MANCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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Research
Susan Barlow

Town directories & house info

Town directories, about one per decade. For more, visit the History Center. 1888 “Hanks’ Manchester Directory” 140-page reference book, listing businesses and residents and containing advertisements. Takes a moment to download. Note that abbreviations are listed on page 33 of the directory, which you can directly access by clicking here

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Historic Places
Susan Barlow

Bon Ami – “Hasn’t Scratched Yet”

Compiled by Jim Hall from various sources noted below Excerpted from: “The History of Manchester, Connecticut” by Mathias Spiess and Percy Bidwell, 1924 The Orford Soap Company. The most widely known of Manchester’s products, with the exception of the Cheney silks, is Bon Ami (“Good Friend”), the cleanser manufactured by

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Historic People
Susan Barlow

Gladys Adams, Historian (1910-2001)

This article about Gladys Adams appeared July 23, 1992 in The Manchester Extra, a weekly insert in The Hartford Courant after the closing of The Manchester Herald in 1991. Gladys’s obituary says, “She retired as a statistical typist in 1971, working for Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturer, Manchester, and Pratt &

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