The Seal of the City

The Seal of the City. Danbury, Connecticut. , On April 19, 1889, Governor Morgan Bulkley signed a document granting Danbury official designation as a City within the State of Connecticut. Plans were immediately underway to create a city seal. , Committee member Henry Hoyt was assigned the task. He drew inspiration from many events and symbols of Danbury history and incorporated them into his design. , Two central elements of the design refer to the British Raid on Danbury that occurred on April 26, 1777. The motto, on the diagonal band, reads “Restituimus” or “We Have Restored.” Underscoring this point is a phoenix rising from a fiery crown located at the top of the seal. The bird carries in its beak a second motto, “Perge Modo,“ translated from the Latin as “Ever Onward” or “Let Us Go Forward.” , A locomotive, depicting the railroad line established in 1852, appears on the left side and on the right, a group of elm trees symbolizing Elmwood Park. The water below the trees signifies the flood caused by the breaking of the Kohanza Reservoir Dam in 1869. , In the upper right corner of the shield, a derby hat represents our city’s hat manufacturing industry and Wooster Monument is positioned in the lower left. , The outer circle has the words “Seal of the City of Danbury, incorporated 1889”. , No matter the designation – plantation, village, shire, town, borough or city – throughout its history Danbury has continued to grow and evolve. The people f the city look forward to the future and the possibilities it holds.