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m wihhi^n frakfjuk, nerwfiq
AAtlOR Or'HARTPORP

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
Mrs. A. Osterman

BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

HART

FORD

COMMONWEALTH

OF CONNECTICUT

FIRST WRITTEN CONSTITUTION KNOWN TO HISTORY

" In Hartford, as I said, or in New Haven, men say that you can
get more out of life in twenty-four hours than you can anywhere
else in the world... I am not sure but this is true."
Edward Everett Hale,
Chaplain United States Senate

IN ART, LITERATURE, STATESMANSHIP, FINANCE, INDUSTRY, HART
FORD IS ONE OF THE FIRST MUNICIPALITIES IN THE UNITED
STATES— ITS RECORD IN HISTORY IS UNSURPASSED
AND TO-DAY IT FACES A GREAT FUTURE
—STORY TOLD
BY
HON. WILLIAM FRANKLIN HENNEY
MAYOR OF HARTFORD

ILLUSTRATED WITH THREE HUNDRED REPRODUCTIONS FROM RARE OLD PRINTS
AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Hartford, Connecticut
The Connecticut Magazine Company
1906

Copyrighted 1905 in the Connecticut Magazine
Press of Dorman Lithographing Company
New Haven, Connecticut

H

3 a

THE bibliography of Connecticut has received an important
contribution from Hon William Franklin Henney, Mayor of
Hartford, in which he entertainingly tells of Hartford's not
able past and foretells an eminent future. The first contribution
entitled "The Building of a Model Municipality" appeared in
The Connecticut Magazine, Volume IX, Number 3, and com
manded immediate interest, practically exhausting the publishers
edition. The second article entitled " Modern Factors in Munici
pal Progress" was presented in The Connecticut Magazine,
Volume IX, Number 4, and the demand again exceeded the
increased supply to such an extent that it was difficult to secure a
copy of the magazine a few days after publication. Orders for more
than one thousand copies in excess of the first editions have neces
sitated the presentation of the material in special booklet. The
text and illustrations are here collected and re-printed, and appear,
as nearly as possible, the same as in the original magazine articles,
even to the extent of preserving the introductory notes and title
lines. The supplementary articles by Edward Bailey Eaton,
which are also of much historical and pictorial interest, are included
in this special booklet edition. I take pleasure in this opportunity
to express my deep appreciation to Mayor Henney and Mr. Eaton
for their valuable services to The Connecticut Magazine, and
I believe that the residents of Hartford will join with me in con
gratulating them upon the eminent success they have met in
recording the honorable story of this city of cultured homes and
business integrity and progress.

Editor Connecticut Magazine

H N
WILLIAMFRANKLIN
HENNEY

Mayor of
HartfordT
Connecticut

rF^ ffiL^aTOM)

PartofiAe 'asture,

B.B * p. C. Kellogg,
RARE OLD MAP OF HARTFORD IN 1640
Supplement to historical article " The Building of a Model Municipality,"
by Hon. William Franklin Henney, Mayor of Hartford,
in The Connecticut Magazine (Summer of 1905)

Utitford. Conn.

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY
THE STORY OF THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION FOR A
CIVIC STRUCTURE EMBODYING THE PRINCIPLES OF
JUDICIOUS SELF-GOVERNMENT, GOOD CITIZENSHIP AND
MATERIAL PROSPERITY — FIRST PART OF IMPORTANT
ARTICLE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF HARTFORD
BY
WILLIAM FRANKLIN HENNEY
MAYOR OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT

FIRST SEAL OF HARTFORD
From The Municipal Register
THIS is an age of cities — the
normal and inevitable result of
great commercial and industrial
activities. Commerce, agricul
ture and manufactures alike demand
convenient centers of distribution for
their commodities, and this necessity
is the city's excuse for being.
And so it is that each city has its
own peculiar characteristics, its own
genius, so to speak, working out
through the details of its history and
environment its own political and
commercial destiny.

New England

cities, from a manufacturing stand
point, present peculiarities all their
own. They import their raw material,
they export the finished product. So
congested is the territory served by
the railroad systems in this locality

With a record of achievement that is unsurpassed by
any American municipality, and which includes the
distinction of having contributed to American life and
progress much of its firmest qualities, Hartford to-day is
still forging strong character and material stability. In
a notable review of Hartford's attainments, and a fore
sight of its possibilities, no keener observer could be
found to discuss the subject than Hon. William Franklin
Henney, whose Scotch ancestry has endowed him with
accurate perception and clear conviction. Mayor Henney
is a native of Enfield, Connecticut, and is the son of
John Henney who was born in Scotland and emigrated
to America about seventy-five years ago and settled in
Connecticut. Educated in the public schools of Hart
ford and graduated from the High School, Mr. Henney
pursued a collegiate course at Princeton, where he was
graduated in 1874. He studied law with the late Hon.
Henry C. Robinson and in 1876 was admitled to the bar.
The first part of his article on Hanford is presented
herewith and will be continued— Editor

that it presents to visitors the appear
ance of a vast railroad switching yard
for the receipt and delivery of freight.
It is dependent upon transportation
facilities even for its food. In these
circumstances the story of the rise
and progress of a city like Hartford,
the capital of Connecticut, has an
interest and charm peculiarly its
own. Happy in its physical surround
ings and in its site on the banks of
the beautiful Connecticut, it was no
less fortunate in the character, accom
plishments and purposes of its foun
der. The little band of Pilgrims,
that under the leadership of Thomas
Hooker worked their toilsome way
through the pathless wilderness, to
lay at Hartford the foundations, not
of a city only but of a commonwealth,

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

left their ineffaceable impress upon
the political, commercial and busi
ness life of the community. Inspired
by the example and uplifted by ftie
precepts of their accomplished and
pious leader, they instituted a system
of constitutional government, which
has stood for well nigh three centu
ries as the best expression of the wis
dom of a liberty loving people.
Thomas Hooker was born July 7,
1586, in Marfield, Leicester County,
England. He was entered at Queen's
College, Cambridge, as a sizar, that
is one who waits on the table
and is exempt from college
charges because of this and other
personal services. We are told, how
ever, that he took his degree of B. A.
from Emmanuel College in 1608, and
his M. A. three years afterward.
Hooker became a famous preacher
at Chelmsford, Essex, England, and
was silenced for non-conformity.
Threatened with fine and imprison
ment, he fled to Holland. In 1632, a
large body, composed mostly of mem
bers of his English congregation,
sailed for America and settled at
Newtown, since called Cambridge, in
Massachusetts. At their request,
Hooker left Holland and arrived in
Boston September 4, 1633. With him
came John Cotton, John Haynes,
afterward Governor of Connecticut,
and some two hundred others. As
early as 1634, the enterprising spirit
of the colonists had expressed itself
in pioneer excursions "to spy out the
land," particularly that land to the
south of them, and there was much
talk about the excellent meadows
bordering the Connecticut river.
Amid a good deal of excitement
and opposition, Hooker and his
followers determined to remove
to these meadows, and in 1635 the
General Court gave them permission
to do so. In 1636, Hooker and his
assistant, Stone, with one hundred
men, women and children, started
from Cambridge and traveled more
than one hundred miles through a
trackless wilderness to Hartford.

Their wealth consisted of one hun
dred and sixty head of cattle and
such arms and utensils and personal
belongings as they could carry with
them. So delicate was Mrs. Hooker's
health that she was borne on a litter.
The journey was difficult and
forbidding under the most favorable
circumstances, but particularly so^ to
these people unused to hardships,
and who, in England, led lives of
ease and affluence. The wanderers
reached the banks of the Connecticut
about the middle of June, at a point
somewhere between Springfield and
Hartford, and pursuing their jour
ney south they located on the present
site of Hartford. The Indians called
the place Suckiage. The settlers
named it Newtown, after their Mass
achusetts home; in February, 1637,
however, it was given its present
name of Hartford. The tract on
which the present town of Hartford
was laid out was purchased by Sam
uel Stone and William Goodwin and
others of Sunckquasson, the Indian
chief and proprietor of the soil.
The original treaty was lost, but it
was renewed by his heirs in 1670.
The land being thus acquired, its dis
tribution was promptly begun, chiefly
into house lots, farms and meadow
lots. Each grant was upon condition
that the land was to be built upon
within twelve months ; and as a pre
caution against fire each house was
required to have a ladder or a tree
running to within two feet of the
top. In case of a sale the town had
the preference as a purchaser, pay
ing only for the cost of the improve
ments. The town had the right,
on compensation to the proprietors,
to lay out and establish highways at
its pleasure. At the foot of Ferry
street was established a "town land
ing;" and there was another landing
at the corner of Arch and Front
streets. Hooker and his company were not
the first white settlers of Hartford
In 1623, the Dutch formed a trading
post in the locality known as Dutch

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

Point, on the north side of Little
River. The locality was known to
them as early as 1614, when Abra
ham Block and Cornelius Hendrick-
sen, in a small sloop which they had
built at New Amsterdam explored
the Connecticut as far at least as
Hartford. In 1633, the original block
house of* the Dutch had grown into a
small fort with earthen walls, moun
ted with small cannon. Ship-loads
of bricks were brought over from
Holland and used in the construction
of house and fort alike, and here and

extending to little stream." The land
covers most of the present site of Hart
ford, and the price paid for it was not
extravagant. It consisted of twenty-
seven ells of heavy woolen cloth, six
axes, six kettles, eighteen knives,
one sword-blade, one pair of shears,
some toys and a musket. The Dutch
occupied very little of the land de
scribed in the grant, their principal
object being the purchase of furs.
They called their fort the Llouse of
Hope, and surrounded it with a
cultivated garden of about twent}--

^tt£3iJtafc&^^Bg^

THE MOST HISTORIC BURYING GROUND IN THE UNITED STATES
[n the Center Church yard in the heart of the business section of Hartford lie the remains of Thomas Hooker, the
founder of American democracy and author of the first written constitution known to the world ; Rev. Samuel Stone,
one of the first American theologians ; John Haynes, one of the three illustrious signers of the first written constitu
tion creating a government and the first governor of Connecticut ; David Gardiner, the first white child born in Con
necticut, and many other Puritan pioneers

there one or two of them may still be
found, as curiosities, in the possession
of a Hartford citizen. In 1633, Jacob
VanCurler, commissary of the post,
under command of Wouter Van-
Curler, director of New Netherlands,
bought of the Pequot Indians certain
lands' described as follows : "Flat
called Suckiage, one league down the
river, a third of a league wide to the
highland, and beyond the hill upward

five acres. When Hooker and his
b:.nd arrived they claimed the land
under the English King, and later
under their deed from the river
Indians. The Dutch, however, in
sisted that the river Indians were
subject to the Pequots, and had acqui
esced in the Pequot deed. Quarrels
between the contending parties were
frequent and at length commission
ers from the English colonies met

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

A RELIC OF THE FIRST DAYS OF MATERIAL
PROGRESS IN CONNECTICUT
Peter Stuyvesant at Hartford and
agreed that the little river should be
the boundary between the contest
ants. In 1635, when Holland and
England were at war, Parliament
authorized the American Colonies to
open hostilities against the Dutch.
Captain John Underhill came from
Providence and posted the following
on the "House of Hope:"
"I John Underhill, do seize this
house and land for the state of Eng
land, by virtue of the commission
granted by the Providence Plantation."
The General Court soon afterwards
sequestered Dutch property in Hart
ford by its own authoriy. This
ended the Dutch occupation of any
portion of the territory now compris
ing Hartford, and the name Dutch
Point is the only trace left of their
enterprise. On the 14th of January, 1639, the
men of the Connecticut Colony, that
is, inhabitants of Hartford, Windsor
and Wethersfield, met in the meet
ing-house at Hartford, to draw up a
constitution for their government.
There were about two hundred of
them. This gathering in the objects
aimed at and the work accomplished
was unique in history. Here was an
assemblage of the inhabitants of three
contiguous settlements, met together
for the purpose of creating a state,
adopting its form of government,
defining and limiting the power of
its offices. Those powers were grant
ed by the people themselves, and the
government as thus established ex
isted, and could exist, only by the
consent of the governed.
All the inhabitants had part in the
government, and all were required

to attend the town meeting, unless
excused, under a penalty of a fine of
six pence. The first officers of the
town were Townsmen, Constables,
Surveyors, Chimney- Viewers, and
occasional committees and arbitra
tors. The Townsmen were similar
in function to the present Select
men, but had broader powers.
They supervised not only morals
and manners, but the private affairs
of the inhabitants as well. They even
attempted from time to time to reg
ulate dress in accordance with the
means and condition of the wearer.
but with little success. Hartford had
another important officer — the chim
ney sweep. John Cummings, a white
citizen, was appointed to this office
in 1639. The town grew steadily
notwithstanding the difficulties and
dangers it encountered, and has been
remarkable throughout its history
for the self-respecting and law-abid
ing spirit of its citizens.
In the early days the town had but
two law-givers, viz. : the Town meet
ing and the General Court, or Legis
lature. And under the influence of
these conservative yet democratic
bodies the growth of the town was
systematic and orderly. For years
the Indians were a menace to the
thriving settlement, and to guard
against their depredations a watch
was organized and maintained. Every
male inhabitant over 16 years of age,
certain church and town magistrates
excepted, was obliged to take his
turn as watchman. The principal
stations were the corner of North
Main street, opposite Morgan street,
then called "Sentinel Hill," South
Main street, a little below its junction
with Charter Oak street, and on
Charter Oak Hill. The watchmen
were so stationed that they could
communicate with one another by
pistol shot. Religious services in
the churches were often held under
the protection of an armed guard.
Plartford had a bell ringer and
town crier as early as 1641. He rang
his bell in the streets an hour before

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

A PLAN OF MAIN-STREET, HARTFORD, SHOWING THE BUILDINGS AND OCCUPANTS
AT THE PERIOD OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Butt St.
Jonathan Wads worth/ Sea Captain.
Samuel Talcott, Merchant.
Col. Talcott's Store.
Cotton Murray's Tavern.
Daniel Olcott's Cooper's shop.
Dr. Lemuel Hopkins.

Dr. Eliakim Fish. ¦
Zachariah Pratt, Farmer. m
Thomas Sloane's Blacksmith's shop.„m

F

Joseph Talcott, Treasurer.

Pelatiah Pierce, Farmer.

Wm, Pratt, Farmer..^
Joseph Pratt, Farmer. ™
Samuel Wadsworth, Farmer and Sea Capt. ._
tDavid Bull's Tavern. m
James Church, Merchant, j
John Nevins, Cooper and Batcher.. m | Court House.

I — Col. Samuel Talcott.
I— William Mosely, Esqr.
I- Dr. John Endicott.
I— Timothy Phelps, Cabinet maker.
i— Richard Shepherd, Tailor.

¦ ' Dr. Jepson and Judge Root.
¦ -• Capt. Caleb Bull.
*— Dr. Morrison.
¦ -- George Smith, Sea Captain.

Haynes Lord.^—
Old Gove, Shoe maker.9 m
Ebenezer Austin's Goldsmith's shop. . _
Currier's Cabinet shop. m
f James Mooklar, Barber. m
School house, a
First Society, Meeting house. _j
Brown, Chair maker. _ ¦
Stephen Austin, Tailor.. m
Capt. Hooker. B
Watson's Printing ojfice. B
William Stanley... B
Widow Heppy Seymour or Skinner, rrj
&Moses Butler's Tavern.Zm
Samuel Howard, Farmer. •••¦
Thomas Seymour, Esqr., Lawyer, m
Parson Whitman.; a
Isaac Tucker, Blacksmith, m
Gideon Bunce's house. m
Elisha Burnham's Blacksmith's shop, m
South Meeting house. — -h
Parson Buckingham.— ¦
Dr. Jepson., n
Parsonage house, pi
Wm. Adams' Shoe maker's shop. ~m

i -Dr. McLean. II
i— -Dr. Hezekiah Merrils.1T
t- Susy Butler's.
I John Chenevard, Sea Captain.**
I Thomas Hopkins, Sea Captain.
I -; Flagg Tavern.
I- Stephen Meers, Various Trades.
i - Deacon Ezra Coming, Shoe maker.
*-Col. Wadsworth.
I- Benjamin Payne, Esqr., Lawyer
i- James Caldwell, Sea Captain. <

•r^Elisha Shepherd, Shoe maker.
§g River.
I— Dr. Bull, and Rev. Abraham Beach, .Eptsco-'
pal minister.' -

¦ Old Will Hooker, Butcher and Blacksmith.
a— Burnham house.
¦ — Groce house.
m — . Aaron Bull, Sea Captain and Shoe maker.

South Green.

Capt. Daniel Sheldon, Farmer,

r\

V

Amos Hinsdale's Tavern.

* Killed at the taking of Burgoyne.
t This was the most noted tavern in Hartford, and was called the " Bunch of Grapes Tavern" from
the carving of a bunch of grapes used as a sign.
i Mooklar was an Irishman ; the first printing office in Hartford, was in a chamber over his shop.
<} The seven copper club met at this tavern, so called from the amount which each member spent
on the evening they met, viz, seven coppers, for half a mug of flip. This cl*ib consisted of elderly
men, who met to learn the news, &c. Mr. Butler kept a very respectable tavern ; he would not suffer
any of his customers who resided in town to remain in his house after 9 o'clock at night; if they
asked for any more liquor after they had drank their half mug, his reply was, "No, you sha'nt have
another drop! go home to your families." '
U A Scotchman. t First Cashier of the Hartford Bank. ** A Frenchman.

*tf S 1 titJt

v ,«.i

«4^<$ ^- r; i ssssl

THE PARADE OF THE "BLACK GOVERNOR" IN HARTFORD
A custom that ante-dated the Revolution and continued down to 1820 was the inducting into office of
a negro governor by the slaves in Connecticut with elaborate ceremonies— Their authority consisted
of settling trivial disputes among the slaves—" Old Boston," one of the most popular " black
governors," is buried in the old Center burying-ground where lie the remains of the founders of our
democracy

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

#1 mmf s- a

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^

FROM DRAWING OF THE CHARTER OAK AS IT APPEARED AFTER THE GALE JN 1856
By courtesy of W. H. Gocher, author of " Wadsworth, or The Charter Oak"
daylight, and the inhabitants were
expected to show a light in their
houses within fifteen minutes of the
sound of the bell. In later years the
meeting-house bell was rung at noon
and at nine o'clock at night, a custom
still in vogue, except that the bell
rung is that of the fire alarm instead
of the church.
One of the singular institutions of
Hartford's early clays was that of the
"black governors." On the Satur
day after the regular election day
the negro slaves were accustomed to
meet and elect from among their
number a governor, who appointed
other officers including sheriffs and
justices of the peace. This custom
ante-dated the Revolution and was
continued down to 1820. These
black governors were held in great
respect by the negroes, were inducted
into office with a parade and elaborate
ceremonies, and were called upon to
settle all kinds of differences and
disputes arising among their fellows.
Their jurisdiction was based entirely
upon tradition, and was exercised
only over negroes held in slavery.
Peleg Nott, the property of a West
Hartford farmer, was one of these
black governors, and "Boston,"'
another, after an exemplary life, was
buried in the old Center burying
ground. The black justices of the peace
dealt out a severe and summary
justice to slave transgressors, and
one in Hartford, named "Neptune,"
was a particular terror to evil doers.
He was accustomed to order his
sentences excuted on the south
green by candle light. Masters were
accustomed to subdue their obstrep-
eious slaves by threatening to take
them before old "Ncpf
The residences of old Hartford
were, for the most part, located on
Front, Arch, Sheldon, Main, Elm,
Governor and Buckingham streets.
The log house soon gave place to the
typical New England dwelling — a
large square building usually having
a one-story ell in rear. The great
THE FAMOUS CHARTER OAK WHICH FIGURED IN EARLY HISTORY
It was in the hollow of this tree that the charter procured from Charles 1 1, in 1662, securing the rights
of independent self-government, was concealed when demand was made for its surrender in 1687  The
charter oak was blown down in a gale in 1856 and the above is from the only original photograph of
the tree in existence — The charter oak measured thirty-three feet in circumference at the base and its
age is estimated at a thousand years, dating back before the time when the Normans conquered
England. Plate loaned by Board of Park Commissioners

If

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

central chimney was always a feature
of these houses and the fireplace was
relied on to furnish heat and served
ether useful purposes.
In early times agriculture was the
chief occupation of the inhabitants of
the town, and furnished them subsis
tence. The crops were wheat, corn,
barley, oats, hemp and flax. Each
householder had his vegetable garden
and orchard. Such trades as
ordinary needs required were
followed, as that of carpenter, black
smith, tanner, wheelwright, shoe
maker, sawyer and weaver. The
storekeeper conducted his business

^iflftfiUM H J

BEGINNING OF STATECRAFT IN
HARTFORD
First State House was a wooden structure, 70 by 30 feet,
built in 1719-20, in front of the present City Hall— In the
garret were stored arms for militia— Previous to its erec
tion the General Court met at the church

THE SECOND STATE HOUSE IN HARTFORD WAS ERECTED IN 1796
It was built of brick with brown-stone trimmings at a cost of $52,000, a costly structure for the period— Various de
vices, including lottery, were employed to raise the funds— The edifice is to-day still in use as Hartford's City Hall,
and the above photograph is with its modern surroundings— From the Municipal Register— Plate loaned by Henry F,

VIEW OP HARTFORD PROM DRAWING MADE ABOUT EIGHTY YEARS AGO
The spire on the extreme left is that of South Congregational church— Next is spire of old South Baptist church where Horse Guard armory now stands, corner Main
and Sheldon streets— Third spire is St. John's Episcopal church, the spire has since been removed— Fourth spire is Center Congregational church— Fifth is dome of
second State House, now City Hall— Sixth is old Fourth church, later known as Melodeon building and occupying site opposite Cheney building— Seventh is First
Baptist church, afterwards Touro hall, occupying present site of Cheney building— Eighth is spire of Christ Episcopal church— Ninth is spire of an old Methodist
church, near corner of Talcott and Market streets— Tenth is spire of North Congregational church, how Germania hall, at corner of Main and Morgan streets— In
foreground is stern-wheel steamboat, probably the old " Oliver Ellsworth" which made trips to New York before the coming of the railroad days- Reproduction of
picture is by permission of its owner, George E. Wright of Hartford

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

THE FAMOUS OLD WADSWORTH INN OP COLONIAL TAVERN DAYS
The home of courageous Captain Daniel Wadsworth, who defied the mandates of King James 1 1 and hid the Charter
in the old oak— The family mansion is still standing and occupied by his descendants

by a system of barter, and generally
took his pay in produce.
The government exercised a
paternal supervision over courtship
and marriage, and it was not until
1684 that the General Court granted
to ordained ministers permission to
marry such as desired a religious
ceremony At one time bachelors were com
pelled to pay a fine to the town
for the privilege of indulging in
"single blessedness."
Family worship was enjoined by
law. Its omission rendered the head
of the house liable to penalties.
Visitors and "strangers within the
gate" were required to attend this
service and, while sojourning in any
household, were enjoined to submit
themselves to "domestical govern
ment therein."
Perhaps the most romantic incident
in the history of Hartford is that of
the hiding of the charter of Charles
II in the hollow trunk of an oak tree
then standing on the brow of what is
known as Charter Oak Hill. The
chief and most interesting figure of

that transaction is Captain Joseph
Wadsworth. The Wadsworth Inn, the family
mansion, is still standing, just be
yond the western border of the city,
on the corner of Albany and Prospect
avenues. It is well preserved and
suggests many historical incidents
and recollections.
How James II proposed to consoli
date New England into one colony,
how he attempted to annul the
colonial charters covering all that
territory, how Connecticut met and
resisted the efforts of Sir Edmond
Andros to carry out his master's
behest, how one of the charters of
Connecticut was concealed in Guil
ford and the duplicate seized by
Captain Joseph Wadsworth and
hidden in the trunk of the historic
oak, these things, though often told
have an ever fresh and vivid interest
for the Hartford citizen, and shed a
halo of romance about the spot where
stood the grand old tree.
It is a significant circumstance
that, in the early days of the Hart
ford settlement, when the axe of the

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

BVSHNELL PARK
IN 1850

HARTFORD ESTABLISHES ONE OF FIRST PARKS IN UNITED STATES
The purchase was decided by popular vote at election January 5, r8s4, resulting in 1,005 votes in favor, and 682 in
opposition, and included the buildings shown in map — 1. Morocco Factory — 2. Bliss House — 3. Webb House — 4 and
5. James Ward's Houses -6 Cooper Shop — 7. Icehouse — 8. Dwellings — g. Railroad buildings — 10. Soap factory — 11.
Daniel's mill — 12. Blacksmith shop — 13. Watering place

colonist was busy clearing land for
cultivation, that oak tree was spared
upon petition of the Suckiage Indians
whose councils assembled under its
sturdy branches and at whose foot
the tomahawk was buried at the con
clusion of peace. It was known by
the Indians as their "peace tree." It
rewarded the consideration of the
settlers in sparing it by receiving and
keeping safely within its trunk the
charter of their liberties. And to
day the Society of Colonial Wars is
taking steps to erect a suitable monu
ment on the spot where it stood.
Hartford has long had the reputa
tion of being a conservative city.
But its history reveals the fact that
its citizens have always been enter
prising and adventuresome. As soon
as their husbandry yielded them a
surplus beyond their own necessities
they began to embark in trade. At
first their commerce was confined to

the river towns along the Connecticut,
and their aim was to make Hartford
the distributing center for the Con
necticut valley.
Gradually they extended their con
nection, by a fleet of their own ships,
to London, to Amsterdam and even
to Mediterranean ports. They were
handicapped, however by the fact
that owing to scarcity of money.
much of their business was neces
sarily transacted by means of barter.
To meet this difficulty the old Hart
ford Bank, was organized in 1792,
with a capital of $100,000. Its benefi
cent influence was soon felt. At the
time of its organization Hartford
had a population of some 4,000 in
habitants. In a few years thereafter
the population had increased 30 per
cent. Prices of commodities were
soon regulated by their money value,
business was transacted on an intelli
gent basis, and trade thereby im-

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

13

BUSHNELL PARK AT TIME OF PURCHASE A130UT 1854
View looking southwest from footof Trumbull street, showing Ward's island on which stood a tannery; the island has
since been graded down and disappeared — In the distance is Trinity College which formerly stood where the State
Capitol is now located — Picture is trom painting in possession of Connecticut Historical society and artist is unknown

-1Hfr -

*&¦

IMLAY'S MILL WHICH S 1'OOD ON BANK OF RIVER IN BUSHNELL PARK
This mill was located a few rods south of present bridge over Park river leading to-day to Union station— Grains,
ginger-wood, ginger root and dyewoods were ground at the mill-South of Imlay s mil stood an icehouse and cooper s
shop— Illustration is from sketch in possession of Connecticut Historical Society— Plate loaned by W. H. Gocher,
author of " Wadsworth, or The Charter Oak "

•**=*

-'-aaiiSr?^

EARLY VIEW OF BUSHNELL PARK FROM TRINITY COLLEGE WHICH OCCUPIED PRESENT SITE OF STATE CAPITOL
It is interesting to note that the park was then almost barren, and compare it with a walk to-day under the arehes of foliage from the towering trees

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

15

UMMMHi

¦

,t u

a$ I

FOOT BRIDGE OVER PARK RIVER AT FOOT OF PEARL STREET
Prior to 1850 there was a ford near foot of Pearl street which was mainly used by teams bound to and from Imlay's
mill— The above is a sketch from memory by Frederick B. Perkins and the original drawing is in possession of Con
necticut Historical Society— Plate loaned by W. H. Gocher, author of " Wadsworth, or The Charter Oak"

mensely stimulated. This bank from
the outset insisted upon expressing
values in dollars and cents. Notes
offered for discount were required to
be so expressed and its own bills
were so written. In all the troublous
times that followed its inception this
grand old bank stood forth in the
community a tower of strength.
With the exception of a year or two
at the beginning its dividends have
been regular and certain, and to-day
it has. a capital and surplus of $1,900,
000 and deposits upward of $3,000,
000. The institution of this reliable
bank inspired other enterprises.
Hartford began its insurance career
when in 1794 Sanford & Wadsworth
formed a co-partnership comprising
themselves and others, to write
policies of fire insurance under the
name of the Hartford Fire Insurance
Company. Other groups were formed
to underwrite maritime risks. About
half a century of varied experience
in fire and marine insurance passed,
before Hartford's first life insurance
company was organized. James L.
Howard was the pioneer in calling
the attention of his fellow citizens to
the advantage of this form of insur

ance. In 1846 he held the local
agency for the Mutual Benefit of
New Jersey and took many applica
tions. The same year the General
Assembly granted a charter to The
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance
Company. The success of Hartford as a bank
ing and insurance center has been
largely due to the sound character
and strict integrity displayed in the
management of these institutions.
These qualities were early illustrated
in the calamity of the New York fire
of 1835. Eliphalet Terry was then
President of the Hartford Fire Insur
ance Company. He saw the oppor
tunity for his company and em
braced it. Driving in a sleigh to
New York, after having pledged to
the Hartford Bank his own property
as security for needed funds, he
announced that the Hartford would
pay all its losses dollar for dollar and
would write new insurance. Most
of the other companies involved
went bankrupt. The result was the
phenomenal prosperity of Mr.
Terry's company, and then and there
were established the solid founda
tions1 of its splendid fortunes.

FROM RARE OLD PHOTOGRAPH OP HARTFORD TAKEN ABOUT FIFTY YEARS AGO
It is believed that this is the oldest original scenic photograph of Hartford in existence and is dated by experts even as far back as 1S56 — Practical scenic photography was un
known in this country until a few years preceding and this original therefore holds much antiquarian interest — It has been retouched in reproduction only sufficiently to bring out
fading details — It is probably made with one of the first modern cameras in the United States — The view is taken in front of City Hall looking south down Main street— The
original is in possession of the Phcenix Insurance Company of Hartford

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

17

The total capital and surplus of the
Hartford banks, together with the
assets of its insurance companies
suggest the importance of the city as
a financial center. The banks have
an aggregate capital and surplus of
more than $12,500,000, while the
assets of the insurance companies
foot up the handsome total of $263,-
736,546.25, with a total surplus of
$36,328,268.05. To these figures
must be added the total deposits of
the banks amounting to $30,168,000;
making the aggregate wealth of our
banks and insurance companies alone
nearly $306,500,000. These amounts
have been accumulated within the
past century, and much of them
within half that time. They repre
sent a growth from small and very
humble beginnings.
Of the banks the old Hartford
began, as before stated, with a capital
of $100,000. The value and advan
tages to the community of that pio
neer in Hartford finance were so ap
parent that it was followed by the
Phoenix Bank, in| 1814, with a capital
of $1,000,000. Sixteen banks to-day
meet the financial needs of Hartford.
Their organization and history will
be considered later.
The beautiful building now stand
ing on Capitol Hill is the third state
house built in Hartford. In the year
1720 the first structure was erected
on Courthouse, now called City Hall
Square. Tradition has made famil
iar the incident of the celebrated dark
day in 1780. At a meeting hell in
the state house on that day an ad
journment was moved, under the be
lief that the day of judgment was at
hand. Abraham Davenport objected
to adjournment, saying: "That day
is either at hand or it is not. If it
is not, there is no cause for adjourn
ment. If it is, I choose to be found
doing my duty. I wish, therefore,
that candles may be brought."
In 1783, in the midst of the peace
celebration, the old state house was
seriously damaged by fire. It was
repaired at an expense of 750 pounds,

Hartford contributing 250 pounds.
The second state house, the present
city hall, was built in 1792 at a cost
of $52,480, of which Hartford paid
$3,500, and Hartford County $1,500.
In 1882 the title to the building was
in controversy between Flartford City
and County. The Supreme Court,
in that case, decided at its January
term, 1882, all the questions raised
by the controversy, upon the finding
of a committee, Charles J. Hoadley,
Esq., who found the following facts.:
"It does not appear, nor is it
claimed, that the county of Hartford
has by virtue of any recorded deed
or grant a title to any part of the
land in the city of Hartford, called
State House Square, on which the old
state house stands. The city of Hart
ford derives its title to the land in
question from a deed of quitclaim by
the town of Hartford, dated Decem
ber 26, 1878, duly executed, made in
pursuance of a legal vote according
to the customary mode of disposing
of public lands in that town.
The town of Hartford having ac
quired an equitable title by purchase
from the aborigines, had its legal
title confirmed and established by a
patent from the Governor and Com
pany of the Colony of Connecticut,
dated May 26, 1685, which patent
was confirmed by an act of the Gen
eral Assembly of the colony in May,
1703. The title of the Governor and
Company of the Colony of Connect
icut was from the royal charter
granted by King Charles II in 1652.
Whatever interest the state of Con
necticut had in the old state house
and its appurtenances was conveyed
to the city of Hartford by Alfred E.
Burr, president of the Board of
Capitol Commissioners, by deed dated
June 27, 1879. This deed was made
in pursuance of two resolutions of
the General Assembly, one approved
July 17, 1871, the other March 28,
1879. Before the building of the first
state house the General Assembly r.nd
other courts ordinarily sat in a cham-

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

ber called the Court Chamber, in the
first meeting-house in Hartford, situ
ated on the southeast part of what
has since been State House Square,
and built, so far as appears, at the
sole charge of the town of Hartford.
In 1715 an order was passed by the
deputy governor and council for
repairing this chamber at the colony's
charge. In October, 171 7, an act of the
General Assembly was passed, recit
ing that " it appeared very necessary
that convenient houses for the sitting
of the General Assembly and other
courts be provided, and or-dering that
a quantity of the ungranted lands be
sold to procure 1,500 pounds, whereof
650 pounds was to be improved to
wards a state house in Hartford, and
3O0 pounds each to the other counties.
New Haven, New London and Fair
field, for courthouses.
In October, 1719, the dimensions
of the building were agreed upon,
and it was ordered that the county of
Hartford should pay towards the
finishing of the state house, if it
should be requisite, the sum of 250
pounds. Accordingly, for this pur
pose, and as it was empowered to do
by the General Assembly, the Hart
ford County Court in February, 1719,
ordered a tax or rate of a half-penny
on the pound to be laid on all the
polls and ratable estate within the
county. The same building is in the
records sometimes called the state
house and sometimes the courthouse.
Reference is made to the courts held
in the courthouse at Hartford, in an
act of the General Assembly, May
session, 1724.
Besides its use for the General As
sembly and other courts, town meet
ings were usually held in the build
ing, as aonears by the records of the
town. In the charter of the city of
Hartford, granted in May, 1784, the
first city court was ordered to be held
in the state house in said city, with
this further provision: "and the city
court of said city may be holden in
said state house from time to time, or

in such other place as said city shall
provide." The charter also provided
that the first city meeting should be
held at the state house, and a by-law
of the city approved February 22,
1785, ordained that the annual city
meeting should be there held.
The building was also used for
other purposes. The First Ecclesias
tical Society held religious exercises
there from 1737 to 1739, while their
new meeting-house was in building.
It was used for divine services by the
Episcopalians from time to time
between 1762 and 1795, before they
had a church. Members of the
junior' class of Yale College acted a
play in the courthouse on the Mon
day evening of election week, May,
The cost of repairs of • this state
house and the pay of the door-keeper
of the courthouse were defrayed,
two-thirds from the treasury of the
colony of Connecticut and one-third
from that of the county of Hartford.
At a session of the General As
sembly holden at Hartford in May,
1792, it was resolved:
"That John Chester, John Cald
well, John Trumbull, Noadiah Hooker
and John Morgan, be appointed a
committee to superintend the business
of erecting and finishing a large, con
venient state house in the town of
Hartford, to accommodate the Gen
eral Assembly of this state, and for
other uses ; the same to be built tif
brick, and upon the following condi
tions, viz. : the inhabitants of the city,
town and county of Hartford are to
raise and pay into the hands of said
committee the sum of 1,500 pounds
lawful money by the first day of May,
1793, to be applied by said committee
towards erecting and finishing said
building; and in case the said sum
should be raised and paid over, or se
cured to be paid, as is above expressed,
then the said committee are hereby
authorized and impowered to draw
from. the treasury of this state a sum
not exceeding 1,500 pounds, to be
applied by them to the same pur-

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

PUBLIC GREEN EAST OF PRESENT CITY HALL WHEN IT WAS THE OLD STATE HOUSE
The Hartford Post Office now stands on this site

pose ; likewise to sell, at auction or
otherwise, the state house standing
in said town of Plartford, and to vest
the avails thereof in the new build
ing to be erected as aforesaid ; and
that the committee make their con
tracts in the premises for money
only." A subscription paper was accord
ingly circulated among the inhabi
tants of the city and town of Hart
ford, the original of which, with the
signatures of the subscribers and the
amounts of them severally subscribed,
may be seen in the rooms of the Con
necticut Historical Society. The
heading of the subscription paper is
as follows:
"The subscribers do engage to pay
into the hands of Messrs. John
Chester, Noadiah Hooker, John
Trumbull, John Caldwell and John
Morgan, when requested, the several
suras of money annexed to their
names, to be appropriated by the
above named persons in erecting and

finishing a state house in the town
of Hartford. June i, 1792." '
The major part of the assistants
and justices of the peace in the county
of Plartford, being met together laid
a tax upon the inhabitants of the
county to aid in defraying the cost
of the building, as appears by the
record in the office of the clerk of the
Superior Court; the most material
part of which record is as follows :
"At a meeting of the Civil
Authority in the county of Hartford
in the state of Connecticut, holden at
Hartford in said county on the sec
ond Tuesday of August, Anno Dom.
1792. "Voted, That a tax of one-half
penny on the pound be laid upon the
polls and ratable estate of the inhabi
tants of the county on the list of 1791,
to be collected and paid into the treas
ury of the county by the first day
of February next, for the purpose of
contributing a reasonable proportion
to build a state and county house,

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

OLD CITY HALL ON MARKET STREET
Stood on site now occupied by police station — It was
erected for city government purposes in 1834 — Abraham
Lincoln addressed a large audience in this hall in i860
upon the plan proposed by the Gen
eral Assembly in their resolve passed
at their session holden at Hartford
in May last; and that the treasurer
of said county be, and he is hereby
directed to issue his warrants for col
lecting said tax, directed to such
collectors as may be appointed agree
ably to law to collect the same."
The sum of $5,000, which is the
equivalent of £1,500 lawful money,
was actually raised and paid by the
inhabitants of the city, town and coun
ty of Hartford towards the
building of the state house. In the
first instance the state paid for the
purpose, $5,000; the citizens of
Hartford raised by subscriptions,
$3,500; and the county of Hartford
paid about $1,500; making together
$10,000. Further sums were afterwards paid
by the state to defray the cost of the
building. This appears from the re
port of a committee of the General
Assembly made to that body at the
October session of 1796. What
amount, if anything, was realized
from the sale of the old state or court
house does not appear.
No action of the town with regard
to the subject appears to have been
taken at the time of building either
of the two state houses referred to.
When the building was ready for
occupancy in 1796, the new state
house continued to be used for the
same purposes as its predecessor had

been, as also for the executive offices
of the state government, for which
accommodations had not been pro
vided in the old state house. It was
used for city purposes until 1830.
Town meetings continued to be held'
there until 1832, and in later years the
representatives' chamber is specified
on the records as the particular part
of the building in which they were
held. It was occupied without in
terruption for holding the various
courts of the county — the County
Court until its abolition in 1855, the
Supreme Court of Errors until 1878,
and the Superior Court to the present
time. In May, 1822, a resolve was paired
by the General Assembly, reciting
that the city and county of Hart
ford had granted $300 for the pur
pose of procuring a bell to be fixed
upon the state house at Hartford, and
authorizing the comptroller and the
sheriff of the county of Hartford, at
the expense of the state, so soon as
such bell should be procured without
cost to the state, to put up the bell
with a suitable cupola surrounded and
properly supported, provided the ex
pense did not exceed the sum of $300.
The cost of repairing that portion
of the building occupied by the
county has been defrayed from time
to time from the county treasury."
Subsequent to the decision in this
case, when the new county building
was completed the county vacated
the old state house and left the city
the sole and undisputed possession of
the land and building, which it has
since continued to occupy for city
purposes. The building is valued for its
historic associations and for the
charm of a style of architecture much
in vogue in the early days. The con
stitution of 1818 was adopted within
its walls, and General Lafayette, and
Presidents Monroe, Jackson, Polk.
Johnson and Grant were there wel
comed on behalf of the city. In the
mayor's office in this building may be
found the staff of Hartford's first

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY 21

MAIN STREET, HARTFORD, IN FRONT OF CITY HALL ABOUT 1865 WHEN IT WAS
THE OLD STATE HOUSE
Aniron fence was erected about present city hall square — Two old fashioned structures stood on the corners of
Asylum street — Lamp posts lined Main street

mayor, Thomas Seymour, and a let
ter of identification or passport writ
ten by him. Thirty-three mayors
have presided over the destinies of
Hartford since the city's incorpora
tion in 1784; and the industry and
zeal of Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley,
himself mayor for eight years, have
suceeded in procuring portraits of
ah the earlier mayors, with the ex
ception of two. He presented them
to the city, and they now adorn the
walls of the mayor's office. The staff
of Thomas Seymour was also his gift.
The present state house stands
upon grounds purchased for the pur
pose, of Trinity College, by Hartford,
at a total cost of $6oo,ooo. The city
further contributed $500,000 in cash,
making a total contribution of
$1,100,000 for the erection of a state
capital, the total cost of which, in
cluding grounds, was $3,342,5S°-73-
The old Trinity College buildings
stood on an eminence running

north from Capitol avenue to
what is now west Bushnell
Park, and were located in a line at
right angles to the present; capitol
building, and faced Trinity street.
With a grove of fine trees surround
ing them, and the college ivies clus
tering and twining about pillar and
portico and wall, these ancient build
ings were eloquent in suggestion of
the study and the cloister.
They were demolished and re
moved when the capitol was erected,
and over the space they occupied now
spreads the south lawn of the capitol.
Hartford had its quota of the dan
gers, activities and achievements of
the Revolution. Here was planned
the capture of Ticonderoga, and
Samuel Holden Parsons, Silas Deane
and Colonel Samuel Wyllis were in
strumental in it. In 1777 some 200
English officers and soldiers, captured
at Princeton, were brought to Hart
ford.

22

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

CONNECTICUT RIVER FROM OLD STATE HOUSE (PRESENT CITY HALL) ROOF ABOUT 1855
State street was then lined with dealers in West India goods — '1 here were seventy-two 111 ihe ciiy and more than half
of them on the east side — Many of the leading men of Hartford were West India merchants and gained a livelihood by
selling St. Croix and West India rum, molasses and sugar ; the occupation was considered eminently respectable

Two of the officers, to relieve the
tedium of captivity, were allowed to
give instruction in the sciences and
arts, particularly in arithmetic, geom
etry, trigonometry and instrumental
music. These classes were numer
ously attended by the young people
of Hartford, much to their improve
ment in learning and accomplishment
The instruction thus furnished was
doubtless by way of compensation for
the pointed lessons, given by their
captors to these British officers, in
the art of war.
Upon the capture of Burgoyne,
Major Thomas Y. Seymour, of Hart
ford, one of the organizers of the
Hartford Company, Governor's
Horse Guards, was entrusted with the
delicate duty of conveying the distin
guished prisoner to Boston. He per
formed the duty with such tact and

courtesy as to elicit the thanks of his
prisoner, and a number of tasteful
and valuable presents as marks of
his esteem.
In the winter of 1776 a guard of
fourteen citizens was appointed to
guard prisoners of war held captive
in Hartford, and to prevent their
holding communication with tories
from without. To this committee
was added a committee of inspection
with almost dictatorial powers ; they
required every person about to settle
in Hartford to present a certificate
from the town he last dwelt in,
signed by a similar committee, setting
forth that he was friendly to the
rights and liberties of America. It
was unsafe for any person, not well
known, to travel from town to town
without a permit, as failing to satisfy
the committee as to his purposes and

gjpafeSSk;

,-- '.•:,—— ¦

l.s«— SI.....P-. ill ' '•'*' 3

RARE OLD PHOTOGRAPH OF HARTFORD IN EARLIEST HORSE CAR DAYS
Photograph was evidently taken from the steeple of the South Congregational Church at corner of Buckingham street and gives a birdseye view cf Main street looking north— Th*
first crossstreet at the lett is Capital avenue before its modern residential blocks

24 THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

OLD TRINITY COLLEGE WHEN IT STOOD ON SITE OF
PRESENT STATE CAPITOL
The site was purchased from the college for $600,000

identity he would most likely be cast
into prison. Such a permit or pass
port, was issued in 1784, to a Hart
ford citizen by "Mayor Thomas Sey
mour, and the original, inscribed in
a clear, beautiful hand, is now to be
seen framed, on the walls of the
mayor's office in the City Hall. As
the war progressed, and commodities
became scarcer and scarcer prices be
came correspondingly higher. In this
emergency the committee of inspec
tion did not hesitate to exercise its
powers. At a meeting held at the
state house in Hartford, the commit
tee fixed the prices for certain West
India goods, and these regulations
were strictly enforced. Tea drinking
was made a misdemeanor and not a
few convictions are recorded for this
heinous offense. The "Daughters of
Liberty," a society of ladies estab
lished to sustain these laws of self-
denial, published from time to time
their disapproval of the use of
"foreign gewgaws and frippery." The
press of Hartford, in common with
the merchant and the manufacturer,

felt keenly the growing scarcity of
materials. In an issue of the "Cour-
ant" in 1775, the capable and elo
quent editor exhorts the "Daughters
of Liberty" to save all linen and cot
ton "Raggs" in order that paper may
be produced and the "streams of in
telligence kept flowing." The present
editor of that historic and influential
sheet may have improved upon the
spelling of his ancient predecessor;
but he can hardly hope to give a
period a neater turn, or phrase more
eloquently an appeal to patriotic
womanhood. September 21, 1780,
was one of the many red letter days
in the history of Hartford. The oc
casion was the meeting of Count
Rochambeau and General Washing
ton in this city. Washington arrived
first and was received by the Gov
ernor's Foot Guard and a company
of artillery. A salute of thirteen
guns was fired; and, accompanied by
an enthusiastic and applauding crowd
of citizens he was conducted to the
home of Colonel Wadsworth, where
the Athenaeum now stands. ' Roch-

STATE CAPITOL CONSTRUCTED OF MARBLE ON BUSHNELL PARK
From the Municipal Register— Plate loaned by Henry F.

Ground broken in 1827— Ready for occupancy 1878 — Total cost, including grounds and furnishings $3,342,550
Smith, Town Clerk

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

"v&v^Trj&am*!^^

EAST FRONT OP STATE CAPITOL SHOWING ITS ARCHITECTURAL BEAUTY

ambeau crossed the ferry from East
Hartford and, attended by his suite,
walked to the public square.
General Washington came up Main
street in company with Governor
Trumbull, Colonel Wadsworth, Gen
eral Knox and other distinguished
officers. They approached each
other, with a ceremony oriental in
uy formality, bowing profoundly and
repeatedly. The ceremony over,
both were entertained at the house of

Colonel Wadsworth, and their inter
view there was long and earnest.
Though the treaty of peace which
concluded the war of the Revolution
was signed at Versailles, January 20,
1783, it was not known in Hartford
until the latter part of March in that
year. The news was conveyed to
Colonel Wadsworth in a letter from
Philadelphia which he received at 7
A. M. March 27th. The fervor of
the celebration which followed re-

THE BUILDING OP A MODEL MUNICIPALITY 2 7

BATTLE FLAG CORNER IN STATE CAPITOL, BUCKINGHAM STATUE AND PUTNAM STONE

THE SOUTH CORRIDOR IN THE CONNECTICUT STATE CAPITOL

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

suited in setting the state house afire
and it narrowly escaped total destruc
tion. From December 15, 1814, to Jan
uary 5, 1815, the "Hartford Conven
tion" was assembled in this city — a
gathering, notable not from what it
accomplished but from the indigna
tion aroused throughout the country
by its supposed purposes, and the
suspicion with which it was regarded
\by loyal men. The war of 1812 bore
heavily on New England trade and
commerce; and the fear of contribu
tions being levied by the enemy from
the cities of our defenseless coast was
well founded. These considerations
gave rise to discussions and led finally
to the convention in Hartford. In
that assembly, doubtless, the proposi
tion of "peaceable separation" was
discussed, and the general uprising
against the convention and the doc
trines supposed to be promulgated
there had much to do with the col
lapse of the Federal party. The con
vention has been used on some occa
sions to reflect on the loyalty of Hart
ford citizens; but Hartford really
had but one representative there,
Mayor Chauncey Goodrich. They
met in the state house, now the city
hall, and the roll showed seven dele
gates from Connecticut, twelve from
Massachusetts, four from Rhode
Island, two from New Hampshire
and one from Windham County,. Ver
mont. Hartford responded early to the
nation's call for aid at the outbreak
of the rebellion. Governor Bucking
ham issued his call for troops April
16, 1861.
The next day a public meeting was
held in the city, and Joseph R. Haw-
ley, Albert W. Drake and Joseph
Perkins were the first to offer their
services. The first Connecticut regi
ment was organized April 20th, and
was mustered in at New Haven.
Five days after the first gun was
heard at Fort Sumter the bankers
of Hartford tendered the governor a
loan of half a million for war expenses.

The first wife of Gen. Joseph R.
Hawley, a niece of Harriet Beecher
Stowe, went immediately to the front,
and lost her life from exposure in
caring for the sick and wounded.
Her grave in Cedar Hill Cemetery
is appropriately decorated every year
by the grand army. The first Con
necticut regiment was made up of
three-months men, and left for the
front May 10, 1861. George S.
Burnham, of Hartford, was colonel,
and Joseph R. Hawley was captain
of the first company. George H.
Bugbee of Hartford was the first
Connecticut soldier wounded in the
war, the incident happening in a re-
connoisance he was engaged in June
16, 1861. The first Hartford man to
fall was Captain James Harman
Ward, a naval officer, who was killed
June 27, 1 86 1. The first and third
Hartford regiments were in the bat
tle of Bull Run. Some Hartford
men prominent in the war were Col.
Levi Woodhouse, afterwards post
master at Hartford, Robert O. Tyler,
who received a valuable sword from
the citizens and a vote of thanks from
the legislature for brilliant service;
Judge Henry E. Taintor, who left
Yale College in his boyhood, served
during the war with distinction, and
at its close was given his degree by
his Alma Mater in recognition of his
patriotic service; General Griffin A.
Stedmen, a graduate of Trinity Col
lege, who after a brief but brilliant
career fell in front of Petersburg at
the age of twenty-six; Captain E. E.
Marvin,, now clerk of United States
Courts for Connecticut; Major E. V-
Preston, who served as paymaster
with such care and accuracy that at
the conclusion of the war his accounts
were found o balance to a cent— a
characteristic honesty and accuracy
which have long been recognized as
the foundations of his conspicuous
success in an honorable and useful
business career; Rev. Henry Clay
lrumbull,, well known as the
author of "The Knightly Soldier-"
Captain William H. Sachett; Henry

HISTORIC CHARTER OAK CHAIR AT CONNECTICUT STATE CAPITOL

Made from the famous old charter oak tree which figured prominently in Connecticut's colonial history — Plate
loaned by George S. Godard, state librarian

3°

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

C. Deming, mayor of the city, colonel
of the Twelfth Connecticut regiment ;
three other veterans who have held
the office of mayor, viz. : Morgan G.
Bulkeley, John G. Root and Henry
C. Dwight; Col. Frank Beach, Lieut.
Col. Frank W. Cheney, Maj. George
A. Washburn, adj. John H. Burn-
ham, are others fairly credited to
Hartford. Rev. Joseph H. Twichell,
one of Hartford's most valued citi
zens, was chaplain of the Seventy-
First New York. His record as a
fearless man and devoted chaplain is
widely known and fully appreciated
among the veterans. Hartford is
proud to claim also Henry Howard
Brownell, the war poet and that
gifted son of Trinity, Henry C.
Work, who wrote "Marching
Through Georgia." Most distin
guished of the long line of Hartford
men who served in the war of the
rebellion stands forth General Joseph
R. Hawley, so recently laid to rest
in Cedar Hill. Prominent in the
service of his country in civil and
military life, he never lost his attach
ment to Hartford, nor his interest in
all that pertains to its welfare.
Speaking on the occasion of his
funeral, former Governor George P.
McLean epigrammatically summed
up the character of General Hawley's
public service, when he said : "For
fiftv years he walked hand in hand
with the better genius of the repub
lic." A representative of the city
speaking on the same occasion said
of him: "In all that he did his aims
were high, his methods cleanly, his
motives noble. No life that he
touched but was brighter and better
for the contact. No good thing ever
lacked his support, and no evil thing
ever escaped his denunciation." The
state of Connecticut will erect a
monument to his memory; but the
qualities that distinguished him have
left their permanent impress on the
national character and are cherished
in the hearts of the people.
In the early times Hartford's pub
lic square extended from Kinsley

street on the north to Grove street
on the south, and on this plot the
militia were accustomed to have their
drills. The plot was narrowed to its
present dimensions partly by sales
authorized in town meeting, and
partly by the gradual encroachments
of adjoining proprietors.
The old Center burying ground
was originally much more extensive
than its present dimensions, and was
also the victim of encroachments by
abutting property owners and sales
by the town.
Votes are on record showing now
and again a sale of a part of the
cemetery land to individuals for busi
ness and residential purposes. When
excavations were being made for the
foundations of the Waverly building,
a number of skeletons were un
earthed, indicating that the site of
that building- was once a part of the
cemetery. The land occupied by the
Center Church was a part originally
of the cemetery enclosure, the church '
facing Main street, with the church
yard or burying ground behind it. It
is to the honor of the Daughters of
the Revolution, that, led by Mrs.
John M. Holcombe, they redeemed
the sacred spot from the squalor and
degradation of its surroundings, re
stored broken stone and well nigh
effaced inscription, and enclosed the
plot, so suggestive of the struggles
and triumphs of our early citizens,
with a becoming fence and handsome
entrance gates.
The most popular inn of early
times was the "Bunch of Grapes"
or "Bull's tavern," which stood
on Main street some distance south
of Asylum street. Here Lafayette
was entertained in 1784; and a picture
of it is in the possession of the Con
necticut Historical Society. In an
upper room in an old building on
Main street which is now part of
Fenn's furniture store, Noah Web
ster wrote the greater part of his
dictionary. At the home of Colonel Wads
worth, standing on Main street where

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

3.i

THE LATE GEN. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY
The distinguished abolitionist who was among the first
in Hartford to respond to the country's call in 1861 and
was for many years Connecticut's eminent United States
Senator

the Wadsworth Athenaeum is now
located, were entertained Washing
ton, Flancock, Greene, Lafayette,
Rochambeau and Chastellux. The
Athenaeum itself is an object of great
interest to citizens and visitors not
only for its museum of historical
souvenirs and curiosities, . but for
other treasures it contains. Built
originally in 1842-11844, extensive
additions were made to it in 1893,
and a spacious gallery, reception
rooms and children's library and
reading room were completed in 1905.
Within its walls may be found the
library of the Hartford Library
Association, by resolution of the Gen
eral Assembly, changed in 1893 to
"The Hartford Public Library," the
Watkinson Library, the Library of
the Historical Society, public read
ing rooms and the rooms of the Con
necticut Historical Society, There is
also a public art gallery and an art
school,

Hartford has always been rich in
churches, their number and flourish
ing condition indicating the moral
tone of the community. Of these no
less than sixty-eight are organized
associations, most of them owning
and occupying their own places of
worship. It is a curious fact that the
organization of what is known as the
First Church of Christ, in Hartford,
the Center Congregational, antedates
the settlement of the town itself.
This church was organized in 1632,
in Cambridge, Mass., with Rev.
Thomas Hooker as pastor, and
journeyed with him through the
wilderness to Hartford in 1636, where
its religious services have since been
maintained without interruption. The
present church building was erected
in 1807. The second church in Hart
ford, the South Congregational, was
organized February 22, 1670. Its
present church edifice is the third
building of the association, and was
dedicated April 11, 1827. Christ
Church, Episcopalian, was organized
in 1762, and the present building, its
second, was begun in 1827. Then
followed the First Baptist Church,
organized March 23, 1790. They
built their first church edifice in 1798
on the corner of Market and Temple
streets, and occupied it till 1831,
when they located at what is now 940
Main street. Their present church
was dedicated April 23, 1856. Dur
ing the middle period of the nine
teenth century many of the most not
able church edifices in the citv were
erected. Trinity Church on Sigour-
ney street, was organized September
12, 1859, completed its first building
in 1861,, greatly enlarged and1 im
proved it in 1875, consecrated its new
edifice May 31, 1899. This includes
a chapel and parish house erected
to the memory of Lucy Morgan
Goodwin. The Church of the Good
Shepherd was organized in 1866.
Its house of worship is on the corner
of Wyllis street and Hendrixsen
avenue, is gothic in architecture, of
Portland stone and Ohio white stone

32

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

finish, and was dedicated January 28,
1869. It was erected by Mrs. Samuel
Colt in memory of her deceased hus
band and children.
The First Methodist Church in
Hartford was organized in 1820, and
the edifice recently sold to the electric
light company was dedicated in 1860-
A new and commodious structure is
being erected for the use of this so
ciety. Of the Roman Catholic commun
ion, Saint Patrick's Church was the
first organized in this city, and dates
from June, 1823. It occupied a
building on Talcott street which was
destroyed by fire May 11, 1853.
Another edifice, dedicated December

14, 1851, was destroyed by fire Jan
uary 24, 1875. The present edifice
in Church street was dedicated
November 26, 1876. The first build
ing occupied by St. Peter's Church
was dedicated by Bishop McFarland
December 4, 1859. The present
structure on Main street, near the
south green was begun in April 1865.
The corner stone of St. Joseph's
Cathedral was laid Apiil 29, 1877,
and the building was consecrated
May 8, 1892.
In size, beauty of design, orna
mentation, color and finish the cathe
dral on Farmington avenue is the
most striking and attractive church
edifice in the city. The religious views

MAIN STREET, HARTFORD, ABOUT THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR
Looking south from corner of Church street and Christ church — Showing the old Fn„rt-v, r««  Q~ *¦ i v. ,
building, on the right-Old First Baptist church, later known as Touro hall on the lc^ram tZMunl\t\ ^ known as *
Henry F. Smith, Town Clerk ' ne lett— ' rom the Municipal Register— Plate 161

ONE OF AMERICA'S FIRST CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS
First Church of Christ, known as Center Congregational, was organized as a
religious body in 1632 and removed to Hartford in 1636 — Present edifice
erected in r8o7

REV. JOEL HAWES, D. D.
Pastor of historic Center Church from 1818 until after
Close of Civil War

of our cosmopolitan population are
well illustrated by the church organi
zations supported by the various na
tionalities represented in our citizen
ship. The German, Swede, Dane,
Italian, Frenchman, Hebrew, Pole,
and the colored man as well, each has
his ownj church organization to which
he contributes, and some particular
church edifice in which he worships.
The value of the church property in
the city is in the millions ; and the
state recognizes the value of churchc ;
in the moral uplifting of the com
munity by refraining from taxing
their possessions.
A friend of mine, who, personally,
and as the representative of various
corporations, had large investments
in Hartford, was once visiting the

34

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST, SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL,
ORGANIZED 1670
Present church edifice dedicated 1827

city, and I took him out for a drive.
We came upon the high school, and
he asked me what it was. I told him
what I could of its history and pur
poses. "That" he said, "is the best
advertisement your city could have.
It is all I want to know about it. It
shows what the people are thinking
about, what their aims and ambitions
are." Certainly the commendation
of this shrewd "business man was well
merited. The best index to the
character and intelligence of the peo
ple of any community is to be found

in their care and expenditure for the
school. Hartford can well afford to
be tested by this standard. The high
school housed in an attractive and
commodious building, provided with
all modern apparatus and appliances,
with its corps of earnest and compe
tent instructors, steadily and quietly
fulfilling its mission of vital and
wholesome service, is the pride and
delight of our citizens.
In the year 1638, about two years
after the arrival of Hooker and his
company, a classical school was

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

35

founded in Hartford. The school
was largely supported by the town,
but the pupils were required to pay
a small tuition fee. Bequests were
given it as early as 1655, 1659, 1664
and 1680. In 1798 it was incorpo
rated as "The Trustees of the Gram
mar school in the town of Hartford."
In 1847 ^ became merged in the
classical department of the Public
High School. The original act of
incorporation, passed May, 1798,
stated the purposes of the school as
follows: "for the education of youth
in the rudiments of the highest
branches of science not taught in the
common schools, of the Latin, Greek
and other useful languages ; of the
grammar of the English tongue; cf
geography, navigation, bookkeeping,

surveying, and other similar studies
preparatory to an education at the
university or a life of active employ
ment; and that for said purpose no
youth may, or shall hereafter be ad
mitted as a student in said school,
unless he shall be adjudged on an
examination, capable of reading and
spelling the English language with
accuracy, writing an handsome copy,
and small hand, and resolving ques
tions in the first four rules of arith
metic, to be determined, by order of'
said trustees, according to their dis
cretion." The examination required as the
criterion of admission, in some of
its particulars, would appall many a
university studenl} of the present
clay, especially the items of spelling,

CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Organized 1762— Present edifice begun 1817

36

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

geography and writing "an hansome
copy," and "resolving questions in
the four first rules of arithmetic."
Previous to 1847 this school held its
sessions in a building on Linden
Place. In that year the first high
school building was erected on the
corner of Asylum and Ann streets.
The second building was erected in
1869 on Hopkins street, and an ad
dition thereto in 1877. A fire de
stroyed this building January 24,
1882, with all its expensive and
valuable equipment. The third
high school building was completed
on the Hopkins street site in January
1884, and in 1897 an extensive ad
dition was made to it.

The building is of Philadelphia
pressed brick with brown stone
trimmings, and has a total length
on Hopkins street of 426 feet and is
two stories high, with an attic and
basement. The architecture is
secular gothic. It is supplied with
gymnasiums, laboratories, scientific
apparatus, including a telescope,, 'a
well-equipped reference library and
modern appliances for heating and1
ventilating. Since 1847 there has
been expended in construction and
equipping buildings for this school
in the neighborhood of $1,000,000.
In 1897 a manual training building
was erected in the rear of the school
building proper,, at an expense of

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH ORGANIZED I79O— PRESENT EDIFICE DEDICATED 1856
Plate loaned by courtesy^The Church Review

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

37

FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
 Organized 1823— Present edifice dedicated i860 and is soon to be vacated for beautiful
new structure being erected on Farmington Avenue— Plate loaned by courtesy The
Church Review

about $40,000. The English depart
ment of the High School offers a
liberal education in the higher Eng
lish branches and in modern lan
guages, while the classical depart
ment prepares for any college or
university. The city is divided into nine
school districts, each exercising a
separate and distinct jurisdiction
within its territorial limits, and each
building and maintaining its own
school houses, laying its own school
tax, and conducting its own schools.
These districts, together, have ex
pended, on land and buildings now
occupied for school purposes, very

nearly $i, 750,000. The districts are
very unequal, territorially and in
point of assessable property, and so it
happens that the district showing
the highest tax rate has usually the
poorest school accommodations,
for a small grand list calls for a
high rate of taxation and the amount
realized from any possible tax must
be relatively small. Hampered by
lack of means, the poor district
affords fewer opportunities and
facilities to its pupils than its more
favored neighbor, and is liable to
become poorer and poorer from
lacking school advantages to attract
settlers, while its high tax rate re-

38 THE BUILDING OP A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

ST. PATRICK'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Organized in 1823— Present edifice dedicated 1876

pels property-owningjiitizens. The
situation is a most perplexing one
and the difficulty is historical, lying
in the district system which has so
long prevailed throughout the state.
Consolidation has been sought and
is being tried by many towns as a
remedy for this evil.
In Hartford we are trying to solve
the problem by dividing the town
tax of one mill, raised for schools
generally, in such a manner as to
relieve the poorer districts by giving
them annually an amount sufficient
to reduce their tax rate to five mills,
and leaving the richer districts to
provide for themselves. Experience
will measure the value of this ex
pedient. Of the wealthier districts,
the West Middle, and South and the
Brown have schools that are models
of completeness and up-to-date
methods, while of the poorer dis-

PARK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH — ORGANIZED 1834 — PRESENT EDIFICE DEDICATED 1867

the building op a model municipality ^

tricts, the Washington has an en
viable record for the excellent re
suits of its work and for the success
of its pupils in preparing for the
High School, notwithstanding that
its facilities have always been re
stricted by the district's limited
means. The parochial schools.
Mount St. Joseph's Seminary for
young ladies; St. Thomas' Seminary
for young men, and LaSalette Col
lege, offering a course of training
and instruction for an order of
secular priests, are factors in^ the
educational life of the city. ; -..
No sketch of the schools]of .the
city would be at all complete without
mention of the name of Dr. Henry
Barnard, for so many years identi
fied with educational interests.
The Barnard family were among
the early settlers "^"of Hartford.
Henry Barnard, LL.D., was^.born
in 'this city January 24, 181 i.'w Edu
cated in]the district schools and'in

REV. HORACE BUSHNELL, D.D.
Projector of Bushnell Park, and distinguished writer
and tbeologian

UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF THE
REDEEMER
Organized 1827 — Edifice dedicated 1 860. About to be
abandoned and new structure is being erected on Asy
lum Avenue— Photograph by Ernest J. Hoskins
Yale College, from which he grad
uated in 1830, he studied law in
New York and Hartford, in the
latter place in the office of William
Hungerford, and was admitted to
the bar in 1835. He was a member
of the Legislature from 1837 to 1840,
and in that body brought forward
many reforms relating to the com
mon schools. As secretary of the
Board of Commissioners for Com
mon Schools, and later in his con
nection with the State Board of
Education he awakened the public
to the necessity for improved con
struction of school buildings, for
schools offering instruction in
higher branches than those taught
in the common schools, for kinder
gartens, normal schools and
teachers' institutes. From 1843 TO
1849 he was Superintendent of
Education""in "Rhode Island, and
from 1850 to 1854 he filled a similar

4c

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

ST, JOSEPH S

position in Connecticut. He was
president of_|the University ^of "Wis-

C0NGKEUA11ON BEl'H ISRAEL
Organized 1847— Synagogue erected 1876— Enlarged

ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL
Corner stone laid 1877
consin from 1857 to 1859 and of St.
John's College at Annapolis in 1865
-6 ;BFrom 1867 to 1870 he was
United States Commissioner of Edu
cation, being the first to hold that
office, and, during his long career
of usefulness, succeeded in organ
izing and systematizing the public
school work of the country. As
early as 1852, Thomas Rainey,
editor of the Ohio Journal, said ot
him: "He has done more than any
other ten men in New England for
education." He died July 5, 1900,
at Hartford, in the house in which
he was born.
Perhaps the most interesting of
all the schools of Hartford is the
American asylum for the education
of the deaf and dumb. Its build
ings occupy somewhat extensive
grounds on Asylum avenue, near
the junction of that street with
Farmington avenue. The institu-

EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Organized 1866— Erected as Memorial by Mrs Samuel Colt to her deceased
husband and three infant children — Consecrated 1859

THE CALDWELL HART COLT PARISH HOUSE
Gift of Mrs, Samuel Colt as a mother's memorial to her only child who arrived at mature years— Dedicated 1896

42

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

HENRY BARNARD, LL. D.
America's Pioneer Educator
tion was originally chartered by
our General Assembly under the
name "The Connecticut Asylum for
the Education and Instruction of
Deaf and Dumb Persons," in 1816.
In 1819 its name was changed by

resolution of the Legislature to
"The American Asylum, at Hart
ford, for the Education and Instruc
tion of the Deaf and Dumb." Again
the corporate name was changed,
by resolution offered April 10, 1895,,
to "The American School, at Hart
ford, for the Deaf.
The State of Connecticut began
early to aid this school by ap
propriations, which have been in
creased from time to time as its use
fulness became apparent and the
scope Of its work enlarged. In 1903
the General Assembly appropriated
$57,000 for the two years ending
September 30,, 1905, with the pro
viso that the amount expended for
each pupil should not exceed $250
per annum. Similar appropriations
for the support ,and instruction of
the deaf are made by each of the
New England states, so that the
directors have been enabled to say
in their last annual report (the
eighty-ninth) that "no deaf child in
New England need stay away from

r p.

uf, UMfi

j lllltroirmM 1 ~~*-*Bmmmm*Qiggjg**&

HOME OF DR. BARNARD IN HARTFORD IN i860
During the years when its occupant was a world figure in education

TRINITY COLLEGE AT HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT Photograph hy Warn 2r Photograph Company
Chartered as Washington College in 1823— Present main structure begun >n 1875

44

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

school because
of these states
propriation for
which any such
fide resident of

WADSWORTH ATHENAEUM
Gallery of Fine Arts completed in 1844
of poverty." Each itself by applying to "the proper
makes sufficient ap- state authorities." The governors
its deaf children, of and secretaries of the states of Maine,
child, who is a bona New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas-
the state, may avail sachusetts, Rhode Island and Con-

AMERICAN SCHOOL AT HARTFORD FOR THE DEAF
The first institution of the kind in the United States— Chartered 1816

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

45

Photograph by Warner Photograph Company
HARTFORD PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL
First building erected in 1847— Present structure 1884 with extensive addition in 1897

necticut, are made directors ex officio
of the asylum. The number of
pupils in attendance at the school
April 1, 1905, was 166. The school,
in addition to the usual courses oE
instruction, has a well-equipped in
dustrial building in which various
mechanics arts are taught. The
cabinet shop, with its substantial
and ornamental products, and the
classes in sewing and dress-making
with the specimens of their work,
afford gratifying proof of the use
fulness and progress of the institu
tion. The school was first opened
April 15, 1817, and funds for its
support were raised largely by the
efforts of Rev. F. F. Gallaudet, D.
D., who had previously spent some
time abroad in acquiring the art of
educating the deaf, and whose life
was largely devoted to this service.
At his solicitation, individuals and
churches contributed liberally, and
in 1819 Congress made a grant of
land to the institution, which was
sold and the proceeds set apart as a
fund to assist in maintaining the
institution.

Trinity College, chartered by the
General Assembly in 1823 as Wash
ington College, and given its present
name by resolution of that body in
1849, has always been a prominent
feature in the educational, literary
and scientific life of the city. In
1824 the college erected two build
ings on the site of the present
Capitol grounds, known as Seabury
Hall and Jarvis Hall. In organiz
ing under the charter granted, Right
Rev. T. C. Brownell, D.D., LL.D.,
was chosen president, and much of
the success of the institution was
due to his distinguished gifts and
intelligent and inspiring work.
From the beginning the college
afforded not only courses in letters
and arts, but also a practical
scientific training, with special
courses for students desiring in
struction in particular departments
who were not candidates for a de
gree. In 1871 negotiations were opened
between the college and the city for
the sale of the campus and buildings
to the latter; this sale was consum-

46

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY

mated with the proviso]that thecol-
lege should retain ;;the use of* the
buildings till 1877, when they re
moved to their present location on
Summit street. The new site com
prises about eighty acres, and
ground was broken for the new
buildings in 1875. The principal
building is designed to be the west
side of a quadrangle, and is upwards
of 600 feet in length. It is built of
stone and marks the western
boundary of a great campus stretch
ing east to Broad street, on which
other college buildings are erected,
including a well-equipped gym
nasium. The degrees of Bachelor
of Arts, Bachelor of Science and
Bachelor of Letters are conferred in
course. The recent happy choice
of Professor Flavel S. Luther as
president of the institution has
given it an impetus that promises
well for its growth and development.
The Pastoral Union of Con
necticut, an association of Congre
gational ministers, was organized in
1833. Upon their application a
charter was granted by the General
Assembly in May, 1834, incorporat
ing "The Theological Institute of
Connecticut," the preamble of the
resolution reciting that its purpose
was to establish "a manual labor
theological institute in this state."
The first seminary was built in 1834,
in East Windsor Hill, where it re
mained for some thirty years. It
removed to Hartford in 1865 and
occupied the building 33 Prospect
street. Hosmer Hall, on Broad
street, was begun in 1879, the gift
of James B. Hosmer, whose name it
bears. The building has a frontage
of 160 feet on Broad street, while
in the rear stands a well-equipped
gymnasium. A library of nearly
qo.ooo volumes occupies the Case
Memorial Library Building, a fire
proof structure connected with the
main building, so-named in memory
of the late Newton Case, a liberal
benefactor of the institution. By

resolution of the General Assembly,
approved February 25, 1885, the name
or the corporation was changed to
"The Hartford Theological Sem-
inary. "
Hartford has fifteen parks, em
braced in a single system and cared
for by a board of ten commissioners,
whose tenure of office is for the
period of ten years. Keney Park,
comprising about 635 acres, the gift
of Henry Keney, is still in the
hands of trustees under his will, and
will be turned over to the city with
in a few years. Pope Park, a tract
of about seventy-three acres in the
southwestern section of the city,
the gift of Colonel Albert A. Pope,
is designed and used for a recrea
tion ground for the people and is
particularly enjoyed by residents in
the factory district of the city. The
pioneer in Hartford's park history
was Dr. Horace Bushnell. The
park which bears his name was laid
out in 1853-4 and cost upwards of
$1, 000, 000. Its site was for the
most part a city slum, and the work
of redeeming it was a formidable
one, when the amount involved and
the limited means of the city at
that time are considered. The
energy of Dr. Bushnell, however,
overcame every obstacle, and he
had the satisfaction of receiving
from the Common Council, in 1876,
three days before his death, notice
that the park would thereafter be
known by his name.
We will consider fully, in a later
article, modern Hartford, with other
of its insurance companies, its
banks, its industries, its literary life
and achievements, its railways and
railroads, its newspapers, its great
bridge that was and is to be, its
charities, its residences, its hospitals,
in short, the multiform manifesta
tions of the genius of a vigorous
and thriving community, mindful of
its honorable origin and historv and
striving to make its future worthy
of its past.

PICTURESQUE CONNECTICUT RIVER IS TO-DAY NAVIGABLE TO HARTFORD
About 1840, two lines of stern-wheel steauboats ran to Springfield daily ; but opening of railroad to Spring
field in 1844 broke up the steamboat business— To-day one line of modern river steamboats runs from Hartford
to New York

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

THE BUILDING OF A MODEL MUNICIPALITY AS EXEM
PLIFIED BY THE GROWTH OF HARTFORD, THE CAPITAL
OF CONNECTICUT— SECOND ARTICLE IN SERIES INCLUD
ING IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS OF IMMEDIATE NECESSI
TIES WITH NARRATION OF PAST ACHIEVEMENTS
BY
HON. WILLIAM FRANKLIN HENNEY
MAYOR OP HARTFORD

Mayor Henney's able story of the building of Hartford
from the days when it became the birthplaceof American
Democracy and the scene of the writing of the first con
stitution creating a government by the people, has gained
commendation throughout the country for its clear and
entertaining narration While it was receiving: much
friendly reviewing in the public press, Mayor Henney
sailed for the old continent where he spent some time in
studying conditions abroad, and especially in Glasgow,
Scotland. 1 he greater part of the article presented here
with, was written in Glasgow and mailed to this country
in instalments, prepared at intervals between conferences
with executives of that municipal administration. As in
the case of the preceding article, many rare illustrations
have been gathered to illustrate the development of Hart
ford which while not mentioned in the text, present im
portant phases of life in the community. Filesof leading
magazines fail to show any town record ever presented in
magazine form as thoroughly or more entertainingly
than these writings by Mayor Henney— Editor

OBSERVATIONS abroad
give me reinforced confi
dence that the city of Hart
ford is to-day in the fore-
ranks of municipal progress; not
that it has plunged into social ideal
ism or inaugurated radical measures
but that it moves steadily and
surely toward the model muni
cipality with conservative and itelli-
gent judgment.

Much of this article was written
during a sojourn in Glasgow, Scot
land, a sojourn which gave me an op
portunity to consider' my home city
unaffected by surroundings, appeal
ing to local loyalty and pride. Three
thousand miles distant, the love of
home and country deepens and in
tensifies; but interest is stimulated
and the vision broadened by the con
templation of unfamiliar methods ac-

48

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

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— —— b— :u,»iii.hi»hiii ..iw.—i " "mmmm

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HARTFORD'S EAST SIDE BEFORE THE DAYS OF THE TENEMENT HOUSE
Birdseye view of river front about 1868-Photograph taken from roof of Old State House, now City Hall, looking
northeast— Pillared structure in center is Old City Hall which stood where police station now stands

complishing familiar purposes com
petently and successfully.
With my attention turned studious
ly to the government of this fine old
classic city of Glasgow, I state my
convictions. Hartford has a great future. As
the capital of Connecticut it should
inevitably be a great city — great in
its population, in its industries, in its
wealth, in its public undertakings for
the general good. Three things de
mand its immediate attention. "First:
It should absolutely control Park
river. By a system of properly man
aged dams this stream could be made
attractive and wholesome throughout
its entire length within the city limits.
The plans to this end recently sub

mitted by City Engineer Ford are
worthy of commendation and should
be at once adopted and acted upon.
Second: The protection of the East
Side from the annual floods and fresh
ets. This difficulty is now being in
vestigated by the court of Common
Council with the promise of early
action upon the report of the city en
gineer. Third: A commodious mu
nicipal building which shall gather
together all the city offices under one
roof, and make their offices convenient
and easy of access to all having law
ful business with the department.
Hartford has much to commend
it in comparison with other American
cities. But what it lacks in common
with them all is a plain and simple

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11 v ' It.)

TWJfipnB^ - SOB..

¦ana
?^§^#
THE CONNECTICUT RIVER ON RAMPAGE DURING GREAT FLOOD OF 1854
An idea of its extent may be had by noting Old Toll Bridge to East Hartford, at extreme left of picture, which during flood was nothing more than a pier — Many quaint
old structures then standing along State street, have been demolished to make way for modern business blocks — First stone business block erected in Hartford, was in 1832, on
south corner of Commerce and Ferry streets, and is still standing — Note stage coach standing in front of American Hotel

S°

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

1

W-F-^::-

ANNUAL INUNDATION OF LOWER
STATE STREET

Hartford's east-side b-cnmes an American "Venice."
during spring freshets of Connecticut River— Plans are
being perfected to overcome the floods

municipal charter — a charter which
shall be simply and only a competent
business organization for the trans
action of corporate business, and in no
sense a political machine for the ex
ploiting of private interests.
There should be absolutely no poli
tical color given to purely municipal
affairs. No parties should be known
or recognized in municipal elections.
The citizens, as stockholders of the
City Corporation, should elect their
directors to manage its affairs, and no
political consideration should have
aught to do with the selection of the
citizens' representatives. With a
proper charter the city would adopt
a non-political system naturally.
With such a charter who can say but
that in the future it may yet adminis
ter public utilities for the public bene
fit as completely and satisfactorily as
they are now administered by cities
of the old world. It will be a happy
day for Hartford when these things
are brought to pass.
In my first article on "The Building
of a Model Municipality," in the pre

ceding issue of this magazine, I re
called some of the historical incidents
that have shaped the present Hartford.
There are many more narratives that
might be related, all of which have :
a direct bearing on the character and
individuality of the city, but my space,
and your time, permit me only to
mention a few others that are to-day
marking the course of the future
Hartford. From any point of view, the pic
ture presented by modern Hartford
is interesting and inspiring. From a
business standpoint old things
have passed, or are rapidly pass
ing away, and the great stores
and industrial enterprises of the
city are assuming aspects alto
gether metropolitan. For these new
phases of enterprise so far as the
stores are concerned, the electrifying
and extension of the street railway
system are largely responsible. The
population of the city proper could
hardly warrant or support the large
department stores — which are unsur
passed in the excellence and variety
of their wares by any establishments
in New England. Such concerns are
rendered possible only by the fact that
the improved trolley service has en
abled them to supply the wants of an
urban and rural population of per
haps 250,000. Hence we have such
establishments as Brown, Thomson
& Co.; G. Fox & Co.; Wise, Smith
& Co.; C. S. Hills & Co.; Sage
Allen & Co. ; R. Ballerstein & Co.,
Neal, Goff & Inglis, and others; pur
chases can be made which for price
and quality will compare favorably
with the offerings of any of the great
concerns of New York and Bostoit
It must be conceded that proposed
trolley extensions are full of promise
for Hartford's merchants. With two's
lines already running to Springfield,.:::
it is proposed to establish a third by |
way of the Tariffville branch of the
Connecticut Western Railroad, which
will make the trip between the two -
cities in an hour and a half. To the
south it is inevitable that Middletown

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

5'

QUAINT STRUCTURES OF EARLY RIVER SHIPPING DAYS
Typical business establishments that have succumbed to progress— Valley division of New York, New Haven and
Hartford railroad now intercepts this section at foot of State sLreet

BUSIEST PLACE IN HARTFORD DURING SHAD SEASON FIFTY YEARS AGO
Foot of Ferry street where fish were sold from boats drawn up on shore, dressed and taken home by purchaser— A
ferry at one time ran from here so East Hartford, the boats being propelled by horses, one on each side

52

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

tflfflK

HISTORIC OLD TOLL BRIDGE ACROSS CONNECTICUT RIVER
First Ferry from Hartford to East Hartford was established in 1681, leaving from Kilbourn street, afterward from Ferry
street-Corporation built first toll bridge in 1800, at cost of $96,ooo-Ferry and bridge corporations for about thirty-three
vears fought each other in legislature and courts— In 1818, ferry was suppressed, again restored by legislature in 1836; sup
pressed in 1841, again opened in 1842, pending decision by courts which resulted in favor of bridge company— Bridge was
destroyed by fire on night of May 17, 1895, and replaced by temporary bridge

will soon be connected with Hartford
by some kind of electric service, while
it is now possible to ride by trolley
from Hartford to New Haven. Rock-
ville is promised a trolley service over
the steam road lines, which will cover
the distance to Hartford in forty min
utes. The great advantage of the
trolley to the suburban population lies
in the frequency of its service — a ser
vice which makes it possible for the
visitor to come to the city at such
hours as are most convenient. With
these improvements in transportation
and added facilities for access to the
city, Hartford is to-day realizing
-the dream of its founders — of be
ing the trading and shopping cen
ter of the Connecticut valley. The
street railway company whose enter
prise has done so much to develop the
city has always mirrored, as it were,
Hartford's business and industrial
condition. In the fifty or sixty years
of its existence, the company has re
flected, in its own fortunes, the city's
business activity or depression.
Its lot was not cast in a bed of roses.
Time and again, particularly in its

earlier history, it has confronted con
ditions which only the courage and
judgment of its management pre
vented from being fatal. Its former
president, Mr. Elizur S. Goodrich, can
tell of many occasions when his com
pany had to turn the sharpest kind
of a corner to avert financial disaster.
But all this is of the past. The street
railway company was among the first
of our institutions to respond to the
inspiration and realize the possibili
ties of Greater Hartford. Conserva
tive and cautious, it waited patiently
while others experimented with the
novelties and wonders of electric
traction. When assured that a prac
tically available system had been se
cured it lost no time in adopting it.
The line extending from the city line
south into Wethersfield was first
equipped electrically, and for a time
power was purchased to run it. Then
came the installation of its own plant,
and the equipment of other lines as
rapidly as possible, till to-day, it is
believed, no city can offer more com
fortable cars or more reliable service.
The great steam railroad system of

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

53

Connecticut — the New York, New
Haven and Hartford Railroad Com
pany — has now acquired this prop
erty and, under the capable and ag
gressive management of President
Mellen, it seems probable that in the
near future all trolley roads, at least,
will lead to Hartford. Connecticut's
great steam railroad had very humble
beginnings. Its expansion began
with the consolidation of the New
Haven, Hartford and Springfield
Railroad Company with the New
York and New Haven Railroad Com
pany, and from that time on it has
been busy acquiring the other steam
railroad lines in the state.
In the early fifties an attempt was
made to run a steam train from New
Haven to Hartford. Cuts showing
the character and equipment of this
train are still extant, and are full of
interest. The train, with flags flying

and horns tooting, pursued its dubi
ous way to a point a mile or two south
of Meriden. Here the engine gave
out and refused to budge. Conductor
and trainmen at once set out on an
expedition to nearby farms, and
finally succeeded in procuring a num
ber of yokes of oxen, which they
hitched to the engine, and thus suc
ceeded, in a couple of hours, in drag
ging the train triumphantly into Mer
iden. This incident gave much satis
faction to doubting Thomases. Sci
entific experts were heard to remark
that the enterprise was doomed to
failure, as no machinery could be
constructed which would stand the
racket and strain of high speed for
considerable distances. One cannot
help wondering what these sages
would observe at the spectacle of an
eighteen-hour train between New
York and Chicago. Connecticut's

ALONG MAIN STREET IN HARTFORD THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

For many years the Post Office was located on this south corner of Main and Grove streets, and there was one daily
mail each way to New York and to Boston, and to other points once a week

54

MODERN FACTORS IN INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

LD PHOTOGRAPH OF EXCHANGE CORNER, HARTFORD, IN 1865

LOOKING NORTH FROM EXCHANGE CORNER FORTY YEARS AGO
Old North Baptist church in distance has given place to Cheney Building, and this location is now occupied by large
retail business houses

MODERN FACTORS IN INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

great railroad system, crowding into
a contracted area upwards of 2,000
miles of track, derives its strength
and greatness from the territory it
serves. The interests of the railroad
and its tributary territory are mutual.
The railroad, for the sake of its own
growth and development, must un
derstand and minister to the needs of
the town, and the town must always
stand ready to countenance and sup
port the efforts of the railroad man
agement to improve its facilities for
service. As a rule, the attitude of
Hartford to the great railroad system
which serves it has been fair and ap
preciative. As the city develops and
its demands upon the railroad become
greater, it is to be hoped that their
conduct towards each other will pro
mote the mutual interests of the par
ties. Certainly the growth of the city
must always mean increased revenue
to the railroad company.

55
In addition to the trolley service
furnished by the Hartford Street
Railway Company, the city is verv
materially aided by other street car
lines. Within the city limits these
suburban lines are operated over the
tracks of the Hartford Street Rail
way Company. The two lines to
Springfield have already been men
tioned. The Hartford Manchester
and Rockville Tramway Company is
a notable local enterprise operating
an electric railway from Hartford
through Manchester to South Man
chester, and to Rockville, with still
further extensions. The line serves
a large population east of the Con
necticut river. Its origin and devel
opment are due, to a large extent, to
Hon. Maro S. Chapman, its president,
who has brought to its construction
and operation a judgment and en
thusiasm that could not fail of suc
cess. By its frequent service, this line

ONE OF OLDEST LANDMARKS IN HARTFORD RECENTLY RAZED

Historic old mansion of Hon. Joseph'Talcott, governor of Connecticut/1724-1741, which was then scene of social
and political discussions of the day, stood on south corner of Talcott and Main streets, and was destroyed a few years
ago — Site is now occupied by large retail establishment

56

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

Photograph by F. D .Berry
WHERE HARTFORD SECURES ITS WATER SUPPLY  ONE OF SIX RESERVOIRS

brings Rockville and Manchester and
Hartford into intimate association
with each other.
The completion of the new bridge
will make the thriving town of East
Hartford practically a part of Hart
ford, with a trolley service as com
plete and convenient as that of any
part of the city. The Connecticut
Railway and Lighting Company con
nects us with New Britain and Plain-
ville, and in conjunction with the
Bristol and Plainville Tramway Com
pany, with Bristol, Forestville,
Terryville, Southington and other
communities in the territory, while
the Farmington Street Railway Com
pany, on the west gives Farmington
and Unionville convenient access to
the city. With these railroad and
trolley facilities, the rapid growth of
the city is assured, and its enter
prising merchants will not be slow
to avail themselves of the opportuni
ties suggested by the ever-increasing
demand for their ware.
The parks of Hartford are another

valuable asset in the inventory of its
development and prosperity. Of the
entire park area of 1,200 acres, 520
acres are under the jurisdiction of the
Board of Park Commissioners, the
remaining 680 acres being still under
the management of the Keney Park
trustees. A recent report of the park
board shows that the city parks have
been cared for and maintained in ex
cellent condition at an expense for
the past year of forty-six cents per
capita of the city's population. A
conservative estimate of the actual
market value of the parks now owned
by the city exceeds $2,500,000 — a
sum much in excess of their cost to
the city. These beautiful breathing
spaces, so refreshing and delightful
to the people, have played no small
part in the municipal economy. They
have served to increase the city's
grand list from time to time by en
hancing the values of abutting prop
erties. As the trolleys bring people
to Hartford by reason of their con
venience, the parks cannot fail to at-

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

57

tract residents to the city by the
charm of their wholesomeness and
beauty. A summer day spent in the
parks of Hartford will be full to
overflowing with variety and delight.
The munificent gift of Mrs. Samuel
Colt of the grounds of the estate
known as "Armsmear" and the long
stretch of meadow to the east of it,
for park purposes, is but another tes
timonial of her love for the city by
one whose gift of mind and heart
endeared her to social life and made
her prominent in all works of char
ity and beneficence.
The grounds on Wethersfield Ave
nue are improved and adorned, and
delightfully attractive ; the meadow
land, at small expense, can be used
for much needed play grounds. Of
all the parks of Hartford, Colt Park

is bound to become one of the most
useful and popular.
Hartford is to be congratulated on
having an abundant supply of pure
water at reasonable cost. The city
owns its own water works, and the
administration of this department may
serve to suggest the manner in which
all public utilities might possibly be
administered in American cities. It
is practically the same method
adopted by the city of Glasgow for
the improvement and development of
the Clyde as a great waterway. The
Clyde trustees have powers and du
ties quite similar to those of Hart
ford's water board. It is possible
that public utilities might be ade
quately administered by our Amer
ican municipalities by separate
boards invested with certain char
ter powers and duties, each oper
ating as independent corporations,

WITHSTANDING THE MARCH OF BUSINESS PROGRESS
Where Waverly Building now stands on Main street, Hartford-Old home of James B. Hosmer-From old photo

58

MODERN FACTORS IN INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

WHEN CHURCHES WERE ALONE IN ARCHITECTURAL MASSIVENESS

Old photograph of Main street, Hartford, between South Baptist (Elm street) and South Congregational
(Buckingham)

!

WHEN CAPITOL AVENUE WAS KNOWN AS COLLEGE STREET
Old Perkins Homestead stood on north corner at Main street

MODERN FACTORS IN INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

OLD ISAVC BLISS HOME WHICH STOOD ON BUSHNELL PARK-
OF TRINITY CHURCH

-WEST SIDE

subject, at least so far as outlay and
rates are concerned, to the approving
vote of the council and the freemen
of the city. With receipts for the
past yearl of $457,718.77, and dis
bursements of $189,398.49, the water
service of the city must be conceded
to be a paying investment.
Hartford has two well developed,
competent hospitals, each practically
under private management, and each
doing a noble work for the relief of
the sick and injured. The older of
the two — the Hartford Hospital —
was dedicated May 19, 1859. The
cost of the buildings were one quarter
of a million dollars, all contributed,
with the exception of $5,000, by in
dividuals. A children's ward has
been erected and is now in use — a gift
to the memory of Miss Eliza Trum
bull Robinson.
In connection with the hospital is
a tuberculosis hospital on Cedar

mountain, for the treatment of incipi
ent cases of consumption. It will be
re-opened in October of this year. A
touching incident in collection with
this institution is the contribution by
the workingmen of Hartford towards
free beds for wage-earners suffering
from this disease, which contribution
has reached the handsome sum of
about $5,000. A home for nurses is
a part of the equipment of the Hart
ford Hospital, costing in the neigh
borhood of $65,000. The Old People's
Home is also an adjunct of this hos
pital, and was erected to provide a
home for aged people of both sexes
who were unable to provide them
selves with the care required by the
increasing infirmities of old age. It
makes no distinction of race or con
dition in the distribution of its benefi
cence, and simply requires that the re
cipient of its bounty must be a citi
zen of Connecticut, not under sixty

REV. WILLIAM W. PATTON, D.D.

Installed pastor Fourth Congre
gational Church in 1846

REV. ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE, D D.

SOME OLD-TIME
HARTFORD
CLERGYMEN

First rector St. John's Episcopal
Church. Installed 1842

RT. REV. T. C. BROWNELL, D. D.
First president Trinity College.
Elected 1842

REV. " FATHER" JOHN BRADY

Pastor first Roman Catholic Church in
Connecticut — 1837

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

61

RABBI ISAAC MAYER
One of first Rabbis in Hartford
years of age and in reduced circum
stances. The handsome grounds and
building cdst about $121,000.
The patients in the Hartford Hos-
pitad proper have averaged, the past
year, 234. In aid of this hospital,
the state makes an annual appropria
tion of $5,000, and the city provides
for the treatment of indigent patients
an annual fund of $17,000. In connec
tion with hospital work in the city
should be mentioned the pavilion for
contagious cases, erected at a cost of
$25,000, which amount was contrib
uted by citizens.
In 1897 another hospital was in
corporated in Hartford, viz., St. Fran
cis Hospital. Bishop Tierney and the
priests of the diocese of Hartford
were instrumental in its organization.
It is doing a great work in curing
sickness and alleviating distress, and
one of its attractive features is the
fact that it permits the patient to be
treated wholly by his own physician.
The growing demands at this institu
tion are being met by its capable
management by a commodious en
largement of its original somewhat-
restricted quarters.
The Union for Home Work is one
of our most earnest and enterprising

charities. Many a child from the
slums of the city has had occasion to
rise up and call it blessed. It collects
and distributes the offerings of an
intelligent and humane generosity, and
is daily bringing many a despairing
heart and home its blessed guidance
and deliverance.
In addition to the large amount
disbursed by the city annually in
charities, the churches and benevolent
societies are spending in the aggre
gate, great sums for the relief of dis
tress and poverty, and these amounts
— the result of individual contribu
tions — are expended under the direc
tion of careful and competent man
agement. No unfortunate, deserving
or undeserving, need suffer in Hart
ford for the necessaries of life. It is,
indeed, a generous city, and its people
a kindly people.
The old bridge across the Connecti
cut river has passed away. Its own
ers were organized as a close corpora
tion under an act of the General
Assembly passed in 1809, and erected
and maintained a structure affording
passage across the river for an estab
lished toll, till by act approved May
19, 1887, and subsequent legislation
it was made free by the legis
lature. In the year 1895 it was de
stroyed by fire, and soon afterwards
the present temporary structure was

REV. J. W. PENNINGTON
Fugitive Slave Pastor Colored Congregation— 1833

62

MODERN FACTORS IN INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

S*2

 -j^ptffif^Swutfe,

MttU'5 KB
ii».' *«»£«

"riSfflwrvnsjiiii i *"

iS^ H

SITE OF RAILROAD STATION IN HARTFORD ABOUT 1870
Hartford and New Haven railroad was chartered in 1835 ; opened from New Haven to Meriden in 1838, and
to Hartford late in 1839— Road from Hartford to Springfield was opened in 1844 with through rail connection
with New York in 1848

erected for the convenience of the
public. The magnificent new bridge
is a project conceived by United
States Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley,
who was named in the act of the
General Assembly creating a bridge
commission as first on the list, and who
as its chairman has devoted much
time and care to the development of
the enterprise. The proposed bridge
is a structure about 1,200 feet long,
affording a highway over the river
eighty feet in width. The Jamaica
bridge, erected across the Clyde at the
head of navigation in Glasgow, is of
exactly this width, but much shorter
as it is composed of seven narrow
spans, while the Connecticut river
bridge has eight exceptionally broad
ones. The Glasgow bridge was dedi
cated in 1899, on the occasion of the
Queen's eightieth birthday, and was
the third bridge successively thrown
across the Clyde at this point. The
first was thirty feet in width, the sec
ond sixty feet, and the present, eighty
feet. It will not t>ear comparison
with the bridge now being erected
across the Connecticut. The com

pletion of the latter, now in sight, will
mark an epoch in the history of Hart
ford. Its cost, some two and one-half
millions, will probably be one of the
city's most profitable investments.
A salient feature of the modern life
of Hartford is its newspapers. The
city is particularly distinguished in
having within its borders the oldest
newspaper in the country — the Hart
ford C our ant. Founded in 1764, this
newspaper has absorbed in its prog
ress, from time to time, more than one
hundred other journals, and still
stands as an embodiment of historical
antiquity and modern excellence.
Among its editors were numbered
General Joseph R. Hawley and
Charles Dudley Warner — names to
conjure with in the political and lit
erary world. The present newspaper
is equipped with every modern me
chanical appliance and its editorial de
partment is fortunate in being guided
by the accomplishments and skill of
a trained journalist — Charles Hop
kins Clark. No city in all this broad
land can boast a more ably edited
journal. It is an interesting fact that

ASYLUM AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH AT HARTFORD
Orj. anized 1872

- -' -. * - i^t&^ rm.

TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Organized in 1859— Present edifice consecrated 1899

64

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

65

ARMINGTON AVENUE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Present edifice dedicated'iSgg

the late Robert Bonner of New York,
in his youthful days, was a composi
tor on the C our ant.
The Hartford Times is "probably
the largest six-days-a-week 'journal
in the country." In 1899 it installed
a sextuple press, capable of produc
ing from 24,000 to 72,000 papers per
hour, and two years later this capacity
was doubled. No other city of the
size of Hartford can boast such a
plant. The first issue of the Daily
Times was published March 24, 1841,
at which time Alfred E. Burr
had become the sole owner of the
paper. Mr. Burr, who was born in
Hartford Mlarch 27, 1815, was de
scended, on his father's side, from
Benjamin Burr, one of the party who
came to Connecticut and founded the
city in 1636. At the age of twelve
years, he set out to learn the printer's
trade and to support himself. Em
ployed upon the Hartford Courant,
first as an apprentice, then as com
positor and foreman, he conducted
himself so well and capably as to re
ceive the offer of an interest in the
paper, but declined the advantage
thus tendered because its acceptance
involved the sacrifice of his political
opinions. The Hartford Weekly Times
was first issued in 1817, and was still
merely a weekly paper when Mr.

OLD PEARL STREET CHURCH
Organized i85i^Erected 1852— Now merged with
Farmington Avenue Congregational Church

Burr purchased a half interest in it
in 1839. Having acquired the other
half interest by purchase, Mr. Burr
began a daily edition, as before stated,
in 1841, and thus the Hartford Daily
Times was born.
So interesting was this man's vig
orous character that I here note some
of the personal qualities that domi-

ASYLUM HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Organized 1864— Dedicated 1866

WINDSOR AVENUE CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCH  ORGANIZED 1870

NORTH METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCl
Present edifice dedicated 1874

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

67

ST. JOHN S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Organized 1841— Consecrated 1842

nated his life. The stories which I
have enjoyed hearing related by mem
bers of his family, I am given per
mission to tell here ; many of them
have never before been publicly told.
Interesting, indeed, are the recol
lections of Mrs. Ella Burr McManus,
the beloved daughter of Alfred E.
Burr, and one of the few who were
taken into his intimacy.
"When my father • wanted to buy
an interest in the Times," she says, "it
was then a small weekly. He went
to the office and taking up one of the

papers, pointed out to Henry A.
Mitchell, at that time the proprietor,
where improvements could be made,
and said he would like to buy an in
terest in the paper. Mr. Mitchell did
not seem to be very enthusiastic over
the proposition and made no ^decisive
reply. Gideon Welles, afterwards
Secretary of the Navy, was sitting
in the office at the time. He was a
frequent contributor to the paper,
and the element of strength there
was in it was owing to him and
to the Hon. John M. Niles, also a

68

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

ST. THOMAS' EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Organized 1870 — Dedicated 1872

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Organized 1851— Present edifice dedicated 1870

contributor. After my father left the
office, Mr. Welles, as he afterwards
told him, said to Mr. Mitchell: 'You
accept that young man's offer; I like
his looks. He's a strong character.'
"I often met Mr. Welles in the
Times office, but the last time I saw
him was on Main street. We had a
little talk and naturally reference was
made to my father, of whom Mr.
Welles said : T have met many men,

both in national and international
affiairs, but I never met a man of so
fine and rare a nature as that of Al
fred Burr. I love him as if he were
my own brother.'
"This friendship lasted till death.
Mr. Welles' change of politics did not'
weaken it in the least. While my
father's more intimate friends were
acquainted with some of the' finer
traits of his character, no one outside

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

69

INTERIOR ST. JOSEPH S ROMAN CATHOLIC
CATHEDRAL AT HARTFORD
Corner stone laid 1877— Consecrated 1892

his own family knew the delicate side
of his nature, nor the usual extent
of his tenderness, sympathy and love.
These attributes were continually
manifested in his home life, and to
gether with his innate sense of
humor, they made him a most lov
able companion, as well as father and
brother. Since his death, nearlv six

years ago, it. has touched me deeply
that many people, including strangers,
have stopped me on the street and
related deeds of kindness which he
had extended to them."
Intimate insights into the forceful
character of this distinguished Hart
ford editor, whose life story would
require a volume and which I hope

7o

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION AT HARTFORD
Organized 1878 — Present edifice'opened 1893

ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL AT HARTFORD
Incorporated 1897

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

7i

HARTFORD HOSPITAL
^Chattered' 1854 — Dedicated 1859

may some time be written, are given
by his sister, Miss Frances Ellen
Burr, one of our most progressive
women. "My brother, as a child, seemed to
see through everything that partook
of sham, or was not in his eyes
thoroughly genuine," she says, "This
can be illustrated by relating a little
incident of his childhood days. On
the death of his grandfather, a group

of young girls (his cousins) were
bewailing his loss somewhat in this
fashion :
'Oh, I'm so sorry grandfather's
dead!' Another would take up the
refrain; 'Oh, I feel so bad that
grandfather's dead!' And so it went
the rounds, till this child, the young
est of them all, began to think there
was rather too much show of grief,
and made up his mind, as he said

TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL AT HARTFORD ON CEDAR MOUNTAIN

7*

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

BROWN SCHOOL AT HARTFORD
Occupied 1868— Contains 34 rooms including annex built in 1897

HARTFORD POST OFFICE AS REMODELED IN I905

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

73

ASYLUM AVENUE (WEST MIDDLE) SCHOOL AT HARTFORD
Occupied 1873

years afterwards, that he would break
up that sort of thing, so he spoke up
boldly: 'I'm glad grandfather's
dead!' This put a new phase on
matters, and one of the young miss
es, forgetting her grief, gave the child
a good shaking, saying: 'You little
rascal ! glad your grandfather is
dead ! What do you mean ?' I mean
that I'm glad that grandfather's
dead,' stoutly maintained the child.
Shaking could not turn him, though

undoubtedly he thought as much of
his grandfather as any one there.
"This trait grew with his growth,
an utter repugnance to all outside
show of deeper feelings of the heart.
As to religion, though he had a deep
reverence for the true kind, he had
no use for creeds and ceremo
nies, which, he felt, live on the exter
nal only. Oral prayers always
seemed to him as though addressed
to earthly ears.

WADSWORTH STREET (SOUTH) SCHOOL AT HARTFORD
Occupied 1887— Contains 45 school rooms

74

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

HARTFORD CLUB
Organized 1873

ELJJS' HOME AT HARTFORD

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

75

HARTFORD GOLF CLUB
Organized 1896

"Perhaps the following incident
emphasizes the character of the man
as strongly as any. My brother
learned the printer's trade in the
Hartford Courant office, where his
ability and faithfulness endeared him

to the then owners of the paper. Af
ter thoroughly testing him and seeing
of what timber he was made, the
senior owner of the paper, George
Goodwin, was anxious to have him
become the owner, editor and man-

COUNTRY CLUB AT FARMINGTON

76

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

THE HEUBLEIN HOTEL AT HARTFORD, FACING BEAUTIFUL BUSHNELL PARK

A
jEiB
' -
H
5
I
,l! |fl
'
mm2k
Spi^^p^
]|l 1
'/ '! 1
;,' ;jj -:-
;.
LOBBY IN THE HEUBLEIN HOTEL
MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

77

HISTORIC ALLYN HOUSE AT HARTFORD
Remodeled i8gg at a cost of $rso,ooo

ager of the paper, and he made him
such flattering offers, notwithstand
ing the young man had no security
except his own sterling character,
that few young men could have re
fused him, especially in those days
when the openings to a successful
career were rare. After telling my
brother what he would do in the mat
ter, Mr. Goodwin added these con
ditions : That he was to join the Whig
party and become a member of the
Centre church. My brother saw
just what he could do with the paper,
and that suddenly was laid open be
fore him a plain and easy road to
success, or, as he put it, 'a fortune
lay at my feet.' But the conditions
were not to his liking. He told Mr.
Goodwin that he would think of it
over night and give him his answer in
the morning. He took the matter
home, went to bed and did not sleep

much that night. The next morning
he was still undecided, and as he has
often told me of this crisis in his life,
he said : 'This thing has got to be set
tled right here and now.' He sat hold
ing one of his boots in his hand, and so
intense was his thought that he held

COUNTY BUILDING AT HARTFORD

^fWi

^tsp

'^^Bp*

MAYORS OF HARTFORD 1815-1843

^CRfLO^'

'^M^

MAYORS OF HARTFORD 1843-1864

'4»US St''"

'f.S R Crt^

i

'^ c 'so***

MAYORS OF HARTFORD 1862-1880
Note— These portraits of old time mayors are from the Municipal Register
by courtesy of Henry F. Smith

U*C4N 0 BUL^

^0HN q r60A

Henry C. Dwight 1890-1892

Leverett Brainard 1894-1896

MAYORS OF HARTFORD 1880-19OO
*Miles B. Preston's term extended on from 1896-98 to igoo

82

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

ONE OF HARTFORD S BEAUTIFUL THOROUGHFARES  WASHINGTON STREET

it out it front of him some time.
Suddenly he thrust his foot into he
boot and bringing it down on the
floor with a vigorous stamp he said :
'No, never can I accept these con
ditions !' That settled it. Gibral
tar could have been moved as easily
as he after that decision. He could
not become a member of any church
as a matter of business, thus putting ,.
on religion as a cloak to help him on*
the road to worldly success. He had
a thorough contempt for hypocrisy.
And with his ideas of Democracy
he could not support the Whig party.
"When Mr. Goodwin heard this
decision he was much affected. ITe
knew the calibre of the man and what
the paper would become in his hands.
He also had a genuine affection for
him, and wanted him to take the
path he had marked out, a path he

felt sure would lead to success. But
my brother, with no money, with
nothing but his own sterling charac
ter, better than all else, had the
strength to refuse, the glittering
prize. "When my brother took the Hart
ford Times in hand he had to borrow
money. He borrowed it of the old
Hartford Bank, whose cashier was
Henry A. Perkins, sometimes called
"Old Spike," from his tall, straight
figure, and his dealings with others,
as straight and upright as his
person. My brother's note was
endorsed by a man named S. B.
Grant, who at that time cut a pretty
wide swath, financially speaking.
He made quite a display of wealth
whether he possessed much or not.
He afterwards did some crooked
financial work and ran away. This,

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

«3

of course, disturbed my brother, and
fearing his note might be protested
he went to the bank and told Mr.
Perkins that had he known the. char
acter of Mr. Grant he would never
have had him endorse his note.
Mr. Perkins looked at him a minute
in silence and then broke out: 'Did
you think we loaned you money
on the strength of that man's en
dorsement? Not at all. We watch
young men carefully and we size
them up pretty well. We saw what
you were, and it was on the strength
of your own character that we loaned
you money. We knew it was safe
in your hands. We cared nothing
about your endorser.'"
This story is well worth the tell
ing, illustrating as it does the possi
bility of young men who build up a

character that furnishes the strongest
kind of endorsement.
Connected with Alfred Burr in his
building of a great newspaper was
his able brother, Frank Burr, who
while in the government service at
Washington, began writing letters
of a pronounced literary quality to
the Times, and later returned to
Hartford to become an editorial writ
er. For more than fifty-two years
the two Burr brothers sat side by
side on the Times, Alfred Burr indi
ting the vigorous political editorials,
and Frank Burr giving attention to
contemporary matters of a more liter
ary nature. This is a remankable
record in American journalism.
Both of the brothers died within about
a-year of each other.
The career of Hon. Alfred E. Burr,

Awnmv

BUSINESS CENTER OF HARTFORD— MAIN STREET

84

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

85

ALEXANDER HARBISON
Mayor 1900-2

IGNATIUS SULLIVAN
Mayor 1902-4

beginning as an humble compositor in
a newspaper office and rising by his
own unaided efforts to the editing and
ownership of one of Connecticut's
greatest newspapers, may well excite
the admiration and emulation of
every right-minded American boy.
Born in Hartford, he wrought out his
destiny in the city of his birth, while
many another, contemporary with
him, went far afield in the unsuccess
ful pursuit of fame and fortune. In
any analysis, the foundations of his
success will be found in a clear head,
conservative judgment, unfailing
courage, and an honest and kindly
heart. The great paper he founded
has grown in importance and influence
in the hands of his successors, and
the Hartford Times, under the pro
prietorship and editorship of Willie
O. Burr has justified the best hopes
and expectations of its warmest ad
mirers, while the business capacity of
its manager, Rufus H. Jackson,
has provided the journal with a plant
of unsurpassed mechanical excellence,
and the patronage of the most enter
prising business establishments
throughout the state.
The newspapers of Hartford have
much influence in shaping the course
of public opinion. I have outlined
the careers of the two oldest journals
in the city. To-day there are other

younger but nevertheless forceful
leaders of public thought.
The Hartford Post has long been
identified with the growth of the city.
It was established in 1858 by J. M.
Scofield as a morning newspaper and
a Douglas organ. Immediately after
the Civil War it became influential

HON. HENRY ROBERTS OF HARTFORD
Governor of Connecticut 1905

The Connecticut Courant.

MONDAY, October 29, 1764.

(Number coj

HERTFORD: Printed by Thomas G r e e n, at the Heart and- Crown,
near the North-Meeting-Houfe.

o

Hartford, OBober 29/A, 1764.
F all the Arts which have been introdue'd amongft Mankind, for the civilizing Human-Nature, and rendering Life
agreeable and happy', none appear of greater Advantage than that of Printing : for hereby the greateft Genius's
of all Ages, and Nations, live and fpeak for the Benefit of future Generations. —
Was it nnt for the Prefs, we fhould be left almolt intirely ignorant of a41 thofe noble Sentiments which the Anticnu
were endow'd-with.
By this Art, Men are brought acquainted with each other, though never fo remote, as to Age or Situation ; 'it lays open
to View, the Manners, Genius and Policy of all Nations and Countries and faithfully tranfmits them to Pofterity. — Buc not
to infift upon the Ufefulnefs of this Art in general, which muft be obvious to every One, whofe Thoughts are the lead exteflve.
The Benefit of a Weekly Paper, muft in particular have its Advantages, as it is the Channel which conveys the History
of the prcfent Times to every Part of the World*
The Articles of News from the different Papers (which we fhall receive every Saturday, from the neighbouring Provinces)
that fhall appear to us, to be molt authentic and interefting fhall always be carefully inferred ; and great Care will be
taken to collect from Time to Time all domeftic Occurrences, that are worthy the Notice of the Publick; for which, we
fhall always be obliged to any of our Correfpondents, within whofe Knowledge they may happen.
The CONNECTICUT COURANT, (a Specimen of which, the Publick are now prefented with) will, on due En
couragement be continued every Monday, beginning on Monday, the 19th of November, next : Which Encouragement
we hope to deferve, by a coftant Endeavour to\ render this Paper ufefuij and entertaining, not only as a Channel for News,
but afiifting to all Thofe who ma,y have Occafion to make ufe of it as an. Advertifer.
Si5"Subfcriptions for this Paper; will be taken in at the Pirinting-Ofnce, near the No'r.th-Mecting-Houfe, in Hartford.
FACSIMILE OF FIRST COPY OF THE HISTORIC OLD CONNECTICUT COURANT

in Republican politics. The late
Hon. Marshall Jewell, cabinet mem
ber and minister to Russia, was its
editor for some time. In 1868 it be
came an evening newspaper and the
late Isaac H. Bromley, one of the
best known of the last century edi
tors in Connecticut, was the control-
lig editorial power. Since then the
Post has been directed by many capa
ble and prominent men. One of its
best known editors has been the late
John Addison Porter who was long a
considerable figure in the affairs of
Hartford and of Connecticut. De
feated in his ambition to occupy the
gubernatorial chair, he commended
himself to the lamented President
McKInley, by his tact and executive

ability. The President admired and
loved his secretary and recognized
that the latter's judgment and fair
ness did much to relieve the embarass-
ment arising from conflicting claims
of precedence and consideration. John
Axldison Porter reduced the social
life of the White House to a system —
a system that saved the chief executive
much trouble and annoyance. Had
he lived there is little doubt but that
his portrait would have been added to
that of the governors of our common
wealth in the state library.
The Hartford Telegram, a morn
ing Democratic newspaper, was es
tablished in 1883 by D. C. Birdsall
and William Parsons. In 1885 the
late Col. E. M. Graves became its

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

87

HOME OF THE HARTFORD COURANT

editor. To-day it is in control of
competent business men and enjoys
the patronage and confidence of our
great and important so-called working
classes, which are in fact the sinew
and mainstay of every community,
the stalwart and healthy physical
body of the municipality. The presi
dent of the corporation is Edward
R. Doyle, A. M. Grogan, treasurer.
In 1867 the Journal was established
and from 1869 its editor and publisher
was the late Captain Joseph H. Bar-
num, who transformed it into a Sun
day newspaper in 1874, the property
now being conducted by his son,
Charles H. Barnum.
In 1876 the Sunday Globe was
established by C. W. Griswold, and
to-day it fills a wide and important
field. It is an attractive and widely
read newspaper, owned by Emil F.
and William L. Linke, progressive
business men, and to-day under the
editorship of Frank G. Macomber,
who succeeded the late Will Loomis.
The journalistic fraternity of

Hartford comprises men of integrity
who are co-operating in holding the
moral tone of the community to a
high standard. In my own public
life I meet the newspaper represent
atives daily and take great pleasure
in recording at this time my deep ap
preciation of their sincerity of pur
pose, their discriminating judgment
and their conscientious labors. The
editorial staffs of our newspapers are
the great silent workers upon whom
we may faithfully rely for an accurate
record of the multitudinous events
that make a day's doings. A tre
mendous responsibility rests upon
them and they are fulfilling their
duties commendably.
Hartford is very proud of the dis
tinguished literary names that have
adorned her annals. Three writers
of world-wide reputation were co-
temporaries in the literary and social
life of the city, viz., Samuel L. Clem
ens, Charles Dudley Warner, and
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Of these the
authors of "My Summer in a Garden"
and ''Uncle Tom's Cabin" have passed
away. Mr. Clemens, alone of the trio,
remains. Though in these later
years he has taken up his residence in
another state, yet the home that he
built here, and one of his most suc
cessful books, "A Connecticut Yankee
in King Arthur's Court," will always
identify him with Hartford.
Lydia Huntley Sigourney, one of the
sweetest of the New England sing
ers, dying in 1865, made Hartford
her home for more than half a century.
Her friend Emma Willard, authoress
of "Rocked in the Cradle of the
Deep," was indebted to Hartford for
her early education. John G. C.
Brainard, though a native of New
London, did some of his best work as
editor of "The Connecticut Mirror."
Samuel G. Goodrich, better known
by his 110111 de plume of "Peter Parley"
was one of the writers of modern
Hartford. James Dixon, though a
Hartford lawyer, did some creditable
work in verse. Two of his sonnets
are to be found in the collection of

88

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

ALFRED E. BURR
Distinguished Editor

Leigh Hunt's "Book of the Sonnet."
James Hammond Trumbull, the his
torian and antiquary, is another name
distinguished in letters that must be
credited to Hartford. His daughter,
Miss Annie Eliot Trumbull, has done
some notable work in fiction, while
her magazine articles and book re
views evidence her talent for literary
criticism. Her novel, "Life's Com
mon Way," is rich in character de
lineation, brightened with the play of
a humor that is always good-natured,
and pointed with sarcasm that is evi
dently intended to correct and im
prove rather than condemn and de
stroy. Henry C. Robinson, eminent as
a lawyer, was no less so in his na
tive state as a writer and lecturer.
Careless of the fate of his many in
spiring and eloquent efforts, he never
collected them in permanent form.

His "Constitutional History of Con
necticut" is a masterpiece of elegant
diction and historic accuracy, and
will retain a permanent place in the
literature of the state. Horace Bush
nell to whose efforts the city is indebt
ed for "Bushnell Park," was, during
his life in Hartford, a powerful in
fluence in letters and theology, not
only in this country, but abroad.
His "Nature and the Supernatural",;
marks an era in the thought of his
age, while few books have excited so
heated a controversy among clergy
and laity alike as his "Vicarious Sac
rifice." The Yale Lectures of Na
thaniel J. Burton, so long connected
with the Park Church, are of permar,
nent literary value. George Denison
Prentice, who died in 1870, was the
author of a life of Henry Clay, and
wrote verse that was much admired.
He was succeeded, as editor of
The Weekly Review, by . John
Greenleaf Whittier. Henry Howard
Brownell (1820 — 1872), was a poet
of a high order. Rose Terry Cooke

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER
Eminent Literateur

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

89

HOME OF MRS. LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY, POETESS

LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY, POETESS

(1827 — 1872), Edmund Clarence
Stedman and Annie Trumbull Slosson
have each added much to the literary
renown of the city.
George H. Clark (1809—1881)
was the author of "Knickerbocker,"
"Undertow" and other works. One
of the most ambitious poetical works
of the new world was the "Colum-
biad," whose author, Joel Barlow
came to Hartford at the age of twen
ty-eight. It was admired and talked
of long after Barlow's death in 1812.
Hartford's pulpit has not failed to
add zest to her literary life. The city
is indebted to Dr. Edward Pond Par
ker, not only for his Sabbath sermons
but for a history of the "Second
Church" and for occasional discour
ses and addresses of consummate

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

WHERE SAMUEL CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN) RESIDED IN HARTFORD

HOME OF HARRIET BEECHER STOWE IN HARTFORD

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

9'

SAMUEL CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN)
America's Greatest Humorist
ability, and for hymns of great sweet
ness and power.
Dr. George Leon Walker has given
us a "Life of Thomas Hooker" and
"Religious Life of New England" to
gether with other works. Rev. Wil
liam De Loss Love has long been an
interesting writer on New England
customs and character. Rev. Sam
uel J. Andrews has published a "Life
of Christ." Rev. Joseph H. Twichell
is the author of a "Life of John Win-
throp." In short no profession in
the citv is without a representative
in the domain of letters, anil the work
done in this direction is creditable to
the skill and taste of the author.
The faculty of the Hartford Theo
logical Seminary and that of Trinity
College are doing no small work in
the way of forming the literary taste
and uplifting the literary standards
of the community.
Modern literary Hartford has in
this, THE CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE, a
notable publication of the best qual
ity, which I find holds an enviable
position in the opinion of the leading

literary critics in this country to
day. Throughout the larger publish
ing centers this magazine of culture
is well known and highly regarded.
It is Mark Twain who says: "It is a
fine and great magazine and I feel a
strong interest in it, and a strong
pride as well." Much is expected of
the young literary workers who are
now giving their attention to serious
literary scholarship in this city and
give evidences of a maturing gener
ation of literary craftsmen who will
sustain the quality and reputation of
Hartford in literature.
From the time of Oliver Wolcott,
(1817 — 1827) clown to the present
chief magistrate, many of the govern
ors of Connecticut have honored
Hartford by their residence within
its borders. The name of a street,
Covernor's street, is eloquent of this
fact. The present governor, Henry Rob
erts, is a resident of Hartford. Of re
volutionary ancestry, he has in a

e^f- -fl3k^<^£~- &kr»^-.

Author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"

92

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

PARSONS THEATER AT HARTFORD
Erected i8g6, capacity, 1700— H. C. Parsons, proprietor

SHIPPING SCENE ON CONNECTICUT RIVER AT HARTFORD

fln^L^B

BRIDGE ACROSS CONNECTICUT RIVER AT HARTFORD
Now in course of construction

94

MODERN FACTORS IN MUNICIPAL PROGRESS

ENTRANCE TO KENEY PARK AT HARTFORD

ENTRANCE TO HISTORIC CENTER CHURCH BURYING GROUND

marked degree the traits that distin
guished that ancestry at a time when it
meant something to be patriotic and
independent. Open to reason, he yet re
alizes that he is responsible for the
chief executive policy and appoint
ments, and that this administration of
the trust committed to him must be
justified by its results. Pie evident
ly intends to administer the affairs
of Connecticut on a business basis,
and to look for his reward to the ap
proval of his fellow citizens.
Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley is a
notable figure in our city's streets.
By family history and tradition in
timately associated with the commer
cial, insurance and social life of Hart
ford, he is in the best sense a repre

sentative citizen. The Aetna Life
Insurance Company owes much of its
success to his untiring energy and
skillful management.
To call the roll of Hartford's
political influences would require
much length. The city has long
been the home of counselors and
leaders of all political faiths. In
manufacturing, finance, mercantile
pursuits, professional life, mechanical
genius, in all the services that man
can choose to contribute to the needs
of his fellowmen, Hartford not only
sustains its past record but progress
es with the years. In closing this
writing I repeat the words in the in
troductory : Hartford has a great
Future.

"ARMSMEAR," ESTATE OF MRS. SAMUEL (ELIZABETH H.) COLT
WETHERSFIELD AVENUE, HARTFORD

THE LAKE AT "ARMSMEAR
THE COLT ESTATE, HARTFORD

RESIDENCE AND GROUNDS OF JAMES J. GOODWIN
WOODLAND STREET, HARTFORD

Photograph by Warner Photograph Company

ASYLUM AVENUE RESIDENCE
OF CHAR.LES K.. FOKR1ST, HAK.TFORD

HOME OF DK. CHARLES C. BEACH
WOODLAND STREET, HARTFORD

RESIDENCE OF "WILLIAM C. SKINNER
WOODLAND STREET, H ARTFORD

Photograph by Joliann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM A. SANBORN
FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph by Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF HENRY C. JUDD,
HIGHLAND STREET, HARTFORD

Flfotograph by Jobanu Olsen

RESIDENCE OF JOHN R. BUCK
-FOREST STREET, HARTFORD

Photograph hy Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF LUCIUS A. BARBOUR
¦WASHINGTON STREET, HARTFORD

Photograph by Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF UNITED STATES SENATOR MORGAN G. BULKELKY
WASHINGTON STREET, HARTFORD

Photograph by Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE QF MRS. WILLIAM H. LEI
WASHINGTON STREET, HARTFORO

Pbotoe^aph- by William G. Dudley

RESIDENCE OF MRS. LEVERETT BRAINARD
WASHINGTON STREET, HARTFORD

Photograph hy Johann Olsen

COLLENSWOOD  HOME OF THE LATE WILLIAM L.
ASYLUM AVENUE, HARTFORD

COLLINS

Photograph by Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF DR. GURDON W. RUSSELL
FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTKOR.I>

Photograph by ¦William G-. Dudley-

RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM D. HUBBARD
HIGHLAND STREET, HARTFORD

Photograph by William G. Dudley

RESIDENCE OF BURDETT LOOMIS
PROSPECT AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph by Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE VIRGINIA T. SMITH.
NOW OCCUPIED BY HER SON, DR. OLIVER C. SMITH
FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph by Schi-eiber

RESIDENCE OF PHILO W. NEWTON
PROSPECT AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph by Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF HENRY D. BRADBURN
PROSPECT AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph by Johann Olsen

«r 3

LAKELET AND DEER PARK ON GROUNDS OF ARTHUR L. FOSTER
PROSPECT AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph hy ¦William G. Dudley

MUSIC ROOM IN THE
LAFAYETTE E. PIKE RESIDENCE

Photograph by Randall Studio

---**-¦"*"¦*' ¦ " '

Fl

RESIDENCE OF CHARLES KING
WINDSOR AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph by Fred R.

RESIDENCE OF MRS. MARY STORRS
FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph by Johann Olsen

"FERN HILL" RESIDENCE OF JOEL L. ENGLISH
FERN STREET, HARTFORD

Photographed by "William G. Dudley

THE ELY HOMESTEAD  OCCUPIED BY CHARLOTTE M. ELY
MAIN STREET, HARTFORD

Photograph by William G. Dudley

RESIDENCE OF HENRY P. HITCHCOCK
GARDEN STREET, HARTFORD .

Pliotograpli t>y Johann Olsen

RESIDENCE OF HON.
LAFAYETTE STREET,

HENRY ROBERTS,
HARTFORD

GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT

Photograph by Johann Oleen

RESIDENCE OF CHARLES E. CHASE
PROSPECT AVENUE, HARTFORD

Photograph hy Johann Olsen

THE LAKELET AT ELIZABETH PARK

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

FIRST IN SERIES OF TWO ARTICLES
BY
EDWARD BAILEY EATON

INSURANCE was known to the
ancients, but had its principal
development in the exigencies of
modern commerce. It was first
applied to mercantile adventures.
The fear of pecuniary ruin by the
loss of ship or cargo checked the
-spirit of enterprise. Few were so
wealthy as to be able to bear alone
so great a loss, but by dividing the
risk among many it was seen that
the inconvenience to each, of the
proportion of loss which he, assumed
might become trivial. Thus orig
inated the practice of insurance,
which has for its purpose to break
the force of the blow of calamity by
increasing the power of resistance.
Though known and practiced among
the commercial communities of
Southern Europe at a much earlier
period, it was a comparative novelty
in England in the time of Elizabeth.
Daring the nineteenth century it
received an immense development,
until now every prudent person
who has property at risk takes care
to seek shelter under a policy of
insurance. The author of "Insurance in Con
necticut," P. Henry Woodward,
records: "Underwriting in Con
necticut began in the last decade of
the eighteenth century. Its early
ventures were humble, for the
country was poor and few could
afford to take risks-. Most of the
large fortunes of the colonial period
were scattered and lost during the
Revolution. At the close of the
struggle the stock of specie on hand
went abroad to buy goods for which
importers could find little else to
offer in payment. Six years of
unrest and anxiety followed, during
which the work of repair progressed
slowly. It was not till the adoption

of the Federal Constitution in 1789,
and the establishment of a mild but
stable central government that our
people threw off the weight of re
pression. After 1789 the re-awak
ened energies of our people found
outlets in ever-multiplying activ
ities. In 1792 the Hartford Bank
and the Union Bank of New Lon
don were organized. The benefits
were so quickly apparent that other
towns hastened to provide like
facilities. At Hartford insurance
followed quickly in the wake of the
new bank, initiated and largety car
ried on for half a generation by the
same men.
Charles Hopkins Clark, one of the
historians of "The Memorial His
tory of Hartford County," states in
that authoritative volume: "Hart
ford occupies a unique position in
fire insurance. For no predisposing
cause beyond the energy and skill
of those who have had charge of the
business, it has acquired the leader
ship in the United States of this
important interest, and has come to
be' more widely known for this than
for any other of its various claims
to prominence. Nowhere else has
fire insurance reached such magi-
tude as here. The business has
grown up to its vast proportions
from the humblest and most in
formal beginnings. Just how it
started is not known. Some
persons incline to believe that it
began in marine underwriting, and
that Hartford owes its eminence as
an insurance center to the import
ance that it once had as a shipping
port. It is certain that very early
in the history of the business local
merchants and ship-owners and
importers insured vessels, and took
the risk themselves as a side

EDWIN G. RIPLEY
President 1857-1862

THOMAS A. ALEXANDER
President 1862-1866

THOMAS K. BRACE
First President of the Aetna Insurance Company— 1819-1857

LUCIUS J. HENDEE
President 1866-1888

JOTHAM GOODNOW
President 1888-1892

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE i

33

WILLIAM B. CLARK, PRESIDENT /ETNA INSURANCE COMPANY
Elected November 30, 1892. and now in active administration

speculation among their other
ventures. A charter for a marine
insurance company was granted in
1803." The fire insurance companies of
Hartford have been a tremendous
factor in American business pros
perity and have reimbursed pro
perty holders in losses by fire
amounting to more than $300,000,-
000. The largest of these corpora
tions is the Aetna Insurance Com
pany, with a capital stock of $4,000,
000 and a record of losses paid in
eighty-six years amounting to
$99,899,109.49 The story of the growth of this
great financial corporation is one of
the most interesting in the nation's

history, and bespeaks integrity and
financial genius. The Aetna In
surance Company was incorporated
at the May session of the Legis
lature of Connecticut, in 1819, with
a capital of $150,000; with privilege
to increase to an amount not ex
ceeding $500,000. At the first
meeting of the stockholders, held
June 15, 1819, at Morgan's Coffee
House, the following directors were
chosen: Thomas K. Brace,
Thomas Belden, Samuel Tudor, Jr.,
Henry Kilbourn, Eliphalet Averill,
Henry Seymour, Griffin Stedman,
Gaius Lyman, Judah Bliss, Caleb
Pond, Nathaniel Bunce, Joseph
Morgan, Jeremiah Brown, James
M. Goodwin, Theodore Pease.Elisha

¦amsmBB

HOME OF THE «TNA INSURANCE COMPANY" 1835-1867
Located on lower State street, Hartford, when the East Side was the prosperous business section

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

'35

HOME OF THE *TNA INSURANCE COMPANY 1867-1903
Located on Main street, Hartford, and demolished to give place to the new structure

Dodd, Charles Babcock. At a meet
ing of the directors the same day,
Thomas K. Brace was chosen presi
dent, and Isaac Perkins, secretary.
They voted to make the office of
Mr. Perkins the office of the com
pany also, and to keep its account
at the Phcenix Bank. How modest
the beginnings of this company
were, appears from the balance
sheet presenting its operations up

to May 31, 182 1. On the debit side
the principal item is the dividend of
six per cent, declared December
15, 1819, on the actual cash invest
ment, making $900. From the
organization till May 31st, 1820, the
total current expenses, including
$225 for the salary of Mr. Perkins
and rent, reached the sum of $451.-
82. During this period the receipts
from all sources amounted to

Wzmw^J^rz^mtni^rz

MAGNIFICENT NEW HOME OF THE /ETNA INSURANCE COMPAN
Erected 1903-1905

Y AT HARTFORD

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

i37

$3,646.42; and as no losses had
occurred, the fiscal year closed with
a profit balance of $2,294.60. The
first policy, for $6,000, was issued
August 17, 1819, and is treasured
among the choice possessions of
the office. About a month later,
the Aetna contracted to assume all
outstanding risks of the Middletown
Fire Insurance Company, amount
ing, as it seems, to nearly $200,000.
This was the first case of reinsur
ance of a company in the state, and
is believed to be the first in the
country. Until the formation of the Aetna,
the few American companies in
existence restricted their efforts
almost entirely to the local business
that could be conveniently secured
by the executive officers. Very
early the Aetna initiated a radical
departure from the previous
method, planting agencies cau
tiously at the more important
centers of trade, and gradually
extending the system till every
desirable place in the country was
occupied. Fires in 1827, as meas
ured by the losses of insurance com
panies, were in excess of the normal
ratio. Perils so thickened around
the Aetna that only the Roman
courage of the directors saved it
from destruction.
Isaac Perkins retired in June,
1828. He practiced law in Hart
ford from 1805 till 1840, serving for
two years as prosecuting officer for
the county. For a while he was in
partnership with Thomas C. Per
kins, who became one of the most
eminent lawyers in the state. For
the first nine years the business of
the company was transacted in the
office of Mr. Perkins. His salary
fluctuated, rising in 1823 and 1824
to the rate of $900 per annum, with
an allowance of $too additional for
rent and firewood, and afterwards
receding to $750. In lieu of salary,
he was voted four dollars per day
while absent on the trip to Mobile,
whence he reached home about the

middle of March, 1828. James M.
Goodwin was appointed secretary
June 9, 1828, and served till May 1,
1837, when his resignation of April
24th took effect. June 8, 1837,
Simeon L. Loomis, who for several
years had been a faithful clerk in
the office, was elected in place of
Mr. Goodwin.
Dividends of one dollar per share
were paid with fair regularity from
June, 1831, till December, 1834,
when the rate was increased to five
dollars. By May, 1836, the situa
tion had so improved that the board
voted a dividend of twenty-five per
cent to be applied on the stock
notes. Meanwhile, the investment
of funds was resumed including a
subscription for 300 shares in the
Hartford and New Haven Railroad,
in the year 1835.
The Aetna was the first company
to issue a fire insurance policy in
Chicago, having in 1834 appointed
Gurdon S. Hubbard to represent it.
The document was on exhibition in
the historical library of that city
until destroyed in the fire of 1871.
During the period of infancy, while
the company was fighting for ex
istence, the economical scale of
expenditures arranged for Secre
tary Perkins on his initiatory trip
through New England was rigor
ously adhered to. Just twenty
years later, in 1842, Joseph Mor
gan, one of the original directors,
made an extensive circuit, taking in
New Orleans and Chicago, and all
the important intermediate towns.
The journey, estimated at 6,104
miles, occupied ten weeks, at an
average expense, including fares
and hotel bills, at $3.29 per day.
During: most of his long life, Mr.
Morgan kept a diary. The record,
filling many volumes, is now in
possession of his grandson, James J.
Goodwin. Chicago then had four
or five thousand inhabitants. St.
Louis was six times as large. A
notable incident of the trip was a
detour to Ashland to visit Henry

A. C. ADAMS
Assistant Secretary

HENRY E. REES
Assistant Secretary

WILLIAM H. KING
Secretary of the Aetna Insurance Company at Hartford

C. J. IRVIN
Assistant Secretary

A. N. WILLIAMS
Assistant Secretary

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

'39

SECTION OF MAIN OFFICE OF THE .ETNA INSURANCE COMPANY

Clay. Mr. Morgan was"called on
oftener than either of his associates
to do this kind of work. He was
the father of Junius S. Morgan,
the eminent London banker, and
grandfather of J. Pierpont Morgan,
whose more than royal power in
financial circles has been used
effectively to purify American rail
way management, and to rehabili
tate great properties wrecked by
incompetence and fraud. Three
generations have been successively
represented in the directory by
Joseph, Junius S. and J. Pierpont
Morgan. By an amendment to the charter
secured in 1839, the company was
empowered to issue policies against
the hazards of inland navigations.
The privilege was not exercised till
the autumn of 1843, when the direc
tors authorized agents at Apalachi-
cola, Savannah, Macon, Columbus,

Mobile, New Orleans, Natchez and
Louisville, to take risks on cargoes
on board of steamers and pole
boats, but not on the boats them
selves, nor on the cargoes loaded
on "that species of craft called
boxes, arks or broadhorns. " A
policy issued October 4, 1859, at the
rate of one-half per cent, on fifteen
negroes, valued at $16,000, bound
from Glasgow, Mo., to Carrollton,
Miss., is still preserved at the home
offices as a curiosity of inland in
surance. The Aetna escaped the fire of
December 16, 1835, in New York
City — the first in the series of great
American conflagrations — which
destroyed property to the value
of $15,000,000, and bankrupted
twenty-three out of twenty-six local
insurance companies. It was not
so fortunate in the fire of 1845,
which swept $6,000,000 of property

140

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

from the business center of the
metropolis, and cost the Aetna
$115,000. When the news reached
Hartford , Mr. Brace called together
the directors and told them that the
calamity would probably exhaust
the entire resources of the com
pany. Going to the fire-proof safe,
he took out and laid on the table
the stocks and bonds representing
its investments. Little was said,
each member waiting for some one
else to take the initiative. At
length the silence was broken by the
question :
"Mr. Brace what will you do."
"Do:" replied he. "Go to New
York and pay the losses if it takes
every dollar there," pointing to the
packages, "and my own fortune
besides." "Good, good!" responded the
others. "We will stand by you
with our fortunes also."
Fifty thousand dollars were added
to the original capital in December,
1822. The secretary was authorized
to offer the new stock at an advance
of five dollars on a share, not pro
rata to holders of record, but, "in
snch number of shares and to
such persons as in his opinion
may be most for the interest of the
company." In 1846, in conformity with a
vote passed the 30th of the previous
December, $50,000 were added,
one-half payable in cash or its
equivalent, and one-half in the
customary instalment notes. In
July, 1849, a third increase of
$50,000 was voted, to be paid in
cash or indorsed notes, running not
more than eighteen months. Thus
the company turned the middle of
the century with a fully paid capital
of $300,000.
On January 1, 1849, the Aetna
owned bonds and stocks valued at
$269,550. Thirteen months later,
with $50,000 of fresh capital in the
treasury, its assets amounted to
$456,327.46, and its liability for
losses to $141,344. In the interim it

disbursed $125,000 for a single fire
in St. Louis. But the season of
storms which culminated at St.
Louis, and sent many competitors
.to the bottom, convinced the public
of the inherent staunchness of the
Aetna; and by the prudent enter
prise of its managers, even cruel
reverses to the general interests of
fire insurance were made to bring
to it large accessions of business
and revenue. Soon a thousand
agents were at work west of the
Alleghanies; and in the ensuing
period of exemption from large
fires, the company rolled up wealth
with a rapidity never equalled be
fore either in the United States or
elsewhere. In 1854 the capital was increased
from $300,000 to $500,000, one-half
contributed by shareholders and the
ether half by a dividend from pro
fits. The figures remained at this
point but a short time, for in 1857
they were changed to an even
million. In 1859, from the profits
of two years, the owners were glad
dened by a second stock dividend
of half a million, which was fol
lowed in 1864 by another for $750,-
000; thus making it $2,250,000, at
which the capital remained until
1866, when it was raised by a stock
dividend to the sum of $3,000,000.
Ambition to make the Aetna the
largest fire insurance company in
the country led the stockholders in
1 88 1, by an issue of 10,000 new
shares, at par for each, to enlarge
the capital to four millions, where
it now stands.
Thomas Kimberly Brace, through
whose influence and exertions
mainly the Aetna was brought into
existence, warned by the infirm
ities of age, resigned the presi
dency in 1857, and died June 14,
i860, in his eighty-first year. Ed
win G. Ripley, succeeded Mr. Brace,
August 4, 1857. He died August
26, 1862. On the tenth of Septem
ber following, Thomas A. Alex
ander was elected president, and

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

141

held the position until his death,
March 29, 1866. In April, 1866,
Lucius J. Hendee was elected presi
dent; Jotham Goodnow, secretary.
November 20, 1867, William B.
Clark was appointed assistant
secretary. In 1835 the company bought of
William H. Imlay, for $9,570, a lot
on the north side of State street,
and proceeded to erect the block
now containing three stores, num
bered 134-142. For its office it oc
cupied No. 134 till the completion,
in 1867, of its brownstone building
on Main street.
By the Chicago fire of 187 1, the
Aetna lost $3,782,000. To meet the
impairment the capital was reduced
one-half, and immediately re-filled
by cash payments of $1,500,000.
Thirteen months afterward the
Boston fire absorbed $1,635,067
more, and the inroad was made
good by a further contribution of
$1,000,000 from the shareholders,
making $2,500,000 furnished by
them in a year to maintain the
technical solvency of the company.
After deducting the losses at
Chicago, over $2,600,000 of assets
were left in the treasury, exclusive
of fresh contributions.
President Hendee passed away
September 4, 1888, aged seventy.
September, 26, 1888, Jotham Good
now was elected president; William
B. Clark, vice-president; Captain
Andrew C. Bayne, secretary, and
James F. Dudley and William H.
King, assistant secretaries. Mr.
Goodnow died suddenly November
19, 1892, at the age of seventy-one.
November 30, 1892, William B.
Clark was elected president; and
December 7th, Andrew C. Bayne,
vice-president; James F. Dudley,
secretary, and William H. King
and Egbert O. Weeks, assistant
secretaries. The death of Captain
Bayne brought further changes in
the officials' corps. James F. Dud
ley became vice-president; William
H. King, secretary, and E, O.

Weeks and F. W. Jenness, assistant
secretaries. All were veterans in
the service of the company.
President Clark was born in Hart
ford June 29, 1841. His father, A.
N. Clark, was manager and part
owner of the Courant during and
after the war. The son, after serv
ing a short time on the newspaper,
in 1857, entered the office of the
Phoenix Fire, of which he became
secretary in 1863. In 1867 he
resigned to take the assistant
secretaryship of the Aetna. On
the death of Mr. Hendee, the office
of vice-president, created in 1853
for Edwin G. Ripley, and after his
promotion allowed to remain vacant,
except when filled for a brief in
terval in 1862-63 by Henry Z. Pratt,
was revived for Mr. Clark. Al
though still in the prime of life, in
term of service he is the oldest
insurance official in the city. He
has served as an Alderman and on
the Board of Water Commissioners,
and as a director is connected with
several financial and benevolent
institutions of the city.
William H. King, secretary, both
by inheritance and association,
seems to be almost an integral part
of the Aetna. His father was con
nected with the company over forty-
four years. William H., born July
4, 1840, after a short term of
service during the war, entered the
office of the Aetna in 1862, becom
ing second assistant secretary in
1888, first assistant secretary in
1892, and secretary in 1893.
On the death of Vice-President
Dudley, which occurred suddenly
at New Orleans on the 19th of
March, 1897, Mr. Weeks was
elected a director and vice-presi
dent, and filled these offices most
satisfactorily until his decease.
which occurred on the 31st of
October, 1902. The promotion of
Mr. Weeks to the vice-presidency,
and Mr. Jenness having resigned
and returned to the New York
field, left the company without

142 HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE
assistant secretaries, and, on the for which it is designed
recommendation of the officers, the hundred years to come.
directors unanimously elected Alex- r-
ander C. Adams of Boston, New
England general agent, and Henry
E. Rees of Atlanta, Georgia,
Southern special agent, assistant
secretaries on the 7th of April,
1897. On the decease of Vice-
President Weeks, Messrs. C. J.
Irwin of Philadelphia, special agent
for eastern Pennsylvania, and A.
N. Williams of Hartford, special
agent for western New England,
were elected assistant secretaries.
In view of the fact that the com
pany had outgrown the building
used by it since 1867, and not being
of fireproof construction, and also
not adapted to modern methods of
conducting the business, it was,
after six months' careful considera
tion, voted by the board of direc
tors, on the third day of December,
1902, to construct a new fire-proof
building, occupying the site of the
old office and the building on the
north, occupied by the Republican
Club, which the company had
purchased several years previously.
The building has a frontage of 94
1-2 feet and is 165 feet in depth,
five stories in height. Granite,
limestone, brick and iron con
struction, with tile roof and steel
roller shutters on exposed side — in
fact as nearly fire-proof as human
ingenuity can devise. The main or
street floor is occupied by the local
agency, bicycle and wardrobe
rooms and the printing office of the
company. The second floor fiont,
by the directors' room, president's
and secretary's offices, and the main
office, "two stories in one," 80 x 100
feet, a commanding room, probably
not excelled by any office in this
country. The third floor front, by
bookkeepers, classification clerks,
stenographers and special agents.
The fourth floor is reserved for the
future growth of the business of
the company. The fifth floor con
tains the lunch rooms and kitchen,
and an immense filing room, which
will no doubt answer the purpose

for

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HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

i43

r

HOME OF THE HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY AT HARTFORD

M'

AYOR HENNEY, in the
preceding article, states
that from investigations the
Hartford Fire Insurance
Company seems to have been the
beginning of organized fire insur
ance in Connecticut, and is given
rank to-day as the oldest active
stock insurance company in this
state. As a culmination of the
neighborhood agreements and
mutual plans for protection, the
Hartford Fire Insurance Company
was incorporated in 1810.
Hon. Frederick A. Betts, former
State Insurance Commissioner, in a
historical compilation makes this
record: "The subscribers met on the
27th of June at the inn of Amos
Ransom and organized. General
Nathaniel Terry was chosen presi
dent and Walter Mitchell secretary.
The sum of $15,000 was received
for stock and this was invested in
the stock of the Hartford Bank. In

1 82 1 it entered upon a much more
vigorous policy and appointed
several additional agents. The
Chicago fire of 187 1 destroyed
property valued at $150,000,000.
The Hartford settled every loss in
full, paying out $1,968,225 Na
thaniel Terry was president until
l83S, when E. Terry was elected
president and served until 1849.
H. Huntington was then elected
and held the office until 1864, when
T. C. Allyn became the president
and continued in that position until
1867, when George L. Chase was
elected and has served ever since."
During the past thirty-seven years
Mr. Chase has worked indefatiga-
bly, and the reputation of the Hart
ford Fire to-day in the United
States is largely due to his efforts.
His son, Charles E. Chase, and R.
M. Bissell, are vice-presidents; P.
C. Royce is the secretary; Thomas
Turnbull, assistant secretary.

144 HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

PRESIDENT HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY
The real inception of the Hart
ford Fire Insurance Company dates
back even to 1794, but since 1810 it
has held a perpetual charter and its
business has been devoted exclus
ively to insurance against loss or
damage by fire, lightning and
tornadoes, until to-day the capital
is $1,250,000 and total assets of
nearly $16,000,000, has a net surplus
of over $4,000,000 and has paid
nearly $90,000,000 in losses.

iMk
!¦
VJfcfe
k
f3|
P
g ^PHILANDER C. ROYCE
Secretary
THOMAS TURNBULL
Assistant Secretary
HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

'45

P*S^

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HOME OF THE NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY ON PEARL STREET, HARTFORD

TWO names closely identified
with the history of fire in
surance are Mark Howard
and James Nichols. As
president of the old Merchants' Fire
Insurance Company, which, chart
ered in 1857, was the first in Con
necticut to repudiate the custom of
building on a foundation of stock
notes — a privilege long embraced in
every charter granted by the Legis
lature — Mr. Howard made it a con
dition upon which he accepted the
presidency that the corporation
start business with a full-paid
capital of $200,000.
The business was handled con
servatively and with integrity, but
so serious were the consequences
of the Chicago fire that the Mer
chants' was absorbed by the National
Fire Insurance Company, which was
organized in 187 1 on a charter
issued in 1869, with Mark Howard
as president, and James Nichols,
former secretary of the Merchants'
Insurance Company, as secretary

of the new corporation, and began
business with a paid-up capital of
$500,000. President Howard died January
24, 1887. James Nichols, long and
intimately associated with Mr.
Howard, was elected president
February 9, 1887. He was born
December 25, 1830, at Weston, Con
necticut; admitted to the bar in
1854, and settled in Hartford as

MARK HOWARD
First President 1871-1887

i46 HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

JAMES NICHOLS
President— Elected 1887

B. R. STILLMAN
Secretary

H A. SMITH
Assistant Secretary

assistant clerk of the Superior
Court. In 1861, when the district
embraced seven towns, he was
elected Judge of Probate, but in
1867 he left law to become a par
ticipant in the development of
insurance. Under his sound busi
ness principles, the National Fire
Insurance Company has experienced
steady growth.

To-day the corporation has a
capital of $1,000,000. and Judge
Nichols is still its capable executive
head. The total assets of the com
pany are nearing $7,000,000, and the
net surplus over capital and all
liabilities is nearing $2,000,000.
Cooperating energetically with
Judge Nichols is B. R. Stillman, sec
retary, and the assistant secretaries.

INTERIOR MAIN OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

i47

IN 1867 a charter was granted by
the Legislature of Connecticut
for the Orient Insurance Com
pany, and on November 23,
1871, the company organized and
became the lineal successor of the
City Fire Insurance Company,
which, with many of its contempo
raries, was blotted out of existence
in the holocaust at Chicago. By
the terms of the charter, a capital
of $2,000,000, was authorized with
the privilege of doing business on a
minimum of $500,000. In view of
the enormous drafts upon the re
sources of Hartford, required to pay
the losses at Chicago, the corpora
tors thought best to begin with half
a million, and to increase as the
growth of business might demand.
The first directors were David
Gallup, Newton Case, M. Bar
tholomew, Charles T. Webster,
William Boardman, Daniel Phillips,
Augustus S. Jerome, Fred R.
Foster, John W. Danfbrrri, Selclen
C. Preston, James G. Batterson,
Thomas T. Fisher, Joseph S. Wood
ruff, Leverett Brainard, Charles J.
Cole, William H. Bulkeley, Knight
D. Cheney, George S. Lincoln
Samuel F. Jones, James Campbell
and George M. Pullman. The first
officers were: Charles T. Webster,
president; Selden C. Preston, vice-
president and George W. Lester,
secretary ; these gentlemen having
held similar positions in the City
Fire, whose agency system the
Orient proceeded to adopt.
January 1, 1872, the first policies
were written. Ten months later
came the Boston fire, which took
$164,000 from the Orient — a heavy
blow to befall a small company at
the beginning of its career. How
ever, it met every obligation by
sight drafts, paying all losses in full.
To preserve technical solvency,
the capital was ' now reduced to
$350,000. In January, 1875, an

extra dividend of $50,000 in cash
was declared and simultaneous!)'
turned back into the treasury, so as
to raise the capital to $400,000.
The process was repeated in Jan
uary, 1876, and in January, 1877,
when out of earnings the capital
was fully restored to its original
figures. S. C. Preston succeeded Mr.
Webster as president, in May, 1874,
and held the place till 1883. In
1 88 1 the capital was raised by cash
subscriptions to 1,000,000. John
W. Brooks, a banker of Torrington,
who had just completed a term of
three years as insurance com
missioner of Connecticut held the
presidency from 1883 till May, 1886,
when he was followed by Charles B.
Whiting. After several years of business
enterprise, the Orient Fire Insur
ance Company was purchased by
the London and Lancashire Fire
Insurance Company of Liverpool,
England. This sale was brought about by
the resident manager in this
country, Archibald G. Mcllwaine,
Jr., who became president of the
strongly re-organizfed company,
with $500,000 capital. The new,
interests, on securing control, re
tained the valuable experience and
services of Charles B. Whiting,
vice-president and James Wyper
became secretary.
The Orient Insurance Company
is erecting a new home office building
of beautiful design, which will
soon be ready for occupancy. Tt holds
a commanding position on Trinity
street, overlooking Bushnell Park.
The corporation is experiencing a
prosperous epoch and with losses
amounting to more than $16,000,000
paid since organization, there is a
policy holders surplus of about
$1,250,000, and the total cash
assets exceed $2,250,000.

i48 HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

HON. E. A. BULKELEY
President Aetna Life Insurance Company of Hartford, 1850-1872

THE development of life insur
ance in Hartford has been
so great that it seems hardly
possible that in point of
time it has occupied little more
than half a century. As a matter
of fact, however, all this develop
ment has taken place since 1846,
before which time not only was
there no life insurance company
located in this city, but the very
subject of life insurance was
practically unknown. At this time
Judge E. A. Bulkeley was counsel
"for and a director of the Aetna
(Fire) Insurance Company. This
company, by an amendment passed
by the General Assembly in 1820,
to its original charter, granted in
1819, had the right to grant an
nuities and insure lives. The privi
lege had never been taken ad
vantage of, but the favorable man
ner in which life insurance seemed
to impress the public led Judge

Bulkeley and other directors to con
sider the advisability of availing
themselves of this old and half-for
gotten right. A decision in the
affirmative was soon reached, and on
June 6, 1850, the stockholders of the
Aetna, in annual meeting, passed
the following resolution :
Resolved, That we approve of the
petition to the General Assembly of this
State at its present session, for an amend
ment of that portion of the charter of this
company, authorizing insurance upon lives.
and accept and approve the amendment
passed by said assembly, and that the
directors of this company be, and they are
hereby, authorized and requested to take
early measures to carry into effect the pro
visions of the charter and its amendments
relating to the subject of life insurance, an
nuities, etc., and for that purpose to raise
the necessary capital, in the manner and
not exceeding in amount the sum prescribed
therefor.

At the directors' meeting held
later in the same day a motion was
made by Mr. Bulkeley and passed,

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

149

providing that a committee of three
be appointed to take the matter
into consideration and report to
the board, as early as possible, such
measures and plans of organization
as might be thought expedient.
President Brace appointed Mr.
Bulkeley, Edwin G. Ripley, and
Miles A. Turtle as the committee,
and at a meeting of the directors on
June nth they reported in favor of
establishing a life department to be
known as the "Aetna Insurance
Company Annuity Fund," with a
capital of $150,000. Aetna stock
holders were to have the preference
in subscribing for the stock. The
management of the life department
was to be entrusted to seven of the
directors, with a vice-president as
chairman. An actuary was to be
appointed and such other officers as
might be needed. The books and
funds of the life department were
to be kept separate from the other
books and funds of the company.
The managing directors were to
establish a tariff of premiums and
make all other arrangements needed
to conduct the new business. The
seven managing directors named in
the report were Robert Buell, M. A.
Turtle, John L. Boswell, Eliphalet
A. Bulkeley, Roland Mather, E. G.
Ripley and H. Z. Pratt. Judge
Bulkeley was chosen the vice-pres
idential chairman. The $150,000
capital was all subscribed for by
Aetna stockholders, and the other
work of organization proceeded rap
idly. By the middle of July the new
concern was located in its first
offices — two rooms on the second
floor of 58 State street, directly over
the offices of the parent company.
The first policy was issued on July
15, 1850. It was for $5,000 and
was on the life of George F. Tyler
of Philadelphia, a brother of
General Robert O. Tyler of Hart
ford. The second policy was
issued to Curtis L. North of Meri-
den, who was the company's first
agent.

The beginnings of the new enter
prise being small, an unpretentious
office on State street provided ample
room for the care of its business ;
but from the start the Aetna
annuity fund manifested signs of
the growth which was to follow.
It was soon found that it would be
desirable to separate the annuity
fund from the parent company, so
an act was passed by the General
Assembly of 1853 amending the
Aetna (Fire) Insurance Company's
charter by incorporating the share
holders of the annuity fund of the
Aetna Insurance Company as a life
insurance company, to be known as
the "Aetna Life Insurance Com
pany." Thus the Aetna Life's
existence as a distinct corporation
began May 28, 1853. The first
board of the new company was com
posed of E. A. Bulkeley, Austin
Dunham, Henry Z. Pratt, L. C.
Ives, Mark Howard, John Warbur-
ton, Roland Mather, Simeon L.
Loomis, John W. Seymour and W.
H. D. Callender. (The board of
directors in 1905 is composed of

THOMAS O. ENDERS
President 1872-79

iS°

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

HON. MORGAN G. BULKELEY
President of the Aetna Life Insurance Company since 1879
United States Senator from Connecticut

Morgan G. Bulkeley, G. W. Rus
sell, M.D., W. E. A. Bulkeley,
Morgan B. Brainard. A. R. Hillyer,
S. G. Dunham, J. O. Enders and J.
L. English.) Judge Bulkeley was
elected president, and held the
office until his death in 1872, He
was succeeded by Thomas O. Enders,
who was continued in the office
until he resigned it in 1879, when
Morgan G. Bulkeley, son of the
first president, was elected to the
position, and has held it since with
great success. J. W. Seymour was
elected secretary, later being suc
ceeded by Samuel Coit. The office
of vice-president was no* filled until
1856, when John W. Seymour be
came the first incumbent. John

Warburton was vice-president 1857
-59. Simeon L. Loomis 1860-62
Austin Dunham 1863-1877, and
General William H. Bulkeley, a
son of Judge Bulkeley, 1877-79.
Up to 1879 the position was purely
an honorary one, but in that year it
was made an active office, and John
C. Webster, who had been with the
company since 1865 as general
agent and superintendent of agen
cies, was elected to succeed General
Bulkeley. Mr. Webster resigned
the office late in 1898. Mr. J. L.
English, secretary for thirty-eight
years, was elected vice-president in
February, 1905.
There were by no means so many
changes in the secretaryship, of

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

I51

which office there have been only
five occupants during the com
pany's fifty-five years of existence
— namely, Mr. Seymour, Mr. Coit,
Thomas O. Enders, J. L. English
and Charles E. Gilbert. Long ten
ure of office is even more notable
in the case of the presidents, of
whom there have been only three.
Thomas O. Enders, for instance,
was secretary for fourteen years
during the presidency of Judge
Bulkeley before he succeeded the
latter in the higher office, and Joel
L. English, the present vice-presi
dent, held the office of secretary of
the company for thirty-eight years.
During its first year, or rather
half-year, of business, the company
wrote 528 policies, of which five are
still in force. While its growth was
rather slow at first, it was never
theless very steady. The decade
between 1850 and i860 was a
critical period in the country's
history, financially as well as
politically, and conditions were not
conducive to the rapid development

MORGAN G. BULKELEY
at the age of 13 years, when first employed in 1851 by the
Aetna Life Insurance Company upon the
"lowest rung of the ladder"

JOEL L. ENGLISH
Vice-President Aetna Life Insurance Company
Secretary for thirty-eight years

of new enterprises. Still, the young
plant was hardy and thrived in
spite of all the difficulties that
bestrew its path. Less than half a
dozen years had elapsed before the
quarters on State street became too
small for its increasing operations,
and removal was had to more com
modious ones in Hungerford &
Cone's building at the corner of
Main street and Central row. In
1867 it moved to the Aetna (Fire)
Insurance Company's building on
Main street, where it occupied half
of the first floor, again under the
same roof as the parent company.
Early in 1888, the Aetna Life
bought the handsome structure next
door to the Aetna Fire's building".
This is now the noted home office
of the company.
It has not been all fair sailing for
the Aetna Life, for from the start
there have been times of great
booms in business and also times of
great depression, and life insurance

152

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

shared with other lines of business
in these conditions. But still for
the Aetna Life there has always
been a strong, vigorous and
healthy growth toward greater
things, sometimes rapid and at rare
times slow ; and this has been
steadily going on until on January
ist last it had increased its life,
term and endowment insurance
outstanding to $237,304,739, re
presenting 138,538 policies. But

DR. GURDON W. RUSSELL
Medical Director Aetna Life Insurance Company
since 1850

this by no means represents the
total business of the company, for
in 1891, under the general statutes
of the State of Connecticut, it
organized and set in full operation,
an Accident Department, which has
proven extremely successful. Vice-
President Webster had charge of
this department until he resigned
the vice-presidency, and since then
Walter C. Faxon, who was made an
assistant secretary of the company
in 1895 and vice-president of the

Accident and Liability Department
in 1905, has been in immediate
charge under the supervision of the
president. The Accident Depart
ment grew very fast from the be
ginning, and in 1898 a health feature
also was added to it. An idea of
the advance made may be gathered
from the fact that in 1904, or four
teen years after the accident busi
ness was started, the total accident
premium income was over $1,500,-
000, and health premium income
$165,174.81, which shows a greater
gain over the premium income for
the same length of time than any
other company doing accident and
health insurance; indicating that
the Aetna Life has become the
popular company in that line of
business. On January ist last the
accident and health insurance in
force had increased to $217,236,164.
On the first of May, 1900, the
Aetna Life added to its well-estab
lished Accident Department, the
Liability branch of the insurance
business. From that time to this
the growth in this line has been so
brilliant that it has astonished the
insurance world. In less than
three years the amount of net cash
actually received for premiums in
1904 was $1,707,240. This is with
out parallel in the insurance busi
ness. The Aetna Life stands to-day in
the proud position of one of the
soundest and most conservative
life insurance companies in the
world. With assets of $73,696,178,
a great surplus of more than
$8,850,000 over every liability, and
life, accident, and health insurance
in force amounting to over $454,-
540,000, it can look back with
feelings of the deepest satisfaction
upon its career of a little more than
half a century,, and can look for
ward to a future development of
corresponding proportions along
the same wise and conservative
lines. Its magnificent record of the
past it attributes to the system of a

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

'53

responsible stock management
under which it was organized and
has been continued. Its founders
believed that the safest and best
company for the insured would be
one handled by men who had a
personal and a pecuniary interest in
its success, for in protecting their
own interests they would be doing
the best possible for the policy
holders. The result has more than

H. W. St. John, actuary; M. H.
Peiler, assistant actuary; M. B.
Brainard, assistant treasurer; W.
E. A. Bulkeley, auditor; G. B.
Bentley, assistant auditor. Acci
dent and Liability Department: W
C. Faxon, vice-president; J. S.
Rowe, secretary Liability; J. M.
Parker, Jr., secretary Accident. G.
W. Russell, M. D., medical director;
Edward K. Root, M. D., medical di-

HOME OF THE ffiTNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY AT HARTFORD

justified that belief. From its very
inception the Aetna Life has been
one of the strongest and best
managed companies in the world.
The officers of the Aetna Life
are: Morgan G. Bulkeley, presi
dent; J. L. English, vice-presi
dent; C. E. Gilbert, secretary;
Frank Bushnell, agency secretary,

rector; P. PI. Ingalls, M. D., associ
ate medical director; W E. Dick-
erman, M. D., associate medical di
rector ; E. A. Wells, M. D., associ
ate medical director; T. B. Merrill,
superintendent of agencies Western
Division ; L. M. Hastings, Superin
tendent of Agencies Accident and
Liability Department.

'54

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

JOHN M HOLCOMBE, PRESIDENT PHCENIX MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

IN 185 1, several prominent men
connected with the great
temperance reform movement
of that day, conceived the idea
of establishing a life insurance
company with low rates, policy
holders to be only people of strictly
abstemious habits. They secured a
charter for the American Temper
ance Life Insurance Company.
The incorporators were: Barzillai
Hudson, a prominent leader in the
crusade against alcohol; Benjamin
E. Hale, editor of the Fountain, a
cold-water sheet; Thomas S. Wil

liams, ex-Chief Justice of the Con
necticut Supreme Court; Francis
Gillette, a noted abolitionist in the
formative period of the party, and
for a year in the United States
Senate; James B. Hosmer, phi
lanthropist, who left large sums for
public uses; Francis Parsons, a
prominent lawyer, and Edson
Fessenden, keeper of the Eagle
Hotel. The directors chosen were
Mr. Hudson, Mr. Hosmer, Tertius
Wadsworth, Mr. Parsons, Albert
Day, John H. Goodwin, W. W.
Hoppen, Noah Wheaton, Mr.

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

'55

HOME OF THE PHCSNIX MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

Gillette and Mr. Fessenden. Mr.
Hudson was chosen president, Mr.
Wadsworth, vice-president ; and
Mr. Hale secretary, for the year
ensuing. Satisfied after a fair trial that,
however correct a\ the total abstin
ence principle;'; might be, the
attempted application of it ran
counter to the inclinations of human

nature, the managers abandoned
the temperance feature in 1861,
conformed the rates and contracts
to the common practice, and with
legislative permission, changed the
name to the Phoenix Mutual Life
Insurance Company.
Many of the risks taken under
the original plan still remain on
the books, and as a whole have per-

156

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

haps justified the opinions of the
founders in regard to the greater
longevity of those who entirely
avoid spirituous drinks. October
5, 1852, Benjamin E. Hale was
chosen president for the rest of the
year, and James H. Holcomb,
secretary. Mr. Hale resigned
February 23, 1853, to take the
general agency of the compa^r,
and was succeeded by Edson
Fessenden. Mr. Holcomb also
resigned, and, declining reelection,
was succeeded by J. Augustus
Wright, March 14th. W. H. Hill
was secretary April, 1857-July,

clumsy French concrete method,
combining, as modified, lightness,
strength and safety. It is fire
proof throughout. It has a high
speed electric elevator, gas and
electric lights, direct and indirect
steam heat, sanitary plumbing,
with abundant ventilation and light
for all the rooms. The front is in
the Italian renaissance style. The
rooms of the company are finished
in East India mahogany, and the
rest of the interior in oak. There
are nine fire and burglar proof
vaults, constructed' with "the**most
approved devices.

WILLIAM A. MOORE
First Vice-President

ARCHIBALD A. WELCH
Second Vice-President and Actuary

SILAS H. CORNWELL
Secretary

1865, and James F. Burns, July,
1865-June, 1875.
In 1875 Aaron C. Goodman was
chosen president; Jonathan B.
Bunce, vice-president, and John M.
Holcombe, secretary. In 1890
Jonathan Bunce became president;
John M. Holcombe, vice-president,
and John H. Lawrence, secretary.
In 1896-7 the company built a
home office on the south side of
Pearl street, near Main, seventy by
one hundred and twenty feet, six
stories high in front and three in
the rear, exclusive of the basement.
The floors and roof are built after
the new Columbian system, an
American adaptation of the more

At a meeting of the board of
directors held December 27, 1904,
Jonathan B. Bunce, having ac
cepted the presidency of the
Society for Savings of this city —
the largest savings bank in Con
necticut and one of the largest in
the United States — resigned the
office of president of the company.
He remains as president of the
board of directors and in charge of
the investment department, where
his services for many years have
been of such signal value.
The following officers were
elected unanimously: President,
John M. Holcombe; first vice-presi
dent, William A. Moore; second

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

'57

MAIN OFFICE PHCENIX MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

vice-president and actuary, Archi
bald A. Welch; secretary, Silas H.
Cornwell. Mr. Welch was chosen a
director to fill the vacancy on the
board caused by the recent death of
Francis B. Cooley, who for several
years was president of the Society
for Savings.
Mr. Holcombe, after graduating
from Yale — where he is now one of
the lecturers in the insurance
course — served as actuary for the
Connecticut insurance department,
and became assistant secretary of
the Phoenix Mutual in 1874 and
secretary in 1875. From that time
to this he has been a power in
bringing the company to its present
high position, and has been re
cognized as distinctively its insur
ance representative. He is a prom
inent member of the Actuarial
Society and is widely known among
insurance men throughout the
country. At home he has served
his fellow citizens in both branches
of the city government and on

various boards. He is a director in
the Connecticut Fire Insurance
Company, the American National
Bank and the Mechanic's Savings
Bank, and of the Fidelity Company.
Since Mr. Bunce, in the investment
department, and Mr. Holcombe, in
the insurance department, took con
trol of the company's business, the
assets have increased from $10,000,-
000 to over $18,000,000, in round
numbers. To quote the Hartford
Courant: "Steady growth and in
creasing prosperity have marked
each year since they took it in
charge, and it stands to-day among
the vigorous and progressive life
companies of the city and country."
First Vice-President Moore came
to the home office from the Albany
agency in 1874, since which time he
has gained steady promotion. He
was elected assistant secretary in
1897, director in 1902, and secretary
in January. 1903.
Second Vice-President Welch,
actuary, took up insurance on

'5«

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

graduating from Yale, and came to
this company from the Travelers in
1892. He was made assistant
secretary in January, 1903. Mr.
Welch is also a lecturer in the Yale
course, and is treasurer of the
Actuarial Society of America.
Secretary Cornwell has been with
the company thirty-seven years and
in January, 1903, was promoted
from head book-keeper and cashier
to be assistant secretary.
At the annual meeting, January
23, 1905, these officers were
reelected. The directors are John
M. Holcombe, Jonathan B. Bunce,
Nathaniel Shipman, Isaac W.
Brooks, Silas W. Robbins, George
H. Day, Charles E. Gross, Charles
H. Lawrence, John D. Browne,
Edward D. Robbins, David S.
Plume, James Nichols, Morris F.
Tyler, William A. Moore and
Archibald A. Welch.
The law requires examinations of
insurance companies at least once
in four years, at date not known to
the companies in advance.
Under date of May 15, 1899, the
insurance commissioner, the Hon.
Frederick A. Betts, reported that
he had made the examination of
this company required by law,
which was commenced in July.
1898, and extended over several
months. Each item of the assets was ex
amined and valued, and the policy
lists were carefully checked over to
make sure that every liability had
been included. Not only was this
done, but receipts and disburse
ments were investigated, and the
interest earnings, and the mortality
experience were looked into. The
commissioner reported that the
mortality was much less than that
expected by the table, the interest
earnings were considerably more.

and the surrender values were
liberal, all of which indicated, as he
stated, a most healthy condition.
The payment of claims had been
prompt and no litigations were
pending. The examiners reported
that the assets were such as were in
accordance with the laws of the
state which guard the investments
of trust funds with great care. He
stated that the total divisible
surplus, as shown by the depart
ment, was $78, 384.68 greater than
that claimed by the company in its
annual statement.
In 1902, the Hon. Theron Upson,
then as now commissioner of the
state, made a searching examina
tion of the company's affairs. In
transmitting the detailed report of
his examination, under date of
October 31, 1902, the commissioner
said: "I take pleasure in handing
you the result of the department's
examination of your company,
began June 17, and recently com
pleted. It may gratify you to know
that the final summary shows a
more favorable financial condition
than was claimed by the company.
You will see that the examination
increases your assets by $139,606.-'
or, and that it decreases your
liabilities by $40,631.91. These;
findings increase your net surplus
of December 31, 1901, over that
shown in your annual statement,
$180,237.92." The following shows the com
pany's growth the last ten years:

PREM. INCOME

INS, IN FORCE

1894 $1,192,773 $10,230,475 $36,381,049
I899 2,180,796 12,259,291 57,988,162
1904 3,212,531 18,52^,200 82,288,671
Policies in force, 49,914; insur
ance in force, $82,288,671; total
p^id to policy holders, $48,843,123:
excess (with assets) over premiums
received, $3,389,876.

SECOND IN SERIES OF TWO ARTICLES BY EDWARD BAILEY EATON

CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE BUILDING- HARTFORD 'S GREATEST OFFICE STRUCTURE
Corner Main and Pearl streets— Opposite City Hall

i6o

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

GUY R. PHELPS
President 1866-69

JACOB L. GREENE
President of Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1878-1905

HON. William F. Henney who
is applying business prin
ciples to municipal admin
istration, has found in the
investigations pursued in gathering-
material for his notable articles on
"The Building of a Model Munici
pality" and: "Modern Factors in
Municipal Progress," the great foun
dation of Hartford's prosperity is
the soundness of its financial institu
tions and the integrity of those who
are directing the business policies.
As one of the most eminent members
of the bar, Mayor Henney, with keen
legal penetration, analyzes the con
ditions that give Hartford distinction.

It is very appropriate that in this
birthplace of American Democracy,
the shrine of religious and political
liberty, that insurance, a bene
ficial factor to humanity-at-large,
other than inventions and maufac-
tures, secured its permanent founda
tion and developed its truest and best
business qualities in this municipality.
It is here that its principles of
equity have been permanently estab
lished, and to-day it is not only being
conducted in Hartford as a business
proposition of moral and financial
soundness, but in the faithful dis
charge of its trust becomes a blessing
in times of misfortune that gives it

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OP INSURANCE

¦¦¦'M-$:
:
¦ 4
I
Bjpi„
j^3l
. . '
¦
JQiv
Ik
¦t 'CgSk
HENRY S. ROBINSON
Vice-President
JOHN M. TAYLOR
Elected President of Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company 1905
HERBERT H. WHITE
Secretary
position with philanthropy. The
real greatness of the insurance or
ganizations that feel the responsi
bility of the trust imposed upon them
may be well comprehended by the
notable achievements of several of
the Hartford companies, some of
which I mentioned in the first part
of this article.
It is interesting to record here a
summary of the operations of fifty-
nine years of permanent business de
velopment of one of these institu
tions — The Connecticut Mutual Life
Insurance Company, which has re
ceived during this period from policy
holders $232,759,264.33 ; returned to
policy holders, and other beneficiaries
$234.353.488.98 or $1,594,224.65 more
than the amount received from
them ; has assets in hand of $65,224,-
841.53, and a surplus of $4,828,696.64
with which to meet a liability, actual
and contingent of $60,396,144.89 on
$167,167,515.00 at risk on 70,454
policies. The corporate securities
are of the highest classes ; and their
par value is $25,361,070; they cost
$25,685,116 and are worth in the
market $26,694,418, or $1,009,302,
more than their cost and $1,333,348,
more than their par value.
P. Henry Woodward, author of
the notable historical compilation
HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

JACOB H. GREENE JOHN D. PARKER WILLIAM H. DEMING
Assistant Secretaries of The Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company

"Insurance in Connecticut," states
that early in 1846 a charter incorpor
ating the Connecticut Mutual Life
Insurance Company, was drawn up
and passed by the General Assembly
at the May session in 1846, and that
the document carefully guards the
rights of all parties. In case of loans
on real estate, it requires double secur
ity on encumbered property, and in
loans on state stocks and bank stocks,
a margin of twenty-five per cent.
At the beginning of each year, the
company was required to make an
estimate of profits and of the true
state of affairs for the previous year,
to charge each member with a propor
tionate share of losses and expenses,
and to credit him with a proportion
ate share of profits."
The corporators met first July
16, 1846, at the Eagle Hotel, and on
July 29th, the company was organ
ized by choice of the following direc
tors : Thomas K. Brace, Robert
Buell, David S. Dodge, Guy R.
Phelps, Elisha B. Pratt, Edson Fes
senden, James A. Ayrault, Eliphalet
A. Bulkeley, Lorenzo B. Goodman,
Nathaniel H. Morgan, Nathan
M. Waterman, and Plenry L.
Miller. August nth Eliphalet A.
Bulkeley was chosen president; Guy
R. Phelps, secretary; and David S.
Dodge, physician. Elisha B. Pratt
was subsequently elected vice-presi

dent. At the annual meeting, in Jan
uary, 1847, James Goodwin and Wil
liam T. . Hooker took the places of
Messrs. Phelps and Goodman in the
directorate. The work of appointing
agents, and procuring risks was
pushed with vigor, not over $5,000 at
first being taken on a single life. Jan
uary 6, 1848, James Goodwin was elec
ted president, and James A. Ayrault
was appointed actuary, other officers
remaining as before. The following
March, Isaac Toucey, afterwards
governor, United States senator and
secretary of the navy, was appointed
first legal counselor.
At the outbreak of the Civil War,
says Historian Woodward, the growth
of the Connecticut Mutual was
more solid and the company had
about three and one third millions of
dollars in assets and about twenty-
five millions at risk. It had already
won the confidence of the public.
When business rebounded, after the
first shock of war, the fruitfulness
of wise seed-sowing became clear,
and the company made great gains.
In 1848 President Bulkeley retired
from the company, and was succeed
ed by Major James Goodwin, who
retained the position until 1865, and
Secretary Phelps assumed the head
ship. In 1869 the latter died, and
Major Goodwin was again called to
the presidency, which he retained un-

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

163

til death in 1878. For thirty years,
Major Goodwin largely directed the
financial policy of the Connecticut
Mutual in the matter of loans and
investments. To his sagacity it is
greatly indebted for the strong posi
tion which it won early, and has
easily mantained.
President Goodwin was succeeded
by Jacob L. Greene in 1878. After
a remarkable financial career of many
years, the death of President Greene
occurred on March 29, 1905, and
tributes were paid to his character
by many distinguished men. The
church, state and press recognized
that his death was not only a loss to
the insurance interests of the country,
but to the citizenship which he repre
sented. Rev. Dr. Flavel S. Luther, Presi
dent of Trinity College, stated :
"What can we say more than that
the community is bereaved of a true
and honorable citizen and servant,
one who could be trusted, and who,
as a steward, was found faithful ?
What greater thing can ever be said
of any man?"
Right Rev. Chauncey B. Brewster,
bishop of the Episcopal diocese of
Connecticut, on hearing of the death
of Colonel Green said: "He was
the warm-hearted and open-handed
friend of his brother men, the high-
minded Christian gentlemen."

The great life work of Colonel
Greene began immediately after the
war and no man in the field of life
uderwriting, by voice and pen, has
done more to make things clear to
the insurer, to win his confidence,
to expose fallacies, to condemn haz
ardous experiments and wrong meth
ods, and to clothe in bright light its
sure and sacred beneficence. His
theory and practice, his gospel of
life insurance, from that time to this,
were anchored in the convictions
that its sole function was the pay
ment of losses ; that its purpose was
the sure protection of the family,
which was to be guaranteed beyond
peradventure at the least cost; and
that every member of the company
had that equal right of mutuality,
which should be sacrificed to no am
bitions, no experiments, and no ex
pedients. This is the character that has per
meated the business of the Connec
ticut Mutual, and a continuance of
this same financial integrity has been
assured by the election of John M.
Taylor as successor to the presidency.
Mr. Taylor was born of New Eng
land parentage at Cortland, N. Y.,
February 18, 1845, graduated with
class and scholarship honors in 1867
at Williams College, and was admit
ted to the bar in 1870.
The business of this institution is

GEORGE R. SHEPHERD. M. D.
Medical Director Connecticut Mutual

DANIEL H. WELLS
Actuary Connecticut Mutual

CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE BUILDING, HARTFORD— PEARL STREET SIDE

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

165

to-day being administered with a
recognized responsibility of the mor
al obligations of insurance. Presi
dent Taylor is surrounded by men,
who are thoroughly imbued with the
Connecticut Mutual principles. The
vice president is Henry S. Robin
son ; secretary, Herbert H. White ;
assistant secretaries, John D. Park
er, William H. Deming and Jacob
H. Greene ; actuary, Daniel H.
Wells ; assistant actuary, Charles
Hildebrand ; medical director.
George R. Shepherd, M. D. ; assistant
medical director, Joseph B. Hall, M.
D. ; medical referee, Charles D.

Alton, M. D. ; superintendent of
agencies, John L. Bunce : inspector
of accounts, Charles B. Ingraham ;
directors, Thomas Sisson, Charles
M. Beach, Charles Hopkins Clark,
Lucius F. Robinson, Frank W.
Cheney, John M. Taylor, Charles E
Chase, Jacob H. Greene, James J.
Goodwin, William C. Skinner, Her
bert H. Wrhite, Meigs H. Whaples.
The Connecticut Mutual occupies
the finest office structure in this city,
which is not only the home of its in
surance interests, but the home of a
large proportion of financial interests
of Hartford.

LOOKING DOWN PEARL STREET FROM MAIN STREET CORNER IN THE SIXTIES
corqer is old home of Phoenix Mutual Life

i66

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

THE LATE JAMES G. BATTERSON
Founder of the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford

A MOST interesting story of a
remarkable business devel
opment is that of the
Travelers Insurance Com
pany of Hartford, which begins with
a journey in England in 1859,
when James G. Batterson, granite
builder, philologist, and art critic, saw
and purchased an accident ticket of
the Railway Passenger Assurance
Corporation of London, insuring
against death and injury, during the
journey from Liverpool to Leaming
ton. He immediately recognized
the value of such insurance broadly
applied in the United States and af
ter consulting several insurance
authorities in England, he returned
home with the determination to put
his idea to a practical test.
The plan was greeted with general
amazement, the company was char

tered amid the derision of most in
surance men, and the founder had
to appeal in person on the floor of
the New York Assembly for the
right to do business in that state, the
insurance department being strongly
opposed to the project as visionary
and of no value.
The company which was char
tered in the previous year, began bus
iness in 1864. The first policy was
written on the life of Col. James Bol
ter, afterwards president of the Hart
ford National Bank, and a director of
the Travelers, and insured Col. Bol
ter in the sum of $5000 while jour
neying from the post office to his
home. The second policy, issued on
the life of E. S. Tyler, was for a
policy of $5,000, insuring against ac
cident while journeying from Hart
ford to Washington and return,

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE 167

SYLVESTER C DUNHAM
President of^the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford

The first rates, based on English
statistics, were found inapplicable to
American risks, and the company
was compelled to experiment with
great caution and gather its own ex
perience. A series of disastrous
railroad and steamship accidents,
however, during 1865 and 1866,
called public attention to the value
of accident insurance, and the Travel
ers immediately leaped into promi
nence. Accident insurance was
soon taken up by other companies,
over seventy being organized within
two years. Most of these failed, the
few survivors were absorbed by the
parent company, and the Travelers,
gradually developing the business to
include accidents of all kinds, is now
the largest accident company in the
world.

The growth of the Travelers has
been very great. Over $59,000,000
has been paid in benefits to policy
holders, and so large and popular
has the accident business of the com
pany grown, that during the first
eight months of 1905 over $900,000
was paid in benefits by this depart
ment alone.
Its accident policies cover the
whole field of accident insurance and
include :
Special Accumulative Accident
policies covering all accidents with
ten per cent accumulative feature.
Accumulative Accident polices
covering all accidents with five per
cent accident accumulations.
Combination Death and Dismem
berment policies.
Death Only policies,

i68

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

JOHN B. LUNGER
Vice-President Travelers Insurance Company
Incomparable Disability policy, all
accidents and all diseases, with
ten per cent accumulative accident
feature. General Disability policy, all acci
dents and special diseases, with five
per cent accumulative accident fea
tures. A General Accident policy.

General and Special Health poli
cies. In 1866 the Travelers took up the
business of life insurance, and the
original object of building up an ex
cellent class of good business has
been lived up to throughout its
career. For many years the company con
fined itself to non-participating life
policies, that is, policies guaranteed
as to net cost and all results, but
without dividends, suited to the var
ious circumstances of individuals.
In 1902 the company extended its
plans to participating policies, the
principal of which are the Annual
Dividend, Guaranteed Dividend, and
Accumulative Life Policy with dis
ability provisions.
In 1890 the Travelers enlarged its
sphere of operation and took up
the broad business of employers'
liability insurance, a development of
the principles of insurance against
accidents brought about by modern
industrial conditions, and has estab
lished itself as the leader in this as
in personal accident business.
Among the policies under this
head are included Employers' and
Public liability, Theatre liability.
Contractors, Residence liability,
Automobile liability.
The assets of the company now
amount to $44,456,000; its total re-

JOHN L. WAY
Second Vice-President

JOHN E. MORRIS
Secretary

EDWARD V. PRESTON
General Manager of Agencies

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

HOME OF TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY AT HARTFORD
Prospect street, corner Grove street

sources and other liabilities $238,-
621,000; surplus to policy holders $5,-
835,000. Its total annual income
in 1904 was over $12,539,000.
The Travelers has always had a
world-wide reputation for fair treat
ment of its policy holders, and finan
cial strength and integrity of man
agement. Its officers are as follows :
Sylvester C. Dunham, president ;

T

-Sir T;

'» '.1 I

FIRST HOME OF TRAVELERS INSURANCE
Occupied site of present building

John B. Lunger, vice-president;
John L. Way, second vice-president ;
John E. Morris, secretary; Edward
V. Preston, general manager of agen
cies ; Hiram J. Messenger, Actuary ;
John B. Lewis, M. D., medical direc
tor,, William Bro Smith, Counsel ;
Levi L. Felt, comptroller; Louis F.
Butler; assistant secretary; J. Stan
ley Scott, life department secretary ;
Bertrand A. Page, accident depart
ment secretary ; Walter G. Cowles,
liability department secretary ; James
J. Morcom, chief adjuster ; Edwin
P. Piper, superintendent liability de
partment; George E. Black, George
L. Crandall, Howard A. Giddings,
assistant superintendents of agencies.
The directors of the company in
clude :
James L. Howard, Nathaniel Ship-
man, Henry P. Stearns, M. D., Wil
liam B. Clark, Austin C. Dunham,
Pliny Jewell, George Roberts.
Charles C. Beach, M. D., Frederick
R. Foster, Sylvester C. Dunham,
Charles L. Spencer, John R. Hills,
John E. Morris, James G. Batterson,
2nd, John B. Lunger, John L. Way.

170

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

HARTFORD LIFE INSURANCE BUILDING
Corner Asylum and Ann streets, Hartford
ONE of the older of the in
surance institutions of Hart
ford, which has returned to
policy holders and benefici
aries upwards of $28,000,000 to pres
ent date, was organized under a spec
ial charter, granted by the Connecti
cut Legislature in 1866 as the Hart
ford Accident Insurance Company.
Its first business was that of accident
insurance which it began early in
1867. In that year it commenced is
suing life insurance policies upon the
legal reserve plan. In 1868 it ceased
the accident part of the business and
by legislative enactment changed its
name to that of the Hartford Life
and Annuity Insurance Company.
In 1880 it adopted a unique plan of
natural premium insurance, known
as the Safety Fund system. The
operation of this plan was continued
up to 1897 when under pressure
of adverse legislation in the several
states in which it was admitted, it
ceased taking new business upon the

plan and has issued all its policies
since that date updn the legal reserve
basis. The organization has developed in
to the Hartford Life Insurance Com
pany. Its capital is $500,000, and
its surplus $426,752. It paid in
death claims last year $1,731,029.93.
The first president of the company
was Thomas J. Vail, who was a
prominent citizen of Hartford. He
was succeeded in turn by Wareham
Griswold, E. C. Crosby, Frederick
R. Foster, Henry A. Whitman, R. B.
Parker and the present incumbent,
General George E. ¦ Keeney. Of the
original incorporators who were all
prominent citizens of Hartford, the
following are still living : Hon. Wil
liam Hammersley, Colonel D. A.
Rood, Mr. Hiram BisSell, Mr. C. C.
Kimball, and Hon. John R. Buck, ex-
member of Congress.
The present officers of the company
are George E. Keeney, president;
R. G. Keeney, vice-president;
Louis E. Gordon, second vice-presi
dent ; Charles H. Bacall, secretary ;

GEN. GEORGE E. KEENEY
President Hartford Life Insurance Company

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

171

Thomas F Lawrence, assistant sec
retary. The company writes insurance in
a majority of states and territories
east of the Rocky mountains, confin
ing its efforts in that direction to
those localities most favorable from
the mortality experience standpoint.

The company's first home was in
the well-known Warburton mansion
then located at 230 Asylum street
where it remained until completion
of its new building in 1897, on the
corner of Ann and Asylum streets
where its home office is now located.

ON the theory that life insur
ance rates could be ad
justed to meet impaired
risks on the same plan that
fire rates are adjusted upon various
classes of property, there was organ
ized in Hartford in 1865 a company
which tried out thoroughly the risks
that were rejected by the old system.
After two years it was found that
the infirmities buried in the human
system were too deceptive and vari
able to respond to any determinate
law of averages, and the company
returned to the old system and has
since developed conservatively but
permanently until to-day. The Con
necticut General Life Insurance Com
pany has gross assets of $5,415,098.-
16, with liabilities of but $4,792,833.-
64. The first president of this organi
zation was John M. Niles, who was
later succeeded by Edward W. Par
sons. In May 1876, Thomas W.
Russell, the first secretary was elect
ed to the presidency.
In its forty years of business build
ing the Connecticut General Life
has paid to policy holders a total of

$6,645,766.57. It is now under the
presidency of Robert W. Hunting
ton, Jr., who entered the office of the
company immediately after his grad
uation from Yale University in 1889
and was appointed actuary in 1893.
The vice-president is P. Henry
Woodward, a prominent banker, and
an authority on insurance history.
George E. Bulkeley is secretary- and
actuary, and Edward B. Peck is as
sistant secretary. The directors of
The Connecticut General Life Insur
ance Company include many of the
leading financiers of the city ; Henry
S. Robinson, vice-president, Connec
ticut Mutual Life Insurance Com
pany ; R. M. Bissell, vice-president
Hartford Fire Insurance Company ;
Col. Francis Parsons, secretary of
the Security Company ; Charles P.
Cooley, former treasurer The Fidel
ity Company ; Henry K. W. Welch,
secretary J. B. Williams Company ;
William M. Storrs, cashier Pratt &
Whitney Company ; Theodore Ly
man and Charles A. Goodman, prom
inent members of the bar ; President
Huntington and vice-president
Woodward.

a

T

IME tried and fire tested,"
with a record of fire claims
paid to their policy holders
amounting to $53<972,773--
70, the history of The Phoenix (Fire)
Insurance Company, of Hartford is
notable. Chartered in 1854, its first presi
dent was Nathaniel H. Morgan and
its promoter Henry Kellogg, became

the active executive as secretary.
In 1855 Simeon L. Loomis was elect
ed president and the prosperity con
tinued with leaps and bounds. In
1863 Secretary Kellogg became presi
dent, and in 1867 D. W. C. Skilton,
was elected secretary. In 1871
The Phoenix had accumulated
over $1,900,000 of solid assets, which
enabled it to pay in full its losses in

172

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

the Chicago fire of $937,219.23. By
special request Marshall Jewell, a
large stockholder and director, hur
ried to Chicago. Mounted on a
dry goods box he announced that
the Phoenix would pay its losses in
full, and offered to draw his check on
the spot for approved claims. The
panic-stricken multitude cheered en
thusiastically. In 1872 it promptly
met its losses in the Boston fire,
amounting to $385,956.18.
In 1888 Secretary Skilton was elec
ted vice-president and acting presi
dent. J. H. Mitchell, who was at
that time elected second vice-presi
dent, was made vice-president in 1891
when Mr. Skilton devoted his entire
time to the presidency. John B.
Knox was appointed assistant sec
retary in 1 89 1, and in 1896 Edward
Milligan was elected secretary. With
Thomas C. Temple as an assistant
secretary, this board of executives
is now the progressive power back
of the Phoenix Insurance Company.
The capital since 1881 has been $2,-
000,000. The assets for fifty-one

years of business are $7,341,884.91,
and the re-insurance reserve is $3,-
070,611.96. There is a corporation
surplus of $1,742,346.17, and a sur
plus to policy holders of $3,742,-
346.I7-. President Skilton has been active
in the upbuilding of the National
Association of fire underwriters and
its chief executive for several years.
He was prominent in the preparation
of the standard policy for fire insur
ance and this form has been
adopted and made obligatory by
many states. President Skilton was
born at Plymouth Hollow, Connec
ticut, January 11, 1839 and came to
Hartford in 1855, entering the fire
insurance business in 1861. In 1862
he enlisted in the Civil War, and was
appointed second lieutenant. At the
expiration of the term of service he
was mustered out as first lieutenant
and returned to his former business,
the position having been retained for
him. President Skilton's abilities as
an administrator hold the Phoenix
in the front ranks of fire insurance. >

HISTORIAN Woodward in
his "History of Insurance in
Connecticut, says : "Two
attempts in Hartford to in
troduce novel and untried forms of
insurance have proved notably success
ful. In both cases the results, made
more striking by the failure of imita
tors and short-lived rivals are clearly
clue to intelligence and skillfulness of
management." In 1866 a charter was secured in
corporating the Hartford Steam
Boiler Inspection and Insurance
Company "for inspecting steam boil
ers, and for insuring against loss or
damage to property arising from ex
plosions or other accident in the use
of steam boilers." In 1867 Jeremiah
M. Allen was elected first president
and continued in office until his death
in 1903, when he was succeeded by
Lyman B. Brainerd.
With a capital stock of $500,000,
the company has nearly one hundred

LATE JEREMIAH M. ALLEN
President Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection anrj
Insurance Company. 1867-1903

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

i73

thousand steam boilers under insur
ance, and its total assets are $3,412,-
544.93 and its surplus protecting
policy holders is $1,510,366.39.
President Brainerd's administra
tion includes Francis B. Allen, vice-
president ; Joseph B. Pierce, secre
tary ; Louis F. Middlebrook, assist
ant secretary.
It is impossible to estimate the ex
plosions that have been averted by
the efficient inspection of this com
pany and this insurance against loss

or damage to property, loss of life,
damage to persons caused by steam
boiler explosions. It may be partially
comprehended by the statement that
during the last year its inspectors
made 159,553 visits of inspection,
examined 299,436 boilers, inspected
117,366 boilers both internally and
externally, subjected 12,971 to hy
drostatic pressure, and found 883
unsafe for further use. The whole
number of defects reported was 154,-
282, of which 13,390 were considered
dangerous.

FIFTY-FIVE years of careful
business development has
given The Connecticut Fire
Insurance Company cash as
sets of $5,340,136.94, with a net sur
plus to policy holders of $1,414,921.
16. Its business is being conducted
to-day on a cash capital of $1,000,000.

This institution was organized in
1850, with a capital of $200,000
Benjamin W. Greene was elected its
first president. At the end of the
first decade the company had made
enough on a carefully conducted busi
ness to virtually pay 90 per cent in in
stallments on the stock. In 1865 John

THE CONNECTICUT FIRE INSURANCE BUILDING
Prospect street, corner Grove, Hartford

i74

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

B. Eldredge was elected president.
In 1873 Martin Bennett became pres
ident, and in 1880 John D. Browne
succeeded to the presidency. The
administration of President Browne
has been a period of much prosperity.
He has been prominent in fire insur
ance history since 1865. Charles R.
Burt, secretary, has been with this
company since 1865 and is one of

the patriarchs among underwriters.
L. Walter Clark, who has been in
the insurance field since 1865, and
W. T. Howe are the assistant
secretaries. The Connecticut Fire erected its
present home office of Byzantine
architecture at the corner of Pros
pect and Grove streets in 1885, com
bining beauty and utility.

UNDER the management of
Martin Bennett, a former
president of the Connecticut
Fire Insurance Company
The Scottish Union and National In
surance Company of Edinburgh, and
the Lion Fire Insurance Co., of Lon
don, established American headquar
ters in Hartford in 1880. The exper
ience of ex-President Bennett imme
diately brought it a prosperous busi
ness.

The companies secured special
charters from the Connecticut Legis
lature under which they have the
right to operate at any time when
the management may desire. The
current statement of the United
States Branch shows total assets of
$5,017,777.73, including a statutory
deposit of $200,000, reserve for un
paid losses $202,127.05, reserve for
unexpired risks and other liabilities

GENERAL OFFICE OF UNITED STATES BRANCH SCOTTISH UNION AND NATIONAL
INSURANCE COMPANY AT HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT

HARTFORD THE STRONGHOLD OF INSURANCE

«75

$1,928,603.19, and a net surplus of
$2,687,047.49. The trustees of funds
in the United States are United
States Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley,
Meigs H. Whaples, president of The
Connecticut Trust & Safe Deposit
Company, and John R. Redfield, pres
ident of the National Exchange Bank.

The interests of the Scottish
Union in the United States are to
day in charge of James II. Brewster
and the American home of the cor
poration is located in the Connecti
cut Mutual building. The business
has made marked gains under its
present management.

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

DEVELOPMENT OF ITS BANKING SYSTEM RECORDED BY
EDWARD BAILEY EATON

THE story of money is one of
the most entertaining of
earlier history. F. George
Markham, an authority, on
numismatology, says that our fore
fathers found great difficulty in ob
taining means of trade and barter ;
that only a little money was brought
with them, and that being sent back
for necessary supplies soon exhaust
ed their resources.
Joseph Gurley Woodward, histor
ian on "Currency and Banking in
Connecticut," gives this interesting
narration : The founders of the colo
nies of Connecticut and New Haven
had little silver or other coined
money. Coin seldom appears in the
early inventories of the estates of de
ceased persons. The Indian wam
pum, made from marine shells re
ceived official recognition as early as
1637. In New Haven colony it was
voted that six white beads or three
black beads should equal one penny.
Taxes were made payable in speci
fied articles. When Connecticut en
tered upon the Pequot War in 1637,
it was voted that Windsor should
provide sixty bushels of corn, fifty
pieces of pork, thirty pounds of rice
and four pounds of cheeses: Hart
ford, eighty-four bushels of corn,
three firkins of suet, two firkins of
butter, four bushels of oatmeal, two

bushels of peas, five hundred of fish
and two bushels of salt; Wethers-
field thirty-six bushels of corn and
one bushel of Indian beans. In
dian corn was made a legal tender
in 1642.
Numismatologist Markham tells
us the very first mone)r made by the
early settlers was under the follow
ing ordinance, passed by the General
Court, March 4, 1634, O. S. "It is
ordered that muskett bullets of a full
boare shall pass currently for a farth
ing apiece, provided that no man be
compelled to take-'above 12 pence att
a tyme in them." While this was good
solid money, doubtless the fathers
considered it as military precaution,
as well as a financial provision, there
by retaining ammunition in case of
war, and a constant circulating medi
um. As has been noted above, corn —
including maize, rye, oats, and wheat
— was used as barter. Pelts of ot
ter, beaver, mink, fox, and bear
were taken to the store and ex
changed for cloth, rum, sugar and
molasses. In Virginia tobacco was
the standard for purposes of trade.
The first bills intended for circulation
within the limits of Connecticut were
hailed by the business part of the
community with delight in 1732.

176

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

A great change in the condition of
business began with the arming of
the colonies for battle, and the con
sequent enormous emissions of paper
by the authority of Congress and the
Colonial governments. The first
great financial event in the United
States was the establishment of the
funding system in 1790 for paying
the public debt incurred by the Revo
lutionary War, and with it was the
birth of speculation in this country.
Gigantic land operations were set on
foot, and a series of lotteries sanc
tioned by the law and managed by the
most respectable citizens was organ
ized to build bridges, wharfs, factor
ies, churches and public buildings. At
that time there were but three banks
in the United States ; The Bank of
North America at Philadelphia ; the
Bank of New York at New York ;
the Bank of Massachusetts at Boston.
In December 1790, Alexander Ham
ilton read to Congress a report con
taining an elaborate argument show
ing the utility of banks and a reply
to the objections which had been or
might be reached against their es
tablishment. The attention of the
country was then directed to bank
ing, and in 1792 the Connecticut
Legislature chartered three banks.
From the beginning has devel
oped the banking system of Connec
ticut which to-day is one of the
strongest in the country, and includes
eighty-one national banks, eight state

banks, and ninety savings banks. In
Hartford there are to-da}- eight
national banks, four savings banks,
four state banks and four trust com
panies. These financial institutions to-day
are here given with the dates of their
inceptions: 1792 — Hartford Nation
al Bank; 1814 — Phoenix National
Bank; 1819 — Society for Savings;
1825 — Connecticut River Banking
Company; 1833 — Farmers & Mechan
ics Bank; 1834 — National Exchange
Bank; 1849 — State Bank; 185 1 — City
Bank of Hartford ; 1852 — American
National Bank; 1853 — Charter Oak
National Bank; 1857 — First National
Bank; 1857 — Aetna National Bank;
1858 — State Savings Bank; 1861 —
Mechanics Savings Bank; 1868 —
Hartford Trust Company; 1870 —
Dime Savings Bank; 1871 — Connec
ticut Trust & Safe Deposit Company;
1872 — United States Bank; 1875 —
Security Company; 1885 — Fidelity
Company. The Hartford Clearing House As
sociation is composed of fifteen
banking houses, which settle at 10:00
A. M. their daily balance. The business
of the Hartford Clearing House dur
ing its last fiscal year was $153,018,-
430-94- Important historical data is given
in the following pages regarding
several of these institutions, includ
ing record of their present financial
soundness.

THE first bank organized in
Connecticut was the Hart
ford Bank in 1792. John
Trumbull, the author of Mc-
Fingal, who represented Hartford in
the Legislature that year, and who
was afterwards a judge of the Su
preme Court of Errors; Chauncey
Goodrich, afterwards member of
Congress, United States senator and
lieutenant governor, and Noah Web
ster, the eminent lexicographer, acted

as a committee and secured a charter
at the May session of the Legislature.
The capital stock was fixed at $100,-
000. The first meeting of the stockhold
ers was held in June 14, 1792. Oliver
Ellsworth, at that time United States
senator and subsequently chief jus
tice of the United States, one of the
wealthiest men in the state, presided;
Jeremiah Wadsworth, John Caldwell,
John Morgan, George Philips,

FIRST BANK ORGANIZED IN CONNECTICUT  HARTFORD BANK  1 792
Located on site of present building, State street, opposite Post Office, since 1811 — Became a National Bank
in 1865

i78

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

HAROLD W. STEVENS
President Hartford National Bank
Barnabas Dean, Timothy Burr, James
Watson, Caleb Bull, and Ephraim
Root were , elected directors. At a
meeting of the directors held June
1 6th, John Caldwell was elected
president, and Hezekiah Merrill was
appointed cashier. Mayor Caldwell
was a West India merchant and dis
tiller, of the highest commercial and
social standing. He was the com
mander of the horse guards, first
selectman, and often represented the
town in the Legislature. Dr. Merrill
had formerly been an "Apothecary
and bookseller, at the sign of the Uni
corn and Mortar, a few rods south of
the court-house."
Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth was
really the founder of the Hartford
Bank. An intimate associate of
Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton,
and others celebrated for their bril
liant services in financing the affairs
of the country both during and after
the war, he not only had been closely
connected with four of the first six
banks formed after the separation of
the colonies from Great Britain, in
addition to holding a directorship in

FRANK P. FURLONG
Cashier Hartford National Bank
the first United States Bank, estab
lished in 1 79 1, but he was the largest
subscriber in organizing the Bank of
North ' America in Philadelphia,, in
1782, and was, at the urgent request
of Alexander Hamilton, elected in
1785 president of the Bank of New
York, serving one year in that office.
Colonel Wadsworth was the local
Astor. DeWafville, in his "Nouveau
voyage dans les Etats-Unis, fait en
1787," estimates his fortune at from
sixty to eighty thousand pounds ster
ling. A quarter of this sum would
have entitled the owner to such con
sideration as a millionaire does not
enjoy at the present day. John Mor
gan was also a prominent merchant.
He was one of the projectors of the
great bridge across the Connecticut,
and opened the street leading to the
bridge, bearing his name. Barnabas
Dean was a brother of Silas Dean, the
American commissioner to France.
The bank was probably first located
on the south side of Pearl street (then
known as Prison street), a few steps
from Main ; and it remained there till
181 1, when it moved to the present

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

179

location at 58 State street. Its money
was kept in a chest of thin wrought
iron, deposited every night in a sub
terranean vault, covered by a massive
door, which was raised and lowered
by a pulley. The chest is now in the
custody of the Connecticut Historical
Society. Incorporated during the first term
of the first President of the United
States, almost at the very beginning
of Hartford's life as a city, and soon
after the close of a long and costly
war which had sapped the energy,
shaken the faith, and sadly taxed the
resources of the people ; created be
cause it had a work to do in up-build
ing the city whose name it took, and
which it has not taken in vain ;
organized by men selected because of
their character and responsibilities as
citizens and men of affairs, many of
them being prominent in the Nation;
administered to the honor of its
founders, the profit of the stock
holders and the welfare of the com
munity for more than a generation
before any rival could successfully
raise its head — the Hartford Bank is
the patriarch among the banking in
stitutions of New England.
Its presidents have been : John
Caldwell, elected June 16, 1792; Na
thaniel Terry, June 10, 18 19; Govern
or Joseph Trumbull, June 12,1828;
David F. Robinson, Nov. 8, 1839;
Henry A. Perkins, June 9, 1853 ;
James Bolter, July 6, 1874; Harold
W. Stevens, Sept. 19, 1900.
The cashiers have been: Hezekiah
Merrill, elected 1792; Norman Knox,
1799; Horace Burr, 1814; Henry A.
Perkins, 1828; Andrew G. Ham
mond, 1853; George Ripley, 1857;
James Bolter, i860; William S.
Bridgman, 1874; Frank P. Furlong,
Jan. 19, 1900.
The capital stock was increased by
successive enlargements, and in 1865
the Hartford Bank entered the Na
tional system of banks with a capital
of $1,132,800, which was increased in

1882 to the present capital of
$1,200,000. The capital surplus and
the stockholders' liability to-day ex
ceed $3,200,000. Its officers are:
Harold W. Stevens, president; Wil
liam S. Bridgman, second vice-presi
dent ; Frank P. Furlong, cashier ;
William S. Andrews, assistant cash
ier; directors: Plenry C. Judd,
of H. C. Judd & Root ; Pliny Jewell,
president of the Jewell Belting Co. ;
Ralph H. Ensign, of Ensign, Bick-
ford & Co., Simsbury, Conn. ; D. W.
C. Skilton, president of Phoenix In
surance Co., George A. Fairfield,
capitalist; Charles E. Chase, vice-
president, Hartford Fire Insurance
Co. ; Philip Corbin, president of P.
& F. Corbin, New Britain, Conn. ;
George A. Gay, of Brown, Thomson
& Co. ; Harold W. Stevens, president ;
E. B. Hatch, president Johns-Pratt
Co. ; John B. Lunger, vice-president
Travelers Insurance Company; Ever
ett J. Lake, president Hartford Lum
ber Co.
A statement of its financial
strength on August 25, 1905, is
here given : RESOURCES.
Loans and discounts. . .$4,606,871.53
United States Bonds ... 1 50,000.00
Other Bonds and Stocks 492,180.90
Banking House  40,000.00
Due from Banks and
Reserve Agents . . . 594,034.95
Cash and Cash Items.. 237,983.76
United States Treasurer 8,500.00

$6,129,571.14

LIABILITIES.

Capital Stock  $1,200,000.00
Surplus and profits.... 829,001.21
Circulation  150,000.00
Individual Deposits... 3,950,569-93

$6,129,571.14

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

WILLIAM H. IMLAY
President Connecticut River Banking
Company 1838-1851
THE third bank to bs established
in Hartford was the Con
necticut River Banking Com
pany, now located on the cor
ner of Main and Pearl streets. In
1824 the General Assembly granted a
charter to the Connecticut River
Company for the purpose of improv
ing the navigation of the river
through the Connecticut valley from
Hartford towards its source by re
moving obstructions and constructing
canals and locks. Simultaneously
provisions were made for the organi
zation of the Connecticut River
Banking Company which provided a
large part of the funds required for
the enterprise. At a meeting held in
the Coffee House of Selah Treat in
January, 1829, a Board of Directors
for the Banking Company was chosen
and the bank began business in Octo
ber of that year in its building at the
corner of Central Row and Prospect
street. During the long period of seventy-
seven years the Connecticut River
Banking Company has had but six
presidents, one of whom served only
one month and another only two
years, the remaining four covering a
period of about seventy-five years,
viz. : Alfred Smith, elected January

SAMUEL E ELMORE
President Connecticut River Banking
Company 1874 to date
8, 1829; William H. Imlay, January
1, 1838; Alfred Smith, November 3,
185 1 ; John A. Butler, January 7,
1862 ; Joseph Church, January 2,
1872; George M. Welch, February 1,
1872 ; Samuel E. Elmore, January 26,
1874. President Elmore, is to-day in
active management of the Bank, hav
ing administered its affairs as presi
dent for nearly thirty-two years.
Henry W. Erving is cashier and Her
man J. Maercklein, assistant cashier.
The directors are : Samuel E. El
more, president; Miles W. Graves,
treasurer State Savings Bank; Stan
ley B. Bosworth, manufacturer,
Louis R. Cheney, treasurer) Austin
Organ Co. ; Arthur F. Eggleston, at
torney at law ; William H. Watrous,
Silver Plate Ware ; Arthur D. CoffirT,
of C. H. Dexter & Sons, Windsor
Locks; A. N. Williams, assistant
secretary Aetna Insurance Co. ; F. B.
Allen, vice-president Hartford Steam
Boiler Inspection and Insurance
Company. During the panic of 1857, when
nearly all banks were compelled to
suspend specie payment for a time,
this is said to have been the only one
in Hartford that continued to redeem
its notes in specie.

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

GEORGE F. HILLS
President State Bank
IN 1849 the State Bank of Hart
ford was organized, and the ap
proval of its charter on June 12
of that year was unique inas
much as it required that the bank
contribute $10,000 for a State Nor
mal School at New Britain. This
was the first money received for nor
mal school purposes. Solomon Por
ter, a successful importer of goods
from the West Indies, was elected
the first president, July 31, 1849.
The first board of directors consist
ed of Solomon Porter, Tertius Wads
worth, Job. Allyn, Charles H. North-
am, William T. Lee, C. H. Brainard,
E. D. Tiffany, C. T. Hillyer and
Thomas Cowles, the latter of Farm
ington, all influential citizens and rep
resented a combination of financial
strength ; four subsequently became
bank presidents : Charles H. North-
am, of the Mercantile National, E. D.
Tiffany of the First National, C. T.
Hillyer of the Charter Oak National,
and C. H. Brainard of the State
Bank. On August 6, 1849, Thomas
Belknap was chosen cashier. On Oc
tober 2, 1849, George P Bissell was

GEORGE H. BURT
Cashier State Bank
chosen teller, and was succeeded
October 7, 185 1, by W. H. D. Cal-
lender. President Porter resigned
September 27, 1852, and was suc
ceeded by Cashier Belknap, and Tel
ler Callender became cashier October
1, 1852, continuing until September
1, 1865 when he was succeeded by
George F Hills. On October 3,
1865 Charles H. Brainard was elect
ed president and served until death,
when he was succeeded by Cashier
Hills, September 19, 1889. George
H. Burt became cashier in 1889, and
the institution is still under the exec-
utiveship of these widely experienced
bankers. The present directors in
clude President Hills, Cashier Burt,
A. Elijah Hart, treasurer Society for
Savings ; Erastus Gay, Farming-
ton ; Charles H. Lawrence,, form
erly secretary Phoenix Mutual Life
Insurance Company ; George E.
Taintor, with J. J. & F: Goodwin,
real estate ; Patrick Garvan, Paper
manufacturer and paper stock;
John R. Buck, firm of Buck & Eggle-
ston, attorneys at law, and Walter L.
Goodwin.

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

STATE BANK BUILDING
Main street, opposite City Hall

Since 1869 the. .bank has returned
to its stockholders a~bout 230 per
cent on its capital, or $922,000; has
made up its capital, and has accumu
lated a surplus of over $302,000.
In 1893 the .. bank obtained an
amendment to its charter giving it
trust privileges, thereby authorizing
it to act as executor, administrator,
trustee,;. and in all fiduciary capacities.
The last call of the bank commis
sioners "on August 25, 1905, for state
ment, showed the following excellent
condition: LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock  $400,000.00
Undivided Profits  302,698.68
Due Banks.  15,352.81
Dividends Unpaid  575-44
Deposits  2,123,006.23
Reserved for Taxes .... 5,000.00
Total  $2,846,633.16
ASSETS-
Loans  $1,886,093.13
Securities  515,422.71
Banking House  50,000.00
Due from Banks  303,330.14
Cash  86,465.66
Overdrafts (secured) . . . 5,321.52
Total  $2,846,633.16

APPRECIATING the need of
greater banking facilities, as
Hartford with its then com
paratively small population
was evidencing a steady gain in its
growth, in 1852 a number of promi
nent citizens became incorporators of
the Bank of Hartford County, the
eighth state bank of the city, and
chose as its first directors: Alfred
Gill, Ralph Gillette, Lemuel Hum
phry, Oliver Woodford, James P.
Foster, William Boardman, Thomas
T. Fisher, Horace Freeman, Charles

T. Webster, Daniel Phillips and John
Hooker. The bank located at the corner of
Main and Church streets, with Alfred
Gill as its first president, who was
succeeded by George M. Bartholomew
in 1858. Rowland Swift, who was so
long identified with the bank, was
elected cashier in 1853.
In 1865 the bank took out a charter
under the National banking act, be
coming the American National Bank,
with a capital of $600,000, its
original capital having been $200,000.
In 1 87 1 Mr. Swift was elected

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

183

JOSEPH H. KING
President American National Bank
president and John G. Root became
cashier. Upon the resignation of
Mr. Root in 1883, to become
president of the Farmers and Mechan
ics National Bank, Joseph H. King
was elected cashier, and upon the
death of Mr. Swift in 1902, Mr.
King succeeded to the presidency, and
William J. Dixon became cashier.
Mr. Swift was the author of
"Commerce and Banking" in "Me
morial History of Hartford County,"
and was one of the distinguished
financiers of the state.
The American National Bank is to
day under the able administration of
President Joseph PL King, who en
tered the services of the institution in
1872, and Cashier William J. Dixon
whose relations began with it in
1875. Its directors are Silas W.

WILLIAM J. DIXON
Cashier American National Bank
Robbins, Wethersfield, Conn. ; Samuel
Taylor, retired lumber merchant ; Ex-
Mayor Henry C. Dwight; President
George L. Chase, of the Hartford
Fire Insurance Co. ; President John M.
Holcombe, of the Phoenix Mutual
Life Insurance Co. ; Lyman B. Jewell,
vice-president Jewell Belting Co. ;
George Roberts, retired; Charles H.
Northam, of Smith, Northam & Co. ;
George H. Day, general manager of
the Association of Licensed Automo
bile Manufacturers ; Joseph H. King,
president ; W. E. A. Bulkeley, auditor
Aetna Life Insurance Co.
Since 1865 it has paid continuously
its regular semi-annual dividends to
its stockholders, amounting to $2,-
100,000, and accumulated surplus
profits of over $348,000, and to-day
its total resources are $2,800,000.

THE First National Bank of
Hartford was founded by the
stockholders of the Mer
chants and Manufacturers
Bank, who voted to change from the
State to the National Banking
System, on January 12, 1864.

The Merchants and Manufacturers
Bank had been in existence a little
over six years. It was organized
August 14, 1857, under authority
of charter granted by the Connecti
cut Legislature, with the following
directors: George Beach, Jr., Eberi-

i84

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING
State street, opposite Post Office, erected 1898
ezer Flower, James M. Bunce, Austin
Dunham, Samuel Austin, Lawson C.
Ives, Henry Kellogg, Lucius F
Robinson, George Kellogg ; George
Beach, Jr., was elected president and
James S. Tryon, cashier.
At the time of its change into the
National Banking system, the bank
had $500,000 of paid-up capital, and
about $40,000 of surplus.
The first National Bank of Hart

ford opened its books for business
February i, 1864, the comptroller of
the currency having issued certificate
of authority January 28, 1864, accord
ing to the provisions of the National
Bank Act.
The Bank was located at No. 9
Central Row, succeeding to the office,
assets, and business of the retiring
state institution.
The directors were: Edwin D.
Tiffany, Ebenezer Flower, Austin
Dunham, Jonathan B. Bunce, Wil
liam W. House, John B. Russell,
James M. Niles, Lawson C. Ives,
Samuel Austin, and officers: Edwin
D. Tiffany, president, James S.
Tryon, cashier.
The bank prospered and in 1868
the directors declared a stock divi
dend of $150,000, from the surplus,
thereby increasing its capital from
$500,000 to $650,000, the present
amount. Outgrowing its quarters in
Central Row, it moved, in 1869, to
No. 50 State street, the location now
occupied by its new building and
then known as the Trumbull house
property. The presidents of the bank have
been: George Beach, Jr., Edwin D.
Tiffany, Erastus H. Crosby, Charles
S. Gillette, James H. Knight.
During President Knight's admin
istration the First National Bank has
become one of the financial leaders,
and he is surrounded to-day by strong
and capable business men: Ward
W. Jacobs, vice-president; Charles
D. Riley, cashier ; William S. Dwyer,
and William P. Conklin, assistant
cashiers ; board of directors, Thomas
Sisson, of T. Sisson & Co., wholesale
druggists ; Ward W. Jacobs, Treas
urer Mechanics Savings Bank ; Lester
L. Ensworth, of L. L. Ensworth &
Son, iron merchants ; Elisha C. Hil-
liard, president The E. E. Hilliard Co.,
Buckland, Conn. ; James H. Knight,
president; Ralphael Ballerstein, of
R. Ballerstein & Co., importers mil
linery goods ; Lucius F. Robinson, of
Robinson & Robinson, attorneys at

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

'85

FIRE PROOF SAFE DEPOSIT VAULT DEPARTMENT  FIRST NATIONAL BANK

law ; Asa S. Cook, president Asa S.
Cook Co. ; Rienzi B. Parker, former
ly president Hartford Life Insurance
Co. ; William B. Clark, president
Aetna Insurance Co. ; John R. Hills,

contractor and builder ; Robert W.
Huntington, Jr., President Conecti-
cut General Life Insurance Co. ;
Judson H. Root, of H. C. Judd &
Root, wool merchants.

RESOURCES

Loans and Discounts 
Overdrafts, secured and unsecured 
U. S. Bonds to secure circulation 
U. S. Bonds to secure TJ. S. Deposits 
Stocks, securities, etc 
Banking house, furniture and fixtures 
Due from National Banks (not Reserve Agents)
Due from State Banks and Bankers 
Due from approved Reserve Agents 
Checks and other cash items 
Exchanges for Clearing House  
Notes of other National Banks 
Fractional paper currency, nickels and cents 
Lawful Money Reserve in Bank, viz. :

Specie.
Legal-tender notes.

$168,800.00 50,000.00

P, 947, '13-57
473-53
195,000.00 25,000.0027,000.00
260,000.00 44,415.01 4,o47-55
912,609. 21
7,378.86
2T,259.6355,836.00 23.72

2l8,8oO.OO

i86

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

Redemption fund with U. S. Treasurer (5 per cent of circu
lation) 
Due from U. S. Treasurer, other than 5 per cent redemp
tion fund 
Total  , 

9,750.00 6,000.00

*,734,7°7-°8

LIABILITIES
Capital stock paid in 
Surplus fund 
National Bank notes outstanding. 
Undivided profits, less expenses and taxes paid 
Due to other National Banks  $ 10,646.65
Due to State Banks and Bankers  5,891.93
Due to Trust Companies and Savings Banks 250,567.69
Due to approved Reserve Agents  7J,7°3 43
Dividends unpaid. 
Individual deposits subject to check  3,140,610.19
Demand certificates of deposit  56,519-33
Certified checks  1,341.45
Cashier's checks outstanding   47463
United States deposits  25,000.00

$650,000.00 250,000.00190,500.00 81,148.78

303.00

3-562,755-3°

Total  $4, 734, 707. of

IN September 1857 a charter was
granted to the Aetna Bank of
Hartford, as a state bank, and
it was followed by an extensive
and wealthy patronage. This was an
era of preparation for business de
velopment when railroad projects
required large amounts of money.
The capital of this institution was
$525,000, and its first president was
Judge Eliphalet A. Bulkeley, father
of the present United States Senator
Morgan G. Bulkeley, and Appleton
R. Hillyer was its first cashier. Its
directors on organization were Judge
Bulkeley, Oliver G. Terry, Charles
P. Clark, William R. Cone, Walter
Keney, Leverett Brainard, Ellery
Hills, Joseph Merriman and Thomas
K. Brace, Jr.
On March 23, 1858, Oliver G.
Terry was elected president. The
institution became the Aetna Nation
al Bank in 1865 and at that time had
a surplus of $26,000. On January
12, 1869, President Terry declined the
re-election, owing to ill health and

ALFRED SPENCER, JR.
President Aetna NaUonal Bank

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

ITALIAN MARBLE AND TILE INTERIOR OF *TNA NATIONAL BANK
William R. Cone, was appointed his serving in these capacities with the
successor. < Aetna National Bank.
In 1885 the bank had a surplus of The directors to-day are United
$130,000, and on March 31, 1887 States Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley,
President Cone resigned because of president Aetna Life Insurance Corn-
ill health, and Cashier Appleton R. Pa^ Aand, ?<-^ve™°r ° Connef :
tt-h , , , •, , • cut; Appleton R. Hillyer, connected
H. Iyer was elected president, serving ^ thP£Pbank since j/s 0'rganization
until May 4, 1891. Archibald G. in l857; James R Con^ scapitalist;
Loomis became cashier and held the Morgan B. Brainard, assistant treas-
office until May 4, 1891, when he was urer of the Aetna Life Insurance
elected president, serving until April Company, Archibald G. Loomis, ex-
24, 1899, and resigning to accept the president; President, Alfred Spencer,
vice-presidency of the National City Jr. ; and William R. C. Corson, elec-
Bank of New York. The office of trical engineer.
vice-president was created May 7, It is interesting to compare the
1897 and Appleton R. Hillyer was growth of the business since the
elected to the office, which he still Civil War:
holds. Alfred Spencer, Jr., was ap- surplus and profits.
pointed cashier on May 1, 1891, and Jan. 12, 1865  $52,369.75
held the position until August 8, 1899 Jan. 12, 1885  161,023.74
when he was elected president. Wil- Jan. 12, 1905  674,951.14
Ham Denison Morgan, who had been deposits.
conected with the bank since 1890 Jan. 12, 1865  $84,337.15
succeeded as cashier in 1899, and Jan. 12, 1885  1,052,081.24
both of these able financiers are still Jan. 12, 1905  4,272,032.89

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

With a surplus of $525,000, equal
ling its capital, the last fiscal year of
the Aetna National Bank results in
this financial statement which be-'
speaks the sound business judg
ment of its executives.
Condensed Statement of Condi
tions, January 12, 1905.
resources.
Loans and Discounts. . .$3,947,620.45
United States Bonds. . . 201,900.00
Stocks, Securities, etc... 205,050.00
Cash and Due from
Banks  .... 1,258,313.58
Redemption Fund with
U. S. Treasurer. . . . 7,500.00

WILLIAM DEN1SON MORGAN
Cashier Aetna National Bank
The charter of the Aetna National
Bank of Hartford expired January
12, 1905, and its corporate existence
was extended to January 12, 1925.

$5,620,384.03
LIABILITIES.
Cash Capital  $525,000.00
Surplus and Undivided
Profits  634,515.04
Reserved for Taxes and
Unearned Interest. 40,436.10
National Bank Notes
Outstanding  148,400.00
Deposits  "4,272,032.89

$5,620,384.03

THE first trust company in Con
necticut, organized October
1868, with a capital of $200,-
000 was the Hartford Trust
Company; its capital in 1905 is $300,-
000, and its charter grants permission
for increase to $1,000,000. It started
its banking house in the building
which it still occupies, and now owns
on Main street, south of the City Hall,
Hartford, and in 1872, soon after the
great conflagration in Boston, in
stalled the first safe deposit vault in
Connecticut. The original board of trustees in
cluded: Charles M. Pond, Leonard
Church, Charles T. Hillyer, John A.
Butler, James C. Walkley, James G.
Batterson, Chester Adams, George
Brinley, Richard D. Hubbard, Ezra

Hall, Thomas O. Enders, Oliver D.
Seymour, William S. Pierson, Wind
sor, David Gallup, Plainfield, Cornel
ius B. Erwin, New Britain.
The presidents of the Hartford
Trust Company have been: Charles
M. Pond, 1868-1880; R. W. Farmer,
1880-1881 ; William Faxon, 1881-
Ralph W. Cutler, elected 1887, is still
1883; Henry Kellogg. 1883-1887;
serving in that capacity. Secretary
and treasurer: George D. Hastings,
1868; R. W. Farmer, 1869-1880;
Ralph W. Cutler, 1880-1887; Frank
C. Sumner, elected 1887, continues
in office. President Cutler was hon
ored with the presidency of the Con
necticut Bankers Association in 1902,
and is at present vice-president of the

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

189

HARTFORD TRUST COMPANY BUILDING
Corner Main street and Central Row

RALPH W. CUTLER
President Hartford Trust Company

FRANK C. SUMNER
Sec'y-*Treas. Hartford Trust Company

190

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

American Bankers Association, repre
senting the trust company section.
Trustees of the Hartford Trust
Company in 1905 are: Charles M.
Joslyn, lawyer; Theodore Lyman,
lawyer; President Ralph W. Cutler;
Pliny Jewell, president Jewell Belting
Company; Henry Roberts, Governor
of the State of Connecticut, Charles
E. Billings, president Billings & Spen
cer Manufacturing Company; M.
Bradford Scott, cashier Plartford Fire
Insurance company; W. E. A. Bul
keley, auditor Aetna Life Insurance
Company; Edward Milligan, secre
tary Phoenix Insurance Company.
Statement of financial condition on
June 30, 1905:

RESOURCES-
Real Estate, Trust Com
pany Block  $250,000.00
Bond and Mortgage Ac
count  382,480.10
Overdrafts   1,366.46
Loans and Discounts... 1,820,118.14
Due from Banks  245,971.53
Cash and Cash Items . . . 319,655.13
Total  $3,019,591.36
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock  $300,000.00
Undivided Profits  260,962.97
Due Banks  4,826.34
Deposits  2,453,802.05
Total  $3,019,591.36

MEIGS H. WHAPLES
President Connecticut Trust and Safe Deposit Co.
THE trust companies of the
city have been growing
rapidly for some years and
rank now among the strong
est of our banking institutions.
with a very firm hold upon the con

fidence of the public. Their stocks
seldom on the market, are reckoned
choice investments, and the commun
ity is coming more and more to avail
itself of the opportunity for using
these large institutions in one or an
other fiduciary capacity. A desire
to secure absolute safety and wise

JOHN P. WHEELER"
Treasurer Connecticut Trust>nd Safe Deposit Co.

INTERIOR OF BANKING HOUSE OF CONNECTICUT TRUST AND SAFE DEPOSI

T COMPANY

192

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

management in creating trusts, by
will or gift, is universal, and is
founded upon the best principles of
business. Formerly individuals were
selected to take care of trust estates,
but frequently a trust far outlives
the personal trustee, while a well-
ordered trust company has a contin
uous and healthful existence.
The Connecticut Trust and Safe
Deposit Company, of Hartford Con
necticut, was incorporated by an act
of the General Assembly in 1871, as
a company authorized to do a bank
ing and trust business and maintain
a safe deposit vault.
The incorporators were : Edward
B. Watkinson, James Goodwin, Jona
than B. Bunce, George L. Chase,
Frederick W. Russell, Nathan M.
Waterman, Henry Keney, Edward
D. Tiffany, Hamilton W. Conklin,
Edward W. Parsons, Henry C. Rob
inson, George Roberts, Charles H.
Brainard, and Charles Boswell.
With the exception of Messrs.
Tiffany, Conklin and Parsons, all the
above mentioned became trustees, and
together with George S. Gilman,
Charles H. Smith, Charles H.
Northam, Loren P. Waldo, Frederick
H. North, Gustavous F. Davis, con
stituted the original Board of Trus
tees. Subsequent trustees elected
were: John B. Corning, Asa
Spaulding Porter, Jacob L. Greene,
John M. Taylor, James J. Goodwin,
Daniel R. Howe, Meigs H. Whaples,
Henry S. Robinson, John P. Wheel
er, and Robert W Huntington, Jr.
The company was organized with a
capital stock of $200,000.00 on the
second day of November, 1872, which
was increased to $300,000 in 1873.
In 1872, Edward B. Watkinson
was elected president, and remained
in this capacity until his death in
March, 1884. W. J. Wood was elect
ed president June 5, 1884, and died
in October, 1885, Meigs H. Whaples
was elected president in January,
1887, and the company is now under
his administration.
In 1872 William H. Buell was
elected treasurer and served to Nov
ember, 1877, when he was succeeded
by Meigs H. Whaples. From De

cember 4, 1877 to 1887, John B.
Corning was vice-president, and was
succeeded by Jacob L. Greene, who
served until his death in 1905. From
June 6, 1895, Henry S. Robinson has
been secretary and manager of the
trust department, and in 1905 was
elected vice-president of the Con
necticut Mutual Life Insurance Com
pany. The treasurer in 1905 is John P.
Wheeler, and Hosmer P. Redfield is
assistant treasurer. The trustees are :
George L. Chase, president Hartford
Fire Insurance Co. ; Jonathan B.
Bunce, president Society for Savings ;
Charles H. Smith, broker ; James J.
Goodwin, capitalist ; Daniel R. Howe,
formerly treasurer of the Hartford
Street Railway Co. ; John M. Taylor,
president Connecticut Mutual Life
Insurance Co. ; Robert W. Hunting
ton, Jr., president Connecticut Gen
eral Life Insurance Co. ; George Rob
erts ; President, Meigs H. Whaples ;
treasurer, John P. Wheeler; Henry
S. Robinson, vice-president Connecti
cut Mutual Life Insurance Co.
The Connecticut Trust & Safe De
posit Company has paid in dividends
to date $677,500, and is executing
trusts which give it position as one
of the first financial institutions in
the state. As trustees of estates,
guardians of minors, executors and
bankers, it has made a notable
record. Its financial statement on
July 1, 1905, was as follows:
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock  $300,000.00
Surplus  300,000.00
Undivided Profits  84,430.39
Dividend  15,000.00
Due to Banks  56,521.57
Deposits  3,277,881-58*
Total $4,033,833-54
'assets.
Loans and Discounts. . .$1,834,512.39
Railroad Bonds  1,033,899.21
Town, City and other
Bonds  229,200.00
Due from Banks  725,896.83
Bills and Specie  210,325.11
Total $4.o«.R-3 9 ca

MASSIVE FIRE AND BURGLAR PROOF DOOR PROTECTING VAULT OF CONNECTICUT
TRUST AND SAFE DEPOSIT COMPANY

'94

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

TT.X

INTERIOR OF~UNITED STATES BANK— Corner Main and Kinsley streets

THIRTY-THREE years ago a
special charter, granted by the
Legislature, gave the right
to organize the United States
Trust Company. A glance at this old
charter reveals a most interesting
fact, for although the name of the
new company implied it, and the or
ganizers demanded the right to do a
' regular trust company business, this
specific privilege was denied them.
The right to the general business of
a state bank was granted with all its
privileges, but, the new United States
Trust Company w?s allowed to be
a trust company in name only. The
organizers that same year, 1872
opened for business in the Charter
Oak Life Insurance Company build
ing. The first president was Morgan
G. Bulkeley ; first secretary and treas
urer, Henry L. Bunce ; to-day these ,
two are the only remaining membersfcjjs
of the original body of men connected*!

with the bank, Mr. Bunce being now
president and Mr. Bulkeley, vice-
president. The first board of direc
tors consisted of Austin Dunham,
William Faxon, Samuel H. White,
Edson Fessenden, James Campbell,
Thomas O. Enders, Morgan G.
Bulkeley and Samuel E. Elmore.
In 1 88 1 President Bulkeley retired
and was succeeded by Thomas O.
Enders, formerly president of the
Aetna Life Insurance Company. Al
though the change was not made di
rectly or at the same time, Morgan G.
Bulkeley and Thomas O. Enders ex
changed positions, as Mr. Bulkeley
had at this time been elected presi
dent of the Aetna Life.
In 1882 permission was granted by
the Legislature for the change of the
name from the United States Trust
.Company to the United States Bank.
This change did away with the office
'of secretary and treasurer, and substi-

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

>95

tuted that of cashier, to which office
Henry L. Bunce was elected.
On September 2, 1890, Mr. Bunce
was elected vice-president and
Howard M. Clark, cashier. The fol
lowing June, Thomas O. Enders re
signed on account of ill health; Mr.
Bunce was elected president and At-
wood Collins vice-president. Mr.
Collins held this office until elected
president of the Security Company,
when he was succeeded by General
William H. Bulkeley. General Bulk
eley died in office and was followed
by Morgan G. Bulkeley, the present
holder of the vice-presidency.
Frederick G. Sexton was elected
cashier on the death of Mr. Clark in
April, 1894, and occupied the office
until his death in May, 1905. He was
succeeded by William B. Davidson,
who has been connected with the bank
for over twenty years.
The business of the bank increased
so rapidly that in 1880 a move was
made to the Robinson building on
Main street, and again in 1895, when
the present quarters were leased.
The history of the United States
Bank is very interesting, both statis
tically and because of many incidents
of note concerning the institution
itself and the men who have made it
what it is. Whe the doors were first
opened in 1872, the outlook was very
auspicious ; the great panic which
came the following year — 1873 —
caused the bank to suffer heavily
through bad paper. The founda
tions, however, had been well laid,
and excellent management soon
brought the institution to its feet
again, and the almost uninterrupted
march of progress began.
The first dividend of 3 per cent,
semi-annual, was paid in the July
following organization. Only for a
comparatively short time in the history
of the bank was the regular payment
of dividends suspended, and in July,
1887, a 6 per cent, semi-annual divi
dend was paid, the bank in the mean

time having accumulated a surplus of
$110,000. As the effects of the panic of 1873
passed away, the affairs of the bank
took an upward trend which has con
tinued ever since. The ten years of
Thomas O. Enders' management as
president, from 1881 to 1891, were
times of remarkable advance. Mr.
Enders was a man of wonderful ex
ecutive ability, foresight and decision,
and by his conservative investments
and careful management the surplus
of the bank was increased during this
time something over $200,000.
Henry L. Bunce, the present presi
dent, is a native of Hartford, and
comes of a family of bankers. His
father was president of the Phoenix
National Bank up to the time of his
death. Henry L. Bunce's twin broth
er, Frederick L. Bunce, is now
president of the Phoenix National
Bank. Henry L. Bunce has been
with the United States Bank since it
opened its doors in 1872, and the his
tory of the institution is his own — one
of solid growth and advancement
along conservative lines.
Vice-president Morgan G. Bulk-
eley's term of service with the bank is
of equal length. He is closely con
nected with the financial and insur
ance interests of Hartford.
The present board of directors con
sists of Morgan G. Bulkeley, U. S.
Senator, ex-governor State of Con
necticut, president Aetna Life Insur
ance Company; Samuel G. Dunham,
treasurer Dunham Hosiery Co., vice-
president Hartford Electric Light
Co. ; John R. Hills, contractor and
builder; Atwood Collins, president
Security Co.; John O. Enders, capi
talist; W. E. A. Bulkeley, auditor
Aetna Life Insurance Co.; Morgan
B. Brainard, assistant treasurer Aetna
Life Isurance Co.; D. Newton Bar
ney, treasurer Hartford Electric Light
Co. ; Henry L. Bunce, president.
The statement of the bank's condi
tion at the close of business on August
25, I9°5:

196

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

ASSETS.
Loans and Discounts. . . . $803,834.72
Cash  634,467.01
Mortgage Loans  750.00
Stocks and Bonds  1,450,761.05
Overdrafts  4,464.04
Total  2,894,276.82

LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock  $100,000.00
Surplus  250,000.00
Undivided Profits  48,126.13
Deposits  2,488,513.17
Due to Banks  7,637.52
Total  2,894,276.82

IN May 1868, a company was
chartered under the title of the
Charter Oak Trust Company,
but began active banking busi
ness in May, 1875, as the Security
Company, the first officers being :
President, Robert E. Day; secretary,
John C. Abbott ; treasurer, William
L. Matson. The first board of trustees
was composed of men of recognized
financial ability : Austin Dunham,
Thomas Smith, William R. Cone,
Newton Case, Asa S. Porter, J.
Hurlburt White, Carlos C. Kimball
William L. Matson, Thomas O. End
ers, James C. Jackson, Leverett
Brainard, John C. Parsons, Cassius
Welles, John C. Abbott and Robert
E. Day.
President Day remained in office

until his death in May, 1894, and on
June 4, of that year, John C. Parsons
was elected to succeed him. At the
annual meeting held the following
January, Atwood Collins was elected
vice-president and treasurer to suc
ceed William L. Matson, who had re
signed, and Charles Edward Prior
was elected assistant treasurer. Presi
dent Parsons remained in office only
two years, resigning in March, 1896,
and being succeeded by Atwood Col
lins. Judge Henry E. Taintor was
elected vice-president at this time, and
Charles Edward Prior became secre
tary and treasurer. The death of
Judge Taintor occurred August 31,
1904,. and Mr. Prior was elected to
the vice-presidency, retaining the
office of treasurer, and being succeed-

ATWOOD COLLINS
President Security Company

CHARLES EDWARD PRIOR
Vice Pres.-Treas. Security Company

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

197

ed as secretary by Francis Parsons.
The present administration of the
Security Company's finances includes
the trusteeship of the million dollar
safety fund of the Hartford Life In
surance Company, and of many
private estates, and the treasury-
ship of several school districts.
President Collins is a graduate of Yale
attended the Columbia Law School,
and is a member of the Hartford
County Bar. He is a director of many
of Hartford's financial institutions
and is identified with the city's gen
eral business and philanthropic inter
ests. Mr. Prior was for nearly twelve
years, 1883-1895, secretary and treas
urer of the Jewett City Savings Bank,
an institution which was pointed out
by the Bank Commissioners as a
model of its kind.
Col. Francis Parsons is the son of
the second president of the company.
He is a graduate of Yale University
and the Yale Law School, and has
practiced law in Hartford, the city of
his birth, giving special attention to
probate and trust law. He is the
trust officer of the company.
Charles Edward Prior, Jr., the as
sistant treasurer, has had consider-

FRANC1S PARSONS
Secretary Security Company

able banking experience for a young
man, and is also known as a singer of
ability. He was elected to the office
of assistant treasurer in February,
1503, being promoted from the posi
tion of teller, which he had filled for
several years.
The present location of the
Security Company is at 56 Pearl
street, where they have large conveni
ent quarters, occupying the entire
first floor of the building.
The present board of trustees in
cludes : Carlos C. Kimball, president
Smyth Manufacturing Co., Kimball &
Parker, fire insurance ; Gurdon W.
Russell, M. D., medical examiner
Aetna Life Insurance Co. ; Frederick
R. Foster, former!}' of Foster & Co. ;
Samuel G. Dunham, treasurer Dun
ham Hosiery Company; John
G. Root, president Farmers and Me
chanics National Bank, ex-mayor of
the city of Hartford ; Nathaniel Ship-
man, formerly judge of U. S. Circuit
Court of Appeals ; Atwood Collins,
president ; Rienzi B. Parker, formerly
president of Hartford Life Insurance
Co. ; D. Newton Barney, treasurer
of Hartford Electric Light Co. ;
Charles Edward Prior, vice-president
and treasurer ; Lyman B. Brainerd,
president and treasurer of the Hart
ford Steam Boiler Inspection and In
surance Co. ; Sidney W. Crofut,
assistant treasurer Society for Sav
ings ; Martin C. Hillery, manager for
Connecticut of the Mutual Life In
surance Co., of New York ; Francis
Parsons, secretary and attorney.
The statement of the Security Com
pany on August 25, 1905, is here
given : ASSETS.
Loans and Discounts... $488,433.56
Stocks and Bonds  351,882.34
Cash in Banks  148,198.06
Cash on hand  31,267.71
Total $1,019,781.67
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock  $200,000.00
Surplus  100,000.00
Undivided Profits  20,429.54
Deposits  699,352.13
Total $1,019,781.67

198

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD

IN concluding the story of Hart
ford's banking institutions,
the following important his
torical data is given :
In 1814 the Phoenix National Bank
was incorporated, and recognized as
a national bank in 1864. The suc
cessive presidents have been: Nor
man Knox, 1814; Charles Sigourney,
1821; George Beach, 1837; John L.
Bunce, i860; Henry A. Redfield,
1878 ; Frederick L. Bunce, 1904. The
capital is $1,000,000; surplus, $500,-
000; Leon P. Broadhurst, cashier.
In 1833 a charter was secured for
the Farmers and Mechanics Bank,
the institution becoming a national
bank in 1865. The successive presi
dents have been : James* Dodd, 1834 ;
Samuel L. Pitkin, 1837; A. H. Pom-
roy, 1840; Horace Goodwin, 2d,
1844; Charles Boswell, 1850; John
C. Tracy, 1858; Alva Oatman, 1877;
John G. Root, 1884. Its cashier is
William W. Smith ; Charles F. Sedg
wick, assistant cashier ; capital, $500,-
000; surplus and undivided profits,
$160,000. In 1834 the Exchange Bank was
organized, and re-organized as the
National Bank in 1864. Its succes
sive presidents have been : Roderick
Terry, 1834; Elisha Colt, 1849; A.
G. Hammond, 1859; James M.
Niles, 1865; E. G. Howe, 1866;
Francis B. Cooley, 1872 ; John R.
Redfield, 1886. Its cashier is Elijah
C. Johnson ; Henry M. Sperry, assist
ant cashier ; capital, $500,000 ; sur
plus, $225,000.
In 185 1 the City Bank was organ
ized, became a national bank in 1864,
and a state bank in 1884 when
its charter expired. Its presidents
have been : Edmund G. Howe, Gus-
tavus F. Davis, Charles T. Welles,
Maro S. Chapman. Edward D. Red-
field is vice-president and cashier ;
Edwin H. Tucker, assistant cashier ;
capital, $440,000; surplus, $55,000.
In 1853 the Charter Oak Bank was
chartered, and entered the national
system in 1864. Its presidents have
been : Charles T. Hillyer, Jonathan
F. Morris, James P. Taylor, Myron

A. Andrews is cashier ; Robert C.
Glazier, assistant cashier; Capital
$500,000; surplus, $231,000.
In 1885 the Fidelity Company was
organized and is to-day conducting a
trust and banking business with a
capital of $50,000, and surplus and
profits of $30,000. Its presidents
have been: Chauncey Howard, Ed
mund A. Stedman, J. M. Holcombe.
The first savings bank in Connecti
cut, and the largest in the state to
day, is the old Society for Savings,
commonly known as the Pratt Street
Savings Bank. It was established
in 1 8 19 with Daniel Wadsworth as
president, Elisha Colt as treasurer,
and in the first months of its organi
zation Mr. Colt used to carry its
assets home in his pocket and sleep
with them under his pillow. At the
end of six months they amounted to
$4,353; to-day they are $28,678,-
667.68, and there are 57,467 deposi
tors. Its presidents have been : Daniel
Wadsworth, Ward Wtoodbridge,
James B. Hosmer, Roland Mather,
John C. Parsons, Francis B. Cooley,
Jonathan B. Bunce. Its treasurer is
A. Elijah Hart; assistant treasurer,
Sidney W. Crofut; second assistant
treasurer, Cornwall T. Millard.
The State Savings Bank was estab
lished in 1858 and by its last report
has deposits and surplus of $5,231,- 1
484. Its presidents have been: \
Chester Adams, 1858 ; Thomas Belk
nap, 1870; Gustavus M. Davis, 1879;
Samuel Taylor, 1896. Its vice-presi
dent is Charles E. Billings ; secretary
and treasurer, Miles W. Graves.
The Mechanics Savings Bank was
established in 1861 and has deposits
and surplus of $6,615,382.46. Its
presidents have been : James P.
Foster, George W. Moore, Daniel
Phillips, Henry C. Dwight. Its
treasurer and secretary is Ward W.
Jacobs ; teller, William A. Willard.
The Dime Savings Bank, established
in 1870, has deposits and surplus
of $2,353,622.89. Its presidents have
been: N. B. Stevens, Alfred E. Burr,
P. Henry Woodward ; its secretary
and treasurer is Robert Dwyer.

First in Series of Two Articles
BY
EDWARD BAILEY EATON

F N the chapter on "Manufactures
1 and Inventions" in the "Memo-
1 rial History of Hartford
County," W. A. Ayres gives
this record: "From the earliest
industrial activity of the country,
Hartford has had a leading part in
manufactures. Plartford inventors
have played an important part in
the development of forms of busi
ness in which many millions of
capital are invested, producing
goods that go all over the world."
In 1637 a grist mill was built on the
"Little River" at Hartford, and the
same business is still continued,
and is known as Daniels Mill.
About 1797 Dr. Apollos Kingsley
built and operated on Main street

in Hartford the first steam road
wagon ever conducted. He also in
vented the first known brick-
pressing machine, and a machine
for making pins. Another of his in
ventions was a card machine in
which the motive power was fur
nished by a peculiar tread mill
operated by eight or ten dogs which
went on relays. "The improve
ments in the use of steam power
came in rapid succession," says His
torian Ayres, "and are largely re
sponsible for the enormous advance
in manufactures of the present cen
tury. There is no better illustration
of the radical change made within a
hundred years than is furnished in
Colt's Armory."

«fp r yy 'Jf

_n

WHERE THE COLT AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN, REVOLVERS AND GATLING
GUNS ARE MADE
Plant of Colt's Patent Fire-Arm* Manufacturing Company at Hartford

aoo INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

COL. SAMUEL COLT
The Pioneer who introduced Manufacturing on a large
scale into Hartford
In telling the story of the execu
tive ability of Samuel Colt, the
volume entitled "Hartford as a
Manufacturing, Business and Com
mercial Center," says: "Samuel
Colt, the pioneer in introducing into
Hartford manufacturing on a large
scale, through personal efforts, per
petuated and extended by the able
assistants whom he called around him,
communicated a very decided impulse
to the modern, industrial system of

of the world. He was born in Hart
ford July 19, 1814. At the age of ten
he entered his father's factory at Ware,
Massachusetts, and at fourteen was
sent to a boarding school at Amherst,
but preferring to gain knowledge in
a broader field he shipped before
the mast for Calcutta in July, 1827,
and on the voyage made a model
which held the germs of the future
revolver. Returning home, he
again entered his father's mill,
where, under the tuition of William
T. Smith, a chemist in charge of the
dyeing and bleaching department,
he obtained a practical acquaintance
with chemistry, becoming quite
expert as a manipulator. At the
age of eighteen, with the knowl
edge and dexterity acquired in the
primitive laboratory at Ware, he
made his second venture alone into
the great world as a lecturer upon
nitrous oxide gas. His tours ex
tended from Canada to the Gulf of
Mexico, and covered a period of
over two years. While most boys
are still at school, or under the
tutelage of parents, he had visited
the antipodes, instructed large
audiences from the platform, and
multiplied by six the effectiveness
of the pistol. In February, 1836,
he obtained a United States patent
for a rotating cylinder containing

FROM OLD LITHOGRAPH OF ARMORY OF COLT'S PATENT FIRE-ARMS MANUFACTURING
COMPANY ABOUT 1855

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 201

AUTOMATIC COLT PISTOL  CALIBRE 32
several chambers to be discharged
through a single barrel. The
previous years he had taken out
patents in England and France. In
1836, The Patent Arms Manufactur
ing Company was established at
Paterson, New Jersey, with a
proposed capital of $300,000, about
one-half of which was paid in, for
making the revolvers. Colonel Colt
put forth strenuous efforts to have
the government adopt the weapon,
but two boards of United States
officers reported against it. Mean
time, under the pressure of neces
sity, many were sold at reduced
prices to Texan rangers, and played
an important part in winning Texan
independence. Later the revolvers
were used by a few of our troops
with great effectiveness in the
Seminole war, the savages becoming
utterly disheartened on finding that
their pursuers could keep up a
deadly fire without stopping to re
load. Thus, in spite of official
criticism and condemnation, the
pistol forced recognition of its
merits by actual tests on the battle
field. But the demonstration came
too late, and with the suspension of
the works at Paterson the manu
facture of the weapon stopped,
while in time the demand, chiefly
from the frontier, completely
drained the market. At the out
break of the Mexican war, in 1847,
General Taylor sent to Colonel Colt
for a supply. Colonel Colt con
structed a new model containing
many improvements, and having
contracted to furnish 1,000 for $28,-
000, made them in an armory hired

for the purpose in Whitneyville.
From this time forward his genius
found an ever-broadening field for
its exercise, and pecuniary rewards
rolled in with the momentum of a
mountain torrent.
"The following year Colonel Colt
transferred his plant to Plartford.
In 1852 he bought a large tract in
the south meadows, within the city
limits, which he enclosed with a
dyke one and three-fourths miles
long, twenty feet high on the low
grounds, and one hundred feet wide
at he base, narrowing to a driveway
of forty feet on top. Its walls,
strengthened and beautified by
willows, afford sure protection
against the heaviest freshets of the
Connecticut. In the fall of 1855
the new armory was ready for
occupancy. In 1861 the armory
was practically duplicated. Within
the enclosure were also erected
dwellings for workmen, a public
hall and a library. On the same
grounds a beautiful memorial
church has been built since the
death of Colonel Colt by Mrs. Colt.
"The combination of intellectual
forces grouped around Samuel Colt
as the business developed had
probably never been equaled in any
other industrial establishment.
After the Mexican war, calls for
the revolver poured in from all
quarters of the earth — especially
from our own frontier, from Cali
fornia, Australia, the Crimea, and
the East Indies. Meantime, the
work of simplification and improve
ment kept pace with the demand.
From the department for the manu-
£^ 

OFFICER'S TARGET REVOLVER
Calibre 38— Colt Revolvers have been adopted by U. S.
Army and Navy and many foreign governments

202 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

facture of gun machinery several
foreign armories were largely
equipped." "Colonel Colt was one of the first
to appreciate the possibilities of the
submarine torpedo, having begun
in boyhood experiments which were
kept up at intervals through life.
He was also the first to construct
and lay a submarine telegraph
cable, having by this means, in
1843, successfully connected New
York City with stations on Fire and
Coney Islands. Colonel Colt
planned to add to the armory a
plant for the manufacture of can
non on a large scale, but did not
live to carry out the idea. Amid
herculean labors and far-reaching
schemes he died January 10, 1862."
The Colt Patent Fire Arms Com
pany had been incorporated in 1856,
and Elisha K. Root was appointed
president to succeed Colonel Colt.
He held the position until his death
in 1865 and was succeeded to the
presidency by Richard W. H.
Jarvis. February 5, 1864, the

original armory was destroyed by
fire, involving an estimated loss of
$800,000 in machines and $400,000
in stock, besides valuable models
and drawings. The buildings were
restored, fire-proof, on the old
foundations. The great work which Colonel
Colt accomplished for Hartford has
also made his name distinguished.
At his beautiful estate, Armsmear.
on Wethersfield avenue, his wife,
Mrs. Elizabeth H. Colt, resides,
and is to-day Hartford's most es
teemed gentlewoman. Pier beauti
ful character and noble philanthro
py have made her name equally
as estimable as that of her husband.
The great concern founded by
Samuel Colt is to-day manufactur
ing revolvers for the United States
army and navy, state national
guards, foreign government and
municipal police departments.
With a capital stock of $1,000,000,
and under the presidency of Lewis
C. Grover, it is one of the leading
firearms concerns in the world.

WHERE THE DUTCH, FIRST EUROPEANS TO ASCEND THE CONNECTICUT, LOCATED
li is in tnis vicinity, somewhat farther South l'.zz~. "";-. ; ..— ¦
and huge dyk . .

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 203

EXTENSIVE PLANT OF THE GREAT POPE INDUSTRIES AT HARTFORD

WHILE it is well to ennoble
the arts and sciences, it
is universally acknowl
edged by political econ
omists that the great motive power
behind progress is invention and
manufactures. Scientific scholar
ship is but selfishness and wasteful
ness unless it be accompanied by
the clear, penetrating business
sense of application. Industry is
well symbolized by the strong,
Herculean arm that forges the
practical way.
This is an epoch-making age
because inventive genius is .furnish
ing intellect with the tools with
which the great idealistic edifice of
truth and justice is being skillfully
erected. About a quarter of a
century ago the American Republic
arrived at a point where it became
necessary for a continuance of
growth and prosperity to broaden
the channels of trade. This started
the good roads movement in the
United States.
Hartford has the distinction of
being the center of action from
which developed the good roads
movement, and \ Colonel Albert
Augustus Pope is the practical
Amercian pioneer. Through his
untiring efforts an effective educa
tional campaign was carried on and

it resulted in the recognition of the
demand for proper highways as
both rational and imperative. Im
proved roads made possible the uni
versal and practical use of the
bicycle and the automobile. These
modern vehicles of transportation
are the very factors to-day that are
forcing still greater improvements
in our American highway system.
Colonel Albert A. Pope was the
original founder and organizer of
the Pope Manufacturing Company,
for which he supplied all the capital
and from the early inception of the
business he has been its president
and active manager. In August,
1877, Colonel Pope finished his first
model and began also the importing
of bicycles. The very next year
(1878) he began the manufacture of
bicycles in Hartford, Connecticut,
and all the world knows about the
subsequent success of this concern
in the bicycle field. Colonel Pope
attributes this success largely to
the experience he gathered when a
young man, schooling which was
much more severe and radical in its
result than that attained in any in
stitution for the education of the
youth. From the age of nine he became
self-reliant, seeking successful em
ployment during vacation and out-

204 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

COL. ALBERT A. POPE
Father of Good Roads Movement in America
of-school hours, showing at the
early age of twelve the qualifica
tions of a successful merchant in
handling a retail produce business,
on a small scale to be sure, but
accomplishing enough to net a pro
fit of $100 during he first season.
This experience, followed by the
harder work of stirring varnish and
lugging about ioo-pound bales like
a porter in a shoe-findings establish
ment, developed a serious vein in
his nature and made him deter
mined to win out a success. This
determination was shown in his
honorable war record. He went
out with the Thirty-fifth Mass
achusetts Volunteers and won
distinction at the battles of South

Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks
burg . (Va.), Knoxville, Poplar
Springs Church and in front of
Petersburg, being honored with the
rank of lieutenant colonel for gal
lantry of conduct. He commanded
his regiment before he was twenty-
two years of. age.
As a natural development of the
bicycle came the automobile in a
direct line of mechanical evolution.
The experience and foresight of
Colonel Pope is to-day concentrated
on motor vehicles, and it is a matter
of historical record that, like Fitch,
Fulton and Livingston in steam
invention ; like Edison in electrical
developments ; Bell in telephony and
Morse in telegraphy, the name Pope
is the dominant force in this horse
less age. Some years before the
horseless carriages were put into _
service in this country the motor
carriage department of the Pope
Manufacturing Company began a
series of experiments and practical
demonstrations in building vehicles
and trying them out. This was
initiative work and, therefore, of

ALBLRT L POPE
Vice President of Pope Manufacturing Company

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 205

vital importance. It demanded
great care, a liberal expenditure of
money and faith in the future of the
business and as a foundation
for the skillful building of motor
cars it was invaluable. Colonel
Pope is par excellence an organizer
and developer — a practical user of
men and means, never doing what
he can hire done to his satis
faction. Colonel Pope then, when he
turned to the automobile business
in earnest, came fully equipped for
the task, because he brought with
him one of the finest organizations
in America. Trained designers,
mechanics, engineers some of
whom had spent more than a score of
of years in the works, were at hand
for the successful solution of the
new problem.
Colonel Pope speaks of it as the
most difficult business, which takes
at least three years to turn the suc
cessful corner. Even now, being
the largest works in the world
there are many things of the
reorganized business in process.
The Pope Manufacturing Com
pany is both a parent and an operat
ing corporation. Under its own
name and that of the Pope Motor
Car Company, etc., it runs seven
very large manufacturing plants,
and for facilitating the mercantile
end of the business it maintains
branch houses and garages in the
larger cities of the country. Hart
ford, Connecticut; Chicago, Illinois;
Westfield, Massachusetts ; Hagers-
town, Maryland ; Elyria, Ohio ;
Toledo, Ohio, and Indianapolis,
Indiana,, each has a plant producing
Pope products.
The famous Hartford factories
turn out the popular Pope-Hartford
gasoline touring cars, _ modern
vehicles at moderate prices and
recognized by all as among the
leaders of their class. The Hagers-
town plant makes the well-known
Pope-Tribune gasoline cars and

runabouts. The Pope Motor Car
Company at Toledo, Ohio, makes
the famous mile-a-minute Pope-
Toledo gasoline cars. They have
won recognition by their records
on track and road. The Pope-
Motor Car Company at Indianapolis
Indiana, produce the Pope-Waverly
electrics in fifteen different models.
— surreys, road wagons, physicians'
and depot carriages, together with
a line of delivery wagons and trucks.
The executive offices of the Pope
Manufacturing Company are at
Hartford, and from that point the
entire concern is financed and
managed. Colonel Pope has his
hand ever on the helm, molds the
policy and keeps his eyes on results.
Plis son, Albert L. Pope, vice-presi
dent, is active in the management
of affairs not only as an advisor,
but as an executive officer, whose
duty it is to put into force the policy
agreed upon.
Though the start in 1877 of the
Pope Manufacturing Company was
small, both in respect of the capital
and the number employed, it
rapidly increased so that at present
the capital is many millions. The
company employs upwards of
several thousand people on a floor
area of over a million and a half
square feet, and the products of
these enterprises amount to many
millions annually.
Colonel Pope and all his associ
ates are firm believers in a carefully
matured business system. All the
factories, branch houses and sub-
companies are direct supervision
companies are under direct super-
from Hartford, govern the policy
of every one making and marketing
Pope products.
Hartford may well be proud of
the fact that she is the headquarters
of a concern like the Pope Manu
facturing Company, one of the
largest financially and most im
portant commercially in the indus
trials of to-day.

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 207

IN traveling abroad recently, a
Hartford resident observed a
caravan crossing an African
desert, and strapped to the back
of a camel was a wire mattress
made by The Hartford Bedstead
Company, of which Hon. Henry
Roberts, Governor of • Connecticut,
is president. This occurrence be
-speaks the wide-world market that
Hartford manufactured products
have obtained through the ex
cellence of their construction and
the administration of their ex
ecutors. In 1869 The Hartford Woven
Wire Mattress Company was incor
porated by the late Dr. G. F. Haw
ley and others. In the early seven
ties the late George C. Parkins
purchased a controlling interest
and placed the business on a pro
fitable basis. On January 1, 1904,
The Hartford Bedstead Company

succeeded The Hartford Woven
Wire Mattress Company, and to
day is manufacturing steel and
brass trimmed bedsteads, woven
wire and linked mattresses, cots,
cribs, woven wire car seats, wire
rails, partitions, trellises, door mats
and many other articles of the
finest construction. Its business is
rapidly increasing and its well-
organized plant is located at the
corner of Capitol avenue and Laurel
street. The factory contains floor
space of 60,000 square feet, the
buildings being brick throughout
and substantially constructed. The
company has a force of traveling
men covering the Lmited States and
is developing foreign trade.
The present officers of the com
pany are : Henry Roberts, presi
dent and treasurer ; Frederic W.
Grant, assistant treasurer, and
Robert R. Pease, secretary.

IN the- valuable historical com
pilation, "The New England
States," published some years
ago, and on file at the Hartford
Public Library, is this historical
record : "Drop-forgings were
probably introduced into the
United States by Samuel Colt, and,
to a limited extent, were soon after
wards made use of at the armories in
Springfield, Mass. ; but the
devices were crude, the work im
perfect, and the limits of practical
application narrow. For a long
time the latent possibilities in the
system waited for the right man to
develop them. It remained for
Charles E. Billings, organizer and
president of The Billings &
Spencer Company in 1869, by
numerous improvements and in
ventions, to raise it from a lowly
position, as an unimportant adjunct
of the machine shop, to its present
dignity." P. Henry Woodward of the Con
necticut Historical Society says:

"A full biography of Charles E.
Hillings would afford material for a

CHARLES E. HILLINGS
President of The Billings and Spencer Company
at Hartford

208 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

PLANT OF THE BILLINGS AND SPENCER COMPANY AT HARTFORD
Organized 1869

history of the evolution of this new
branch of industry."
The Billings & Spencer Company
to-day manufactures one of the
finest lines of drop-forgings in this
country and its enormous 3'early
output includes a large variety of
standard articles, made of sizes to
suit the trade and carried in stock.
It includes screw-plates, dies,
reamers, wrenches, ratchet-drills,
Hthe-dogs, clamps, lathe tools, com
bination pliers, admitting a wide
range of adjustment, vises, surface
gauges, thumb-screws, solid steel
eyebolts, carbon tongs, magazine
screw-drivers, and similar articles,
many being the invention of Mr.
Billings himself. His adjustable
wrenches are specially suited to
automobiles and many thousands
have been sold. Manufacturers of
electrical apparatus, sewing ma
chines, gas fittings, guns, pistols,
pumps, and other standard goods,
have many pieces which enter into
their product forged here.

The skilled workmen total about
300, and their product includes
millions of machinists' tools. En
tire plants for drop-forgings are also
planned and constructed. One of
the greatest honors bestowed upon
the concern to-day is the recogni
tion given it by the government of
the United States in awarding many
of its most important drop-forging
contracts to this Company.

EARLY FACTORY BUILDING OF THE BIL
LINGS AND SPENCER COMPANY
AT HARTFORP

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 209

WHERE THE UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITER IS MADE AT HARTFORD

THE Underwood Typewriter
Company was organized
under the laws of the State
of New York in March, 1895,
for the purpose of building a type
writer differing in many of its essen
tial features from any typewriter
that had ev^r preceded it upon the
market. The first factory was
located in a building on Hudson
street, New York City, where a
floor space of about 10,000 square
feet was occupied ; the first year and
a half being devoted to experimental
work; the first machine being sold

in 1897. The business at once be
gan to prosper, and in 1898 the fac
tory was removed to Bayonne, N. J.,
starting there with a floor space of
25,000 square feet and increasing it
eventually to 65,000 square feet,
when, in order to procure the neces
sary room for expansion, the factory
was removed to .Hartford. This oc
curred in July, 1901, where the
company first rented, and after
wards purchased, the building at
present occupied by them on the
corner of Capitol avenue and Wood
bine street, starting in with a floor

UNDERWOOD PLANT AS IT WILL APPEAR WHEN COMPLETED

no INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

space of 100,000 square feet, in
creasing it eventually to 130,000
square feet. The business in the last
two years has more than doubled,
necessitating a further increase, and
ground has been broken for an ad
dition to the present plant, giving a
total floor space of about 300,000
square feet instead of 130,000.
About 1,100 hands are now em
ployed in the factory, and when the
addition is completed it is calcu
lated employment will be given to
2,000 mechanics in all. The present
daily output is over one hundred
and twenty-five complete type
writers per day, or about 38,000 per
year. The enlarged plant will have
a capacity of 75,000 complete type
writers in one year.
The product is sold through the
medium of sixty odd branch offices
in the United States and England
and numerous dealers in Europe,
South America and throughout the
world. The principal selling office
of the company is situated at 241
Broadway, New York City.
The Underwood Typewriter was
awarded a gold medal (highest
award) at the Pan-American Exposi
tion ; also at the Paris Exposition in

THE UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITER WHICH IS
ACKNOWLEDGED AS A PRODUCT OF SKILL

1900, and the grand prize (Highest
award), at the Louisana Purchase
Exposition recently held at St.
Louis, besides which numerous
other first awards have been re
ceived at expositions throughout
Europe, including one at Vienna
and another at St. Petersburg.
The capital of the company is
$3,500,000. The Board of Directors
is composed of the following well-
known bankers and business men :
John T. Underwood, J. Henry Hag-
gerty, DeWitt Bergen, Henry Mor-
genthau, George B. M. Harvey,
George H. Day, Daniel McWilliams,
Charles Strauss, Oscar L. Gubel-
man ; John T. Underwood being
president ; J. Henry Haggerty, vice-
president, and DeWitt Bergen, secre
tary and treasurer.
The one distinctive feature of the
Underwood Typewriter that has en
abled it in so short a space of time
to achieve such phenomenal success,
is writing in sight, although many
other features undoubtedly aided in
accomplishing the above result,
such, for instance, as tabulating and
other original improvements never
seen in a typewriter before the Un
derwood first came on the market.
The aim of the Underwood Com
pany has been to constantly improve
its product. To this end, an efficient
corps of skillful mechanics and in
ventors is constantly employed in ex
perimenting and the result of such
experimenting is given a thorough
and practical test before final adop
tion and application to the machine.
Unusual care is given to what might
be called minor mechanical features,
in view of the fact that in a type
writer as well as other mechanisms,
it is the small things that are liable
to give trouble. Finally, when a
completed machine goes into the
hands of a purchaser, he buys it
under a guarantee, given by a cor
poration financially responsible, that
it is a perfect instrument as regards
workmanship or material that enters
into its construction.

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

WHERE THE COLUMBIA AUTOMOBILES ARE MADE AT HARTFORD
EXTENSIVE PLANT OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE COMPANY

morefinal

THE idea of the automobile is
older than that of the loco
motive, the first successful
model having been produced
than 140 years ago, but its
ascendency to a permanent
place among the requirements of
modern life was not manifested un
til about 1894, and it was in that
year that the development of Colum
bia gasolene cars began, in the first
building erected on the site, of the
present plant of the Electric Vehicle
Co., at the corner of Laurel and
Park streets, Hartford. Since then
the company has devoted constant
attention to advancing the standard
of manufacture, and every Columbia
car placed on the market has been
both a practical and a commercial
success. In 1898^3 Columbia gasolene car
won the first regularly organized
track race held in this country. In
1900 a Columbia was one of the few
cars to complete the historic Phila
delphia-New York run. In iqoi
three Columbias led in the New
York-Buffalo endurance run. In
1903, a 24-horse-power Columbia
established a record of seventy-six
hours, including all stops, between
Chicago and New York, and also led
its class in the New York-Pittsburg
"endurance run. In 1904 a 12-14-
horse-power Columbia won two first

prizes in the Mt. Washington climb
ing contests ; a 30-35-horse-power
Columbia lowered the Chicago New
York record to 58 hours 35 minutes,
including all stops ; an 18-horse-
power Columbia (1905 model) won
its class event in the Eagle Rock
hill-climbing contests, and Columbia
cars were awarded the grand
prize at the St. Louis purchase
Exposition. On January 24, 1905,
an 18-horse-power Columbia won
three events in the Ormond (Flor
ida) races. This year, Columbias
have won important hill-climbing
contests at Springfield and Worces
ter and several track events. These
distinctions are of special signifi
cance in that they were all won by
regularly equipped stock cars,
similar, down to the smallest
details, to those delivered to pur
chasers. Columbia cars are wholly built in
the company's own works, insuring
that uniformity of excellence in
design, materials and workmanship,
which has earned the Columbia
name and reputation. The latest
models of Columbia gasolene cars,
known as Marks XLIV and XLV,
combine the best mechanical
features of their immediate pre
decessors, Marks XLII and XLIII,
with late improvements, giving in
creased power and added ease of

212 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

control and care-taking. Special
attention is directed to the body
designs, which were conceded to be
the most perfect of any exhibited at
the New York and Chicago shows
of 1905.
Columbia Electric Carriages have
held the lead through all changes of
design and type since 1895. The
latest models represent the latest
results of the Electric Vehicle Com
pany's manufacturing experience of
ten years, during which time the
company's electric product has ex
ceeded the combined output of all
other makers of electric vehicles.
In the development of these models
the company has worked with
steady and consistent attention to
improvements, and spared neither
labor nor expense in devising what
ever could be of service in securing
betterment of design, higher effici
encies, simplified structures, and

greater economy of operation and
maintenance. Columbia electric town carriages
of the coach type are built for
private service only from plans and
specifications approved by the most
critical and discriminating class of
vehicle users. The lighter Colum
bias — runabouts, victoria-phaetons
and surreys — are no less distinctive
in points of exclusive designs, high
efficiency and perfection of detail
and finish.
Officers of the Electric Vehicle
Company are M. J. Budlong, presi
dent; H. M. Kyte, secretary; W.
G. Henderson, treasurer, G. W.
Wesley, superintendent ; Hiram
Percy Maxim, chief engineer.
The company employs upwards of
seven hundred men and is one of
the leading automobile-making con
cerns of the world. The factory
occupies 204,000 square feet.

COLUMBIA 35-40 HORSE POWER TOURING CAR
MADE BY THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE COMPANY AT HARTFORD

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

SECOND IN SERIES OF HISTORICAL SKETCHES BY EDWARD BAILEY EATON

SIMEON L. ROGERS
Son and successor of
Simeon S. Rogers

SIMEON S. ROGERS
One of the three pioneer Rogers brothers

GEORGE H. ROGERS
Son and successor of
Simeon S. Rogers

HARTFORD is . the birthplace
of the electro-plating indus
try in America, as applied to
tableware. This industry,
started by three brothers : Wil
liam, Asa H., and Simeon S. Rogers,
in 1845, has developed until to-day
the name "Rogers" is known through
out the civilized world, and stands for
quality in silver-plated goods.
From very modest beginnings, the

experiments in beautifying tableware
progressed to such an extent
that in 1847, the original Rogers
Brothers, began placing their wares
on the market, which have supplanted
in late years the crude wooden
handled steel knives and forks. In
1 85 1, they formed a joint stock com
pany and built their first factory at
the corner of Trumbull and Hicks
streets, Hartford, the former quarters

WILLIAM ROGERS ASA H ROGERS
Who with the third brother, Simeon S. Rogers, originated electro plating industry in America
as applied to tableware

2i4 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

l^M

FACTORY OF THE SONS OF THE ORIGINAL ROGERS IN HARTFORD TO-DAY
Simeon L. and George H. Rogers -Company on Market street

having been in a building at 6 State
street. In 1857, William Rogers or
ganized Rogers, Smith & Company,
on Mechanic street, in Hartford ;
while Asa H. and Simeon Rogers or
ganized Rogers and Brother, in
Waterbury, in 1858. In 1862, the three
formed a co-partnership under the
name "1847-Rogers Brothers-Ai"
and leased it for a term of years to
the Meriden Britannia Company of
West Meriden. In 1863, William
Rogers withdrew from the partner
ship and started the William Rogers
Manufacturing Company, at Hart
ford, in 1865, on the corner of Front
and Grove streets. In the meantime
Asa H. Rogers had carried his idea to
Philadelphia but he returned to Hart
ford in 1870, and with his nephew,
William H. Watrous, organized a
joint stock company in 1871, under

the name of the Rogers Cutlery Com
pany, the factory being, located on
Asylum street. After active lives as
pioneer manufacturers, the famed
Rogers brothers died: William, Feb
ruary 17, 1873; Simeon S., January 2,
1874; Asa H., 1876, and the responsi
bility of the development of the in
dustry reposed with the nephew,
William H. Watrous, who had learned
the electro-plating business from
his uncles. Born and brought up in
Hartford at the time when the busi
ness foretold a great future, he began
to work at the trade about i860 at the
Rogers, Smith & Co. factory; from
1868 to 1870 he had charge of the
plating at the Rogers & Brother plant
in Waterbury; later did the plating
for the William Rogers Manufactur
ing Co., and in 1872, upon the retire-
met of Asa H. Rogers, he managed

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 215

the business of the Rogers Cutlery
Company. In 1879, William PL Watrous
acquired exclusive control of the
original Rogers interests, became own
er of one-half the capital stock of the
William Rogers Manufacturing Co.,
and as its president, treasurer and sole
manager, built it to extensive propor
tions. Through the maze of corpor
ate changes, he held to the original
conception of the Rogers Brtothers
and it is largely through his efforts
thaj: the famous Rogers trademarks
are to-day so. closely identified with
Hartford's industrial history. Hav
ing out-grown * , the plant at the
corner of Front and Grove streets,
the business was' moved in 1887
to the extensive factory on Market
street. In 1900, two sons of the deceased
Simeon S. Rogers, one of the three
original Rogers brothers formed a
company for the manufacture of elec
tro plated flat ware and cutlery at
Hartford ; the heirs, Simeon L. and
George H. Rogers, started their pla
ting business in the same building on
Mechanic street, where Rogers, Smith
& Co. were located in 1857; the metal
blanks used for plating are to-day
made in their own plant in Walling-
ford, under the management of
George M. Hallenbeck, a metal blank

manufacturer of 35 years experience,
and in this same plant is also manu
factured a fine line of nickel silver
flat ware. Under the firm name, Sim
eon L. and George H. Rogers Co.,
these sons of the founders of the busi
ness in America, built an extensive
industry until in July, 1903, they took
possession of the factory building
occupied for many years by the Wil
liam Rogers Manufacturing Co., on
Market street, Plartford, the latter
concern having been purchased by the
International Silver Co., and removed
to Meriden in the preceding January.
A few months later the sons of the
original Rogers built a large addition
to their Wallingford plant, and the
company to-day commands an influ
ential trade throughout the United
States and Canada. The Walling
ford plant employs about 125 work
ers, and the Hartford factory about
100, making knives, forks, spoons,
and a full line of fancy pieces, high
art goods and cutlery.
The corporation officers of the
Simeon L. and George H. Rogers
Co., (trademark) in 1905 are: Presi
dent, John MacFadyen; secretary,
George H. Rogers; treasurer, Samuel
MacFadyen ; directors : John Mac
Fadyen, George H. Rogers, Samuel
MacFadyen, George M. Hallenbeck,
Edgar F Waterman, J. M. Ney.

THE VIOLET
Illustration of Dye Sinkers Ornamental Art-One of Rogers latest designs in plated ware

WITH a plant producing 720,-
000 screws per day, the At
lantic Screw Works at
Hartford bespeaks the
possibilities of modern manufactures
through inventive genius. It was
back in 1875 that a concern started
to make wood screws at Castleton-

on-the-Hudson, N. Y., taking its
name from that of the town. In two
years the company lost $70,000 of its
own money, and about $35,000 more
borrowed from George W. Bruce, a
wholesale hardware merchant of New
York City, who, to secure his loan,
took possession of the plant in 1877,

216 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

and threw the original machines into
the scrap heap because they were
found to be worthless.
Meanwhile David Tilton, superin
tendent of the works, had made
various improvements in the devices
for threading, which so impressed
Mr. Bruce that he decided to develop
the machines with the view of reviv
ing the business. His faith was not
misplaced ; a model was set up in
Brooklyn, N. Y., where the tests for
quality and quantity were so satis
factory that other machines of the
same type were built. In 1879 the
manufacture was transferred to Colt's
West Armory in Hartford, and form
ally resumed under the name of At
lantic Screw Works, proving eminent
ly successful.
Mr. Bruce spent three years abroad,
a part of the time assisted by Inventor
Tilton, who personally superintended
the exhibition of the threader in
France and Belgium. He took out a
number of foreign patents and built
duplicate machines for use in Europe.
Failing health forced Mr. Bruce to

DAVID TILTON
A Pioneer in Screw Manufacturing in
the United States
abandon the enterprise, and he re
turned to his home in New York,
where he died November 14, 1887.
He felt so deeply his obligations to

MODERN PLANT OF ATLANTIC SCREW WORKP-Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 217

EVOLUTION OF THE SCREW FROM WIRE TO THE FINISHED PRODUCT

Straight brass wire Wire next flattened
from coil at top

Wire is then shaved
and slotted

Wire is now pointed

Here it is threaded and
becomes a screw

Mr. Tilton for long and faithful ser
vice that in his will he not only made
him a handsome bequest, but also
provided for the sale to him of the
screw plant on very liberal terms. It
was thus that Inventor Tilton became
a manufacturer, through the efficiency
of his own mechanical skill mastered
by sound business judgment. He was
born at Meredith, N. H., November
29, 1834, coming to Hartford first in
1867, identifying himself with the
National Screw Company on Sheldon
street until 1872, when the plant was
sold to the American Screw Company
of Providence. Inventor Tilton then
went to Lakewood, N. J., with the
Smith & Garvin Company, machinists,
who made the machines for the
Castleton Screw Company, where he
later superintended the business and
mastered its difficulties with his own
inventive genius.
The Tilton management has been
eminently successful, and the business
to-day is still under the immediate
supervision of Inventor Tilton, assist
ed by his son, Fred N. Tilton. In

1902 the works were removed to their
present location on Charter Oak
avenue. The factory building is a
modern, substantial brick structure,
containing about twenty thousand
square feet of floor space. It is
equipped with up-to-date special ma
chinery (much of it invented by Mr.
Tilton), including the "Duplex
Threader," which produces 46,-
800 screws per day.
The products of the Atlantic Screw
Works find a market throughout the
entire United States and include brass
and bronze metal screws with flat,
round and oval heads, and wood
screws of every description. By their
improved pointing and threading ma
chines, their screw products are
marked by the strong characteristics
of good points, round, smooth bodies,
and true well-slotted heads.
With the perfection of his inven
tions, and the development of his
business qualities, David Tilton has
become one of Hartford's leading
manufacturers.

218 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

PLANT OF THE AUSTIN ORGAN COMPANY
Woodland Street, Hartford

HARTFORD has held for many
generations distinction in the
Arts. It has contributed to
American literature some of
its best craftsmen ; it -has given to
American art several capable painters,
and in music it has produced much
talent both in composition and ren
dition. Hartford to-day has one of the best
equipped pipe organ plants in the
United States, and is recognized for
its service in perfecting a system of
organ construction which is ingenious
in its simple but effective mechanism,
and its rich quality of tone. Working
with accurate knowledge of the prin
ciples which govern the production of
tone, and particularly the destructive
interference of sound waves, the Aus
tin Organ Company of Hartford has
mastered scientific blending and holds
patents in the United States, England
and Canada on the Austin Universal
Air Chest System, which, since 1893,
has revolutionized organ construction.
The Company has a capital of $150,-
000, and its model plant is located at
156-160 Woodland street. John T.
Austin is president of the corpor
ation ; Louis R. Cheney, secretary and

treasurer; John Spencer Camp, the
well-known composer and church
organist, vice-president; Basil G.
rAustin, superintendent.
In many of the leading churches
in this country and abroad are mag
nificent specimens of organ architec
ture that are the workmanship of the
Austins, and musical critics on both
continents acknowledge their massive
dignity and harmonious brilliancy.
The fundamental patent controlled by
the Austin Organ Company covers
the system on which all the pipes in
the instrument are supplied with air.
In all other systems the air is first
pumped into bellows or reservoirs,
and afterwards conveyed through air
ducts, channels, etc., to the several de
partments of the organ, and then dis
tributed to the pipes through a com
plicated system of wind chest. In the
Austin organ a large airtight room is
made of sufficient size to receive all
the pipes in the instrument. This
room is then supplied with air; thus
every pipe in the instrument stands
on direct wind pressure. This system,
therefore, naturally gives every pipe
its absolute wind no matter whether
speaking alone or in chorus with

ONE OF MOST BEAUTIFUL CHURCH ORGANS IN UNITED STATES
Grand four manual organ made by the Austin Or^'^S^^^0^ "*""**
L.rana iou a. EPiSCOpal Cathedral at Albany, N . V .

220 INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD

other pipes, and at the same time
gives absolute accessibility to the in
terior mechanism, valves, etc. Several
important churches throughout the
country have recently had their in
struments rebuilt on this improved

system in orded to obtain the great
advantages derived from it.
The Austin Organ Company em
ploys about one hundred and twenty
hands, and the factory has 30,000
¦square feet of floor space.

THE business of pipe bending
was familiar to but a few
people some years ago, and
is an extremely interesting
subject to those who have a knowl
edge of its development.
The Whitlock Coil Pipe Company
manufactures coils and bends for an
endless variety of purposes, using
iron pipe, steel tube, brass and copper
tubing. They have facilities for
handling everything from a small
pipe or tube of one-eighth inch in
diameter to the largest size pipe
made, twenty-four and thirty inches
in diameter.
It is impossible to enumerate all
the purposes for which their coils
are used, but among others might be
mentioned coils of all kinds for ice
and refrigeration purposes, for var
ious kinds of hot water heaters, con
densers, economizers, stills, car heat
ers and automobile coolers, also pipe
bends for high pressure power plant
piping to thirty inches in diameter,
bends for the cash carrier and mail
service systems and all kinds of un
derground and conduit work. Patent
ed bending machinery is used for
this work, the company owning and
controlling a large number of patents
on machinery of this description.
In the advancement of the "state
of art" in pipe and tube bending, the
Whitlock Company has in the past
few years obtained the leading posi
tion in this country. The Company's
bending shops are equipped with elec
tric welders, enabling them to pro
duce continuously welded spiral coils,
in some cases nearly a mile in length,
without screwed joints of any kind,
and many hundred thousand feet of
pipe tube are used each year for this
purpose.

In addition to its pipe bending
works, the company operates a brass
foundry and complete sheet metal
working and brass finishing plant.
Among other lines produced in sheet
metal department are thousands of
the well known Whitlock radiators so
extensively used by the leading build
ers of automobiles.
Ln another department the manu
facture of feed water heaters and
condensers is carried on, and this
company's engineers are constantly
designing and building many special
devices used for numerous heating
and cooling purposes.
The Whitlock Company was or-

ARTHUR S. HYDE ,
Sec'y-Treas., Gen'l Mgr. Whitlock Coil Pipe Co.
ganized in 1892, under the laws of
the State of Connecticut. The capi
tal stock is $200,000.00. The rapid
growth of this company dates from

INVENTIONS AND MANUFACTURES IN HARTFORD 221

a
at
ob.H <X
"a" oo&SJ w

>•z <
so w

ou<->OJ H
S &wB H
OHZ<CM

1898, since which time its develop
ment has been remarkably fast and
successful, both in its original line
of business and the new departments
added. The company occupies a site of
ten acres in Elmwood, a suburb of
Hartford ; it has 800 feet of side track
on the New York, New Haven &
Hartford Railroad, and occupies
100,000 square feet of floor space
at the present time, has been build
ing additions to its plant each year,
and employs 200 hands.
Under the management of Arthur
S. Hyde, the development and
growth of this company has been
particularly rapid. The board of
directors of The Whitlock Coil Pipe
Company are : C. E. Beach, Lion. S.
O. Prentice, Francis R. Cooley, E.
G. Clark, E. D. Redfield, George W.
Flint and Arthur S. Hyde.
The product of this company is
sold throughout the United States
and exported to Europe, South Af
rica and Australia. The Com
pany's New York office is 85 Liberty
street. Its product is widely dis
tributed among the largest engi
neering companies and the builders of
ice and refrigerating machinery,
steam and gas engines and other
trades.

HARTFORD AS A SHOPPING CENTER

LARGEST MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENT IN CONNECTICUT — DEPARTMENT
STORE OF BROWN, THOMSON & COMPANY AT HARTFORD

"H

ARTFORD is to-day realiz
ing the dream of its
founders — of being the
trading and shopping
centre of the Connecticut Valley,"
says Hon. William Franklin Henney,
Mayor of Hartford in his article on
"Modern Factors in Municipal Prog
ress." He. pays the tribute to the busi
ness energy behind the mercantile in
terests of the city: "Such concerns
are rendered possible only by the fact
that an improved trolley service has
enabled them to supply the wants of
an urban and rural population of
perhaps 250,000."
These statements cannot be too
frequently emphasized. The retail
establishments in a community ac
curately measure its progessiveness.
The ratio of the development of Hart
ford may be accurately computed by
its comparative advances from the
quaint, little wooden structures on the
banks of the Connecticut river one
hundred and fifty years ago, or the
little curiosity shops along Main street
at that time, to the great, substantial
mercantile structures that occupy the
business section of the city to-day.
About forty-five years ago, when
the steam railway was beginning to
usurp the commercial position held by
the stage coach, three men with fore
sight started a dry goods store, on
Main street, a few doors from Pearl
street, nearly opposite the old
post office, in what is now
the south half of the Boston
Branch grocery house. These busi
ness men were Frank S. Brown,
James M. Thomson and William
McWhirter. Although Hartford then
had but one-third its present popula
tion it was considered a large city. It
was about that time that Hartford lnd
gained reputation throughout the
country in the dry goods trade
through the commission house con
ducted here for many years by Collins
Brothers. Several notable successes
had been achieved in the various lines
of mercantile business in the city, but
it was the intent of this new partner
ship to exceed all former under
takings. In 1878 Mr. McWhirter re
tired and the firm name became

Brown, Thomson & Co., and this laid
the foundation for the permanent up
building which has continued, and is
still continuing, until Brown, Thom
son & Company has become one of
the best known names in retail busi
ness in New England.
Frank S. Brown retired in 1890,
James M. Thomson in 1895, and the
proprietorship and management of the
establishment came to George A. Gay,
Harry B. Strong and William L.
Ledger, all of whom have been closely
identified with the interests under the
original partners, beginning as clerks
and by their own abilities becoming-
leading business men, at the head of
the largest mercantile establishment
in Connecticut, occupying a ground
floor space unequalled in New Eng
land. About ten years ago the pres
ent partners bought the building they
now occupy, which is generally recog
nized as one of the handsomest build
ings used for mercantile purposes in
the United States.
Beginning business with about fif
teen clerks, the firm now employs
nearly six hundred. It was the first
mercantile establishment in Hartford
to give vacations to its help, and has
continued them annually. It was also
the chief mover in bringing about the
custom of closing retail establish
ments at six o'clock, thus shortening
the hours of retail clerks. It also
holds the record in business history as
the first house in Hartford to estab
lish and strictly adhere to the one
price system. The reputation of this
firm from the start has been of the
highest standard, and the line of
goods carried has always been of the
best quality.
Brown, Thomson & Company's de
partment store to-day practically in
cludes fifty separate stores, with the
largest line of goods in this part of
New England, ranging from a paper,
of pins to automobiles. It also con
ducts a large wholesale business, and
is a member of the Syndicate Trading
Company, with offices in Paris, Chem
nitz, St. Gall, Manchester and other-
European cities, with buyers in all the
foreign markets. The New York of
fice, 2 Walker street, has a staff of
about twenty buyers. The floor space

of the establishment at Hartford completed in December, 1905, will
covers several acres, and an annex is give an addition of 20,000 more
in course of construction, which when square feet.

HOTEL HARTFORD
Corner High and Allyn streets, one l?lock from Union Station— lames T. Moran, Proprietor

HARTFORD'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Mayor Willi

"" 'kE^ SoS^rds oft ^^^,^^-S^rinHa"f--

EDWARD BAILEY EATON

S8BIL

aa8ala._«s,!i»«''.i '?a- -11 i -»

HOME OF HILLYER INSTITUTE AND
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
THE Young Men's Christian
Association conducted some
evening educational classes
before 1893, but in February
of that year the educational depart
ment was generously endowed with
the sum of $50,000, the gift of Mr.
Appleton R. Hillyer and Miss Clara
E. Hillyer, in memory of their de
ceased father, General Charles T.
Pfillyer. From that time the depart
ment was enlarged and called the
Hillyer Institute.
Hundreds of employed men are
finding themselves handicapped in
life by the lack of the necessary

educational qualifications. Success
for them is locked up in the hours
between work and bedtime. An
institution which will provide a way
for these men to overcome the ob
stacles during their leisure time,
giving the maximum of definite,
practical and thorough instruction
at a minimum of expense, is the key
to open that door. Such is the
Hillyer Institute, as has been
proven in a multitude of cases. Its
purpose may be briefly stated as fol
lows: To help young men by means of
evening classes to make up the de
ficiencies of their early education ;
to add to their earning power and
chances for promotion or to fit for a
more congenial occupation; to offer
them means for self-culture and edu
cation for its own sake, combined
with social enjoyment and recrea
tion. To accomplish such a purpose
it is necessary to offer instruction in
a great variety of subjects, to meet
the numerous needs. These sub
jects are grouped into departments,
of which there are six — Industrial,
Commercial, Art, Language, Science

CLASS IN MECHANICAL DRAWING AT HILLYER INSTITUTE

! 26

HARTFORD'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

CLASS IN AUTOMOBILE MECHANICS AT HILLYER INSTITUTE

^and Music. Some of, '.the subjects
* of the different departments are not
taught elsewhere in the city — auto
mobile, care, repair and operation
of gasolene vehicles; machine-shop
mathematics, a course arranged by
a practical mechanic for the in
stitute ; plan reading and estimating,
electrical wiring, plumbing, sign
writing, and others. The subjects
found in the curriculum of other in
stitutions attract many men, as in
dividual instruction is given. The
classes are for men only. The
courses are intensely practical — only
just as much theory is given as is ab
solutely necessary to make the sub
ject helpful in everyday life. In
addition to these reasons, there are
social and recreative features of the
association which offer the students
a chance to relieve the monotony of
study. Last year the total different
number of students enrolled was
two hundred and seventy-three,
which is the largest number of
students in the institute for seven
years, and makes the largest night
school in the state exclusively for
men. The majority of these students
was enrolled in the Industrial De
partment, which is a proof that the
institute is fulfilling its purpose.
The institute is only one of the ac
tivities of the Young Men's Christ
ian Association for the betterment

of manhood. The physical nature
is cared for and developed in the
gymnasium — the hall of health —
which is thoroughly equipped with
apparatus and under the supervision
of a trained man. Connected with
the gymnasium are the baths —
shower, tub and plunge. The relig
ious life of the young men is
strengthened by the Bible classes
and religious meetings. The as
sociation recognizes that the boy of
to-day is the man of to-morrow, and
has set aside an entire floor in the
fine building for him, which con
tains social rooms, games, library,
reading-rooms, thus training them
to become more intelligent and
better citizens,

CLASS IN PLUMBING AT HILLYER
INSTITUTE

HARTFORD S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 227

THE STEARNS SCHOOL AT HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT

FOR twenty years Hartford
has been favored with a
private classical school of ex
ceptionally fine quality. It
has prepared many boys for college
and has furnished a school home for
a long and honorable membership.
In 1885 Rev. Marcellus Bowen,
and his brother-in-law, Rev. Charles
C. Stearns, established The Bowen
School at 352 Collins street, in the
building known as the Chinese
School Building. Three years later,
when Dr. Bowen was called to the
head of the Bible work in Constanti
nople, Mr. Stearns secured Dr.
Lewis F. Reid as his partner. The
name became The Collins Street
Classical School. The death of Dr.
Reid, and the sale of the Chinese
building, made a new start neces
sary. For the last ten years the
school has been called The Stearns
School, with Mr. Stearns as sole
proprietor; and has been located
af his home, 126 Garden street.
For the past three years Mr.
Stearns has also directed a separate
day school for girls and young
ladies, at 122 Garden street, called
The Lord's Hill School. His aim
has been to provide private school

opportunities of the highest order.
The past year this school had five
teachers — college graduates of high
scholarship. Mr. Stearns has also a summer
home, where boys study with him,
at Randolph, New Hampshire, at
the head of the Presidential range;
noted on the Appalachian Mountain
Club's map as The Hermitage.
Besides this, he secured three
years ago the well-known log
cabin on Nowell's ridge, four miles
from his home. This mountain
cabin was built by Dr. William G.
Nowell, a veteran in educational
work, and a pioneer in mountain
climbing in that region who will
share the cabin privileges as long
as he lives. Six can sleep here on
the fir boughs.
This summer Mr. Stearns (with
Professor Edward Y. Hincks of
Andover Theological Seminary as
joint owner) will build a second
cabin at the tree-line on Nowell's
ridge, 4.000 feet above sea level,
to be called Gray Knob Cabin.
These mountain privileges are
freely shared by the Hartford boys
or others who accompany Mr.
Stearns in his summer outings.

HARTFORD'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

W. V. ABELL, Founder and Director
HARTFORD-SPRINGFIELD CON
SERVATORY OF MUSIC
INCREASING demand for
broader and more comprehen
sive courses of study in music
in southern New England has
resulted in the Hartford-Springfield
Conservatory of Music, which has
j ust completed its sixth year ; has
extended instruction to over one
thousand pupils since its organiza
tion, and now possesses a foremost
influence in the development of musi
cal education throughout New Eng
land. The institution was founded
by W. V. Abel, a musician and
pedagogue of high attainments, who
studied under distinguished teachers
in America and Europe, and has had
twenty years practical experience
as instructor and director.
The Hartford Conservatory of
Music outgrew its first home in the
Y. M. C. A. Building and removed
to the Cheney Building one year
ago. It will re-open September
1 2th, and it is believed will even
excel its record of last season, in
which there were three hundred
matriculations. Complete graded courses are
followed in all the principal subjects
leading to graduation and the

diploma of the conservatory. The
course for teachers includes normal
instruction, method work and
practice teaching; while the artists'
course embraces ensemble drill and
public performance.
The prestige which this conserva
tory has attained is clue primarily to
the determination of Director Abell,
to build it up solely on its merits.
In the furtherance of this ambition
he has, as a prime factor, sur
rounded himself with a corps of in
structors unsurpassed by that of any
conservatory in the country. Pre
eminent among the artist-instruc
tors who have become identified
with its musical growth are Theo
dore Van Yorx and Richard Bur-
meister. Mr. Van Yorx, who stands in the
forerank of American tenors, has
had charge of the vocal department
since its foundation. Because of
his superior method of singing, com
bined with ability to impart his
knowledge — unusual in a soloist —
it would be difficult to find on either
continent an instructor better quali
fied. His success as a vocal teacher
in Hartford has been unprecedented,

HERMAN EPSTEIN
Piano Department

HARTFORD'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

229

THEODORE VAN YORX
Instruc:or Vocal Department Hartford-Springfield Con
servatory of Music
and his fame as a concert and
oratorio singer throughout the
country is constantly increasing.
Mr. Burmeister, after having had
charge of the pianoforte department
for three years accepted the im
portant position of director of the
same department in the Dresden
(Germany) Conservatory of Music.
Carlo Bounamici of Boston, son
of the famous Italian teacher,
taught during the remainder of that
year. Since then, Alvah Glover
Salmon of Boston, the well-known
composer-pianist, lecturer and
authority on Russian music, has
filled the position with noticeable
success. Few American pianists
have attained equal distinction in
the concert field. Mr. Salmon's
class in Springfield increased so
rapidly that Director Abell engaged
Mr. Herman Epstein, concert-
pianist of New York, to teach at the
Plartford conservatory. Mr. Ep
stein met with immediate apprecia
tion. Pie is a man of broad culture
and magnetic personality, thor
oughly devoted in his teaching as
well as public playing, and his in
struction invariably proves a source
of inspiration to his pupils. The

Hartford public will have the op
portunity to hear Mr. Epstein in con
cert next season.
Davol Sanders, violinist, graduate
of the Royal School, Berlin, under
Joachim and Halir, and director of
the violin department of the Lach-
mund Conservatory, New York, has
charge of the violin department ;
and Frederick Blair, the talented
'cellist, is instructor in the violon
cello department.
N. H. Allen, the dean of organ
ists, has been the only organ in
structor at the conservatory, and
many of his pupils to-day are oc
cupying prominent positions in
churches. Other teachers, continuing to
study with these artists and using
their methods, give instruction in
the several departments.
The conservatory makes a spe
ciality of teachers' courses, and four
teen graduates were awarded certifi
cates at the close of the present year.
The superior advantages offered
by the Hartford Springfield Con
servatory of Music render it no
longer necessary for students in this
vicinity to go to larger cities to
obtain a musical education.

DAVOL SANDERS
Stringed Instruments

2 JO

HARTFORD'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

THE Hartford School of Music
which will open its six
teenth session in October,
1905, originated in the
school for church musicians, which
was at one time a branch of the
musical department at the Hartford
Theological Seminary. It is now
established as an independent or
ganization with its own individual
lzed departments of instruction un
der the management of twelve
ladies of Hartford who are vitally
interested in music, not only as an
art and a profession, but also as a
power for character building and
mental training.
Dr. Chester D. Hartranft, ex-
president of the Theological Sem
inary, for many years held the office
of president of the school manage
ment, assisted by the advisory board.
The work of the various depart
ments was carried on at Hosmer
Hall until three years ago, since
which time the school has occu
pied the building at 8 Spring
street. After Dr. Hartranft went abroad,
Mrs. Archibald A. Welch was
elected president of the^board of
minagers: President, Mrs. Archi
bald A. Welch; secretary, Mrs. T.

Belknap Beach; Mrs. James P.
Andrews, Miss Katherine E. An
drews, Miss Mary Clark, Mrs. Ansel
G. Cook, Mrs. Julius Gay, Mrs.
Walter Goodwin ; assistant treasurer
Miss Alice Farnham ; Miss Lucy Per
kins, Mrs. Henry S. Robinson, Mrs.
Adrian van S. Lambert, Mrs. Sam
uel B. St. John, Mrs. Charles Dudley
Warner, Miss Villa Whitney White.
The Hartford School of Music
ranks as an institution of acknowl
edged educational worth.
In the piano department is Mr,
Edward H. Noyes of Boston, who
studied under Professor Barth at
the Conservatory in Berlin and with-
Mme. Annette Essipoff, the gieat
artist-exponent of the Leochitiyki
ideas, in Paris; Miss Sarah H.
Hamilton and Miss Lillian L. Bissell.
At the head of the violin depart
ment is Franz Milcke, who, after his
conservator)"- course at the New
Academie, (Tonkunst) in Berlin,
studied with Hubert Ries. Miss
Anna G. Westcott is also a teacher
in this department.
Mr. Willis E. Bacheller of New
York, who conducts a summer
school *at his camp near Wilton,
Maine, is now in charge of the
vocal department. *"' ;'

THE HARTFORD SCHOOL OF MUSIC

HARTFORD'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

231

E. M. HUNTSINGER
Founder and President
The Huntsinger Business School (Inc.).
BUSINESS education is one of
the greatest factors in the
material prosperity of the
country to-day. Through
training and system the commercial
world has taken rapid strides.
American business is indebted to
the men who have mastered business
detail and are instructing and de
veloping generations in its practical
application. One of the forces of
this great work of education is E.
M, Huntsinger, the founder and
head of the Huntsinger Business
School (Inc.) in Hartford. The
public schools gave him the founda
tion of an education; upon this he
builded for himself by taking special
courses, first as a public school
teacher, then for business college
work. September 1, 1888, Mr.
Huntsinger established himself in
Hartford, and began the building
up of a model educational institu
tion along strictly commercial lines,
Mr. Huntsinger had been a pro
found student of human nature, and
he brought the results of his study
to the new school in the shape of
special methods for special purposes.
Each student was measured, so to

speak, and the treatment best
adapted to each individual was faith
fully applied.
The Huntsinger School has just
completed its seventeenth year of
success in Hartford, and is the third
largest business school in New Eng
land. The Huntsinger method teaches
the student actual practice from the
first to last. The student transacts
business with the teachers and
pupils of this school, and pupils of
schools of other cities. He does the
work in the same logical scientific
order in which it is done in busi
ness. In other words, "He learns
to do by doing."
Nearly nine thousand young men
and young women have tested the
merits of the Huntsinger training
and, as a consequence, find them
selves occupying lucrative and re
sponsible positions throughout New
England to-day.
Over two thousand young men
and young women have been placed
in situations in one hundred and four
months, which is the strongest
possible evidence that this school
remains interested in its graduates.
Moreover, this record proves that
the business men have full con
fidence in the training.
This is a business age and com
petition demands that the partici
pants be strongty and practically
qualified. Those who have had
opportunities to test the practical
knowledge possessed by graduates
of thorough business training
schools are the most earnest advo
cates of commercial schools. The
largest business houses everywhere
depend upon business schools to
furnish them with competent clerks,
accountants and stenographers.
It is chiefly due" to the untiring
efforts and foresight of Mr. Hunt
singer that the cause of business
education not only in Hartford but
throughout the state has made such
marvelous strides and attained such
practical results.

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