Today is the 245th Anniversary of the Burning of Danbury

UPDATE: Mike Allen called me out on the Anniversary of the Burning of Danbury, telling me it's actually April 26, 1777. My source for the date was History.org who say the date is April 21, 1777. I didn't flinch because I knew the Battle of Ridgefield was the 26th and I figured the two events would have not taken place on the same day. Mike was the only one to call me on this mistake and I appreciate that he didn't do it in a way that meant me feel judged. This is how he corrected me....

Today is the 245th Anniversary of the burning of Danbury (April 21, 1777) by British Troops.

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The Cemetery below (Wooster Street) not Wooster Cemetery was already part of the landscape for nearly 100 years when the event took place. Some of these graves were already in the ground as fires raged on Main Street and the surrounding areas.

As you can see from the Instagram post above, I took my kids on a tour of the cemetery. I thought it was time to share what I know about this wonderful city. I took the picture above, looked at it on my phone, and saw the date. The timing was crazy, the day I took the photo was 6 days ago, I recognized how close we were to the anniversary.

There is a good chance this spot looks pretty close to the way it did in 1777. Sure, there was no Walgreens in the distance, no pre-school and no medical building in the back right. The “Old Jail” in the left of the picture was not there yet. The first jail erected on that property was built in 1791. The one we see today was built in 1872.

When I posted this to Instagram, a friend reminded me of the role neighboring Ridgefield played during the same time period in 1777. @suzbrennan wrote:

"245th Anniversary Battle of Ridgefield celebration weekend too - April 30 w encampment, reenactment and more …"

You can check out the details on the Battle of Ridgefield events here, and read more about the Burning of Danbury here.

P.S. There are notable Revolutionary War heroes that were laid to rest in Wooster Street Cemetery like Major Daniel Starr who had his home burned by the British that day. Starr was thrown from his horse and died the next day. That was a rough few days for the Starr family, to say the least.

Lou Milano

Exploring the Aftermath of the Hideous Inferno at Newtown’s McGuire’s Ale House

According to our earlier reports, the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company was the first on the scene, followed by Newtown Hook & Ladder 114. The Firefighter battled a massive blaze at the Newtown building that was once McGuire’s Ale House and Hot Shots II. The F.D.’s brought in an attack line, to fight against the flames and the roof came down.

The dramatic day became big news with locals sharing pictures and videos all over social media. While the Fire Departments were able to finish off the flames, the building was destroyed.

Danbury Area Residents Showoff Their Recent Moon Photos

I happened to be awake for the partial lunar eclipse on Friday morning (11/19/21), I'm always awake, and out of the house around 4 am for work but I nearly missed it. I knew about it the celestial event but I forgot when I woke up. Then, I was driving down Route 7 towards Brookfield, CT headed for the I-95 studio and the sight punched me in the face. I saw one of the most brilliant and vivid moon scenes in my life. What jumped out at me was how well I could see the shape of the moon. The eclipse itself transformed the moon from a circle into a sphere for me, it made me feel small and insignificant in the best way possible. While the lunar eclipse was a show worth seeing, it was not the only day the moon was working magic on anyone willing to look up, there has been a show in the sky for the past few weeks. I snapped a few photos of the moon's majesty last week (11/16/21), posted one and asked the Ethan and Lou Radio Show (I-95) listeners to share theirs, this is what they sent me.

Danbury Area Folks Share Their NFL Fandom for Playoffs

I am an Oakland/LA/Las Vegas Raiders fan, and have been since I was a kid and I'm often outnumbered in NFL conversations, but not completely alone. In the NFL, there are fans of all kinds in every city in America.

Before the Raiders losing playoff game against the Bengals last weekend, I reached out to my friends who are Raiders fans and asked them to send me a photo of them wearing a jersey or celebrating the team in some way. I had a great response and it kicked off a fun sports conversation but it was for Raiders fans only.

I wanted to give the same opportunity to all NFL fans in the Greater-Danbury area, whether their team was in the playoffs or not. I sent out the call on my radio show and on social media and these are the responses I got back.

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