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Autumn @ the Museum
Inspired by the CT Summer Museums initiative and as a gift to the visitors and residents of the Danbury community, Danbury Cultural Commission is financially supporting FREE tours at the Danbury Museum from September 9 through December 17. Together, we celebrate the city, the community, and the museum's 80th anniversary. These free tours will allow us to improve equitable access to the Museum and our programming across greater Danbury.
These FREE tours are available by appointment on Fridays and Saturdays, and must be booked via our Eventbrite page. Click here for Charles Ives Ives Birthplace bookings. (Larger groups of more than 10 should be booked separately by calling in advance at 203-743-5200.)
While these past several years have been financially challenging for the Danbury Museum, this generous grant from the Danbury Cultural Commission makes these tours possible and we are most grateful to be able to offer this level of access at no charge to our visitors.
Please note: It is our practice to monitor and manage appointment no-shows and late cancellations. The Danbury Museum’s goal is to provide timely and helpful service to all visitors. If it is necessary to cancel your tour, visitors are required to call 24 hours in advance (203-743-5200) or cancel their appointment via Eventbrite. Notification allows our staff to better utilize appointments for other visitors.
Exhibit Open Till Saturday, December 17!
On April 6, 2022, the Danbury Museum celebrated its 80th birthday and we're planning to continue the party all this year.
In June we will be opening a new exhibit, Danbury (Re)Discovered: Eighty Years :: Eighty Objects :: Eighty Stories. This exhibit will be installed inside and outside, across both our 43 Main Street campus and the Ives Birthplace campus, and will allow us to showcase some of our lesser seen artifacts as well as telling the stories of some old favorites.
We look forward to sharing the exhibit and these eighty stories with you all this coming year. Your donations of treasured artifacts and ephemera are the reasons why we can add context to the Danbury story and bring this history to both Danburians and our visitors.
The exhibit is open Wednesday through Saturday, 12-4!
Take A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Our Historic Buildings
Look for this yard sign on the railing outside of Huntington Hall and use your smartphone to learn a little Danbury history 7 days a week!
The John & Mary Rider House
The John & Mary Rider House is the Danbury Museum’s signature historic structure. The house that previously stood on this property, the home of Jonah Benedict, was destroyed by fire when the British troops raided Danbury on April 26, 1777.
The property was bought from the Benedicts and this home was constructed in 1785.
The Rider House was saved from destruction by the combined efforts of the Daughters of the American Revolution and other concerned citizens.
The Danbury Museum showcases multiple aspects of Colonial-era and 19th century life within the Rider House and it has been a favorite part of school field trips for many years.
Guided tours of the Rider House and all four historic buildings are available by appointment, Friday and Saturday at 12:30pm. All tours must be booked in advance.
The John Dodd Hat Shop
The John Dodd Hat Shop was built in 1790 and was originally two doors south of the Rider House on Main Street.
The Hat Shop is typical of small concerns that would have lined Towne Street (modern day Main Street) in the 18th century. John Dodd used it as a law office.
In 1958, the building was moved to its current spot to make way for a grocery store. To honor Danbury’s heritage as a hat making center, the Dodd Hat Shop contains a hatting exhibit and many hats and hatting-related artifacts.
Guided tours of our historic buildings are available by appointment only, Friday and Saturday, at 12:30 pm.
The Little Red Schoolhouse
The Little Red Schoolhouse is a reproduction of a typical one-room schoolhouse found in the greater Danbury area during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Bricks from the old Balmforth Avenue school were used to construct our building.
The Schoolhouse houses artifacts that relate to education history and early American schooling in Danbury and is an integral part of our school field trips as well.
Marian Anderson Studio
In 1943 Marian Anderson and her husband Orpheus Fisher bought a farm on Joe’s Hill Road in Danbury.
They named their property Marianna Farm and remained there for many years. Mr Fisher, an architect, built this studio for his wife where she could sing and rehearse.
After her husband’s death in 1986, Ms Anderson continued to live at Marianna Farm until 1992, a year before her death in 1993.
In 1993 the Studio was donated to the Danbury Museum and it was rehabilitated and opened to the public in 2005.
Museum in the Streets
Follow the path of the Museum in the Streets and take a walk through Danbury’s downtown Historic District. Along the way, thirty-four history panels cover a variety of topics and and tell the fascinating story of Danbury! Download the map below.