Your Turn: The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, from New London to Norwich
A Navy truck filled with sailors and enlisted women rides down State Street on Nov. 11, 1918, soon after the armistice ending World War I was signed. The celebration occurred as the region was experiencing a pandemic that became known as the Spanish Flu. (photo courtesy of the Public Library of New London)
Published January 28. 2021 12:01AM
Vivian F. Zoe, Special to The Times
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part series.
The Spanish Influenza pandemic in Connecticut is said to have started in New London on Sept. 1, 1918, when the active port debarked passengers and, a few days later, sailors from the U.S. Naval Base returned to port ill.
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Norwich The Norwich Community Development Corp. hopes to identify potential candidates for the president’s position by mid-March and already has received one letter of interest before the position has been advertised.
The NCDC board’s search committee plans to advertise soon for the position, using a job description similar to the one used to hire President Jason Vincent, who died Dec. 30 in an apparent suicide in West Virginia. Applications will be due by March 5, and the search committee hopes to review the responses by March 20. The person who already has submitted a letter of intent will be invited to apply formally.
Published January 22. 2021 7:57AM
Bill Stanley, Special to The Times
No matter how far you move physically in life, you never completely leave the place where you grew up.
Having been born and raised in Norwich, I have many fond memories of the Rose City from my formative years. Many of those memories become more vivid when I’m able to re-connect with old friends and acquaintances on Facebook.
Social media isn’t for everyone, but reliving memories from our hometown and engaging with others who have lived and/or worked there is refreshing. It is a means for sharing information sometimes sad information like the recent passing of classmate and friend, Joe Barbera, a wonderfully friendly, happy, and popular guy, whom I met during our days together in the late 1960s at Kelly Junior High School.
Published December 28. 2020 8:09AM
On March 11, 1936, heavy rains fell over New England. For the next two weeks, as rivers rose from melting snow and a second rain storm hit, a freshet raised the Norwich harbor into Franklin Square and up Franklin Street and Bath Street. This photograph shows the flooding of Franklin Street, with the Norwich Bulletin on the left. On the right are Thames Hardware, Bob’s Fruit Store, Leone’s Tailor Shop, an antiques store, and Colonial Furniture.
Ken Keeley has published 12 pictorial books of Norwich History. He can be reached at kenekjr000@comcast.net. Loading comment count.
Courtesy of Pixabay
A report by a retired Connecticut police detective finds 94 students, who were attending Norwich Public Schools illegally because they did not live in the area, have been removed from school.
Ed Peckham, who joined the district as the new attendance officer in 2019, was hired by the school district to find out-of-town students. A report he released in November estimated those students cost the district $2.7 million, or 3% of the budget for the previous school year.
Peckham told the Norwich Bulletin that he found students living in Willimantic, Mystic and New London after staking out parents and following their commute to school. He said some parents who live outside the district want to send their children to Norwich schools to access special education programs. Others come from small districts in eastern Connecticut with just one high school, and they look to Norwich for more educational opportunities.