SILENT GROUNDS COLLECTIVE · THE CONNECTICUT ARCHIVE
Familiar streets. Forgotten places. The people who made them.
Explore local history, one photograph at a time.
1,180 images · 162 collections · All 8 counties
Browse all collections ↓THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER STORY
Middlesex County · March 23, 1934
A High Street house links Middletown’s nineteenth-century domestic architecture with Wesleyan’s twentieth-century art collections. Period survey photographs bring its rooms and details into view.
Explore the story
Browse images, enlarge the details, follow the credits.
Explore collections by county, town and subject.
Explore mapped markers and the burial register.
MORE OF CONNECTICUT IN PICTURES
Hartford · Windsor
Waterbury
Groton
Windham
Mansfield
WinstedTHE COLLECTION CATALOG
Counties follow the historical geographic boundaries used in these records.
Bela Carter · portrait published 1906COLLECTION 001Cemeteries
Meriden
Recovering the names, family connections and burial references of a historic Meriden cemetery.
Opening date under research
Cottage D · photograph published in the school’s 1900 reportCOLLECTION 005Schools & care
Meriden, Connecticut
Historic campus photographs, physicians’ mortality reports and cemetery research bring the surviving institutional record into view.
Opening / first recorded · March 1, 1854
Gold & Silver Plate at the Columbian Exposition · 1893COLLECTION 007Businesses
Meriden, Connecticut
A founders’ photograph, factory views and original advertisements trace a Meriden manufacturer from metalworking to international silverware sales.
Opening / first recorded · 1852 organization; expansion in 1854–1856
Factory A: Meriden Silver Plate Company · 1906COLLECTION 008Businesses
Meriden, Connecticut
Factory images and an illustrated 1883 trade catalog reveal the products, ordering systems and separate companies behind the Silver City.
Opening / first recorded · Meriden Silver Plate: 1869–1870 formation and operation
Service building and floor plans · 1914COLLECTION 015Hospitals & care
Meriden, Connecticut
Early building photographs, floor plans and state reports follow the hillside sanatorium and the development of its children’s program.
Opening / first recorded · Undercliff Association: November 15, 1907
Abandoned railroad bridge over Washington Avenue in Waterbury, March 2023 · Pi.1415926535 / CC BY-SA 4.0COLLECTION 062Railways & transit
Waterbury · Meriden · Cheshire
Bridgework in Waterbury preserves traces of a railroad that disappeared in stages.
Opening / first recorded · 1885 opening; 1888 Waterbury extension
COLLECTION 096Military & civic buildings
Meriden
A monumental hall on East Main Street: military service and Meriden’s public gathering place.
Opening / first recorded · 1908
Broad Street Cemetery in Meriden, CT · 2026-01-24. MConradWard; CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 098Cemeteries & remembrance
Meriden
Weathered stones and remembered names at one of Meriden’s early burial grounds.
Opening / first recorded · Burials documented by 1771
A Middletown punch service at the Centennial · Published 1876. Souvenir of the Centennial Exhibition (1876), p. 108; public-domain illustration; digital reproduction credited to Design Meriden / art design café.COLLECTION 103Industry & working life
Middletown · Meriden
Tableware, factory skills and a divided company history: the silver-plating businesses of Middletown.
Opening / first recorded · 1863–1864 — predecessor business; separate Silver Co. formed 1899
KEEP LOCAL HISTORY ACCESSIBLE
Your donation supports preservation and public education.
Earlier editions: Town history research bundle · Health, transit and recreation bundle. Source links identify material held elsewhere; image credits explain dates and reuse terms.
