On July 6, 1944 7,000 people attended the afternoon performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford.  Shortly after the performance started, a fire broke out and quickly engulfed the entire big top, taking the lives of at least 167 people and injuring over 700. The tragedy remains the deadliest disaster ever recorded in Connecticut. 

Eight-year-old Nancy Saunders (Spada) attended the circus that day with her parents and two sisters and sat at the top of the bleachers just a few yards away from where the fire started. Thanks to the quick actions of her parents, they were all able to escape.  Her father, a Hartford policeman, went back into the big top and helped rescue other survivors.

Former West Hartford Mayor (and loyal TBT Listener) Scott Slifka joins Chuck Coursey for a discussion of the Hamilton Heights/West Hill Neighborhood, dating back to before the American Revolution.

During the early 1900s, Luna Park, an amusement park inspired by New York's Coney Island, operated on what is now the site of Colt Manufacturing on New Park Avenue.  Join Chuck and his guest Gene Leach, former Chair of Trinity College's History Department, as they discuss the short life of West Hartford's Luna Park. 

West Hartford Town Historian Tracey Wilson shares the story of the indigenous people who lived in our area prior to and during European colonialism. 

In 1950, the world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wring chose West Hartford for the location of his latest project - the New Theater, proposed for the northwest corner of Sedgwick and South Main Street.  Arts and community leaders were ecstatic.  Neighbors, not so much.