The first UHF television station to operate on a daily basis in Connecticut was KC2XAK in Bridgeport, which began in 1949.

The first Connecticut telecast to be seen in color was the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade. It was broadcast by WNHC Channel 8.

Connecticut became the fifth state on January 9, 1788.

Governor Jonathan Trumbull, the man for whom the town of Trumbull was named, was the only Colonial governor to support the cause of America’s independence from Great Britain.

From 1703 to 1875, Connecticut had two state capitals. Sessions of the General Assembly met alternately in Hartford and New Haven.

The first Connecticut newspaper, The Connecticut Gazette, was founded in 1755 in New Haven. The first issue of the weekly paper founded by James Parker was dated April 12.

Daily newspapers arrived in Connecticut in 1832 with the arrival of The New Haven Daily Herald. That paper was followed in 1833 by The Daily New Havener.

The Hartford Courant originated in 1764 as a weekly newspaper called The Connecticut Courant.  Still the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper, The Courant became a daily in 1837.

Connecticut is the third smallest state in the nation, ahead of only Delaware and Rhode Island.

Connecticut would fit into Alaska, the largest state in the nation, well over 100 times. Of the 50 states, only Rhode Island and KDelaware are smaller than Connecticut.

Hartford became the sole capital of Connecticut in 1875.

The Hurricane of 1938 was the worst natural disaster in Connecticut’s recorded history.

Richter Park, the municipal golf course in Danbury, is consistently rated among the top 25 public golf courses in the country.

The Battle of Ridgefield was the only inland battle Connecticut experienced during the Revolutionary War.

The first recorded hat factory in the country was established in Danbury in 1780 by Zadoc Benedict.

The tall, red brick clock tower in Waterbury, easily seen from I-84 and most points nearby, is the largest in New England.

Lake Compounce in Bristol is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the country.

The names Thomaston and Terryville are derived from the names of two men who virtually founded the clock-making industry in Connecticut: Seth Thomas and Eli Terry.

The term “Naugahyde” is derived from the town of Naugatuck, where it was first made.

The first Episcopal bishop in the New World, Samuel Seabury, was elected at the 18th Century Glebe House in Woodbury.

In 1959 Litchfield became the first Connecticut borough to be designated a state historic district.

Gail Borden, whose name is still on cans of evaporated and condensed milk sold in grocery stores, developed these products in the Torrington area of Connecticut.

The town of Riverton, Conn., was first called Hitchcocksville, because of the number of chairs which were first developed and then heavily produced there by Lambert Hitchcock.

Farmington was the first inland town to be settled west of the Connecticut River.

The town of Farmington was first called Tunxis, for the Indians who inhabited it.

Copper discovered in Simsbury in 1705 was mined, and then minted in 1730 for coins that were among the first in the colonies.

The first American carpet factory was established at Tariffville, near Farmington, in 1825.

Samuel Collins founded the Collins Axe Company in Farmington in 1826. It eventually became the biggest edge-tool manufacturer in the world.

Thanks to all the abolitionist activity of its residents during the mid 19th Century, Farmington has been called the Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad.

Connecticut’s official state insect is the Praying Mantis.

Connecticut’s official state bird is the American robin.

Connecticut’s official state tree is the Charter Oak.

Connecticut’s official state gem is the garnet.

Connecticut’s official state shellfish is the Eastern oyster.

Connecticut’s official state ship is the USS Nautilus. The first nuclear submarine built in the state, the Nautilus was christened in Groton in 1954.

Connecticut’s official state song is “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Connecticut’s official state motto is Qui Transtulit Sustinet (“He Who Transplanted Still Sustains”).

The Colt revolver was invented in Connecticut in 1836.

The portable typewriter was invented in Connecticut in 1843.

The sewing machine was invented in Connecticut in 1846.

The ice-making machine was invented in Connecticut in 1853.

The can opener was invented in Connecticut in in 1858.

The tape measure was invented in Connecticut in 1868.

The pay phone was invented in Connecticut in 1877.

The collapsible toothpaste tube was invented in Connecticut in 1892.

The hamburger was invented in Connecticut in 1895.

The electric light socket with pull chain was invented in Connecticut in 1896.

The lollipop was invented in Connecticut in 1908.

The Erector set was invented in Connecticut in 1911.

The Frisbee was invented in Connecticut in 1920.

The vacuum cleaner was invented in Connecticut in 1933.

The Polaroid camera was invented in Connecticut in 1934.

The helicopter was invented in Connecticut in 1939.

The color television was invented in Connecticut in 1948.

The country’s first written Constitution, “The Fundamental Orders,” were written in Connecticut in 1969.

Connecticut’s first public library opened in New Haven in 1656.

David Bushnell officially launched the first submarine in Connecticut in 1775.

The first trimmed and illuminated Christmas tree in Connecticut appeared in Windsor Locks in 1777.

The first traitor in American history was Benedict Arnold, a native of Norwich, Conn.

The first law school in Connecticut was founded by Tapping Reeve in Litchfield in 1784.

The first American cookbook was written by Amelia Simmons of Hartford in 1796.

The first state house in the country was built in Hartford in 1796.

The first amusement park to be built in Connecticut was Lake Compounce Theme Park in Bristol, which opened in 1846.

The first football game to be played at Yale University took place in 1873.

The first telephone exchange in Connecticut was set up in 1878. It had 12 subscribers.

The first three-ring circus staged by Bethel’s P.T. Barnum took place in 1881.

The first municipal rose garden in the country was Hartford’s Elizabeth Park Rose Garden. Created in 1903, the garden continues to be maintained today.

The first woman to be elected governor in Connecticut was Ella Grasso, who was voted into office in 1975.

The highest point in the state of Connecticut is atop Mount Frissel in Salisbury. Its peak is 2,380 feet above sea level.

There are 8,400 miles of rivers and streams within the state of Connecticut.

Connecticut’s state boundary measures 371 miles. Its shoreline is 253 miles long, and the state encompasses 5,009 square miles.

There are 169 towns in the state of Connecticut.

There are 91 state parks in Connecticut.

There are 30 state forests — 144,768 acres’ worth — in the state of Connecticut.

The geographic center of Connecticut is within the town of East Berlin.

The Alfred Hitchcock film Stranger on a Train was filmed in part where the Danbury Railway Museum now stands.

The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford was the first public art museum in the country.

The New England Air Museum, in Windsor Locks, Conn., is the largest aviation museum in the Northeast.

The name Connecticut comes from an Algonquin word for “beside the long tidal river.”

Square dancing is the official state dance of Connecticut.

The Bushnell Arch in Bushnell Park, Hartford, commemorates the 4,000 Hartford men who served in the Union army and navy during the Civil War. One in ten of these men died defending the flag.

The first witch hanging in the Colonies occurred in 1647 at what today is the corner of Albany Avenue and Garden Street in Hartford.

The first bicycle manufactured in the country, the Columbia Bicycle, was made in Hartford in 1878.

The Travelers Insurance Co., based in Hartford, was the first to use advertising on matchbook covers, in 1898.

Comstock, Ferre & Co., in Wethersfield, Conn., is the oldest continuously-run seed company in America.