Famous Connecticut Firsts

CT Facts, Developments, First in the Nation Connecticut History

Connecticut is rich in history. This tiny New England state was the birthplace of many great ideas, inventions, and cultural developments. In addition to being the birthplace of many famous people, Connecticut played a role in modern communications, education, entertaiment and American tradition. To feature your Connecticut Business, contact us.

Connecticut First in the Nation

Connecticut Firsts

1639 – First written Constitution
1656 – First free public library (New Haven)
1775 – First submarine launched (Old Saybrook)
1764 – First published US newspaper, The Hartford Courant
1780 – First US traitor: Benedict Arnold (Norwich)
1784 – First law school founded by Tapping Reeve in Litchfield
1794 – First cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney in New Haven
1796 – First American Cookbook, by Amelia Simmons (Hartford)
1806 – First dictionary by Noah Webster (West Hartford)
1846 – First US Amusement Park, Lake Compounce in Bristol
1873 – First football game played at Yale (New Haven)
1875 – First Agricultural Experimental Station (New Haven)
1878 – First Telephone Exchange (New Haven)
1881 – First Three-Ring Circus, by P.T. Barnum (Bristol)
1903 – First Municipal Rose Garden, Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Hartford
1920 – First Frisbee, Yale students discovered empty pie plates from Mrs. Frisbie Pies in Bridgeport could fly across the New Haven Green
1954 – First Nuclear Submarine, USS Nautilus in Groton
1975 – First US state to elect a woman Governor – Ella Grasso