Wesleyan Research on Middletown
On October 22, 1936, accompanied by his wife Eleanor, who ordinarily shunned such trips, Franklin Roosevelt rode through Middletown’s Sicilian neighborhood; passed St. John’s Church, historic sanctuary of the Irish; slowed momentarily at St. Aloysius’ Hall, a temperance hall temporarily turned into headquarters for the Remington Rand machinists; and continued up flag-draped Main Street, accompanied … Read more
The spring flood was only the start of Middletown’s 1936 calamities. No sooner had East Side residents returned to their residences, thrown out spoiled belongings, and resumed work than the Remington Rand Corporation forced its 1,350 Middletown machinists to strike. —”Middletown’s Barons and the End of the WASP Ascendancy,” an unpublished essay by Ron Schatz
Measured by proportion to population, Middletown was hit harder by this flood than any other city in Connecticut. Some of the city’s poorest residents refused to leave their quarters despite the disaster. Instead, like many of the impoverished residents of New Orleans in the 2005 Katrina flood, they chose to carry their belongings to the … Read more
