Videos

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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Large sections of downtown Hartford, Connecticut were destroyed in the 1950s to 1980s to make way for large-scale building projects. We may debate the quality and benefits of what was built, but the lost neighborhoods can not be replaced. Let me know in the comments what you think of my list of obliterations.

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.

This video is about the branches in downtown Hartford of four major variety stores: F. W. Woolworth Co., W. T. Grant Co., J. J. Newberry Co., and S. S. Kresge Co.

This video is about a section of Main Street in Hartford that was depicted in a 1774 map showing several buildings that existed there at the time. In the video I talk about the people who occupied these structures, including a pastor who was dismissed for drunkenness, an indebted surgeon and apothecary who sold enslaved people, and a young widow who took the Connecticut Courant newspaper.

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.