Newsletter | October 12, 2023

Editor’s note: Starting with this issue, the HartfordHistory.net newsletter will include a calendar of upcoming events concerning city history. If you’d like to add your event, send the “who, what, when, and where” to Kevin@HartfordHistory.net.

Trivia question

The University of Connecticut’s School of Law has occupied a complex of Gothic buildings in the West End of the city since the 1980s. But the buildings were constructed in the 1920s. By whom?

For the answer, see the end of this newsletter.

Headlines

Plans underway to redevelop legendary Hartford diner – WTNH-TV, News 8 (VIDEO)

Bell from legendary Civil War battle set for new home in Hartford – CT Insider*

Five ‘haunted’ Hartford locations that are open to visitors – CT Insider*

Hartford lawmakers vote to ‘sustain’ XL Center for another 20 years with new lease, $100M makeover – CT Insider*

In furious debate over closing CT airport, there’s agreement: Neither side likes $1.5M draft report – Hartford Courant*

October 9: Nazi airship carries corporate bigwigs on “millionaire’s flight” over Connecticut – Today in Connecticut History

October 8: A bridge that wouldn’t burn – Today in Connecticut History

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

Event calendar

Saturday, October 14

“Saukiog Harvest Festival of Native American, Indigenous, and Cross Cultures,” held rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 337 Vine St., home of the Ebony Horsewomen Inc. Equestrian and Therapeutic Center. Free. More information

Tuesday, October 18

“Angels Among Us” tour of Cedar Hill Cemetery, 453 Fairfield Avenue, 10 a.m. to noon. Cost: $10; free to members of the cemetery foundation. More information and reservations

Saturday, October 21

“Hartford in the Gilded Age,” held from 10 a.m. to noon, at Cedar Hill Cemetery, 453 Fairfield Avenue. Cost: $10; free to members of the cemetery foundation. More information and reservations

Tuesday, October 24

“Lunch and Learn: Hannah Watson and Women Printers in Early America,” an online event hosted by the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, noon to 1 p.m. Free. More information and registration

Thursday, October 26

“The Alchemy of Justice: John Winthrop, Jr., and New England’s Other Witch,” presented by State Historian Emeritus Walt Woodward at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., with a reception at 6 p.m. Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 for NSCDA-CT and museum members. More information and tickets

Trivia question answer

After buying a tract at the end of Sherman Street from the Goodwin family in 1913, the Hartford Theological Seminary built a campus there that eventually totaled 12 buildings. But by the 1970s, with demand for undergraduate-level ministerial training in decline, the Seminary opted to sell most of its property to UConn and build a sleek, modern home for itself on the remainder. (The Seminary changed its name to the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace in 2021.) Four majestic, granite-faced buildings of the Collegiate Gothic style—products of the Seminary’s 1920s construction program—make up most of today’s UConn campus, along with the similarly styled Thomas J. Meskill Law Library. The campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Pictured: William F. Starr Hall.

Sources:



• UConn School of Law

• “Structures and Styles: Guided Tours of Hartford Architecture,” by Gregory E. Andrews and David F. Ransom, published in 1988 by the Connecticut Historical Society and the Connecticut Architecture Foundation.