Third time's the charm - Career number three for historian Mary Donohue means digging up the town's best kept secrets and more

By Tracey Weiss

Editor

 "Wherever you live, local history gives you inspiration.”

So said Mary Donohue, the town’s historian. A year into her appointment, she is deep into her role, publishing pamphlets for public use, giving talks, and finding treasures in town she aims to share.

She is technically retired but calls this her third career and “the first unpaid one.”

Mary Donohue, accepting the proclamation from the West Hartford Town Council as the new town historian. Photo by Patrick O’Sullivan, High Wattage Media, LLC

“It’s both fun and challenging,” she said of her role. “I was greatly honored when Mayor Shari Cantor called (to ask if she would take on the role).”

So far, she said, “it’s going great. I’m on the fast track, because we’re celebrating the 250th birthday (of America),” and the planning had already started when she started last June.

Indeed, she is moving quickly. In the last year, she’s spoken at a few talks, some about her new role, some on topics that include “Transitions: What We Gained, What It Cost,” and “The Building of a Dairy Empire: A.C. Petersen.” 

And there is more. She is working on a series of three brochures, and one, about the history of Fairview Cemetery, has just been published. It’s available at the cemetery and in digital form on the town’s website. It serves as a self-guided tour map, shares information about some of the more famous people buried at the cemetery on Pleasant Road and even mentions the beautiful but mostly unused chapel on the property, with its lancet windows, stained glass, white marble walls and tiled floors.

Over the next few years, she hopes to publish a few books as well. One will be for 2nd, 5th and 8th grade children, to accompany their school history curriculum.  

Another will contain 10 self -guided tours in town of some of architectural and neighborhood history of West Hartford.

Donohue’s specialty is 20th century architecture and neighborhoods, but her experience in history in general, is vast. She is an author, historic preservationist, Connecticut historian, podcast producer, and architectural historian. She’s written, advised and worked on every kind of project, from television scripts and curriculum to advertising, reports and research, and documentaries.

Donohue spent decades working for the state, first as a Survey and Grants Director for the Connecticut Historical Commission, and then, as the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer/Survey and Grants Director for the State Historic Preservation Office at the Department of Economic & Community Development.

“I got grants and ran the state’s public history magazine,” she said. “I got to see every corner of the state.”

She served as the assistant publisher and contributing author for Connecticut Explored Magazine, which was founded in 2002 as an independent non-profit history magazine with the mission of “telling the stories that have shaped our history”).

Donohue was the principal and owner of Grant House Heritage Services, a full-service historic preservation consulting firm. Her clients included New Jersey Historic Trust, New Haven Museum, Ancient Burying Ground Association, Elizabeth Park Conservancy, Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, Hartford History Center of the Hartford Public Library, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, and Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society.

For the last nine years she has been the executive producer and host, along with Natalie Belanger, of the award-winning podcast “Grating the Nutmeg.” According to its website, the podcast, which started in 2015, looks at “the people and places that have made a difference in CT history.” It’s a production of Connecticut Explored Magazine.

In 2023, she accepted the Award of Merit issued by Connecticut League of Museums. Another recognition came the following year. She received the Connecticut Adjutant General's Citizen Award for her 14 years of research, publishing, public education, and advocacy for Connecticut's military history as a founding member of the CT Militia Heritage Committee. She is the winner of the Frederick Law Olmsted Award, 2011, presented by the Connecticut Society of Landscape Architects for creating and directing statewide projects that documented designed and cultural landscapes including town greens and urban parks. She’s also the winner of the Janet Jainschigg Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation, 2012, presented by Preservation Connecticut for professional excellence.

Donohue is the author of three award-winning books on Connecticut architecture and history: Built to Serve: Connecticut’s National Guard Armories, 1865-1940; A Life of the Land: Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers; and En Avant with Our French Allies: Connecticut Sites, Markers and Monuments Honoring comte de Rochambeau's French Troops for Contributions to American Independence 1780-1782.

Some of her fascination with history and architecture may derive from her upbringing. Donohue grew up in South Bend, Indiana, where the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company made cars.

“When I was 8,” she said. “Studebaker went out of business. Everyone lost their jobs. They tore everything down.”

She went on to receive her undergraduate degree in art history from Indiana University in Bloomington and her master’s degree in historic preservation from Cornell University. She’s also certified as an architectural historian by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior.

She wound up in the state when she got the job offer to work for the CT Historical Commission. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Donohue is only the fourth town historian to be named. She took the place of Tracey Wilson, who died in February 2025. “I was friends with her,” she said. “I have to make sure I measure up.” WHL