Talk:Meriden, Connecticut

History section looks like a copyvio
The History section of this article appears to have been copied wholesale from the City website by an AOL anon on 15 January 2005. A couple paragraphs at the beginning and end have since been edited out, but what's left is still a verbatim copy. Archive.org shows the City site has had a version of this page since 2000. The text feels like it was written by an historical society or chamber of commerce. If someone can find attribution or permission, feel free to put it back with a note; otherwise, I'll be removing it shortly. Sam8 16:49, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Steven Smith
The Steven Smith mentioned in the notable residents section actually refers to the late Elliot Smith (born Steven Smith) who at no time lived in Meriden. He is actually quite a different person than the English teacher at Platt High School.
 * Neil Decurno - school librarian for PHS - did not want Steven Smith listed in the article, so we removed it at his request.

Errors found
The book title "21 Fairmont Avenue" should be "26 Fairmount Avenue".

There is no wikipedia page for "steamed cheeseburger", but it is linked in the article.

104.1 FM changed to WMRQ-FM on 5/13/2009. 90.5 FM swapped calls with Norwich to be WNPR on 9/15/2011. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.241.119.25 (talk) 06:08, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

city of meriden govnt
quinn, krista and summer are not members of the meriden city council. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 161.185.150.4 (talk) 18:21, 24 April 2007 (UTC).

Points of interest
I think Hunter Golf Course should be listed as a point of interest in Meriden. It is an excellent golf course and needs its own wiki page! Np99163 (talk) 07:05, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Other Notables
The article fails to mention that Meriden was the home of the office/lab of Dr. Henry Lee, renown forensic scientist, of O.J. Simpson and Jon Benet Ramsey fame. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pacathetaco (talk • contribs) 01:50, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Rail/history
I'd really expect to see more here on the importance of getting a railroad relatively early. Meriden became a serious rival to Middletown for regional ascendancy mostly because of the railroad. - Jmabel | Talk 22:06, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

notable natives needing reliable sourcing
The following were removed from "Notable Natives" section, and should not be re-added unless and until specific Reliable Sources are provided documenting Meriden connections. I did check several of the linked articles and found no sources for Meriden association, but perhaps there are sources in some of them. -- do ncr  am  02:21, 25 February 2011 (UTC)
 * John Joseph "Jack" Barry (1887–1961) Baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball, later a renowned college baseball coach; born in Meriden.
 * Gary Burr, a 2005 inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
 * Abiram Chamberlain, the 60th Governor of Connecticut
 * Tomie dePaola (b. 1934) Author and illustrator of children's picture books, including the Strega Nona and Meet the Barkers series.
 * Toby Driver (1978- ), composer and musician (with Kayo Dot).
 * Juan Figueroa - Foundation president and 2010 Connecticut gubernatorial candidate.
 * Rob Hyman (b. 1950) Lead singer and keyboard player for the rock band The Hooters.
 * Frank Kowalski (1907–1974) was a United States Representative from Connecticut.
 * William Lyman (fl. 1870s) Inventor credited with inventing the modern can opener.
 * Mary McGarry Morris (b. 1943) - National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner finalist and best-selling author of Songs in Ordinary Time, Vanished, A Dangerous Woman, Fiona Range, A Hole in the Universe, and The Lost Mother
 * George P. Murdock (1897–1985) Cultural anthropologist, he initiated the cross-cultural survey, as an instrument of sociological and anthropological generalization.
 * Rosa Ponselle (1897–1981) Soprano, later artistic director of the Baltimore Civic Opera.
 * Warren Sattler (b. 1934), Cartoonist and illustrator with a long career in comic strips, comic books, and other media.
 * Gary Waslewski Major league pitcher from 1960–1972, Pittsburgh Pirates (1960–64) Boston Red Sox (1964–69), also St. Louis Cardinals, Montreal Expos, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics.
 * Frank Wuterich (1980-) U.S. Marine accused of war crimes in Haditha, Iraq.
 * John Carpenter (game show contestant) (b.1967-) First person to win a million dollars on U.S. Edition of the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?


 * I removed them all again. A non-logged in editor has been adding at least some of these.  Hey, editor, you don't need to have an account, though it would be easier to communicate with you if you did.  The "standard" about what is acceptable to support a notable native entry here is changing, or at least i am trying to change it and some others agree, in discussions at or linked from wt:CONN recently.  Please discuss here.  I'll help you restore some, with inline references, if you want to cooperate, please do. -- do  ncr  am  00:37, 1 May 2011 (UTC)

Nickname - The Dirty Den
Some reverting going on about the nickname "The Dirty Den". Is this a genuine nickname that's actually used for the city? Or is it a term of abuse? And are there any reliable sources for it? All I can find is an [Urban Dictionary] entry that's pure vandalism, and a [Facebook page]. Neither of which looks authoritative. There are some vague hints on forum pages. But a good reliable source would be appreciated, and prevent further reverting. Canthusus (talk) 17:04, 9 March 2012 (UTC)


 * This is a fairly old section here on the talk page, but I thought I might add a relevant note to the discussion. The nickname "Dirty Den" is of vague, colloquial import... similar to the way in which Waterbury is referred to as "The Dirty Water".  Many post-industrial cities in Connecticut are essentially mocked with names like these, but they are neither official, nor documented.


 * It may be of interest, though, that a distantly similar nickname -"The Merry Den"- was documented in 1849 . Even in that early era, the origin story of that nickname was at least well-known enough to have been gained inclusion in a history book, and therefore it may have come down from local folklore that existed earlier in the 17th or 18th century.  Author G. W. Perkins writes: "The origin of the name [of Meriden] is involved in some dispute. There is a tradition that the word is compounded of two words, 'merry' and 'den', and that in an old stone house built up there in that locality, there were so many merry meetings of travellers, that the place acquired the nickname of Merry-den."  The name, it is suggested, essentially referred to raucous and scandalous partying that would take place at this party house.  But Perkins goes on to note that "the number of travellers there was very small and their general character of that grave and even austere kind", so it's more likely that they would be "praying" rather than partying it up in a "den of merriment." —Jgcoleman (talk) 15:26, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

On Eastern Mountain Sports HQ not being a "point of interest"
The term "point of interest" can be broadly interpreted and, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't have a formal definition here on Wikipedia. But generally speaking, a point of interest should usually be a place that could/would be visited, either for sight-seeing or recreation. The corporate headquarters for Eastern Mountain Sports may be notable, for sure, but it's not a "point of interest". It is not something you would go see for any reason at all unless you worked there. In that regard, it does not fit in the points of interest list here.

Look at the other "points of interest" on the list for guidance as to what is generally admissible. Monuments, historic landmarks and parks comprise a good portion of the list. There's a few points of interest that are of particular architectural note. And there are even a few businesses -such as Ted's and Hunter's- but these are places you can actually go to for some locally famous food or for recreation. —Jgcoleman (talk) 15:01, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I added it there because there didn't seem to be any better place to put it, but I agree it doesn't qualify as a tourist attraction. This sort of thing would fit best in a section on the local economy, but there isn't such a section here.  A quick web search doesn't reveal when the company put its headquarters in Meriden, so I couldn't really add it to the History section.  The bit about the Franciscans at the end doesn't really belong in the History section, either, though I'm not sure that's part of the economy.  Maybe we need a "Notable institutions" section or something? -- Beland (talk) 17:20, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Well, I added EMS to History for now, next to the Franciscans, for lack of a better place. -- Beland (talk) 01:17, 17 January 2024 (UTC)