Enfield Historical Society - Discover and Preserve Enfield CT

Old Town Hall Museum Open
2025-09-07 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-08-31 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-08-24 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-08-17 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-08-10 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-08-03 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-07-27 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-07-20 13:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) and 9 more dates | Old Town Hall Museum, 1294 Enfield Street, Enfield, CT, 06082
The Old Town Hall Museum is the Enfield Historical Society’s flagship museum. Here you will find three floors of exhibits telling Enfield’s story from the days of dinosaurs to today. Thousands of artifacts, photographs, and documents are on display or are in our publicly accessible archives for you to see.
Our friendly volunteers are here to answer your questions and help you find what you are looking for, whether you are here for a relaxing visit, or are researching some part of local or family history. You will be surprised at how much there is to see, so plan to spend at least an hour.

Wallop School Museum Open House
2025-08-10 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-07-13 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-06-08 14:00 - 16:00 | Wallop School Museum, 250 Abbe Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Built about 1800 to replace an earlier schoolhouse, the Wallop School Museum was one of the last one-room schools in use in Connecticut. Today it is a place to learn what school was like in the days before the Internet or even electricity and plumbing.
Our friendly volunteers are here to help you practice your ABCs, teach you how to parse a sentence, show you how the latest in inkwell and chalk slate technology works, and perhaps even share their (and your) school days stories. Come step back into a different time. Plan to spend at least half an hour.

The Connecticut Tobacco Valley Story in Enfield - DATE CHANGED!
2025-05-20 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Join Enfield Historical Society member Jim Malley for a PowerPoint presentation on the Connecticut Tobacco Valley story in Enfield. The presentation will include a look at tobacco history, local Enfield farms, the tobacco process, employment, tobacco products and the current landscape of tobacco.
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Constable to Patrolman - 1880 to 1920 - DATE CHANGED
2025-04-22 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Travel back with Tom Heath and the Enfield Historical Society to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to learn about life in Enfield at that time of change and how politics influenced the enforcers of laws and the impact those men’s actions had on everyday life. Learn how events during that time led to changes in policing, the end of the political era of law enforcement, and the beginning of the reform era of law enforcement. Equipment used by those early police officers will be on display.
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Annual Membership Meeting & Public Program
2025-03-27 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Enfield Historical Society members and anyone interested in learning more about or joining the Enfield Historical Society are invited to our brief annual membership business meeting, followed by an entertaining, interesting, and educational public program (details will be posted here as soon as they are available). Members will receive business program details by mail.
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Enfield's Connecticut River Bridges
2025-02-27 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Did you know that the first bridge across the Connecticut River in Connecticut was in Enfield? Or that the earliest bridges were all privately owned? Or that they were eventually “freed” by the State of Connecticut?
Have you heard the story of the exciting rescue of Hosea Keach when Enfield Bridge was washed away in 1900? Even if you have, you likely have not heard about the very real danger the bridge wreckage posed downriver.
Do you remember the bridge between Thompsonville and Suffield?
Legislation, lotteries, and lawsuits; successes, disasters and near disasters; the history of Enfield’s Connecticut River bridges is surprisingly complex, interesting, and even entertaining!
Please join Mike Miller from the Enfield Historical Society for this illustrated talk. Don’t be shy!
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Public Program: Timber, Trenails, & Toothpicks
2025-01-23 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Please Join historian Bill Fournier and the Enfield Historical Society for an historical look at the harvesting of timber and the various uses from early colonial times and on into the Industrial Revolution. Connecticut Valley locales, near and far are explored, and the transportation methods and tools that were used are shown. Local area sawmills are highlighted, along with their owners, who most often were early developers of plantations in the North Central CT River Valley. Links for “learning more” opportunities will be handed out, and a display of relics will be on hand.
Bill Fournier is a member of the board of directors of the Enfield Historical Society and an avid local historian.
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Finding Your Family: The Enfield Historical Society and Beyond
2024-11-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Join Susan Bigelow of the Enfield Historical Society as she walks you through the unique family history resources held both at the Old Town Hall and online. Discover photographs, school materials, small business documents, military photos, and extensive holdings on the town’s major employers that can help link you to the lives of your ancestors. Also covered will be online resources through FamilySearch, Google Books, and the Connecticut State Library.
Susan Bigelow is a member of the board of directors of the Enfield Historical Society as well as a reference librarian at the Connecticut State Library.
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Coffin Craziness
2024-10-24 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Please join us for Coffin Craziness presented by Michael Miller of the Enfield Historical Society.
In the 1880s, Thompsonville’s New England Glass Burial Case Company manufactured glass coffins. Their products were not unique. America’s inventors designed and sometimes successfully manufactured and sold a dizzying variety of devices for preserving your favorite family members for eternity (or at least until the funeral). What better month than October to look at a few of those creative, unusual, sometimes practical, and often bizarre inventions. This program will have you thinking eewww, gross, that was disturbing, and, possibly, I want one of those…
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Frank G. "Doc" Taylor Retrospective
2024-09-26 18:00 - 19:30 | Enfield Public Library, 104 Middle Road, Enfield, CT, 06082
Join Enfield Historical Society Member Jim Malley for a PowerPoint presentation on a Retrospective of Frank G. “Doc” Taylor.
Doc Taylor taught for 54 years, the last 49 years as a Social Studies teacher at Enfield High School. Doc Taylor retired in 2012 and passed away on May 28, 2023 at the age of 88. The presentation will include a look at his collegiate career, and as an educator and club advisor at Enfield High School. The talk will also look at Doc’s other jobs and interests. The presentation will continue with a review of Doc’s Connecticut & Enfield History class.
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!

Enfield's African American Legacies Exhibition Opening & Open House
2024-09-14 10:00 - 14:00 | Old Town Hall Museum, 1294 Enfield Street, Enfield, CT, 06082
Please join the Ujima African American Alliance and the Enfield Historical Society for the opening of Enfield’s African American Legacies exhibition at the Old Town Hall Museum. Light refreshments will be served.
This presentation is open to the public. Anyone with an interest in 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 more than 60 years. New members are always needed and greatly appreciated. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a historian or Enfield native to join. Become a member today!
