Avon Library To Look At Hartford Circus Fire

Avon Free Public Library

AVON, CT — The state's major history museum is hosting a program at the Avon Free Public Library Thursday on one of the worst days in Connecticut history.

The presentation by the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History takes place Thursday, Sept. 19, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the library, 281 Country Club Road. It will examine the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944.

July 6, 1944 was the day a war-weary greater Hartford community settled in for a matinee showing of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Connecticut's capital city.

Sadly, an inferno burned the massive big top tent to the ground, killing 168 men, women and children and physically and emotionally traumatizing thousands more.

"The circus fire has lived in the memories of survivors and the imaginations of Connecticut residents ever since," wrote the library in an announcement.

In this presentation, photos and artifacts from the museum’s collection will help tell the stories of that day more than 80 years ago.

The presentation will examine how generations have continued to identify, honor, and bring justice to the victims in the intervening decades.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Avon Library.

For more information and to register for the program, click on this link.