In this video I talk about buildings on the north side of Pearl Street, west of Trumbull St., in Hartford, CT. I focus on lost buildings, including the old 1870 headquarters of the Hartford Insurance Company, Plimpton’s envelope and stationary factory, and Seidler & May’s furniture store, among others.
Many buildings with interesting histories were torn down to make way for the construction of the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Municipal Building in Hartford, Connecticut. Buildings that used to stand between Main Street and Prospect Street, north of Arch Street, included the house of a notable figure from the American Revolution who was visited there by George Washington, the home of the Atheneum’s founder, the home of a prominent minister, and an Episcopal Church. Find out about these and other lost buildings in this video.
This video is about the buildings that once lined the south side of Pearl Street, east of Trumbull Street in Hartford, Connecticut. In the mid-1920s, when Pearl was considered the “Wall Street of Hartford” its buildings included the State Savings Bank, the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, the National Fire Insurance Company, the Dime Savings Bank and the Judd Building. All of these were demolished by the mid-1970s.
In 1711, settlers in the district of Greens Farms (then the West Parish of Fairfield and now part of Westport) were permitted by Connecticut General Court to form their own Congregational Society. By 1720, the congregation had completed a meeting house at the foot of Morningside Drive and Greens Farms Road. The community grew rapidly and a larger meeting house was needed. It was erected in 1738 at the corner of Green’s Farms Road and the Sherwood Island Connector, opposite the Colonial Burial Ground. This building was burned by a British raiding party in 1779 during the Revolutionary War. The congregation’s third meeting house was completed in 1781 on Hillandale Road. It was replaced by the current Green’s Farms Church, a Greek Revival-style building, in 1853. The Parish of Greens Farms was annexed by the Town of Westport in 1842.
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The house at 572 Main Street in Portland was built c. 1820. It was the home of Hervey Talcott (1791-1865) who was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Portland from 1816 until 1861 (he remained the nominal pastor until his death in 1865). During his pastorate, which was the longest in the congregation’s history, the current church building was erected in the late 1840s. According a biographical entry from 1876:
He was ordained Oct 23,1816, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Chatham (now Portland), Ct., where he remained until his death, a period of almost fifty years. He was able to discharge all the duties of this office until within five years of his death, when he requested to be relieved somewhat and a colleague was appointed. He furnished an excellent example of those ministers of whom New England has produced so many, characterized by prudence, fidelity and the ability to grow with their parishes, so that they spent their days over one church. Mr. Talcott’s characteristics were a sincere and childlike piety an unvarying devotion to his work, a well-balanced and clear head, a genial and kindly manner, an unusual discreetness of conduct, and before all men a blameless life. All these qualities combined to make him greatly loved and honored in Portland, and his pastorate was long and successful. It is a striking proof of his prudence that though his church was rent by many dissensions during his pastorate, he retained the respect and confidence of every one almost without an exception. As a preacher he was earnest, pointed, instructive and scriptural. He could never be called brilliant, but had those qualities of a speaker that wear well. Personally he always gave one the idea of a high toned [C]hristian [sic] gentleman. His piety was apparent, but not obtrusive, and his presence was always attractive to young and old, and yet an air of godliness about him was sufficient to keep improprieties and wrong-doing at a distance without a word of rebuke. In his family he was greatly loved and he gave example as well as precept in keeping a well ordered [C]hristian household.
Talcott Pedigree in England and America from 1558 to 1876, pp.179-180.
This is the first in a series of videos about houses in Connecticut that were once the homes of writers who are not well known today. In this one I focus on two historians of the United States whose books were published in the early decades of the nineteenth century. One was a colonial-era minister from North Haven who served in the Revolutionary War and the other was a politician who served as a representative in Washington at the time of the War of 1812.
This is the first of a series of three videos about Pearl Street in Hartford. Here I cover the north side of Pearl, between Main & Trumbull Streets. I talk about the Phoenix Fire Insurance Building (later owned by Connecticut General Life Insurance), which was designed by H. H. Richardson,; the Mechanics Bank Savings Bank; the Corning Building; the mansard-roofed Halls of Record (built in 1853 and demolished in 1940) and others.
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