WHAT WE DO AS A SOCIETY AND FOR THE TOWN OF BETHEL
Bethel Historical Society
40 Main Street - Bethel, CT 06801
203-743-5893



Libby Kellogg’s Environmental Legacy
By Milena Jovanovitch
As Bethel marks Earth Day on April 26, one of the town’s early environmentalists was Elizabeth “Libby” Kellog, whose legacy continues to be remembered with a memorial on Main Street and a nature preserve near Mackauer park.
“She was 30 years ahead of her time,” a town official told the Bethel Home News in its obituary about Kellogg. She died in 1989 at the age of 69 after an illness.
Flags were flown at half-mast in Bethel when she died and some 300 people attended her memorial service, according to a local news report.
Kellogg marched in parades, carrying signs promoting recycling and educating students and others about its benefits. She became known for collecting cans and papers wherever she went, according to the Bethel Home News.
Kellogg was a charted member of the town's Conservation Commission for many years and is credited with the establishment and success of a recycling center in Danbury. She was active in numerous civic organization, including the Bethel Historical Society, and was also a founder and board member of the Bethel Land Trust,
Kellogg is credited with leading an effort to preserve Bethel’s first town green, a triangular plot of land on Main Street near the intersection of Wooster and School streets and P.T. Barnum Square. This small but significant space was created a few decades after Bethel was constituted a town by the General Assembly in 1855
A bronze plaque bearing her likeness and the inscription, "Elizabeth A. Kellogg - A Woman Dedicated to the Preservation and Enhancement of Our Past, Our Present and Our Future," was embedded in a rock on the grassy traffic island on Main Street. In 2002, the green was redesigned by the Bethel Garden Club with help from the town, volunteers and other residents. Benches, a birdbath and perennial shrubs were added to the area.
The town’s 1958 master plan called for eliminating the green as a traffic hazard to be replaced by a four-way intersection. But no action was taken until town selectmen revived the idea in 1984. Kellogg and other residents mounted a petition drive and forced a referendum in October 1984 that ended the threat. The vote was 947 to 617 in favor of keeping the green, according to the Bethel Home News.
In April 1986, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended another look at eliminating the green as a potentially hazardous traffic island and simplifying the intersection. The selectmen again called for the elimination of the green and creation of a traffic light. But with no money available for the project, a committee was formed and a series of meetings was held to discuss various proposals. In October 1986, a one-way traffic pattern was put into effect and in 1988 the green was reshaped as part of the work on municipal water mains, according to TownGreens.com
. A peace bell was added to the green in 1999 to honor a Bethel student who won a statewide Earth Day essay competition along with a marker that reads: “Given as a reminder that choices in ecology, economics and ethics be made with future generations in mind.” The green also houses a memorial to Scott “Scotty” Anderson, a Bethel child who lost his life to cancer.
Kellogg’s legacy has also been recognized by the Bethel Land Trust, which named a 19-acre wetland in her honor. The property is located on Shelter Rock Road across from Meckauer Park.
A Republican, Mrs. Kellogg ran unsuccessfully for first selectman in 1985 against then- incumbent Clifford Hurgin in what was described as an unusually friendly campaign. Neither had a bad word to say about the other, and Hurgin even praised her at his swearing in, the Bethel Home News reported.
She was also active in the Senior Center, where she played drums in a musical group.
Kellogg was active in numerous volunteer organizations, founding the Bethel chapter of the American Field Service, and was the recipient of many civic awards, including the Volunteers of America National Award.
She was born in Danbury in 1920 and moved to Bethel after she married Bennett Kellogg in 1940. He died in 1987. Bennett Kellogg, one of the couple’s four children, is a Bethel resident. Krista Swanson Fiorini contributed to this report.
The Worst Blizzard in the History of Bethel
By Jack Drake, Meteorologist
One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is, “What do you think was the worst snowstorm of all time?” The Blizzard of 1888, which lasted for the better part of three days from March 11 to March 14, is also known as the “Great White Hurricane.”
WILTON 1888
DANBURY 1888
It is one of the most infamous blizzards in United States history and certainly the “grandaddy” of all Connecticut winter storms. The state was particularly hard-hit during this event, and the legends of this storm have been passed down through generations. The following stories are based on quotes from people who lived through the storm, archived press headlines from the era, and meteorological reanalysis of the event.
Based on primary and secondary sources, I estimate the snow totals from this storm to be roughly 30-36 inches throughout Western Connecticut. This is remarkable in its own right, but the heavy snow was accompanied by hurricane force wind gusts of up to 75 mph, near-zero visibility, and wind chills below zero. Widespread drifts of 15-25 feet were reported.
As you will read in the following stories, it becomes clear this storm had a tremendous impact on the residents at the time. Striking with little warning, the blizzard was also responsible for approximately 400 fatalities across the region, making it both an incredible and incredibly tragic event. To this day, the Great Blizzard of 1888 remains largely unmatched in terms of snow, wind, and overall impact in New England.
The first story comes from Redding, which was particularly hard-hit. Helen Upson of Redding, interviewed in 1960 about the storm that took place during her childhood, remembers, “After the storm, drifts reaching second-story windows were frequent. In orchards, just the tips of the upper branches of the apple trees protruded from these small mountains of snow. The telegraph service was crippled, as everywhere, wires were down. There were no telephones in those days.”
Similarly, Howard Peck of New Milford wrote, “By mid-afternoon that day, foot travel was almost impossible due to the depth of snow, huge drifts, and winds of great velocity. An indication of the height of the drifts on Bank Street is that after the storm had subsided and the cleanup had been undertaken, the shovelers tunneled through the drifts to open the sidewalks.”
In the days of horses and buggies, local train service was essential to the movement of people and goods through Western Connecticut communities. In Ridgefield, the local train got stuck at the Branchville station in enormous drifts of snow, essentially cutting off Ridgefield from the outside world for an entire week before the roads and the tracks were clear. It had to be shoveled out by hand. The Ridgefield Press headline after the storm read, “A Howling Blizzard! The Storm Rages Furiously for Two Days! Cities and Towns Paralyzed! Ridgefield Shut Off from Outer World for Nearly a Week! Traffic on All Roads at a Standstill!”
It is also important to remember many of the towns around Danbury were rural farming communities in 1888. Raising livestock was a way of life. This story gives perspective to not only how deep the snow was, but also some of the suffering the storm caused. On one local farm, a large flock of sheep was buried under the snow. The living animals were located by breathing holes on the surface. Many of the flock were dead, but several had survived by eating wool from the backs of their dead companions. In fact, all over town, such animals as sheep, pigs, and goats, buried under the snow, were located by surface breathing holes. This resulted in "hibernating" domestic animals of the above types, with turkeys, chickens, geese, and even a few calves, being dragged into house cellars to thaw out.
Although March temperatures were warm shortly after the storm, snow melted very slowly that year in the shadows of overhanging cliffs and sheltered ravines of our local towns. Stories from Bethel, Redding, Newtown and Monroe all mention snow piles lasting from late May through June and even into early July.
I often joke that you know a storm was truly intense when no one today is alive to remember the Blizzard of 1888, but everyone still considers it the worst storm to ever hit. It is important to know your local weather history and just how bad conditions can get. If it happened before, it is only a matter of time until it happens again.
Bethel's recorded history stretches back to its earliest settlement as part of Danbury in 1684.
Click for More Info!
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photos Valerie Franco
- Photos Valerie Franco
- Photos Valerie Franco
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: H John Voorhees III - Hearst Connecticut Media - NEWS TIMES
- Photo: H John Voorhees III - Hearst Connecticut Media - NEWS TIMES
- Photo: H John Voorhees III - Hearst Connecticut Media - NEWS TIMES
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society
- Photo: Robert Sauber-Bethel Historical Society

Grant Received
The Bethel Historical Society wishes to thank the Elizabeth Raymond Ambler Trust for their recent generous gift of $4,600 to the Bethel Historical Society.
Their donation will be used to complete our website section of our Museum in the Streets, highlighting about 30 historic Bethel locations.
We invite you to view our website at bethelhistoricalsociety.com to take a tour through the sites that are the first group to be installed in downtown Bethel. We are very proud of the work the Historical Society Directors have completed to date. Stop back and view the site again as it will continue to grow over the next several months.
The Bethel Historical Society is grateful for the support the Trust has shown us.
