New Video: Hartford, Connecticut’s Lost Governor Street

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This is a video about Governor Street, a partially lost street in Hartford, Connecticut. It was once the home of five governors of Connecticut, one from the 1850s and four from the 1600s! Part of the street was lost to the Sheldon Oak development and the rest was renamed Popieluszko Court. Besides being a residential street for early governors, it was a manufacturing area and a center for the Polish-American community. #hartfordhistory #hartford #hartfordct #danielsternervideos

James Potter, Jr. House (1858)

Capt. James Potter, Jr. House

The Greek Revival-style residence at 82 Front Street in Noank was the home of James Potter, Jr., a ship captain. In June of 1863, during the Civil War, the Confederate bark C.S.S. Tacony spent two weeks raiding off the coast of New England. One of the fifteen Union ships the Tacony captured and burned was the fishing smack L. A. Macomber, Captain James Potter, Jr. of Noank. The crew were allowed to seek safety in their small boat, which was able to reach Woods Hole. The Tacony‘s career ended after the capture of the schooner Archer. The Confederate crew transferred to the new vessel and burned the Tacony on June 25, 1863.

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House at 16 Charter Oak Place, Hartford (1894)

According to the nomination for the Charter Oak Place National Historic District, the house at 16 Charter Oak Place in Hartford was erected in 1894 for Philemon Robbins, a furniture manufacturer, but Robbins had passed away in 1890. In the 1830s he was a partner with Isaac Wright and Joseph Winship in Isaac Wright & Company, one of Hartford’s leading furniture companies. After Wright’s death in 1838 his partners formed Robbins & Winship, which became Robbins Brothers in 1878.

The house’s first story is brick, with its upper two stories being shingled. There is a Palladian window in the upper story’s triangular gable.

The ninth chimney fire was added to the fire department list yesterday, when the headquarters chemical company answered a telephone call just after noon to the house of Mananger Norman McD. Crawford of the street railway, at No: 16 Charter Oak Place. The chimney burned Itself out and no damage was done.

Hartford Courant, February 14, 1901

James F. Holden House (1900)

The house at 88 Garden Street in the Forestville section of Bristol was built c. 1900. One of several houses on the street constructed by builder Austin Wooster, it was the home of James F. Holden (born 1858), who was a charter member of Palos Council 35, Knights of Columbus, and served as Forestville postmaster for over half a century, from the 1880s to the 1930s. His father was Felix Holden, who also lived on Garden Street for many years, and his brother was the prominent Hartford lawyer Benedict M. Holden (1874-1937).

Wallace B. Crumb House (1910)

Wallace B. Crumb House

The house at 65 Garden Street in the Forestville section of Bristol was built in 1910 for Wallace Bruce Crumb (1858-1938), a merchant and manufacturer who served in the state house of representatives from 1919 to 1920. His son, W. Raymond Crumb (1896-1973), was mayor of Bristol from 1928 to 1931, having been appointed to the office by the city council after the death of Mayor John F. Wade in 1927.