Hartford, Connecticut

“ At Hartford occurred in 1687 the meeting of Edmund Andros and the Connecticut officials (see Connecticut) . Hartford was first chartered in 1784, was rechartered in 1856 (the charter of that date has been subsequently revised) , and in 1881 was made coterminous with the township of Hartford. The city was the literary centre of Federalist ideas in the latter part of the 18th century, being the home of Lemuel Hopkins, John Trumbull, Joel Barlow and David Humphreys, the leading members of a group of authors known as the “Hartford Wits” ”

“ A stone arch bridge, with nine arches, built of granite at a cost of $1,700,000 and dedicated in 1908, spans the Connecticut (replacing the old Connecticut river bridge built in 1818 and burned in 1895) , and connects Hartford with the village of East Hartford in the township of East Hartford (pop. 1900, 6406) , which has important paper-manufacturing and tobacco-growing interests. The park system of Hartford is the largest in any city of the United States in proportion to the city’s population. In 1908 there were 21 public parks, aggregating more than 1335 acres. ”

“ The lover of drink in America, especially our German fellow citizens, are emphatic in their denunciation of the liquor laws of the United States. They ought to live in England a little while to appreciate the privileges they have at home. Hartford, Connecticut, is, I believe, a paradise to those who live there. One old lady who was born and had always lived in Hartford, came to die—an impertinence of Nature, as all Hartford people firmly believe. People should die in other places, but not in Hartford. ”

“ No braver regiment ever went out from our city or State. Made up mostly of Hartford men, born and cradled under the very branches of the Charter Oak, we knew well what would be your history, and we watched with pride your firm and steady ranks, as you filed along these streets. As we followed with anxious eye the steamer winding down the Connecticut, bearing its precious freight, with the Stars and Stripes streaming in the wind, we felt a security and an indebtedness, which we now have all come to acknowledge. ”

“ WINDSOR, a township of Hartford county, Connecticut, U.S.A., on the Connecticut and Farmington rivers, adjoining the city of Hartford on the N. Pop. (1890) 2954; (1900) 3614, 596 being foreign-born; (1910) 4178. Area about 27 sq. m. It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway and by electric lines to Hartford and to Springfield, Massachusetts. ”

“ Then for another two weeks it wandered on from one small town to another, up and down New York State and through the doldrums of Connecticut, tacking to and fro like a storm-battered ship, till finally the astute and discerning citizens of Hartford welcomed it with such a reception that hardened principals stared at each other in a wild surmise, wondering if these things could really be: and a weary chorus forgot its weariness and gave encore after encore with a snap and vim which even Mr. Johnson Miller was obliged to own approximated to something like it. ”

“ The public buildings are twenty-four churches, the College Athenæum, Medical College, Mechanics’ Institute, four market houses, a theatre, two museums, a famous and tasteless bazaar, a bank for the United States branch, court house, and other edifices. The charitable and religious associations are numerous. There are sixteen periodical publications. There are three city insurance companies, and two branches of companies at Hartford, Connecticut. Water is furnished for the inhabitants from the Ohio river, and is distributed over town at an average expense of eight dollars for a family. ”

“ The view to the south includes, of course, the river, and also the pleasant village of South Hadley with its Seminary. Springfield is not very plainly visible, but the spires of Hartford, Connecticut, can be seen on a clear day. To the south-west, and at one's very feet, is the wide gorge, with Tom rising directly across, its top being nearly two hundred feet above the position of the observer. To the north-west Greylock is seen shooting up its head beyond the Hoosac. ”

“ An old pastor of the First Church of Hartford writes to claim that that church was organized in 1633, and that the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary was celebrated in 1883. Stamford does not deny that the Hartford Church may have been organized in 1633, but says it was not in Connecticut at that time.
Hartford, Conn., has a public library of thirty-six thousand volumes, but it costs anybody five dollars a year to get books out of it, and there are only six hundred people in the whole city who care to pay that price for its privileges. ”

“ About eighteen months after the charter had disappeared so mysteriously, the tyrant James II. was compelled to give up his throne to his daughter and son-in-law, the prince and princess of Orange, and Governor Treat and his associates again took the government of Connecticut under the old charter, which the hollow oak had faithfully kept from harm. No tree in our whole country has received more attention than this historic Hartford oak; and when, at last, its mere shell of a trunk was laid low by a storm, it seemed as if a large part of the city had been swept away. ”

“ At Hartford lives Mrs. Sigourney, the graceful American poetess. She is a pious member of one of the Congregational Churches. Mr. Hosmer kindly took us to call upon her; and we were greatly pleased with our brief visit.
At 2 P.M. we left with regret this delightful little city, and shall always cherish a grateful remembrance of the Christian kindness and hospitality with which we were treated. In all the States we met with nothing to be compared, in all that was pleasing, to the two cities of Connecticut—New Haven and Hartford. ”

“ In Connecticut the legislature was in session at Hartford. It was like night in the streets of this city and candles were burning in the windows of all the houses. Men grew anxious and uneasy. As the darkness became deeper, the House of Representatives adjourned, finding it impossible to transact any business. ”

“ The Hartford Wits passed for geniuses in Connecticut, which is better, as far as the genius is concerned, than any extent or duration of posthumous fame. Let their shades, then, be satisfied with the good things in the way of praise they received in their lives; for between us and them there is fixed a great gulf of oblivion, into which Time, the merciless critic from whose judgment there is no appeal, has tumbled their works. ”

“ Procuring special transportation, we reached Hartford at eight o'clock. Being a Hartford regiment, the citizens had made extensive arrangements to welcome us, but the 18th Connecticut had arrived that morning by boat and while their attention was drawn towards them, the Sixteenth suddenly entered the Asylum street depot. The news soon reached the State House Square, and the bell was rung, and by the time the regiment was in line the Governor's Guard, City Guard, and Colt's Band were on the "double quick," and thousands of citizens were hurriedly approaching the depot. ”

“ The first written constitution known to history was that by which the republic of Connecticut was organized in 1639. At first the affairs of the Connecticut settlements had been directed by a commission appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts, but on the 14th of January, 1639, all the freemen of the three river towns—Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield—assembled at Hartford, and drew up a written constitution, consisting of eleven articles, in which the frame of government then and there adopted was distinctly described. ”

“ He was appointed acting assistant paymaster in the U.S. navy at the outbreak of the civil war, and served on a gunboat in the Gulf of Mexico. He engaged in the practice of law at Hartford, Conn., after his discharge in 1865, and devoted his leisure to literary work, contributing articles to the "Memorial History of Hartford County" (1886) , and to the publications of the Connecticut historical society. He was the author of the resolution passed by the state legislature in 1889, which resulted in the topographical survey of Connecticut in 1895. ”

“ Winthrop the
Younger, son of Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, commissioned by
these last, built a fort at Saybrook. Till the expiration of his
commission the towns immediately upon the Connecticut were under the
government of Massachusetts. Their population in 1643 was three
thousand. A convention of these towns met at Hartford, January 14, 1639,
and formed a constitution, like that of Massachusetts Bay, thoroughly
republican in nature. Connecticut breathed a freer spirit than either
Massachusetts or New Haven, being in this respect the peer of Plymouth. ”

“ This charter had been secured without the knowledge or consent of the New Haven colonists and they naturally protested against the union with Connecticut. But on account of the threatened absorption of a part of the Connecticut territory by the Colony of New York granted to the duke of York in 1664, and the news that a commission had been appointed in England to settle intercolonial disputes, they finally assented to the union in 1665. Hartford then became the capital of the united colonies, but shared that honour with New Haven from 1701 until 1873. ”

“ Within ten years, about twenty thousand Englishmen, mainly Puritans, crossed the Atlantic, and took up their abode in New England. In the ecclesiastical system each church was self-governing, except as the General Court was over all. There were no bishops, and the liturgy was dispensed with in worship.
SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT.—After the Dutch had built a trading-post on the site of Hartford, people from Plymouth formed a settlement at Windsor, on the Connecticut, six miles above. From Boston and its neighborhood, there was a migration which settled Hartford. ”

“ It is not our intention to dwell on the incidents of the voyage. Though the genius of an extraordinary man had discovered the world which was now beginning to fill with civilized men, navigation at that day was not brilliant in accomplishments. A passage among the shoals of Nantucket must have been one of actual danger, no less than of terror; and the ascent of the Connecticut itself was an exploit worthy of being mentioned. In due time the adventurers landed at the English fort of Hartford, where they tarried for a season, in order to obtain rest and spiritual comfort. ”

“ Transportation within the State is also much helped by the improvement of country roads, in which enterprise the State aids the communities.
The ports of entry are Hartford, Fairfield, New Haven, Stonington, and New London. There is a brisk coastwise trade, particularly with the port of New York, most of the foreign trade of the State passing through that city. Although there are no exports to foreign countries direct from Connecticut, there were foreign imports in 1900 amounting to about $1,800,000, two-thirds of which entered by the port of Hartford. ”

“ Eighteen sixty-five may be considered as a banner year for purely Canadian life insurance underwriting, for the Sun Life, that splendid monument to the genius of a number of Montreal men, was founded in this year. The same year witnessed the arrival of the Hartford Company of Connecticut in this city, this concern being followed the next year by the Ætna and Phœnix Mutual Life companies, and in 1868 by the Connecticut, these three last-named corporations also having their headquarters in Hartford. ”

“ It is on the banks of the Connecticut, under the mighty preaching of Thomas Hooker, and in the constitution to which he gave life, if not form, that we draw the first breath of that atmosphere{508} which is now so familiar to us. The birthplace of American democracy is Hartford. ”

“ In order that the children might fully understand the all-important history of the chair, Grandfather now thought fit to speak of the progress that was made in settling several colonies. The settlement of Plymouth, in 1620, has already been mentioned. In 1635, Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone, two ministers, went on foot from Massachusetts to Connecticut, through the pathless woods, taking their whole congregation along with them. They founded the town of Hartford. In 1638, Mr. Davenport, a very celebrated minister, went, with other people, and began a plantation at New Haven. ”

“ For several decades the large emigration of the male population to the West resulted in an excess of females within the State; but the 1900 census shows that the sexes are almost equal in number.
Being of a manufacturing State, the population shows a strong tendency to congregate in the cities. In 1900, 53 per cent. of the population was in cities of over 8000 population. According to the census of 1900, New Haven had 108,027 inhabitants; Hartford, 79,850 ”

“ In 1636 Hooker and Stone, with the majority of the inhabitants, removed to a new settlement on the Connecticut, which they called Hartford, after Stone's birthplace. In the following year Stone accompanied the Hartford contingent in the expedition against the Pequot Indians, which broke the power of that tribe. ”

“ Hartford is the capital. The State has five representatives in the Lower House of Congress.
Education. Connecticut has always been one of the leading States in educational matters. From the earliest colonial period primary education was provided for at the public expense, and the establishment of Yale University in 1701 afforded opportunities for higher instruction. For more than a decade before 1901 the school term exceeded 180 days, although the average for the whole country is only 134 days. Almost five-sixths of the school population attend the public schools, and in 1900, 94 per cent. ”