martha Parsons House Museum is a beautiful old New England home filled with generations of Parsons family heirlooms.  Much more than that, it was home to Martha Parsons (1869-1965), a 2010 Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame inductee.  Her story is one of a highly successful businesswoman in an essentially male-only business[...]

Thompsonville’s Strand Theatre and Enfield’s Other Movie Theaters

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

While many people fondly remember Thompsonville's Strand Theatre (later the Enfield Cinema) on North Main Street, it was not the only movie theater in Thompsonville.  Nor was it the first.  Decades earlier in the silent movie era, the Scenic Theatre held that honor.  Then there were the Orpheum, the Franklin, and the Majestic.  All before[...]

Free

History on the Go! Changing Boundaries Trail Museum Tour

Old Town Hall Museum 1294 Enfield Street, Enfield, CT

For one special afternoon, Enfield joins with the Massachusetts towns of Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, and Hampden as part of the History on the Go! Changing Boundaries Trail Historical Museum Tour.  Click here for the tour brochure. When founded, Enfield was part of Massachusetts, and it remained so for 70 years.  Come to the Old Town[...]

Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Presentation by author and Enfield Historical Society president Peter F. Sorenson. Return with us to the time when Thompsonville, Connecticut, was the Boxing Mecca of the Northeast. We will begin back in February 1929, at Wawel Hall, located on the second floor of the Polish National Home in Thompsonville, at the corner of Alden Avenue[...]

Free

Patented in Enfield

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Presentation by Enfield Historical Society member Michael Miller. Enfield has always been home to creative and ingenious people.  Innumerable inventions have been born of their genius.  And many of our Enfield innovators (or their employers) received patents for their inventions or designs.  From the incredibly complex machinery that made Thompsonville's carpet factories so productive and[...]

Free

TERRY’S ISLAND: The Gathering Ground of the 1873 “Band Wagon”

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Presentation by author and Enfield Historical Society member William Fournier. An Historical Research Documentation of the Great(est) Island of the Connecticut River TERRY’S ISLAND TELLINGS OF THE TIMELINES, TITLES, TALES AND TRUTHS Just beyond the early morning fog lies a Land of Legend, here long before man. Here is one of it’s many stories… TERRY'S[...]

Free

Enfield’s Rivers & Streams

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Photo: Hazard Powder Company dam on the Scantic River.  The Powder Mill Barn is in the center background. Join Enfield Historical Society Member Jim Malley for a presentation on Rivers, Brooks and Ponds in Enfield. The presentation will trace the map location and the naming of the waterways. The program will also look at how[...]

Free

The Pilch Poultry Breeding Business

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Join the Enfield Historical Society for an informative and entertaining program about our shared history. Chester and Frank Pilch were household names in Enfield during the mid-20th Century. Chet learned the art of chick “sexing” which brought him success early on in life, and he turned that into an extremely successful business model. Frank became a[...]

Free

2024 Annual Business Meeting & Program – Enfield: Mills & Farming Town to Malls & Industrial Parks

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Enfield Historical Society members will receive business meeting information and invitations by mail.  Anyone interested in joining is welcome to attend.  The business meeting will begin promptly at 7 P.M.  The program will follow at about 7:20 P.M. Enfield: Mills & Farming Town to Malls & Industrial Parks In the past century, Enfield has undergone[...]

Free

“Crystal Products of the Frost King:” Ice Harvesting and the Natural Ice Industry in New England

Fellowship Hall, Enfield Congregational Church 1295 Enfield Street (Route 5), Enfield, CT

Photo: The PA & HD Crombie Klondike Ice Company was located on Freshwater Pond in the Thompsonville section of Enfield. An unidentified worker, Peter A. Crombie, Sr., and Francis Crombie Sr., at age 11, are collecting ice on Freshwater Pond in this circa 1915 photo. North Main Street is in the background. Dennis Picard will[...]

Free