Aspinock Memories
Putnam 1895 – Just how cold was it?
By: Terri Pearsall, AHS Curator
To continue this series of what life was like in Putnam in 1895, we will look at more of what was printed. So, let’s get started.
Seeing that this past Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, was predicted to be the coldest weather we have had in many years, an article was written that on Jan. 4, 1895, the coldest weather in 15 years to be on Wednesday morning 20 degrees below in Putnam. Just right for ice cutting. Ice was cut on the Quinebaug River in front of the current bandstand at Rotary Park. Remember that there wasn’t electricity and ice was very important for preserving food in the summer.
According to the 1895 Putnam Patriot Newspaper, this is what I found out about medical technology of the time. In January 1895, The Day Kimball Hospital chose a Matron, Mrs. E.C. Cummings. She entered her duties on the first of next month (February). At this time there was no permanent hospital. Interestingly enough on March 1, 1895, an article was written concerning the first death at Day Kimball (the old building) took place Sunday evening. Jack Finnemore, 31 years old, was attacked with pneumonia and was taken to the hospital by his employer, Ranson Bradley, for whom he drove a meat cart. He was buried on Wednesday.
March 6, 1895, it was reported that The Roentgen Rays (our current x-ray machines) were being used to good account in surgery. In N.Y. a bullet which had been lodged in the bones of a man’s hand was traced in this way, and a needle embedded in the ankle of a young lady. We may expect soon to have some of our physicians doing experiments with the Rays in Putnam.
It was also reported in the Patriot that on November 8, 1895, preparations were made for the dedication of the new hospital on Pomfret Street Hill. And on November 15, 1895, Day Kimball Hospital’s first building was dedicated with great honor to the town of Putnam. Nearly the whole front page of the Putnam Patriot was given over to this great accomplishment.
The town also had dentists and a new dentist moved into town. I love the wording of this announcement: December 15, 1896, Dr. L. A. Tetreault, Dentist, who is a capable gentleman, recently settled in this city. He is favored by French Canadians, his own nationality, more particularly. Putnam has a fine class of men in this art. We have many dentists in town now; do you know the nationality of your dentist? Do you care? And hopefully they are all a fine class of men and capable gentlemen!
The editor of the Patriot wrote about the churches in Putnam. He said, “Our churches are a motivating force within the community”. Their news and meetings filled the newspaper and are too numerous to cover all of them, but a couple are interesting and quite amusing. On January 18, 1895, it was reported that free or rented pews were being debated in some churches; The Episcopal, Baptist, and Methodist Churches have adopted the free pew plan. And on August 16, 1895, this was in the paper: “A hungry fly in a poorly ventilated church on a dog day Sunday will make a bald-headed man keep awake during the dryest sermon.” I chuckled at that one and personally like the idea of free pews.
A section of the paper was under the heading “Something New in the City”. The bicycle! On May 16, 1895, the use of the bicycle is not only increasing greatly but spreading rapidly. Whole villages turn out to see the “Foot Carriage”. Some are much astonished at the speed of the machine while others think it ought to go much faster. June 28, 1895, Grove St. seems to have fallen victim to the bicycle epidemic, and every evening wheels are seen congregating by the park. The ladies too, have become enthusiastic over this pastime, and appear in latest “Dress Reform” costume. (bicycle epidemic, congregating by the park and latest “dress reform” costume, some things never change!) July 19, 1895, and I quote directly the way it is written; Putnam numbers its bicycles by the hundreds, and all seem to use more of the early morning air than the rest of the young people. Another thing we notice it that the young ladies maintain a more natural position on their wheels than the younger men. One lady, a married one too, rides in the same position she would have in walking in the park, in the fashionable quarter of the city. What the ladies can do, men can do and what one can do all can do. There should be a prize contest for the most graceful bicycle rider. This would have the effect of improving all who use the bicycle.
I really didn’t make this stuff up. It is amusing to read and even more fun to let you in on it. I will try to finish up next week about businesses in town, crime and the police department.
Everything quoted in this article was taken from the archives of the Aspinock Historical Society archives. Aspinock Memories graces the pages of the Putnam Town Crier to keep Putnam’s history alive.
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