Waterbury's Frank Pepe

There's more to the Frank Pepe name than pizza. In 1910, Frank Pepe was the name of a successful grocery business in Waterbury.

Frank Pepe advertisement, Waterbury Republican, 10 May 1911
(Silas Bronson Library microfilm)

Vampires, Ghosts, and Witches

It's Halloween, so what better time to look for stories of ghosts, goblins, and haunted houses in Waterbury? Here's what I've been able to find so far.


Baby Vampire?

The New-York Gazette reported a bizarre story on September 10, 1770: "We hear from Waterbury, that a Woman of that Town, who in the fourth or fifth Month of her Pregnancy, was taken with a most violent Longing to eat the Flesh from her husband's Arms---he indulged her in making several Attempts, but her Teeth were not sufficient for her Purpose;---and her accountable Longing continued until her Deliver, which was about three Weeks ago. The infant refusing the Breast, or any other Sustenance usually given to Infants, it was offered the raw Flesh of a Fowl, cut fine and dipt in the Fowl's Blood; on which it has fed heartily every Day since its Birth, and is the only Food the Child has taken, till a few Days since, when it eat a little Milk mixt with Blood."

Aliens and Refugees During World War II

The war in Europe began with Germany's invasion of Poland and the subsequent declarations of war against Germany by Great Britain and France in September, 1939. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the United States remained neutral until December, 1941, when Japan bombed our military base at Pearl Harbor.

Refugees

In 1940, as the war raged on, the United States began taking in refugees. Children from Great Britain were the first to be welcomed, sent away by their parents in the hopes that they would escape the bombings and the possible impending invasion. (If you're a fan of the Narnia Chronicles, this might sound familiar--the Pevensie children were sent away to the English countryside to escape the Nazi bombings of London.) The U.S. government found itself balancing citizen enthusiasm for taking in refugee children with the slow bureaucratic requirements of the immigration laws ("Mayor Spellacy Gets Assurance," Waterbury Democrat, 13 July 1940).

Waterbury Republican, 7 Aug 1940
Collection of Silas Bronson Library

A Century of Melting Pot Frictions, Part Three

Part of a series exploring the prejudice each new immigrant group encountered when they arrived in this country.
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Italians

After a surge in immigration from Italy during the 1880s, Italians became closely associated with anarchy, socialism, and general crime from the 1890s to the 1930s. "Italian anarchists" is a phrase that was frequently repeated in the newspapers, as was "Italian radical."