Hamden Historical Society

Former Hamden Mayor Lucian A. DiMeo Passes Away

 

Organized in 1797 and later known as simply "the Whitneyville Congregational Church," members the Whitneyville United Church of Christ recently decided to dissolve their 225-year old congregation and donate the church's assets to other non-profit organizations.

 

In addition to the many of the church's records, the Hamden Historical Society received the church's very generous monetary gift, with the following noted in a cover letter from their board of directors, "The members of WUCC are grateful to the Hamden Historical Society for maintaining its records and making them accessible to the public and researchers.  It is hoped that this donation will help the Hamden Historical Society to continue its important work on behalf of WUCC and the larger community."

 

The letter continued, "This donation is made in honor of Nancy Farnan, the WUCC Historian and valued member."

 

The Hamden Historical Society is deeply grateful to the Whitneyville United Church of Christ for these donations.  The funds will help us to continue to preserve the church's history, ensuring proper and adequate storage of the church's historical documents for the benefit of the public and future researchers.  Thank you.

Recently, a large cache of local political memorabilia was donated to the Hamden Historical Society by Richard and Lorraine DeNicola.  Richard "Dick" DeNicola is the son of Hamden's first mayor, John DeNicola Sr., and brother of Hamden's 6th and 9th mayors John DeNicola Jr. and Barbara DeNicola.

 

The items came from the Dante Place home of the DeNicola family since 1939, when the elder John DeNicola was just getting his feet wet in Hamden politics.  The home was last occupied by Barbara DeNicola, who passed away last year. 

 

Included were dozens of 8x10 newspaper "glossies" from the New Haven Journal-Courier and Register. There also were several large bound scrapbooks of articles from the aforementioned newspapers as well as The Hamden Chronicle.

 

One surprise donation was the shovel used at the 1961 ground breaking for Section B of the Hamden Mart (below).

 

Once these items are catalogued and the photos scanned, we hope to make them available to researchers.  Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. DeNicola, for this gift of Hamden history.

 

Hamden Town Clerk since 1995, Vera Morrison handed over the keys to the office to her successor Karimah Mickenson on Sunday, November 28th, following a remarkable 26-year stint that hasn't been equalled since 1904.

 

On her last working day, Vera sat down with the Town Historian and reflected on her career as Hamden Town Clerk.