The only surviving nineteenth-century building on Market Street in Hartford is a former church building at no. 125. It was built in 1855 as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, a mission to the immigrants who once lived on Hartford’s East Side. In 1880, it was sold and became the German Lutheran Church of the Reformation. In 1898, it became St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church, which served the neighborhood’s Italian-American population. In 1958, St. Anthony’s merged with St. Patrick’s Church and the former St. Anthony’s Church building became a Catholic information center. Today, it is used by Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services. The church no longer has its original steps up to what was once the front door.
At the church’s northeast corner is an eighteenth-century grave, protected by a deed restriction. As described in Commemorative Exercises of the First church of Christ in Hartford, at its Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary (1883), “The monument of Dr. Norman Morison, who died in 1761, and was buried in his own garden, still stands in front of St. Paul’s church on Market street, with that of another of his family.” Dr. Norman Morrison (1690-1761) had a property that stretched to Main Street. His house there was later moved to Trumbull Street.
This also used to be St. Anthony’s Catholic School, run by the same parish on Front St. I am an allumnus, class of 1956.
A slight correction.
St. Anthony’s school on Market St. was run by the same parrish which was on Talcott St. not Front St. Then in the late fifties it was merged with St. Patrick’s church.
I’m the same alumnus, class of 1956.
My Great, Great, Grandfather Charles Richmond Fisher was the first Reverend of Saint Paul’s Episcopalian Church on Market Street. Father Fisher remained the head of this church until his death in 1876. I have the original architectural drawing of St. Paul’s framed on my living room wall.
In the 1850s Front Street was always under flood watch in the Spring time and was home to the poor of Hartford.
The key word is that there is a restriction in the deed that the grave of Dr. Mormand Morrison and his son 1761, adjoining the property at 125 Market Street cannot be moved.
According to the St. Patrick/St. Anthony website, St. Anthony Church moved when the parish outgrew the Market Street building and a new church was built on Talcott Street in 1921. The Market Street structure was then used as a social center.
I’m looking for photos of the Talcott Street rendition of St. Anthony Church and would appreciate any help in finding them.
I GRADUATED ST ANTHONY SCHOOL IN 1955 . THE ST.LUCY FILIPPINI SISTERS WERE ARE TEACHERS. I LIVED ON KILBOURN ST OFF OF FRONT STREET. I MISS IT.