Canton Historical Museum An Attraction That Shouldn't Be Missed

CANTON, CT — The Edge Tool Factory is not anything associated with a popular lead guitarist in a world-renowned Irish rock band.

But it is the centerpiece to, perhaps, one small town's most underrated local attraction, the Canton Historical Museum, which is located at 11 Front St. in what once was the economic epicenter of the area.

Last month, the museum opened for the season for regular hours on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., with arranged tours available at other times via appointments with volunteer museum officials.

A day trip there is not to be forgotten, with the town's quaint environs welcoming visitors to relish a time long ago.

Much of the museum's 7,500-plus artifacts started out as the collection of one local employee of The Edge Tool Factory, which was owned by the Collins Co. until its closure in 1966 after 140 years.

Located in an old building once part of the factory's sprawling complex in the village bearing its name, Collinsville, the museum is not your typical, small-town history museum.

Those are nice, but usually reserved to a room in town hall or the library, sometimes branching out into an old firehouse.

Rather, Canton's historical shrine is three floors of professional quality exhibits in a factory building.

It not only showcases the products produced by the tool company (sharp-edge tools like axes, picks ... basically anything that cuts or breaks), but the times of the Collins Co.'s heyday.

According to the museum's volunteer president, Don Scott, the items on display include Collins Co. products, Native American artifacts, agricultural items and basically anything related to Canton and central Connecticut's past.

"As an important presence in the local economy, our museum is an attraction that brings visitors from both the United States and international locations," writes Scott on the museum's website.

As interesting as what's inside the museum, so is the history of how it came to be.

It all started well more than a century ago, when a man by the name of Frederick Robert Widen got a job at the Edge Tool Factory when he was 16.

He worked there his whole life.

As the years became decades, Widen realized that what was built at the factory was, literally, a future piece of local history.

He collected all sorts of "junk," so to speak, such as tools, memorabilia anything he thought was an important part of Canton's past and present.

By 1940, his basement filled with artifacts collected over the decades, Widen moved his collection into the tool company's recreation building, where it was on display for employees and special visitors.

It was called the "Collinsville Museum of Connecticut" at the time, but it was rarely opened to the public.

That all changed when the Collins Co. and the tool factory shut down forever in 1966.

Widen had died in 1952 at the age of 67 and a group of residents became concerned about the fate of his beloved collection of Canton artifacts.

In November 1966, that group became the Canton Historical Society and, for the next three years, it undertook the planning process to create the "Canton Historical Museum."

It opened on April 5, 1970 with much aplomb and it has been a part of the local tourism scene since.

Much of it is still a shrine to Collinsville and the Collins Co., with a few fun facts notable about what was built there.

For example, did you know Robert Peary's famous journey to the North Pole featured Collins tools? Or much of the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway came to be via tools built in Canton?

A seminal moment in the runup to the Civil War, John Brown's 1859 raid at Harper's Ferry in what is now West Virginia (It was Virginia back then), featured Canton-made tools, albeit not for their recommended use.

In recent years, times have not been kind to the museum thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, something that negatively impacted museums big and small nationally.

Fund-raising drives were necessary and volunteers are desperately being sought to keep the place open consistently.

Despte the obstacles, the museum is open for business again this year and, while volunteers are always being sought, the Smithsonian-like exhibits are there for all to see.

Pay them a visit and, if you live close by and have the time, help them out.

It's an experience that won't be regretted.

The Canton Historical Museum is located at 11 Front St., Canton, CT. It can be reached at 860-693-2793. It is open from 1 to 4 p.m. seasonally on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors over 65 and $1 for children aged 6-12. Museum memberships are available and they are admitted free of charge. Special tours are available as well.

For more information on the Canton Historical Society Museum, click on this link.

From March 15: 'Canton's Collinsville A Symbol Of The American Dream'