Crews responded to 185 Carter Ave. Extension in Meriden after getting a call for possible dynamite in a closet.
A woman who was cleaning out a closet found six or seven sticks of what she believed was dynamite and notified police, who evacuated houses on either side of the house.
The family recently bought the house and found a box that said "explosives" last week and called police on Wednesday, officials said.
The device was from the 1950s or 1960s, officials said. The bomb squad removed one stick from the house. There were no injuries.
