For a definitive study on the history of East Granby, please refer to the book, East Granby the Evolution of a Connecticut Town, by Mary Jane Springman and Betty Finnell Guinan, available at the East Granby Library.

 

From the settling of Simsbury to the separation of Granby, 1633–1785

1633: Windsor founded thirteen years after landing of Pilgrims at Plymouth.

c. 1645: Tar works established  on the Farmington River in present North Bloomfield by John Griffin and Michael Humphrey.

c. 1664: John Griffin and family settled west of the Mountain on land within the present East Granby.

1670: Simsbury incorporated.

16751676: King Philip's War.

c. 1705: Copper discovered at Copper Hill.

1707: First settlement east of the Mountain in Turkey Hills.

c. 1725: First steel made in the English colonies produced by Samuel Higley.

1735: First copper coins made in the English colonies produced by Samuel Higley.

1736: Turkey Hills Ecclesiastical society established.

1738: First Congregational meetinghouse erected.

1773: Newgate Prison established.

1775-1783: Revolutionary War.

 

From the incorporation of Granby to the separation of East Granby, 1786–1858

1786: Granby Incorporated.

1794: Reverend Whitfield Cowles ordained Congregational minister at Turkey Hills.

c. 1800: First cigars made in Connecticut.

1800: Granby Turnpike chartered.

1816 :Copper Hill Methodist -  Episcopal Church established.

1820: East Granby Post Office established.

1822: Farmington Canal chartered.

1827:Newgate Prison closed.

1830: Phoenix Mining Company chartered.

1830: Present Congregational meetinghouse erected.

1839: Present Methodist - Episcopal meetinghouse erected.

1843: German silver flatware silver-plated at Spoonville.

1850: Canal Railroad opened to Granby. 

 

The East Granby Years, 1858–

1858: East Granby incorporated.

1861–1865: Civil War.

1882: East Granby Creamery opened.

1899: Hydroelectric plant on the Farmington River began operation.

c. 1900: First shade grown tobacco raised.

c. 1900: Roads first paved.

1902: Branch of Central New England Railway opened through East Granby Center.

1904: First telephones installed.

c. 1908: First automobile purchased by East Granby resident.

c. 1910: First electric lights installed.

1914-1918: World War I.

1922: East Granby Library Association organized.

1929: Stock market crash presages Great Depression.

1930: East Granby Volunteer Fire Department founded.

1939–1945: World War II.

1951: Housing boom in East Granby started.

1968: Newgate  Prison returned to state control. 

 

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