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Hidden Gems Of Hartford and Tolland Counties

New light has been shed on Hartford's Exploding Schoolhouse site.

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New light has been shed on Hartford's Exploding Schoolhouse site.
New light has been shed on Hartford's Exploding Schoolhouse site. (Julie Winkel )

HARTFORD, CT — The latest stop on Patch's Hidden Gems tour takes us to Downtown Hartford and new research on a moment in history.

It's Hartford’s Exploding Schoolhouse incident, which has an anniversary this month.

It was May 23 1766, and residents of Hartford were prepared to have a celebration of the Stamp Act, one of the most despised taxes in American history. Instead, the day turned deadly with the explosion of the local schoolhouse.

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Today, all that remains of the grim anniversary are three headstones in Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground. Thanks to Kathy Hermes, publisher of "Connecticut Explored," the magazine of Connecticut history, and writer Shawn R. Dagle, new light is being shed on the tragic tale.

"Imagine for a moment that electronic communication doesn’t exist, and that Connecticut residents are suddenly required to pay a hefty tax (for many, a day's wages) on all printed materials — mail, newspapers, legal documents, etcetera," Hermes said. "Now, imagine the public\'s fury in response."

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In 1765, when the Stamp Act was enacted by the British, reactions were loud and violent. In Boston, a mob destroyed the home of the governor. Connecticut tax collector Jared Ingersoll was confronted by club-wielding colonists and marched to Hartford’s town green, and forced to resign before the General Assembly.

In his article in the Summer 2025 issue of “Connecticut Explored,” Dagle notes that on May 23, 1766, the Connecticut General Assembly declared a day of rejoicing following repeal of the hated tax. In Hartford, the planned festivities, complete with fireworks, turned fatal when the city’s brick schoolhouse exploded, killing six men and injuring more than two dozen others. Levi Jones, a resident known for his facility with rockets, had joined more than two dozen men gathering inside the city’s brick schoolhouse to prepare the fireworks.

According to one report, three half barrels of gunpowder had been delivered earlier that day. The explosion sent Jones hurtling through the schoolhouse window. Some 200 men gathered at the scene to help clear the rubble and search for survivors. The letter recounted that “Many were so much burnt and disfigured that their relatives did not know them. In short the scene of joy was immediately changed to the most gloomy ever known in this place.”

Jones and five other men—blacksmith John Knowles, Dr. Nathaniel Ledyard (who suffered a broken thigh), Richard Bernham (who broke his leg, thigh, and ankle), Richard Lord, and William Gardiner—passed away in the days following the explosion. While the loss of life that day was tremendous, it could have been far worse. A preacher noted that a "considerable number of children" had been in the schoolhouse just moments before the explosion but had been turned away.

"This is probably one of the most tragic accidents in the history of Hartford", Dagle said. "At the time it was essentially a national story, covered by newspapers from here to Virginia, yet today it is virtually unknown."

Dagle discovered the story while researching his distant relative, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., the nation's second U.S. Treasury Secretary (replacing Alexander Hamilton) and a Connecticut governor. Dagle learned that Wolcott’s sister-in-law’s husband was killed in the blast. Faced with such a riveting story, he proposed a piece for “Connecticut Explored.”

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of Declaration of Independence, now seemed like a great time to run the story, Hermes noted.

"The implementation of the Stamp Act was a flashpoint for the American Revolution," she said. She explains that this was a time when residents were forming Sons of Liberty and the committees that ultimately ran the Revolution.

“With the repeal of the Stamp Act, they learned that violent protest brought about change.”

Connecticut Explored and the Grating the Nutmeg podcast are where readers and listeners encounter the fascinating, often untold, stories of our state’s people, places, and events. They partner with Connecticut’s premier history, arts, and educational organizations to create content and collaborative programming to discuss and debate: “What happened here?” Through compelling stories and intriguing images, Connecticut Explored explores the whole of the Connecticut story with the aim of revealing connections between our past, present, and future. For more information visit: https://www.ctexplored.org.

About Katherine Hermes

Hermes is publisher and executive director of Connecticut Explored. She received her A.B. in history, cum laude, from the University of California-Irvine; an M.A. and M.Phil. in history at Yale University; a J.D. from Duke University School of Law, and her Ph.D. in Colonial American history from Yale University. She is currently professor emerita at Central Connecticut State University in the History Department, where she served as department chair and taught courses on Anglo-American legal history and Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands, as well as other courses in Early America. She is the co-author of several articles and book chapters on Native American history in New England and the author of book chapters on Native legal history. She directed the “Uncovering Their History” project, which examines the African, African-American and Native-American Burials in Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground, 1640-1815.

About Shawn Dagle

A journalist and writer in his native state of Connecticut, Dagle’s work has appeared in numerous publications. He has also been a staff reporter at “The Glastonbury Citizen” for nearly two decades where he covers local government, education and other topics.

(Julie Winkel)

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The Hidden Gems series features out-of-the-way mom and pop restaurants, small specialty stores you may have never heard of, little-known historical markers or beautiful nature spots that may be a bit off the beaten path, all located within Hartford and Tolland counties. Do you have a favorite Hidden Gem in the area that you wish to see featured in this column? Email your ideas to Chris.dehnel@patch.com.

Other Hidden Gems in the series:
2025

2024

2023

2022 and earlier

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