As a follow-up to my last Substack post, in my latest post I present two Hartford examples of a dramatic aspect of the construction of steel-framed buildings in the early twentieth century: the tossing of red hot rivets across large distances by teams of iron workers.
My fourth article for Substack is about a 15-story office tower that stood on Main Street in Hartford from 1921 until it was demolished in 1974.
The third article for my Hartford Substack is about Gundlach’s jewelry store, which was located at 20 State Street from 1859 until 1927. Above is an 1860s view of buildings on State Street near the corner of Main Street. The white awning on the far right (on the ground floor of the three-story building) reads “Deming & Gundlach.” The building was later raised to four stories. It was torn down in the 1980s to make way for the State House Square development (Picture Source: Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Accession number 1956.84.135)
The second article for my Substack called “Remembering Old Hartford” is a history of the Hotel Heublein.
I have launched a Substack newsletter where I will share information about Hartford history. The subscription is absolutely free, but there is also a paid subscription for those who want to support me and receive additional content. The Substack is called “Remembering Old Hartford” and my first article is about the city’s lost Daly Theater, which opened in 1914. It replaced an earlier house on the site that was built in 1837.
My latest video might be the strangest yet! I track the rising prices of Thanksgiving menu items at the Capitol Grill in Hartford from 1937 to 1970. Happy Thanksgiving!
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.
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