A Walk Through Hartford’s Old East Side

I’ll be doing a presentation on Hartford’s old East Side neighborhood next Thursday, February 21 at the Elmwood Senior Center in West Hartford. This is the neighborhood of the old Front Street that was demolished in the late 1950s to make way for Constitution Plaza, the Phoenix Building and the interstate highway. Using historic photos, we will journey down State Street to Front Street and then to Commerce Street along the Connecticut River. Revisit a fascinating urban landscape that was lost to  redevelopment over 60 years ago.

This is part of a series of three talks I’m giving at the Elmwood Senior Center. I’m also doing a course through West Hartford LifeLearn Continuing Education called “Great Buildings of Hartford” that begins later this month.

Dan Case Tavern (1786)

A rare example in Connecticut of an eighteenth century stone house is located at 30 Lawton Road in Canton. The gambrel-roofed house, initially used as a tavern, was erected in 1786 by Dan Case (1761-1815). He was the son of Lt. Dudley Case, who the first proprietor of what would become known as the Hosford Tavern. Dan Case later moved to Ohio. The house has an arched third-floor hall. From 1797 to 1799, Masonic meetings were held there by Village Lodge No. 29.

Nathan Bosworth House (1878)

On Sherman Street in Hartford are a pair of French Second Empire-style houses with mansard roofs and corner towers. They were erected by John R. Hills, a stonemason and builder (who also worked with contractor John B. Garvie to build the Mark Twain House), and William Blevins, a stone dealer. One of the houses, built in 1877, is at 21 Sherman Street. The other, pictured above, is at 25 Sherman Street. It was built in 1878 and its first resident was Nathan A. Bosworth, a plumber and steamfitter who was a partner in the company Embler and Bosworth and had served in the Civil War.

Torrington Fire Department Headquarters (1901)

The former Torrington Fire Department Headquarters building is a two-story brick structure with a corner bell tower. Located at 117 Water Street, the building was designed by Charles S. Palmer in the Romanesque Revival style and was erected by Hotchkiss Brothers & Company. It was completed in February 1901, with a one-story rear addition, providing work areas for mechanics, constructed about 1905. The building replaced an earlier wood frame firehouse on the site that was moved back to make way for the new structure (it was later removed from the property entirely). Wired for electricity, the building had a number of innovative features, including an alarm system that automatically released the horses from their stalls and lowered a harness suspended from the ceiling. The 1901 building served as a firehouse until 1980. The current Fire Department Headquarters is located just next door, at 111 Water Street.

Yantic Woolen Mill (1865)

The village of Yantic developed as an industrial area in Norwich in the first half of the nineteenth century. Textile manufacturing began in 1818 with the construction of cotton mills. These were acquired in 1824 by sea captain Ersastus Williams, who installed machinery to produce woolens. In 1865, his son, E. Winslow Williams, took charge of the mills, which would become known as the Yantic Woolen Company. That same year, a fire destroyed the original mills and Williams replaced them with the present stone mill building. The company was placed in receivership in 1913 and the mill would continue to operate under a number of successive owners until 1988. The building is often called the Hale Mill because the last company to use it was the Hale Manufacturing Company, which produced yarn for automobile upholstery fabric. Since 1995, plans to convert the former mill into a hotel were long delayed by financial difficulties and foreclosure. Last year, the building was acquired by a new developer, who received permission to proceed with the project from the Historic District Commission.

Charles Boardman House (1753)

At 48 Main Street in Middletown, just south of the Inn at Middletown, is a center-chimney colonial house built in 1753. In that year, Constant Kirtland sold the property with a partially erected house to Charles Boardman, who completed and first occupied the structure. It was next acquired by Charles Chadwick in 1758. Chadwick erected the barn that still stands behind the house. Deacon Joseph Clark bought the property in 1762 and operated an apothecary in the building. The building continued to be used for mixed commercial/residential purposes for over a century. In the late 1970s the house was restored and adapted for new commercial use as part of a redevelopment planned by preservationist John F. Reynolds III (which included the relocation and restoration of the houses now at 49,  61 and 73 Main Street).