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Danbury Museum and Historical Society

1947 establishments in ConnecticutHistorical societies in ConnecticutHistorical society museums in ConnecticutMuseums in Danbury, ConnecticutOrganizations established in 1947
John Rider House
John Rider House

The Danbury Museum and Historical Society is a private museum located in Danbury, Connecticut, the purpose of which is to acquire, preserve, exhibit, and interpret the heritage of the greater Danbury area for education, information, and research. The main campus of the museum is located on 43 Main Street. It is home to five historic buildings: Huntington Hall, the 1785 Rider House, the 1790 John Dodd Hat Shop, the Little Red Schoolhouse, and the Marian Anderson Studio. The Museum also owned and maintained a sixth building: the Charles Ives Birthplace, located on Mountainville Avenue. The Ives birthplace was sold to a private bidder in 2012. Its legal name is the Danbury Scott Fanton Museum and Historical Society, Inc.

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Danbury Museum and Historical Society
Main Street, Danbury

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N 41.3886 ° E -73.4467 °
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Main Street 49
06810 Danbury
Connecticut, United States
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John Rider House
John Rider House
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Danbury Ice Arena

The Danbury Ice Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Danbury, Connecticut, that can seat about 3,000. It was built in 1999 with renovation and expansion in 2004. The Danbury Arena was the home of the Danbury Trashers of the United Hockey League from 2004 to 2006, and the New England Stars of the North Eastern Hockey League in 2006–07. In 2008, the Danbury Mad Hatters of the Eastern Professional Hockey League signed a lease with the arena and played one season before the league folded. On December 27, 2009, the newly formed Federal Hockey League (FHL) announced that the Danbury Arena would be home to the Danbury Whalers. On April 3, 2015, the Danbury Ice Arena did not want to renew their contract with the Danbury Whalers and gave them a notice to evict by April 17, leaving the last remaining team from the inaugural FHL season homeless. After initially announcing the Stateline Whalers to begin playing in nearby Brewster, New York, the Whalers organization was dissolved and a new group started the Danbury Titans in the FHL to play the 2015–16 season. The Titans also ceased operations in 2017. In 2019, the Hall family, who had owned the arena for 18 years, sold the arena to Diamond Properties. The new management, with Herm Sorcher from the previous FHL organizations acting as managing director, brought in three new tenants for the 2019–20 season: the Connecticut Whale of the Premier Hockey Federation, the Danbury Colonials of the junior North American 3 Hockey League, and another FHL (since rebranded as Federal Prospects Hockey League) team in the Danbury Hat Tricks.

Main Street Historic District (Danbury, Connecticut)
Main Street Historic District (Danbury, Connecticut)

The Main Street Historic District in Danbury, Connecticut, United States, is the oldest section of that city, at its geographical center. It has long been the city's commercial core and downtown. Its 132 buildings, 97 of which are considered contributing properties, include government buildings, churches, commercial establishments and residences, all in a variety of architectural styles from the late 18th century to the early 20th. It is the only major industrial downtown of its size in Connecticut not to have developed around either port facilities or a water power site.It was called Town Street when Danbury was first settled in the late 17th century. For over a century afterwards the "long, straggling street" was synonymous with Danbury, to the point that farmers in the area referred to it as Danbury Street. The Revolutionary War in that area of Connecticut began in the future district, where a marker indicates the first shot fired at the British. As the city began growing toward the mid-19th century, its development was shaped by the arrival of the railroads, which helped the city's hatmakers dominate their industry. In the mid-20th century the area began to decline. Hats became less popular after World War II, causing the hat factories to close. The floods of 1955 took a toll, with some businesses choosing not to rebuild. Other businesses left later for a new shopping mall elsewhere in the city. Main Street was largely spared the demolition that accompanied urban renewal elsewhere in the country, and it was recognized as the city's only historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Its contributing properties, ranging from the 1780s to the 1930s, reflects a diversity of uses and styles with a heavy concentration of the Italianate commercial architecture of the late 19th century. Today, downtown Danbury is once again thriving due to a variety of factors. Businesses formed a special taxing district to raise money for infrastructure maintenance and improvement, and the city used state grants to build popular attractions near downtown like a rail museum and ice arena. Danbury's population has also increased in the late 20th century as it became a popular exurban enclave for New York metropolitan area commuters, and Latin American immigrants have settled in and established businesses along Main Street despite tensions with the city's mayor.

Meeker's Hardware
Meeker's Hardware

Meeker's Hardware (also known as The Red Block) is located at White Street and Patriot Drive in downtown Danbury, Connecticut, United States, near the city's train station and the Danbury Railway Museum, just outside the city's Main Street Historic District. It was built in 1883, opened in 1885 and remained in the Meeker family until 2013. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It was the only hardware store on the Register. The Classical Revival exterior features a brick face with seven bays and a frieze at the top boasting a central pediment above its cornice. The name of the store is painted on both outside walls and displayed prominently in the front between the two stories. It is complemented by an interior that remains much as it did in the late 19th century. A vintage cash register is still in use. Tools and supplies are stocked in wooden shelves and compartments with thick, unfinished hardwood flooring beneath and high ceilings above, with ceiling fans to cool the building in the summertime. On the northeast wall of the building there is a large advertisement for ten-cent Pepsi drinks, using the old logo. This was not just a decorative touch; the drink was available in the store in three-US-ounce (90 mL) plastic cups for that price. Originally the sign advertised Coca-Cola for five cents, which the store sold starting in 1983; it was a landmark to most visitors arriving at the nearby train station. The store switched to Pepsi and raised the price to ten cents in 2006 after the local Coca-Cola bottler told them they would have to install newer fountain equipment that would make the drinks unprofitable.In 2013, the hardware store closed. It remained vacant until Vazquez Soccerchamp Sports took over in 2016.