Historical Society and Museum History

In 1907 New Milford observed its bicentennial with a four-day celebration, which included an exhibit of antiques and historical items loaned by the townspeople for display in Memorial Hall (upstairs in the New Milford Public Library). The variety and value of the items displayed led many to feel that a permanent place should be provided for the safe-keeping of historical articles belonging to New Milford citizens and pertaining to this area generally; this was the germ of the idea which grew into the New Milford Historical Society.

The Society was organized in 1915. Helen and Kate Boardman, direct descendants of Daniel Boardman, New Milford’s first minister, made wills leaving their Main Street house, which had been built by their father, Frederick Boardman, in 1882, with an endowment fund and many significant antiques and family portraits. In 1922, two years after the death of Miss Kate Boardman, the last of her family, the Boardman House was opened to the public.

In 1939, the Society purchased a lot adjoining the Frederick Boardman House on the south; the small brick building on it had been the first bank in New Milford and Litchfield County.

In 1956, the Knapp House at the head of the Green was given to the Society by Miss Mary Clissold Knapp. In 1963, a brick gallery was built as an addition to the Knapp House; the brick bank building was moved to the Knapp property, and the Frederick Boardman House was sold to the New Milford Savings Bank and subsequently demolished.

During the lifetime of the Society the town has changed from a residential and farming community to an industrial and commercial center, but the aims of the Society - to keep the town’s history alive and to serve as a repository for the preservation of its artifacts - have not changed.