New Britain
About New Britain
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New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 71,254.
The city is home to Central Connecticut State University and Charter Oak State College. The city is served by The Hospital of Central Connecticut at New Britain General (Formerly New Britain General Hospital, changed name when merged with Bradley Memorial Hospital in 2006).
The New Britain Museum of American Art, located at 56 Lexington Street adjacent to Walnut Hill Park, is the oldest art museum in the United States devoted to American Art. It contains a famous and comprehensive art collection from the 18th century to the present. Capitol Lunch is a hot dog institution in New England. The “Cappie Dog” is well known to New Britain visitors for its unique and secret chili sauce.
New Britain has the largest Polish population of any city in Connecticut. Broad Street in downtown New Britain is home to a variety of Polish stores and delis that are worth checking out. In the summertime, many Poles flock to “Polanka” (in back of Pulaski Middle School) for Dożynki (a harvest festival), where one can find buttermilk, yellow, and brown amber jewelry from the Baltic, as well as pretty wooden boxes with traditional Polish carving. Pierogi and Gołąbki are served as local New England Polish bands play until late Sunday evenings. Poles throughout the city may also be conversing over coffee and pastries at home with newsbroadcasts from Poland, updating them on what is going on in The Fatherland (another great New Britain restaurant).
The Polish community is known for fruitious gardens, immaculate flowers, and (most likely) a Catholic figure in the front yard (not unlike Mexican-Americans and Mary de Guadalupe). Many New Britain Poles cherish Our Lady of Częstochowa and preserve their Eastern European heritage and pride. In fact, New Britain High School offers Polish as a 4-year language to study and master and translates all of the signs in the building to Polish. Some backyards also have wooden stoves to smoke kielbasa for a few hours. Haller Post, also on Broad Street, is home to many of New Britain’s settled families. Broad Street is home to Sacred Heart Church with a K-8 private school. Most students are Polish or first-generation American. They, too, teach Polish and have a beautiful Polish church under the big, English-language church.