Amazing Tales About History

International opera superstar Marian Anderson. Best remembered for singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She had been barred from singing in 1939 at Constitution Hall because she was Black. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt made sure Anderson would be heard.

The border between Massachusetts and Connecticut is straight. The King of England declared that in a charter issued in 1642. So where did the notch in the border come from, which juts into Connecticut? There's 160-years' worth of disputes about this one-square-mile of territory.

Trivia at a sports bar: who were the Hartford Blues? Most people can't answer correctly. They were the first and only pro football team based in Connecticut. They were part of the official National Football League and even played the New York Giants.

It's an old story. An industry comes to town, builds a factory, employs hundreds, and then closes - often leaving pollution that's expensive to clean up. The Gilbert & Bennett Company is the epitome of this story. In fact, they're were even featured in the movie "Other People's Money" about such situations.

There was a time when a man didn't venture out without a hat. He wouldn’t have been completely dressed otherwise. What killed the hatting industry? Many people say it was President John Kennedy. He didn't wear a top hat to his inauguration in 1961. Is that what really happened?

It was a hot, humid July afternoon in 1944. Families flocked to the Barnum & Bailey circus in Hartford. Fire somehow lit the tent of the main grandstand. It went up breathtakingly fast. 186 patrons killed. Mostly women and children. The worst circus fire in U.S. history. Who started it?

Charles Ives. Cacophony (discordant music). The two go together. Ives created sounds and symphonies way ahead of their time. It took the public several decades to appreciate his genius. Now, he's considered a composing giant. Did you know he was also a standout baseball player and started estate planning?

In part two of this two-part series, we learn of P.T. Barnum's successful career - the American Museum where we made the bulk of his fortune, the circus, Jumbo the elephant, and how overcoming multiple fire tragedies played an unusually strong role in his life.

You know that P.T. Barnum ran a famous circus. But, do you know about his childhood? He learned some critically important life lessons growing up that would prepare him for the incredible fame and fortune that would follow. Part one of a two-part series examines his early years.

Humorist Samuel Clemens actually faced several depressing tragedies. In part two of this two-part series, we'll cover some of those tragedies during his last two years of life in Redding, Connecticut, culminating in his own death at his famous mansion Stormfield.

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) spent 25% of his life in Connecticut, including his last two years in Redding. In part one of this two-part series, we'll hear rare stories about those years. Included: the background of his famous house Stormfield and his friend Helen Keller.

July 7, 1977. The deadliest fire at a U.S. federal prison. Five inmates died and 70 were injured when deadly fumes overcame them at night as they were locked in a dormitory at the Danbury, Connecticut Federal Prison. Some of the lucky escapees helped fight the inferno and save their fellow prisoners.

In part two of this two-part series, we hear the inside story of why the Great Danbury State Fair in Connecticut really closed. The backroom deal was heartbreaking for many. A shopping mall would end the longest-running state fair in U.S. history after 122 years - and a key player was not privy to the discussions.

It was the longest running state fair in U.S. history. After 112 years, the Great Danbury State Fair closed in the 1980s – to make way for a shopping mall. In part one of this two-part series, we'll hear how this incredible enterprise began.

It was a horrific disaster. Two earthen dams, built in the 1800s, collapsed. It sent 140 million gallons of water barreling down into Danbury, Connecticut. The tragic deaths and mind-numbing property damage that it caused devastated the city - and worried reservoir managers nationwide about the safety of relatively new earthen dams.

Outdoor theater. Beautiful for the audience. Challenges galore for the staff. One operation has been at it for 37 straight summers. The actors and director share their tales about the challenges, mishaps, and pure satisfaction of outdoor theater.

They're an institution. Grange Halls are where agricultural communities gather to socialize and swap farming tips. As farming continues to cease in the northeast, the future of The Grange faces challenges. Their evolution into providing broad community support may be the key to their future.

It's been a primary U.S. food source for centuries. Native Americans cultivated the Eastern Oyster from Long Island Sound. European settlers did the same. New Haven, Connecticut was once the Oyster Capital of the World. Today, oyster harvesting is challenged by pollution, but aqua-culture is making inroads.

Arlo Guthrie's ballad Alice's Restaurant. The anti-Vietnam War folk song focused on a Massachusetts restaurant owner named Alice, and the arrest of Guthrie and a friend for littering after throwing debris from her house in a ravine on Thanksgiving Day. In this episode, an interview with the late Alice Brock.

The Sandemanian religious order was active for 200 years in Europe and the U.S., before going extinct. Congregants were known as “kissites” for their nearly hippie-like practices at services. Yet, they produced many successful businessmen during the 1700-1800s.

It was one of the most gruesome murder stories in history. The movie Fargo based its notorious murder scene on the case. A Connecticut man murdered his wife and then placed her body through a wood chipper. The case was solved with meticulous forensic work and a dedicated private eye.

French Commander Rochambeau marched 680 miles from Newport, Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia with his 5,000-troop army to help America win its revolution. Along the way, George Washington had to make an unbelievably important military decision – without sufficient information – that literally changed the course of history.

It’s called The Rochambeau Trail. 680 miles from Newport, Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia. French General Rochambeau marched his 5,000 troops to help George Washington's Patriot Army beat the British in the Revolutionary War. The logistics of this march were complex, as were France's reasons for helping America.

Monopolies. Under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, they're supposed to be illegal. What about unions? Do they monopolize the labor they represent? This novel legal argument went to the Supreme Court in the early 1900s. A hat factory owner said he should be able to sue the union for damages.

Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine. What would he think about today's arguments over vaccines? His nephew, Eric Salk, is an emergency room doctor. He knew his uncle and shares his recollections of him, his famous family, and thoughts on the anti-vaccine movement.