Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell

Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell History of Watertown CT

I took this photo 50 years ago today, on July 4, 1976. This was immediately after the Watertown Bicentennial Parade as t...
07/04/2026

I took this photo 50 years ago today, on July 4, 1976. This was immediately after the Watertown Bicentennial Parade as the massive crowd dispersed.

This gang was headed up Cherry Avenue.

I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing this scene so I stopped, turned around and took the shot.

Everyone was headed home for cookouts or other such endeavors. Later, thousands converged on DeLand Field for fireworks.

The bicentennial was a whopping half century ago today, and there wasn’t a cell phone in sight. No one has bicentennial selfies.

In the distance was the firehouse and Traver’s Texaco Station and garage. My father worked at the garage as a teenager in the 1940s. It was a Cities Service gas station then.

He was working there on Sunday, December 7, 1941 when a customer pulled in and asked if he had heard that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.

He replied, “Where’s Pearl Harbor?”

Before the war was over, Dad would go on to fly 25 combat missions over mainland Japan as a B29 pilot. 🇺🇸

VIP's in the Bicentennial Parade, July 4, 1976, passing the reviewing stand in front of the firehouse on Main Street. L ...
07/04/2026

VIP's in the Bicentennial Parade, July 4, 1976, passing the reviewing stand in front of the firehouse on Main Street. L to R Bernie Beauchamp, Col. James Bruno, representing Gov, Ella Grasso, Norman Stephen, Bicentennial Chairman and Bob Pettinichi, Parade Chairman.

The stone retaining wall in the background was built in 1907 when the trolley line was built.

This was an event held at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street during the bicentennial in 1976 honoring the Revolutiona...
07/04/2026

This was an event held at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street during the bicentennial in 1976 honoring the Revolutionary War soldiers buried there.

Here's a photo I took 50 years ago today, July 4, 1976, during the bicentennial parade. The building on the right was re...
07/04/2026

Here's a photo I took 50 years ago today, July 4, 1976, during the bicentennial parade. The building on the right was recently demolished, now the site of a municipal parking lot. Other than that, not much has changed in the scene in the last half century.

The enormous crowd of spectators will likely never be matched again.

50 YEARS AGO TODAYThis house stood where Pizza Hut was, and Taco Bell is located today at 1074 Main Street in Watertown....
07/04/2026

50 YEARS AGO TODAY

This house stood where Pizza Hut was, and Taco Bell is located today at 1074 Main Street in Watertown.

On July 4th, 1976, the home played host to this most memorable party. The location was ideal for viewing the historic Bicentennial Parade.

Three years later, the house, and much of the hillside it sat on, would be gone and the new Pizza Hut would be in operation.

(Photo courtesy of Alvina Mary Quatrano)

This photo has become somewhat famous. After being posted here back in 2019, it was picked up by countless 70s related social media pages as a quintessential 70s moment. I saw one site where it had hundreds of thousands views.

This was the Mattatuck Drum Band thundering it’s way up Main Street in Watertown during the town’s bicentennial parade, ...
07/04/2026

This was the Mattatuck Drum Band thundering it’s way up Main Street in Watertown during the town’s bicentennial parade, July 4, 1976.

The band was approaching the reviewing stand at the Watertown Firehouse.

Always a highlight of any parade, the band was organized in 1767.

The name Mattatuck (Waterbury’s name when was first settled) was derived from the original Native American inhabitants who called the area "Matetacoke" meaning "the interval lands." The name was Anglicised to "Mattatuck" in 1673.

(Crowell Photo)

Courtesy of Mark Shelhart, this was the reviewing stand in front of the firehouse during the bicentennial parade 50 year...
07/04/2026

Courtesy of Mark Shelhart, this was the reviewing stand in front of the firehouse during the bicentennial parade 50 years ago today.

Parade Chairman Robert Pettinicchi can be seen in uniform, front and center.

On the far right was my mother Florence, then President of the Watertown Historical Society, wearing a colonial outfit she made.

The highly memorable day included the biggest parade in the town’s history and nighttime fireworks at DeLand Field.

The parade was videotaped from the firehouse but the tape was lost.

Countless events led up to this day including a Bicentennial Ball at the high school gym and a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party at Black Rock State Park. There was even a bicentennial store opened on Main Street by the bicentennial committee.

Thanks Mark! Great photo!

This was part of the massive crowd that lined Main Street on July 4, 1976 for the Bicentennial Parade. This scene was op...
07/03/2026

This was part of the massive crowd that lined Main Street on July 4, 1976 for the Bicentennial Parade. This scene was opposite the firehouse at the bottom of Cherry Avenue.

The retaining wall seen here was built in 1907 when the road was widened to facilitate the new trolley line.

The building seen here was The Cupboard, a convenience store. The structure was originally built as a Sunoco gas station. It was demolished when the new Starbucks was built in 2018.

(Photo by Florence T. Crowell)

FANNING THE FLAMES OF INDEPENDENCEJohn Trumbull (1750-1831) was the son of the Rev. John Trumbull (1715-1787), the long-...
07/03/2026

FANNING THE FLAMES OF INDEPENDENCE

John Trumbull (1750-1831) was the son of the Rev. John Trumbull (1715-1787), the long-time minister of the Watertown Congregational Church.

He was born in a saltbox style house that stood somewhere in front of where Marshall's is today in the Watertown Plaza. Legend has it that he was a very bright boy and passed the exam for Yale at the age of seven but didn't actually attend for a few more years.

In 1773 he was admitted to the bar of in Connecticut. A little later he went to Boston and worked as a lawyer in the office of John Adams.

He was an important poet during the Revolution and his satire, "McFingle " did much to arouse the spirit of patriotism and strengthen the determination of the young republic to carry the issue to a successful conclusion.

Local author Alma Roberts Giordan was instrumental in getting these signs placed on all roads leading into Watertown in time for the bicentennial in 1976.

An antique automobile overheats in the middle of the bicentennial parade 50 years ago, July 4th, 1976. This was just bef...
07/03/2026

An antique automobile overheats in the middle of the bicentennial parade 50 years ago, July 4th, 1976. This was just before reaching the Watertown firehouse and the parade reviewing stand on Main Street.

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