USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > The bi-centennial celebration of the settlement of Litchfield, Connecticut, August 1-4, 1920 > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01150 5614
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The Bi-Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Litchfield, Connecticut
August 1=4, 1920
COMPILED FOR THE LITCHFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY BY ALAIN C. WHITE
LITCHFIELD, CONN. ENQUIRER PRINT 1 9 2 0
AND JoinmimDALE
-
The Bi=Centennial Celebration of
Litchfield, Connecticut 1779088
Successor to the Litchfield
1856
1893
The Litchfield Historical Antiquarian
Society
historical and Antiquarian Society
Count!
August 1st to 4th, nineteen bundred and Twenty
106156
STATE DAY: HEAD OF PARADE
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/bicentennialcele00whit 0
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1:
Litchfield historical society, Litchfield, Conn. The bi-centennial celebration of the settlement of Linh- field, Connecticut, August 1-4, 1920. Comp. for the Litch- field historical society by Alain C. White. Litchfield, Conn., Enquirer print, 1920.
xv, 147 p. incl. front. plates. 233"".
.
SHILF GARC
1. Litchfield, Conn .- Hist. II. Tifle.
I. White, Alain Campbell, 1880- comp.
331031
21-19.4.
Library of Congress
₹104.1.71.74 To
The Litchfield Historical Society
President HON. GEORGE M. WOODRUFF
Vice-Presidents MRS. JOHN A. VANDERPOEL ADMIRAL GEORGE P. COLVOCORESSES, U. S. N. (retired) MRS. JOIIN LAIDLAW BUEL REV. WILLIAM J. BREWSTER
Recording Secretary CORNELIUS R. DUFFIE
Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer ALAIN C. WHITE
Managers MISS ALICE WOLCOTT MRS. JOHN LINDLEY MISS CORNELIA BUXTON SMITH CHARLES H. COIT REV. FRANK J. GOODWIN, D.D. MILO D. BEACH
Committee on Financing the Book of the Litchfield Bi-Centennial. REV. FRANK J. GOODWIN, D.D. MRS. JOHN A. VANDERPOEL ADMIRAL GEORGE P. COLVOCORESSES, U. S. N. (retired)
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS BOOK
Mrs. D. G. Ambler John C. Barnard Milo D. Beach
Mrs. J. H. Bronson
Mrs. John Laidlaw Buel
R. H. Liggett
Miss Dorothy Bull F. Kingsbury Bull . Ludlow S. Bull
Mrs. George S. McNeill
Mrs. Henry S. Munroe
Mrs. W. D. Munson
Gordon W. Burnham
Mrs. Eugene H. Outerbridge
Frederick T. Busk
Mrs. Albert A. Pennoyer
Dr. B. Austin Cheney
Eugene L. Phelps
Miss Ella S. Coe Francis M. Coe
Miss Mary P. Quincy George Richards Mrs. Harrison Sanford
Mrs. Francis M. Coe
William Colgate Admiral G. P. Colvocoresses U. S. N. (retired.) Seymour Cunningham
Robert C. Swayze
Miss Kate I. Thomas
Mrs. Charles B. Curtis
Harry Goodyear Day W. Beach Day Frederick Deming Dr. Nelson L. Deming
IIenry R. Towne William Trumbull Frank HI. Turkington Floyd L. Vanderpoel Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel
L. R. Denegar C. R. Duffie
S. Edson Gage Mrs. W. H. K. Godfrey
Miss Mary D. Van Winkle Mrs. George A. Vondermuhll Miss Emily M. Wheeler Alain C. White Miss Caroline White
W. G. Granniss
Curtis R. Hatheway
Miss Eliza W. White Miss May W. White
George M. Woodruff
Miss Frances E. Hickox Ernest Howe
Edward P. Jennings
Miss Alice E. Kingsbury Miss Edith D. Kingsbury Col. A. E. Lamb
Mrs. Martin G. Wright
Morris W. Seymour
LITCHFIELD DAY : SPECTATORS AT THE PAGEANT
INTRODUCTION
By Cornelius R. Duffie, (Secretary, Litchfield Historical Society)
The Two Hundredth Anniversary of the settlement of the Town of Litchfield was observed and celebrated on the first four days of August, 1920.
As authorized by special Act of the Connecticut Legislature an appropriation of Five Thousand Dollars was made from the town treasury to defray the general expenses of the cele- bration and every permanent and Summer resident entered heartily into the spirit of the occasion.
The public and mercantile buildings, and with scarcely an exception, the houses in the Borough were profusely deco- rated. The display of flags was remarkable, many rare ban- ners and emblems of national and political character being shown. The facade of the Beckwith house on South Street was nearly covered with thirteen different flags, each one connected with some phase of American history, including sev- eral of. the original colonies, the famous "Rattlesnake" emblem, early Revolutionary banners and a Civil War flag that was under fire at Fort Sumter, while on the Seymour homestead next door was a large and beautiful flag of the Order of the Cincinnati.
Sunday, August 1st, was observed as Religious and Edu- cational Day, with special services and addresses relating to the ecclesiastical history of the town in all of the churches, the service at the Congregational Church being especially note- worthy, as that society was founded in the year of the settle- ment. The large audience assembled there was edified and delighted by discourses delivered by the Hon. George M. Woodruff and the Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter, D.D.
Speakers at the other churches included Admiral George P. Colvocoresses, U. S. N. (Retired), at St. Michael's and Miss Esther H. Thompson at the Methodist Church. In the after-
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INTRODUCTION
noon at the Playhouse the Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, LL.D., Ex-Governor and Ex-Chief Justice of Connecticut, delivered an address on the Litchfield Law School, which was followed by an address by Mrs. George M. Minor, President-General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, whose topic was the life and work of Miss Sarah .Pierce, founder of Litchfield's pioneer school for girls. In the evening an address was delivered at the Congregational Church by the Rev. Howard Duffield, D.D., of New York, on "The Tolerant Spirit of the American Colonists".
The exercises of the day closed with an admirable concert in the West Park by the Band of the First Company, Gover- nor's Foot Guard, under Conductor William M. Redfield, First Lieutenant on Major Barbour's Staff. The soloist was his daughter, Miss Catherine Redfield.
Monday was State Day, with Governor Holcomb and Staff, Lieutenant-Governor Wilson, Senator Brandegee, former Gov- ernors Weeks and Baldwin, and other notables as special guests of honor. Shortly before eleven the Governor and his Staff were received at the Playhouse with full military honors by the First and Second Companies of the Governor's Foot Guard, the New Haven Grays and the Putnam Phalanx. A military parade followed, the line of march being through the principal streets and past the reviewing stand where Governor Holcomb as Commander-in-Chief took the salute, it being the first time in the history of Connecticut that the four military organizations had ever marched together.
Luncheon was served to the men in West Park, while the officers, Governor and other guests enjoyed the hospitality of many of the citizens who so generously opened their beauti- ful homes. In the afternoon there were addresses at the Playhouse and the Congregational Church, the speakers at the former being Governor Holcomb, Ex-Governor Weeks, Ex-Con- gressman Reilly and Major John L. Gilson, and at the latter Lyman Beecher Stowe, United States Senator Brandegee and Congressman Glynn. The principal military feature of the day was a regimental drill in the Center Square of the First and Second Companies Governor's Foot Guard and the New Haven Grays, with a review by Governor Holcomb and Staff. The afternoon's exercises closed with the planting by Governor
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INTRODUCTION
Holcomb in front of the Library of an oak grown from an acorn from a tree next Lincoln's tomb at Springfield, Ill., the gift of Herman Foster of Bantam.
Tuesday was County Day, with all of the county officers and delegations of local officials from nearly every town in . the county present as guests. The main feature of the day was a large parade participated in by fire companies and other organizations from many county towns led by the Litchfield war veterans of the Morgan-Weir and Robert P. Jeffries Posts of the American Legion, Litchfield and Bantam Fire Depart- ments, Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., Litchfield Boy and Girl Scouts and Litchfield Grange, with Litchfield's oldest citizen, Edwin P. Dickinson, who is in his one hundredth year, at the post of honor at the head of the formation. The parade was about a mile long, and with many bands of music and picturesque floats in the line it was an imposing sight witnessed by several thousand spectators, New Milford in particular being so well represented that business in that town was generally suspended for the day. Luncheon was served to all visitors in the West Park, after which the Litch- field Baseball Team played a game against the New Milford Team at the Athletic Field, which Litchfield was fortunate enough to win after a fine contest by the close score of 4 to 3.
Wednesday was Litchfield Day, and the feature of the morning was an address written by the Hon. Morris W. Sey- mour, LL.D., and read by his son, Origen S. Seymour, at the Playhouse, the address being replete with historical facts and lore of old Litchfield. After the address luncheon was served on the Green, followed at 2 o'clock by an exceedingly fine con- cert by the Band of the Second Company, Governor's Foot Guard. At the close of the concert the inhabitants and visi- tors, in hundreds of motor vehicles and on foot, repaired to the grounds of the Country Club where was given a series of beautiful masques depicting in pageant form various events in the history of the town, staged at a bend in the river not far from the location chosen by John Marsh for his home- stead at the original settlement. Beginning with the barter- ing with the Indians for the town site, other particularly impressive and noteworthy scenes depicted the building of the stockade, the melting of the bullets from the statue of King
xii · XIII
INTRODUCTION
George III, the Lafayette Ball, the Bivouac before Cold Har- bor, and last a realistic skirmish and gas attack World War maneuvre by the Litchfield boys so recently returned from France and the training camps. The four days' celebration closed with a final concert by the Second Company Foot Guard Band and a community dance on the asphalt pavement on the south side of West Park, a scene more typical perhaps of the Latin countries of Europe than of the New England of our fathers.
The celebration was participated in and observed by about ten thousand people. With the weather beautifully clear and cool and not a single accident or untoward event to mar the festivities, the unanimous opinion expressed was that the celebration was in every detail a fitting commemoration of Litchfield's two hundred years and of the influence of her sons and daughters in State and Nation.
Much credit was accorded to the several committees under the general direction of George C. Woodruff for carrying the generous plans to a successful conclusion, and to Sheriff Frank H. Turkington and his deputies, the State Police and the Cycle squad of the State Motor Vehicle Department, for keeping order.
Table of Contents
List of Committees of the Litchfield Bi-Centennial Celebration
1
Greetings from Lichfield, England 5
Official Program, August 1, 1920 .
7
Address by Hon. George M. Woodruff: Pastors and People
9
Address by Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter, D.D .: The Mission of the Meeting House 19
Address by Admiral George P. Colvocoresses, U. S. N. (retired) : The First Episcopal Society . 23
Address by Miss Esther H. Thompson: Methodism in Litchfield 31
Address by Ex-Gov. Simeon E. Baldwin, LL.D .: The Litchfield Law School 49
Address by Mrs. George M. Minor: Sarah Pierce 59
Address by Rev. Howard Duffield, D.D .: The Toler- ant Spirit of the American Colonists 77
Official Program, August 2, 1920 91
Address by Gov. Marcus H. Holcomb .
93
Address by Ex-Gov. Frank B. Weeks 95
Address by Ex-Congressman Thomas L. Reilly 97
Address by Major John L. Gilson: Our Ancestors . 101
Address by Lyman Beecher Stowe, Esq .: The Beecher Family 109
Address by Senator Frank B. Brandegee
117
Address by Congressman James T. Glynn . .
121
. Official Program, August 3, 1920 123
Official Program, August 4, 1920
125
·
Address by Hon. Morris W. Seymour, LL.D .: His- toric Litchfield . 127
Litchfield, An Historic Masque, by Miss Dorothy Bull 139
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. State Day: Head of Parade approaching the Review- ing Stand from North Street. Photograph by Miss Dorothy Allen
i 2. Litchfield Day: Golf Course of the Litchfield Coun- try Club showing crowd at the Pageant; Indian Scene in the foreground. Photograph by W. N. Copley
ix
3. State Day: Governor Holcomb and party on the Reviewing Stand. Left to right: Hon. John H. Wadhams, Col. Robert O. Eaton, Hon. T. L. Reilly, Gen. George M. Cole, Major John N. Brooks, Sen. F. B. Brandegee, Gov. Marcus H. Holcomb, Col. Alton Farrel, Lieut .- Gov. Wilson, Ex-Gov. Simeon E. Baldwin, Ex-Gov. Frank B. Weeks. Photo- graph by W. N. Copley .
7 4. State Day: Entertaining the Visiting Troops at luncheon in the West Park. Photograph by W. N. Copley
5. State Day: The Putnam Phalanx passing the Re- viewing Stand. Photograph by W. N. Copley 49
6. County Day: The Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter, D. A. R., marching in the County Parade. Photo- graph by W. N. Copley .
7. George C. Woodruff, Director of the Bi-Centennial Celebration, near the newly planted Lincoln Memo- rial Oak. Photograph by James L. Kirwin
8. State Day: Gov. Holcomb and Staff. Sitting: Gov. M. H. Holcomb, Gen. Geo. M. Cole; Standing, Left to right: Col. Alton Farrel, Col. William C. Cheney, Major John N. Brooks. Photograph by W. N. Copley .
9. State Day: The Band of the Second Company, Gov- ernor's Foot Guard. Photograph by W. N. Copley ·
31
59
91
93
. 101
XV
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
10. State Day: Staff of the First Company, Governor's Foot Guard, passing the Reviewing Stand. Photo- graph by James L. Kirwin · 105
11. State Day: Staff of the First and Second Companies, Governor's Foot Guard, on the Green. Photo- graph by W. N. Copley . · 109
12. State Day: New Haven Grays, passing the Review- ing Stand. Photograph by W. N. Copley 117 . 13. County Day: The Litchfield Girl Scouts. Photo- graph by Mrs. George A. Vondermuhll · 123
14. County Day: The Morgan-Weir Post, American Legion. Photograph by Mrs. G. A. Vondermuhll 135
Plates 15-22: Litchfield, an Historic Masque-following p. 148
15. The Indians. Photograph by F. L. Vanderpoel. .
16. The Age of Homespun, 1760. Photograph by W. N. Copley.
17. George III Comes to Litchfield. Photograph by W. N. Copley.
18. The same: Oliver Wolcott (Sutherland Beckwith). Photo- graph by James L. Kirwin.
19. Bivouac before Cold Harbor. Photograph by W. N. Copley.
20. Home Service, 1863. Photograph by W. N. Copley.
21. The New Leaven: Columbia (Mrs. F. L. Vanderpoel) Welcomes the Foreign Born. Photograph by F. L. Vanderpoel.
22. Over the Top, 1918. Photograph by W. N. Copley.
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LIST OF COMMITTEES
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. GEORGE M. WOODRUFF, CHAIRMAN. JOHN L. BUEL, WILLIAM T. MARSH, MILO D. BEACH, PATRICK C. BURKE.
Religious and Educational Day William Marley
George M. Woodruff, Chairman ex-officio.
Frank A. Osborn
Willis O. Perkins
Rev. Frank J. Goodwin, D.D.
Miss Cornelia B. Smith
Rev. W. J. Brewster
Miss Julia A. Deming
Ralph P. Smith
Rev. W. B. Pruner
Mrs. F. U. Newcomb
Rev. John L. McGuinness
Miss B. A. Fitzpatrick
Rev. A. B. Crichton
Miss Bessie Kinney
County Day.
Rev. Harry Studwell
Patrick C. Burke, Chairman
Mrs. George Peck
Frank Blakeslee
Rev. W. D. Humiston
Mrs. Frank Blakeslee
F. A. Stoddard
Paul Dillingham
State Day.
James Doyle
William T. Marsh, Chairman. Henry T. Gill
W. Burton Allen
Tilden Gifford
Charles W. Biglow
Louis J. Goodman, Sr.
Edward C. Bulkeley
George Guion
Stanley L. Coe
Albert J. Hausmann
William Crutch
Isaac H. Hutchinson
George Fairgrieve
Major R. F. Jackson
Capt. Wm. M. Foord
Rudolph Karl
Robert A. Goodwin
John H. Lancaster
Fremont Granniss
Harry F. Lynch
Frederick B. Plumb
W. S. Rogers
Thomas F. Ryan
Richard V. Tobin
Albert M. Turner
Charles N. Warner
George C. Woodruff
Ozias Benedict
Filmore Brown
F. North Clark
Walter A. Cook
Lester R. Denegar
John J. Moraghan William B. Morse .
William M. Murphy
2
LITCHFIELD BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
Almon N. Perkins Robert L. Rochford
Frank H. Turkington William E. Turkington A. Benj. Webster Henry T. Weeks Marvin S. Todd
Litchfield Day.
John L. Buel, Chairman.
Miss Mabel Bishop
Miss Alice T. Bulkeley
Miss Bessie Morse Mrs. F. A. Stoddard
W. Jerome Bissell Charles D. Buell Albert W. Clock
Charles L. Dudley
Cornelius R. Duffie
Augustus Smith
Weston G. Granniss
Admiral G. P. Colvocoresses
Samuel P. Griffin
George W. Hard
Chauncey B. Heath
John T. Hubbard
E. Bruce Mason
Eugene L. Phelps
Raymond H. Platts
Hector Richards Floyd Vanderpoel William S. Walcott James P. Woodruff
Historic Masque
Alain C. White, Chairman.
Mrs. Katherine S. Bissell
Miss Helen Cahill
Mrs. R. S. Chisolm
Mrs. Charles H. Coit Miss Carolyn Cowles Mrs. Robert Currie
Miss Elizabeth Deming
Mrs. John Dove
Miss Dorothy Bull
Miss Adelaide Deming
Miss Florence Ennis Mrs. C. B. Heath
Mrs. R. A. Marcy
Mrs. Grace W. McNeill
Miss Ida Meramble
Miss Julia E. Morse Mrs. C. I. Page, Jr.
Miss Harriet M. Richards
Mrs. Harold Richardson
Miss Margaret Sanford
Miss Amy Thurston
Mrs. A. T. Van Laer
Miss May S. VanWinkle
Honorary Reception.
Morris W. Seymour, Chairman
Patrick C. Burke
George C. Ives
Mrs. John L. Buel
Miss Phoebe Benton
Mrs. W. H. K. Godfrey
Mrs. D. C. Kilbourn
Miss Alice Kingsbury
Mrs. W. D. Munson Miss Mary P. Quincy Mrs. John A. Vanderpoel
Miss Mary D. VanWinkle
Miss Eliza W. White Miss Alice Wolcott
Prof. Henry S. Munroe Julius K. Adenaw
J. H. Bronson J. Howard Catlin Truman Catlin Francis M. Coe William Colgate Frederick Deming William Doyle (Bantam)
John P. Elton William Gibbs
Charles Hinsdale
3
LITCHFIELD BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
Col. A. E. Lamb
Rev. H. G. Mendenhall, D.D.
Henry B. Peck Edson L. Perkins George Richards W. S. Rogers Charles W. Talcott Henry R. Towne
Active Reception.
Milo D. Beach, Chairman.
Dr. John L. Buel
Rev. W. J. Brewster
Rev. Arthur B. Crichton
Rev. Frank J. Goodwin, D.D. Rev. W. D. Humiston Rev. John L. McGuinness
Rev. William B. Pruner
Rev. Harry Studwell
Mrs. William S. Plumb Mrs. W. W. Rockhill
Miss Katharine Baldwin Miss Janet Birmingham Mrs. W. Beach Day Miss Frances E. Hickox Mrs. William T. Marsh
Mrs. C. B. Ripley
Mrs. Marion P. Roberts Miss Nellie Scott Dr. A. E. Bostwick Wallace H. Camp
Frederick T. Busk
Seymour Cunningham
Ellicott D. Curtis George Fairgrieve E. B. Hamlin Curtis R. Hatheway Joseph E. Hopkins Philip P. Hubbard George H. Hunt H. Bertram Lewis John Lindley Charles I. Page, Jr.
Thomas F. Ryan Origen S. Seymour William Trumbull Charles H. Turkington Lewis B. Woodruff
Invitations. The Executive Committee and Philip P. Hubbard, Acting Chairman Mrs. John L. Buel
J. Howard Catlin
Mrs. Charles Symington
Bernard C. Roberg
Miss Kate I. Thomas
Albert J. Hausmann
Hospitality and Refreshments The Executive Committee, and
A. E. Conklin
A. E. Fuller
C. B. Kilbourn
W. Beach Morse
Bernard Olsson
George E. Mason
John J. Ryan
George R. Wedge
George J. Switzer
Publicity and Printing
W. S. Rogers, Chairman
F. North Clark
Harry A. Borgeson
Dr. Nelson L. Deming
C. H. Elliott R. J. Landon
Fred. O. Mason
Edward M. Sepples
George A. Smith
George C. Woodruff
Finance. Gorge H. Hunt, Chairman Miss Clara B. Kenney Miss Esther H. Thompson Edgar D. Beach
4
LITCHFIELD BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
Wallace H. Camp Leman Brundage Charles H. Coit I. T. Dickinson Henry Edwards Thomas J. Harris
Frank B. Mason M. V. Moraghan Frederick U. Newcomb
Public Decorations.
T. A. Ganung, Chairman George Barber William F. Bergin
Lyman J. Booth Edward Brennan Daniel H. Burns James E. Conroy Robert Currie Jeffery Donohue Frank Foster
William Herbert L. M. Marsh
Joseph Mayer Hugh McIntyre E. F. Miner George Morey Harry B. Morse William Oviatt William S. Plumb Edwin S. Potter W. G. Rosbach James T. Sedgwick F. M. Seeley
Transportation. R. D. Sanford, Chairman John C. Barnard Charles P. Barber Joseph A. Cowan Aaron Crutch Charles Deno Nicholas Doyle John Drury H. H. Fenn
John J. Hannon
Herbert E. Johnson
R. H. Liggett
H. O. Morse Alfred Mattson, Jr.
E. D. Parsons George Theophilos Martin G. Wright Policing and Parking.
F. II. Turkington, Chairman
Jacob Ackerman
Wilbur Anderson
M. Tullio Aragona
George Bailey John F. Barrett
Sutherland Beckwith
Ernest Brown
John Burns Jr.
Dr. A. E. Childs
George R. Crutch
John DaRoss
George B. Dean
Charles Dempsey
William Doyle (Milton)
Patrick Driscoll
Frank Fabbri Alfredo Franzosi
William S. Fenn
Timothy F. Higgins
Martin C. Iffland Joseph Kelly John Koma Harry B. Morse John Radich C. J. Ramsey Martin T. Rogers
Charles E. Shumway
W. R. R. Smith Howard Spencer Robert W. Tucker
William E. Turkington Edward J. Weir Jay Whitehill Sol Wheeler
Greetings from Lichfield, England
TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE LICHFIELD, STOFFS, ENGLAND
1st July, 1920.
Dear Sir :- Referring to your letter of the 14th May last addressed to His Worship the Mayor I am directed to inform you that a meeting of the City Council held on the 28th ulto. a resolution (as per copy enclosed) congratulating your Town on its having attained the two hundreth anniversary of its settlement, was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be en- grossed on Vellum.
In accordance with that resolution I have today had the pleasure to forward to you a registered packet containing the engrossment, which I trust you will receive in due course.
At the same time I am directed to state that His Worship much regrets that he will be unable to accept your Committee's kind invitation to be present at the Celebration.
Yours faithfully,
W. Brocksom, Town Clerk.
For the Bi-Centennial Celebration, George Catlin Wood- ruff, Esq., Committee, Litchfield, Connecticut, U. S. A.
(City Arms)
To the Inhabitants of the Town of Litchfield, Connecti- cut, United States of America.
We, the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City and County of Lichfield, England, send you heartiest Greet- ings.
We congratulate your town on its having attained the two-hundredth anniversary of its settlement, and beg to express the hope that its history may be as long and honourable as our
1
6
LITCHFIELD BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
own and beloved ancient and loyal City, after which your town was named though following in its form the quaint spell- ing of by-gone days.
We sincerely trust that the inhabitants may progress and prosper, and emulate the example of their distinguished pre- decessors who we learn with pride and pleasure founded at Litchfield the First Law School in the United States, and the first School for Higher Education of Women.
We are convinced the interchange of kindly messages, such as these now passing between us, will cement and strengthen the feeling of friendship and brotherhood which exists between your great Country and our own beloved land, and we beg to assure you that your Bi-Centennial Celebration will be watched by us with the greatest interest and appreciation. We regret that His Worship The Mayor, whom you so kindly invited to be present, is unable to accede to your desire.
Given under the Common Seal of the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City and County of Lichfield, this twenty- eighth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and twenty.
Henry G. Hall, Mayor.
W. Brocksom, Town Clerk. L. S.
STATE DAY : THE REVIEWING STAND
OFFICIAL PROGRAM
SUNDAY, AUGUST FIRST.
Religious and Educational Day
St. Anthony's R. C. Church-Masses at 9 and 11 a. m., and at latter service a sermon by the Rector, Rev. J. L. McGuinness.
Congregational Church, 10:45 a. m. - Two Hundredth Anniversary Service.
Address, "Pastors and People", Hon. George M. Woodruff.
Address, "The Mission of the Meeting House", Rev. Rock- well Harmon Potter, D.D., Center Church, Hartford.
St. Michael's Church, 10:45 a. m .- Address by Admiral George P. Colvocoresses, U. S. N. (retired).
Sermon by Rev. W. J. Brewster, Rector.
Methodist Church, 10:45 a. m .- Letters of greeting from former pastors. Historical address by Miss Esther Thomp- son. Address, "The Recent Advance", by Rev. Ridgway F. Shinn, Waterbury. 1
Playhouse, West Street, 3:30 p. m .- Hon. George M. Wood- ruff, Presiding, Invocation, Rev. William B. Pruner.
Address, "The First Law School in America", Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, formerly Governor of Connecticut and Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of Errors.
Address, "Sarah Pierce, Pioneer of Woman's Higher Edu- cation", Mrs. George Maynard Minor, President General National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Benediction, Rev. William J. Brewster.
Union Service, Congregational Church, 8:00 p. m .-
Address, "The Tolerant Spirit of the American Colonists", Rev. Howard Duffield, D.D., First Presbyterian Church, New York.
West Park, Concert, 9:30 p. m .- Band of the First Com- pany, Governor's Foot Guard.
"The record of what appears to have been the first Town Meeting is without date. Dea. John Buel and Nathaniel Smith were appointed a Committee to hire a minister and 'to make and gather a rate to pay him for his services amongst us'. This Committee employed Mr. Timothy Collins, of Guil- ford, a young licentiate who had graduated at Yale College in 1718. At the next meeting, held Nov. 6, 1721, it was voted, 'that Mr. Collins be forthwith called to a settlement in this place in the work of the ministry'"-Kilbourne's History of Litchfield.
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