To celebrate the release of my new book this week, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut, I’ll be featuring Hartford buildings. The Henry C. Dwight School, at 585 Wethersfield Avenue, consists of two attached structures. The earlier one (image above) was built in about 1885 and is a polychromatic High Victorian Gothic building designed by Jacob Bachmeyer. In 1901, a larger addition (see below) in the Renaissance Revival style was constructed, which more than doubled the size of the school. Known as the Wethersfield Avenue School, it was later renamed for Henry C. Dwight, wool merchant, president of Mechanics Savings Bank, mayor of Hartford in 1890–92 and chairman of Hartford’s South School District.
Henry C. Dwight School (1885)
I attended this school back in 1974. Great memories.
umm this is my school my teacher name is mrs.mangiafico her hole name is katie mangiafico well my name is naydariell saldana and i want whats right for public school not bullying and treating kids like rat cus if ya do treat kids like rat ya gonna start loosing people and i dont say the school mean but i mean the lunch lady and if they dont know how to treat us get new ones i know that school been there for years but just change the lunch lady and thank you for your cooparation.
umm hi asa family umm i just wanted to let u know tina soucier attended this school back in the 1974 Its was great memorie for her and i really like the office assistant shes nice her name is margarita ortiz well she really nice off too clean my stans at my home
I attended Dwight from 1980-86. I have the best memories of this school. What a beautiful school it was back then. If anyone has any interior photos of the school I would love to see them posted.
I attended from 1984-1991 and I have so many great mmemories and still remain friends with alot of the people I went ti school with. Loved all mt teachers from K-6 pardon spelling on names (mrs. Dibiaso, mrs brodnicki, mrs bozadjin, mrs LaBranche, mrs mccallum, mrs morrison and mr grande also teachers that taught gifted and talented and those who taught music gym art such wonderful teachers and I miss this place my father passed away in 2012 and my 6th grade teacher sent a beautiful condolence card to funeral home showed they really cared about theor students. So proud to have been able to attend henry c Dwight
I grew up on Franklin Ave, and attended school there from 1945- 52.
I remember my favorite teachers were Ms Keith, Ms.Vansant(spelling)and best was English teacher, Ms. Taylor. She was a wonderful Black Lady. Loved it when she erased the blackboard, and the several bracelets she wore sounded like music.(I can hear them now. Lastly I remember the Principal Mr. Dames. You didn’t want to have to visit him if you were bad. RULER ACROSS THE KNUCKLES!
I’m sure I had it coming. Where have the years gone?
I attended this school in 1959 and then went to St Augustine after that. I LOVED this school…I remember it well!
i grew up on franklin ave also and attended the school in the mid 60’s. Beautiful years! It would be nice to have some photos posted.
I use to go to this school and during that time black children were bussed to this school from Charter Oak Terrance projects in order to add equality to this dominated Italian neighborhood school. I remember that I had great teachers who were for equal rights for ALL children, one teacher i remember only and her name was Mrs. Fatacani she was my favorite teacher and this building brings back alot of great memories. I beleive Mr Horncoll was the Vice Pricipal at the time, lol.
That’s my school loved it there my teacher was Mr Grande he’s the best teacher I have fond memories and still keep in touch with my class 87
Hi, I lived on Adelaide St. and attended Henry C. Dwight School from 1945 until I believe 1951. I had to be kept in kindergarten for two years because of when my birthday fell. I remember doing spatter painting and taking a rest by putting our heads down on our desks. Later on in 3rd.or 4th. grade we would practice for air raids by getting under our desks. We also exchanged valentines day cards with each other. One of my teachers was Miss Mather. The principal was Mr. Eames. When we had gym class we had to wear the famous gym suit. LOL Baggy as could be, we all hated them. We had sewing class in 5th. grade where we learned to sew on machines. I still have the table cloth and napkins I made there. We played dodge ball in the gym but I don’t think schools allow that anymore. Someone could get hurt. HaHa. I had to walk to school about 1/2 mile then walk home for lunch and back to school after lunch then walk home at the end of the day. Snow or rain, it didn’t matter we did the walk. I don’t remember anyone getting picked up and driven home. Most mom’s did not drive or if they did they had no car because dad used it to go to work. Also most mom’s stayed at home and took care of the kids and many chores. I remember the little store on the corner, it was the street we walked up the hill to the school. We would go there and buy all sorts of penny candy, Devil Dogs that were twice the size they are now and sooo good. Those little candy dots on paper we would peel off getting paper in our mouths lots of times but it didn’t kill us. LOL. Trading cards were a big thing too. So many good memories. Things sure have changed.
I just want to add to the above post that my maiden name was Oppenheimer. Anita Oppenheimer.
Thank you. 🙂
I was a student at Henry C. Dwight School from 1949-1954. I lived at Airport Homes, a housing project built for returning World War II veterans on the site of what is now the Chowder Pot Restaurant. As someone else mentioned, the principal was Mr. Butler Eames and I was one of those on the receiving end of that ruler. A few of my teachers were Mrs. White, Miss Mather and Miss Sansoven (?). Mr. Harris was the gym teacher and his son, Donald, was a classmate of mine years later at Weaver High School and is now the Chairman of the Bloomfield Board of Education. Though I only attended Dwight until the end of the fourth grade, that is where I learned reading, writing and arithmetic. I have been forever grateful to the dedicated and caring teachers who taught me and have served the school from its beginning. Wonderful, wonderful memories.
I attended Dwight during the 90’s in Mrs. Faticanti’s last year before she moved to South Middle School. Mr. Grande was my science teacher. So many great teachers during my 1 year there and so many great memories. I wish I kept in contact with a couple of my school friends there. My church friend’s mom was a secretary there which was cool too. While I haven’t visited since graduating my memories of a school with basics and receiving a great education will always stay with me.