NEW BRITAIN – The Hardware City is celebrating its history and inspiring the future with the New Britain Industrial Museum.
“If you want to know about industry, innovation, inventiveness that’s pretty much what we’re about,” Acting Museum Director Randall Judd said.
The Museum, previously located within CCSU, is reopening at a new location at 59 West Main Street. He said the museum is the former coffee shop of the old Burrit Hotel.
Judd is hoping the location, steps from city hall, will help attract foot traffic through its doors so people could get a hands on look at the city’s manufacturing history.
“We have products here that date back to the earliest 1800s,” he said. “If you look around here you’ll see mostly hardware.”
The hotel features a collection from Stanley Black & Decker which still holds its headquarters in New Britain.
The museum has spent more than 22 years building a collection of items which dates back two centuries. Judd said on display is only about five percent of the museum’s collection. They’re looking to eventually grow to an even bigger space.
“The new space has already generated much curiosity and “unofficial” visitors who didn’t know we existed,” Judd said.
Instead of cutting a ribbon, Mayor Erin Stewart will be cutting a Stanley Black & Decker tape measure.
The official opening will be Saturday at 10 a.m.