October 30th, 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Avon Police Department! To celebrate our history, a display is now open at the Avon Free Public Library throughout September and October.

Step back in time and discover the spirit of revolution in your own backyard. The Avon ‘s America 250 Coordinating Committee and the Avon Historical Society invites you to visit “We Are the Sons of Freedom,” a new historical exhibit on display now through the end of May in the Avon Free Public Library’s History Corner.

This special exhibit marks the beginning of Avon 250, a multi-year commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the creation of our country. “We Are the Sons of Freedom” explores the lives of Northington (Avon’s colonial name) residents in 1775, highlighting their response to the first shots of the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord. Visitors will learn about local militia members, community leaders, and the role our town played in the broader fight for independence.

Through personal stories, original documents, and engaging visuals, the exhibit connects Avon’s quiet farms and fields to the roar of revolution. Whether you're a lifelong resident or a curious visitor, this is a chance to see how history happened here.

For those who can't make it in person, a summary of the exhibit is also available online at Digital Farmington/Digital Avon .

Don’t miss this opportunity to rediscover Avon’s revolutionary roots. The exhibit is free and open to the public during library hours.

To begin a year-long celebration of special events, we have installed an exhibit of a select few artifacts from its collection of over 700 in the display cases of the History Corner of the Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon, CT.

The exhibit highlight is a recently conserved silk dress, the oldest textile in the collection, used on February 5, 1794, for a wedding in Northington (original name of Avon when it belonged to Farmington) of Comfort Peck to Jesse Wilcox. The wedding was officiated and noted in the journal of Rev. Rufus Hawley, Northington’s longest-serving minister of the colonial era.

Also in the exhibit is a collection of Native American artifacts found along the Farmington River in the 1930s through 1950s by Rodger Howard; a scale used in Sam Gordon’s Avon Pharmacy, which used to be in a shopping plaza on Route 44 where O’Neill-Sullivan Chevrolet is today; various household items from the 18^th and 19^th century; an 1829 leather fire bucket; a pair of boots used by an Avon Volunteer Fireman in the 1950s and 1960s; and a 1860 whale oil lamp used in Wide Awake parades supporting the election of Abraham Lincoln.

Other textiles on display are an 1813 sampler and a pillow from 1901 embroidered with over 50 names of Avon residents.  There are a few books, such as an 1824 account book by Gamaliel Sperry, who ran a wagon shop on what is today Waterville Road, and a ledger from Patrick O’Neill, who was the local blacksmith in the mid-1800s.

As events for the Avon Historical Society’s 50^th anniversary are planned, the public will be invited to participate. Volunteers are always welcome to help with any aspect of the Society’s activities.  To volunteer or join the Avon Historical Society, leave a message at: 860-678-7621 or info@avonhistoricalsociety.org

The public is invited to view another colorful and fun vintage shopping bag exhibit in the History Corner of the Marian Hunter History Room at the Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon, CT, through December. This time is all holidays – colorful and fun to bring back memories of visiting large department stores to shop for family and friends with these large, sometimes oversized, shopping bags in various colors and designs.

When is a shopping bag, not a shopping bag? When it is celebrated as a work of art, saluting the role of graphic design in our everyday lives. In the late 1970s, the Copper-Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Design, acknowledged the importance of shopping bag art with an exhibit of "Bandboxes and Shopping Bags," which included 125 shopping bags. A catalog accompanying the show designated eleven categories of bags, including eight with a Christmas motif. In the introduction, the museum curator described the bags as "a form of portable graphic art."

A BIT OF HISTORY
Before shopping bags, there were bandboxes, oval-shaped cardboard boxes embellished with colorful paper images. In the 1880s, travelers used them to carry lightweight accessories, including women's bonnets and men's neckbands. It is likely that the name "bandbox" is derived from this latter use. In the early 20th century, members of the Hewitt family, most notably Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt, collected examples of these bandboxes and donated them to the Copper-Hewitt Museum. One example in the museum's collection features a colorful eagle manufactured by the Putnam and Roff Company of Hartford, CT, in the early 1820s.

When at-home delivery services became available, these charming boxes became obsolete. When a van bearing the name of a prominent department store arrived at home, it helped enhance the prestige of both stores and their patrons.

In the 20th century, advances in technology and shopping styles evolved. In 1933 it became possible to produce inexpensive paper bags with handles. That improvement, coupled with new printing processes developed in the mid-1930s, led to the mass production of the paper shopping bag that we use today.
For many years, these bags prominently featured the name of a store, thus serving as inexpensive advertising symbols while also ratifying the idea that the consumer had the means and discerning taste to shop at fashionable venues.

In the 1960s, major developments in the graphic design world impacted the look of many everyday objects, including the humble shopping bag, elevating it to a higher level. Bloomingdale's department store led the way with a shopping bag designed by artist Joseph Kiningstein, who eliminated the store's name, allowing the design to take center stage. Through the years, the store continued the tradition. Despite the "anonymous" character of the bags, astute shoppers prided themselves on their "inside" knowledge that it was indeed a "Bloomies" bag.

The bags on display for this holiday season are from the Jim and Joyce Baldwin collection.

The Avon Historical Society announces the new exhibit in the History Corner of the Avon Free Public Library is entitled, “History of the New Haven Railroad.” Located on the first floor of the library at 281 Country Club Road in Avon, CT, it is curated by retired RR employee and historian Rick Abramson. It is available for viewing through August.

Rick Abramson began a 44-year railroad career beginning in February 1968 on the New York, New Haven & Hartford RR in Devon, CT and retired in September 2012 as Superintendent of Operations and Supervisor of Locomotive Engineers for The Housatonic Railroad in Canaan, CT. In those 44 years, along with the New Haven and Housatonic, he worked in various capacities for Penn Central, Amtrak, Connecticut Central, NY Cross Harbor RR and the New York & Atlantic RR. His big goal was to become a locomotive engineer which he eventually achieved. Along with working for the real railroad, he is also an avid modeler of the New Haven RR in the HO scale.

Earlier this year Abramson gave four presentations at the Avon Library on various modes of 19^th and 20^th century transportation to a very enthusiastic audience. This exhibit is a follow-up to those presentations.  On display in the History Corner are several of Abramson’s model trains with full descriptions, posters, artifacts, and more.  As a more than 50-year modeler of all modes of transportation, trains are the most personal having had a career on the railroad.

Photos attached are of a 1943 poster showcasing New Haven’s new electric locomotives, a brochure featuring New Haven’s new steam locomotive in 1937, and an equipment trust plate from a New Haven electric locomotive in 1955.  These are just samples of the types of items on display.

Photos courtesy of Rick Abramson.

The Avon Historical Society announces the new exhibit in the History Corner of the Avon Free Public Library entitled “Vintage Toys and Valentines from Avon.” The free exhibit of early to mid-20th-century items on the library’s first floor, will be available for viewing through February.

Avon Town Historian Nora Howard and Avon Historical Society president Terri Wilson curated the exhibit. They both lent items to the exhibit along with Roger Howard, Robyn Miller, Wendy Iscove, Jeannie Parker, and Barbara Ruppert.

There is sure to be something to please every visitor: a German doll c. 1900 found in an Avon attic; a Topsy Turvey doll (double-ended with opposing figures) from the late 1920s; a doll with roller skates from the late 1930s; a bear and a doll from the 1940s; trains from the 1950s; Legos and Steiff animals from the 1960s; school valentines from 1965-1970; German block puzzles from the 1980s, and so much more.

The exhibit is open during regular library hours.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORA HOWARD