Two inventors who should have statues
In this time when we look at our current statues in a new light and also examine their meaning, let’s consider selecting alternative monuments and markers to install. In our rich history, there are certainly famous candidates to consider, but there are also scientific ones, particularly in New Haven, that highlight the Elm City’s rich history in technology.
Sadly, few children (and adults) know of the key inventors that shaped our world with beginnings here in Connecticut. We should use this occasion to correct that. Erecting such statues could serve to highlight these great individuals we want our children to know but also serve as beacons of what we want our children to emulate.
Today, our phones are commonly in reach, but it is largely unknown that the birth of the telephone system began in New Haven. The first switchboard in the country was created downtown, and it allowed multiple calls to be dialed into a main center after which an operator would send the call out to the proper party.
The birth occurred when 30year-old Alexander Graham Bell came to New Haven to demonstrate his telephone invention at the Skiff Opera House on April 27, 1877. There, the 300 people in the audience heard a voice from his invention that originated from another phone located in Middletown. Instantly, there was a thunder of applause. “A more interesting performance was never given in this city,” wrote
Bell’s breakthrough was certainly an achievement, but in terms of a telephone system, it was no more sophisticated than two cups attached to a string.
Only two people could speak to each other. There was no way for multiple people to connect. There was no way to call anyone you wanted. You had to have a direct line to them. This is why we need a historical marker for George Coy.
George Coy, a disabled Union Army vet, attended this demonstration and was inspired when Bell said that telephone wires would one day come to the home like water and gas lines. Bell was indeed right and should certainly be in the history books. But it took Coy’s development of a switchboard to make Bell’s invention useful.
Coy’s switchboard looks rudimentary at best, but it was a breakthrough nevertheless. He got a walnut wood board and hammered carriage bolts into it. These were the endpoints of the telephone lines from customers’ homes to which he connected with levers. The wiring in the back of the board came from Mrs. Coy’s undergarments. Out from the board came thick wires that went out the window and were strung up on roofs and trees that went into customer’s homes.
As rustic as it looked, it was Coy’s invention that allowed a person to connect to anyone in the city. When Coy opened his business on January 28, 1878, he only had 21 customers. Today, billions of people use telephones. Coy’s business was located on the ground floor of the Boardman Building at 219 Chapel Street (on the corner of State and Chapel) where the State Street train station now sits. There ought to be a historical monument for Coy and his switchboard there.
The other historical marker we ought to construct is for New Haven’s 19th century hidden figure — Sarah Boone.
Sarah Boone was born enslaved in 1832, but by 1892 she was the holder of a patent for an item that is in everyone’s home — the ironing board. On April 26, 1892, the United States government issued patent 473,653 to her. Sarah Boone’s achievement makes her one of the first Black women in the country to receive a patent.
She may be the first in Connecticut. Her invention is the predecessor to our modern ironing board, containing many similar elements: it narrowed at the top to fit inside clothes; it had padding on the side to prevent unwanted impressions; and it was collapsible to be stored easily.
Before her invention, people ironed by putting a plank on top of two chairs. This arrangement was hard to fit inside a sleeve or waist. With Boone’s ironing board, fitted clothes, particularly dresses made for corsets, which were the style of the time, could easily be ironed.
Very little has been written about Sarah Boone, who is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven. Documents show she owned her home at 30 Winter Street, a location in Lower Dixwell, not far from the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library. It is also known she was a member of the 200year-old Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church. What is certain is that Boone’s contribution as an inventor and as an exemplar of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) is certainly worthy of acknowledgement. She is a testament to Black ingenuity despite the darkest time of American history. As such, there ought to be a historical marker for her and her invention near the site of her home.
George Coy and Sarah Boone provide alternatives to those we should celebrate. They did not let circumstance confine or define them.
With them, we demonstrate to our children and future generations what and whom we value. While there will be much debate over what statues should be erected, Connecticut inventors who have touched our lives positively need no debate. There were individuals, of Coy and Boone, who solved those problems for us.
Honoring them with historical markers tells children that we value problem solvers of all stripes. Honoring them also tells our children that we hope that they will shape the future positively, too.