1. According to Lester Smith in the February 2000 issue of The Suffield Observer, where was the location of the first bridge in Connecticut, built in 1808, which spanned the Connecticut River?
a. Between Windsor Locks and Warehouse Point
b. Between Suffield and Enfield
c. Between Windsor and East Hartford
2. Another bridge was built in 1832 in the same location to replace the first bridge over the Connecticut River. What happened to this second bridge in February 1900?
a. It was demolished because damage from winds made the bridge unsafe to travel upon.
b. It was dynamited because it was replaced by a third bridge.
c. When the river was cresting, great chunks of ice battered the piers which crumbled, and a large portion of the bridge floated away downstream.
3. Sunrise Park was the scene in part of a BBC documentary in March 2005 as reported by Lester Smith in the May 2005 issue of The Suffield Observer. What did the film depict at the park?
a. Swimmers in the cold water of White’s Pond to determine if cold water swimming was healthy
b. Invasive weeds in the ponds
c. Ice cutting
4. In Joanne Neilson’s article “Raising Tobacco Seedlings” which appeared in the May 2006 issue of the Observer, she wrote about the three-stage process of growing tobacco in our area and how many weeks of equal length are allotted to each stage: seedlings in the greenhouse, plants in the field and the leaves cured in the barn. How many do you think?
a. Seven weeks
b. Eight weeks
c. Nine weeks
5. In June 2006, Anita Wardell wrote about the Seth Thomas clock on the south tower of the First Congregational Church on High Street. Anita’s husband, Tom Wardell, was the official clock winder for many years. Cordelia Pomeroy Newton donated the clock in memory of her father, Chauncey Pomeroy and his immediate family in the same year that the clock was manufactured. What year was that?
a. 1920
b. 1912
c. 1900
6. A postcard was printed of the Methodist Church in Lester Smith’s The Way We Were column in June 2006. The Methodist society was established in 1832, the church was built in 1839 and disbanded in 1920. Where was it located?
a. On Bridge Street
b. On Mapleton Avenue
c. On Mountain Road in West Suffield Center
7. The First National Bank of Suffield which was bought by PeoplesBank in 2018 had been Suffield’s “home town bank” for a long time. In what year did the First National open its doors?
a. 1864
b. 1900
c. 1878
8. In her March 2007 column, Now and Then, Mary Anne Zak wrote about the early history of emergency services in Suffield. After many long and gruesome waits for available private drivers, out-of-town ambulances and even hearses to bring accident victims and sick people to the hospital, Suffield bought its first ambulance under the auspices of Police Chief Harold Hill and police colleagues Gordon Hayes and Bud Brockett. In what year was the purchase made?
a. 1953
b. 1941
c. 1947
9. The Suffield Woman’s Club (SWC) was featured in an article written by high school junior Lindsay Life in March 2007. Still an active club in town, the Club joined the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Connecticut in 1926, but was formed much earlier as a literary club when it cost 25 cents to join. In what year was it formed?
a. 1894
b. 1901
c. 1861
10. Lester Smith’s Moment in Time column in September 2006 cited the Suffield Savings Bank, which was located on Main Street. It was founded in 1869. It failed and was given by the FDIC to Webster Bank in what year?
a. 2000
b. 1979
c. 1991
Answers
1. b. Between Suffield and Enfield
2. c. Great chunks of ice when the river was swollen battered the piers which crumbled, and the bridge floated away downstream. Hosea Keach was on the bridge when it floated away but was safely lifted off the wreckage at the railroad bridge in Warehouse Point.
3. c. Ice cutting. Dennis Picard, re-enactors and a team of oxen were employed to cut ice on the pond, about a ton of 100-pound blocks measuring 8-inches thick. The demonstration was for the film Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold based on the book by Connecticut author Tom Shachtman on the early efforts of science and technology that led to mechanical refrigeration and cryogenics.
4. b. Eight weeks
5. c. 1900
6. c. On Mountain Road in West Suffield Center
7. a. 1864. Its first office was in H.N. Prout’s store at the intersection of Main Street and Mountain road, just north of the current library.
8. c. 1947. The ambulance was called The Blue Goose and housed in the Ahrens garage on Marbern Drive.
9. a. 1894
10. c. 1991