The old campus of Hartford Public High School, which one stood between Hopkins and Broad Streets, is fondly remembered as a lost treasure of the city’s architectural and educational history. In my latest video I talk about this lost landmark, which was destroyed to make way for highway construction in the 1960s. I also discuss the high school’s origins and its previous buildings.
It started as the Hartford Grammar School, which started in 1638, but became a true high school in 1847. From then until 1869, it was located at the corner of Asylum and Ann Streets. Its first building on Hopkins Street, built in 1869, burned down in 1882. This was replaced by what would grow into a campus complex consisting of the Hopkins Street building (first phase erected in 1882-1884, second phase in 1897-1898), the Manual Training Building (erected in 1898), and the Broad Street building (first phase erected in 1914-1915, second phase in 1917-1918). The current building on Forest Street opened in 1963.