Latest Substack Newsletter Post: “Heublein Built His Famous Tower for the Daughter of a Prominent Hartford Jeweler”

The third article for my Hartford Substack is about Gundlach’s jewelry store, which was located at 20 State Street from 1859 until 1927. Above is an 1860s view of buildings on State Street near the corner of Main Street. The white awning on the far right (on the ground floor of the three-story building) reads “Deming & Gundlach.” The building was later raised to four stories. It was torn down in the 1980s to make way for the State House Square development (Picture Source: Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Accession number 1956.84.135)

Please Subscribe to my new newsletter, “Remembering Old Hartford” on Substack

I have launched a Substack newsletter where I will share information about Hartford history. The subscription is absolutely free, but there is also a paid subscription for those who want to support me and receive additional content. The Substack is called “Remembering Old Hartford” and my first article is about the city’s lost Daly Theater, which opened in 1914. It replaced an earlier house on the site that was built in 1837. 







	


	
	


				
					
					


				
					
					


		

		

			New Video: The Dramatic Demolition of the Pearl Street Congregational Church Spire
		

	


	

		



YouTube player


My latest video is a little longer than usual and in more of a narrative podcast style with lengthy quotes from newspapers of the time. 





On August 26, 1899, the upper portion of the steeple (including the heavy capstone) of the Pearl Street Congregational Church in Hartford was brought to earth safely through the efforts of contractor William F. O’Neil. This feat of engineering, which was witnessed by a crowd of thousands and was captured in a photograph, was the culmination of weeks of planning, preparation and public scrutiny. The ongoing work of church demolition, and speculation about how the steeple would finally be brought down, attracted the attention of passers-by, who marveled at the dangerous work of steeple-climber John Kiffe. The ongoing work also sparked a number of reminiscences about the building and the colorful personalities associated with it from a number of long-time Hartford residents. Utilizing contemporary accounts from the Hartford Courant and the Hartford Times newspapers, this video brings to life those days in August of 1899 when a Hartford landmark was reduced to rubble. It shows how a complicated problem of engineering was solved and reminds us of the fascinating personalities that inhabited the city over 200 years ago.




 (more…)	


	
	


				
					
					


		

		

			New Video: History of Hartford’s Ann Uccello Street before Construction of the Civic Center
		

	


	

		



YouTube player







This video is about what Ann Uccello Street in Hartford was like before the Civic Center was built. It covers the section between Asylum Street and the highway. On the west side, the Morse School building, the Russian Lady building, the former Masonic Temple, the old Hartford Wire Works building (now home to Agave and Aladdin restaurants) and St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church survive, but the old Foster/Weldon Block and St. Patrick – St. Anthony School are lost. On the east side of Ann Street, where the Civic Center stands today, there were once many old buildings, including Engine Company No. 4, home of the “Pride of Hartford,” and a Y.W.C.A. building. Just to the north was the lost Hotel Hartford.