Tour along Route 66
Business District
Welcome
You are invited to meet some of the people and explore some of the places along Route 66 related to Hebron’s past. On this tour you will explore the history of African Americans and immigrants living in this area before it became Hebron’s business district.
This child and family friendly QR tour can be done in any order. Each site is a short walk heading toward Ted’s Super Market.
Just click on a QR code and you are on your way to meet your neighbors from Hebron’s rich history.
37 Main Street
Corner of Route 316 and 66 former site of the Jones House
If you look east from the corner of Routes 66 and 316, much of what you currently see is relatively new commercial architecture. It’s hard to imagine that anything was there before.
However, early views show a gambrel roof house on the corner and several smaller houses to the East. Immigrants like the Pomprowicz family from Poland and Stanek family from Slovakia once occupied these houses.
Hebron’s farming economy began to decline after the Civil War when railroads could transport grain and meat cheaper from the West than what could be raised in New England.
Unrest in Europe led to waves of immigrants coming to the United States. Central European immigrants saw an opportunity to reinvigorate Connecticut’s farm economy by investing in dairy farming. Transporting eggs and milk kept farming alive in Hebron until after WWII, when refrigeration, the Eisenhower highway system, and newly developing Agri-business put small family farms in New England out of business.
Think about it
Milk still needs to come from relatively close by, but processing these products requires pasteurization and cartons which cannot be done economically on a small farm. Where are there working farms today in Hebron?
Are they small family run farms or parts of larger farming operations?
Where to go next
From here walk east on the sidewalk along Route 66 toward Ted’s Supermarket and John E. Horton Boulevard.
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