New Video: Great Buildings, Architecture and History Along Main Street, Hartford Connecticut

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In so many of my other videos I describe what has been lost and destroyed in downtown Hartford, CT. But in this video I talk about the great buildings that survive from the days before the great mid-century urban renewal projects, from old houses (Butler-McCook, Barnard & Hills Houses), to later residential and commercial buildings (the Hotel Capitol, McCone Block, Cheney Building & the Linden), and then from department stores (Sage-Allen, Wise-Smith, G. Fox) and office towers (Hartford Trust Co. and Travelers), to churches (Center and South Congressional, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Peter’s, South Park Methodist & Central Baptist) and great public and institutional buildings (South Green Fire Station, the Wadsworth Atheneum, Municipal Building & Old State House). Which are your favorites?

New Video: First Meeting of Washington & Rochambeau, Partners who won the American Revolution Hartford, CT 1780

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Historic structures like the original Connecticut State House of 1719, the Jeremiah Wadsworth House, which stood on the site of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, some of the city’s lost colonial taverns and coffee houses, and a tavern that still stands in Andover, CT play a role in my new video about the historic first meeting of George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau in 1780.

8 Worst Examples of Downtown Hartford CT Buildings Replaced by Parking Lots

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In the 20th century, large sections of downtown Hartford were torn down to be replaced by new buildings and massive urban renewal projects. But the worst situations are when buildings were torn down and only replaced by a parking lot. In this video I give 8 examples of what was lost.

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The Controversies of Buckingham Square Park, One of Hartford’s Smallest

My latest Substack article is about Buckingham Square Park, which is located at the corner of Main Street and Buckingham Street in downtown Hartford. I describe the park’s origins, which go back to 1830, and then explore times when the park was a subject of public debate: the 1840s, when a grocer wanted to place hay scales there; the 1880s, when a plan by the city to landscape the park led to complaints by the neighbors; and 1930, when many disliked the unemployed men who gathered there to sit on benches at the onset of the Great Depression.

New Video: J.P. Morgan’s Connections with Hartford, Connecticut

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John Pierpont Morgan, the famous banker of the Gilded Age, was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His grandfather, Joseph Morgan, had arrived in Hartford in 1816 and had success as the owner of the popular Exchange Coffee House. Joseph’s son, Junius Spencer Morgan, was a partner in a Hartford dry goods business before he left to become a prominent banker in London. J. Pierpont Morgan was born in his grandfather’s house on Asylum Street in 1837 and his childhood home was on Farmington Avenue. His Hartford cousins were the prominent Goodwin brothers. J. S. and J. P. Morgan were generous benefactors of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. They are buried in the city’s Cedar Hill Cemetery.