Fred Hesketh - The Wintonbury Historical Society

The Trolley in Bloomfield FredHesketh
February 19, 2009
7:30 pm
Prosser Library, 1 Tunxis Avenue, Bloomfield, CT
WHS Meeting at 7:00 pm before the presentation

Bloomfield Trolley Line On Saturday February 20th in 1909, Bloomfield experienced what Hartford newspapers deemed a "gala affair". It was also said “the inhabitanta of Bloomfiled turned out en masse to do honor to the occasion... with bell ringing, day fireworks, music, wit and oratory playing a prominent part in the celebration.” Local historian Fred Hesketh will explain the reasons for that joyous occasion. on the occasion of its centennial, plan to attend to hear about the events leading up to the appearance of the first trolley car in Bloomfield Center .
. Bloomfield Trolley Car
The best tobacco wrapping leaf came from the Connecticut River Valley. This tobacco town was served by cars from Hartford between 1909 and 1929.

Please register for this program by calling Prosser Library at 243-9721 or
in peron at the Reference Desk

Thank you to the Shore Line Trolley Museum for the Bloomfield to Hartford trolley line map and
this wonderful photograph of Conn. Co. #1565 on Blue Hills Avenue.

Tobacco Farms in Bloomfield
on October 23, 2008 at Prosser Library in Bloomfield, CT
Local historian Fred Hesketh filled the Community Room

Thirty thousand plus acres of tobacco were cultivated in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1920s. By the mid-1960s acreage had dropped to under 8000 and by 1995, the number of farms producing tobacco was numbered in the teens. Among the largest producers were Bloomfield-based General Cigar (Griffin/Culbro) and the cooperative Windsor Shade Tobacco Company with extensive holdings in Broomfield. Local historian Fred Hesketh will bring the story of Bloomfield's participation in that enterprise alive and up to date.

Very, very few of the hundreds of tobacco sheds once dotting the Bloomfield landscape are still standing.

Bloomfield fields were ready for spring planting every April.


	Click on any photo for a larger image

Tobbaco curing


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