The horrific inferno that killed 168 people and injured more than 500 on July 6, 1944 is known as the Hartford Circus Fire because it happened in Connecticut's capital city — under the kind of Big Top that would never be allowed there again.

Yet the scars from that fire were borne by people from all over the state and New England. The circus coming to town was a big deal in the days before every home had a television, and families brought children and grandchildren in from outlying towns for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was one month after the D-Day invasion, and people had lived for several years with war and gasoline rationing and the absence of loved ones. The circus, even on a sweltering day, must have sounded like a treat worth traveling to.

As Connecticut residents in the decades afterward read in the state's newspapers on each anniversary, the wax paraffin used to rainproof the tent went up in flames that spread to the tent structure, the bleachers and everywhere. Many people were trapped, and many children were among the dead.

The people of Hartford and the state grieved for years. Although the fire was accidental, not caused by the deliberate act of anyone who set out to kill, the shocking loss of life reverberated through the post-war years much as the Sandy Hook deaths have affected us today.

The University of Connecticut website UConn Today has used this anniversary to tell the personal stories of people connected to the university who were at the circus that day. One is a young boy who later received a scholarship for heroically slitting the tent with his knife, allowing some to escape. Others were UConn administrators and a state legislator, including some who died and some who had to take over after the deaths. Generations of students have seen those names — Edwin Woodward, Wilfred B. Young, and a future dean who saw the headlines in a Chicago newspaper, Albert Waugh — on campus plaques and documents and probably never knew of the connection to one of the state's worst tragedies.

Now that 75 years have passed, the trauma of the fire has eased. But 168 lost is virtually one death for every one of Connecticut's 169 towns. For such a small state, that loss was overwhelming and should not be forgotten.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.