Adjacent on the north of the old Charter Oak Bank Building, on Trumbull Street in Hartford, is the Heublein Building, built in 1896. It was originally the home of G.F. Heublein and Brothers, a liquor and wine company which created the world’s first bottled cocktails in 1892 and began making A1 Steak Sauce in 1895. G.F. Heublein later built the Heublein Tower. The building in Hartford was constructed on the site of the eighteenth-century house of Dr. Norman Morrison, which was demolished to make way for the new building. Dr. Morrison (1690-1761), who was born in Scotland, settled in Hartford around 1740. He is credited with being the first man to separate the practice of medicine from pharmacy.
Heublein Building, Hartford (1896)
I see an advertisement for the Club Cocktails as I;m reading Harpers Weekly dated May 19th 1900. Very interesting history.
I remember the old Heublin factory that was on New Park Ave. We had to pass it on our way to New Park Ave. School. Both are gone now but the one memory of the place is the smell. It was really awful. But, I miss those days. I Google map my old neighborhood, Charter Oak Terrace, which is gone now too and think about all of the fun times. Thank you for the memories.
My mom is 93 and recently she told me a story of her first date with my dad in 1953. They were both living in Hartford, she had recently graduated from college and worked for Aetna. He asked her if she wanted to “go out for a beer at the Heublein” — so I’m wordering if this was the 1896 Hueblein Building, or if GFH & Brothers operated a tavern elsewhere in the city.
Stu,
The Heublein brothers did operate a tavern and hotel. It was located across from Bushnell Park, on Wells Street between Gold Street and the now vanished Mulberry Street: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/40002:11069
The building was torn town when Bushnell Plaza was built in the 1960s. I talk about the Heublein Hotel in this video: https://youtu.be/14ZvpK1AfXM?t=1583
Dan