Newsletter | September 23, 2023

Trivia question

Before the creation of Elizabeth Park, the approximate site of the park’s famous rose garden was used for a popular sporting activity on Sunday afternoons. What was it?

For the answer, see the end of this newsletter.

Headlines

Hartford's Colt Gateway evolves as tenants snap up 16 apartments set to open in former gun factory – CT Insider*

City could see conversion of historic Pratt Street and Lewis Street buildings into high-profile apartments – Hartford Courant*

Veteran radio-TV newsman Dick Bertel dies at 92 – TVNewsCheck.com

• VIDEO: Death of founding anchor Dick Bertel – WFSB-TV, Eyewitness News 3

Visionary developer Martin Kenny remembered as 'one of the biggest cheerleaders of Connecticut' – CT Insider*

VIDEO: Hispanic Heritage hits Hartford with DominGO Street Festival in Frog Hollow – NBC Connecticut

September 21: A Punishing Treaty Ends the Pequot War – Today in Connecticut History

September 19: ‘Schoolboy’ Johnny Taylor throws no-hitter against baseball giant Satchel Paige – Today in Connecticut History

September 17: The Nation’s First Triumphal Arch – Today in Connecticut History

Taking the highway to right wrongs of the past in urban areas -- Center for Public Integrity, via CT News Junkie

A CT author uses a local town as setting of his first book. Including its ‘witch.’ -- Hartford Courant*

Hartford exhibit '¡Pleibol!' highlights the Latino community in baseball -- CT Insider*

From the Mark Twain House to the Old New-Gate Prison, you can find these National Historic Landmarks in Hartford County -- CT Insider*

* Requires paid subscription, usually after a certain number of free articles.

Trivia question answer

The next time you visit the rose garden at Elizabeth Park, imagine standing in the middle of a horse-racing track instead.

Charles Murray Pond, son of a wealthy railroad president and a prominent businessman himself, operated a “gentleman’s farm” on his estate, which straddled Prospect Avenue. He bred trotters there and built a dirt track for racing them. By the time of his death in 1897, the property totaled 90 acres. He bequeathed it to the city for the creation of a park, with a stipulation that it be named in honor of his wife, Elizabeth.

To learn more about the Pond family and the creation of Elizabeth Park, visit the park’s website and listen to “America’s First Public Rose Garden—Elizabeth Park,” a fascinating episode of the podcast Grating the Nutmeg, hosted and produced by Mary Donohue.