Historic Photograph of State Street in Hartford, c. 1900

This historic photograph of State Street in Hartford was sent to me by Richard Walsh and is used here with his permission. It was taken c. 1900 by his great-grandfather, Richard Nichols (1850-1935). This was before the Isle of Safety was built.

On the right is the Old State House. Left of that is a row of buildings along State Street. Going from right to left the buildings are: Long’s Hotel (there is a sign for the hotel on the side of the building that mentions “lager”; building erected c. 1871, demolished in 1936); the Exchange Bank (built in 1834 with a new façade in 1869; transformed into the Far East Garden Restaurant in 1917 and demolished c. 1936); the Hartford Courant Building (built in 1880 and designed by George Keller; demolished in 1951); the Hartford National Bank (built in 1811; replaced by the Princess Theater 1912); the First National Bank (built in 1898 and designed by Ernest Flagg); a remnant of the former United States Hotel (Honiss Oyster House started in the basement) that would be replaced in the 1920s by the Regal Theater and a W. T. Grant store. Part of the sign atop the building on the far left is visible. The full sign reads “Elihu Geer’s Sons City Directory” (they published the famous Geer’s Directories of Hartford). The building was replaced in 1928 by a new one erected by Federal Bake Shops.

Other than the Old State House, the only building that survives from this photo today is the façade of the First National Bank, which was incorporated into the State House Square Complex, built in 1985.