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1636:
Hartford's
Founding English Settlement: 
Dutchman Adrien Block explored the CT River in
1614, and established a trading post in Hartford in 1633,
following the European epidemic that destroyed 90% of the
native population along the Eastern Seaboard of North and South
America. The Suckiaug (a clan of the Sequins) inhabited
the banks of what is now the Park and Connecticut rivers and
moved further inland for the winter.
Englishman The Rev. Thomas Hooker was the co-founder of his church in
Cambridge, MA in 1632. Four years later, Hooker joined the
two advance parties with more than 100 English colonists, including
wives, children, servants, wagonloads of property, a hundred and
twenty cattle and foul. He came in part to establish an
English beachhead in Connecticut against the Dutch, and to establish his own
flavor of Puritanism (Calvinism, Congregationalism). The
colonists were looking for large unsettled spaces, necessary
for becoming prosperous. They intended to earn their living raising cattle, so
large portions
of land was needed for grazing. Hooker renamed the settlement after Hertford,
England. An English patent gave the colonists the
right to settle the land between Windsor and Wethersfield, all the
way to the Pacific Ocean. The patent also gave the colonists the
right to govern themselves. The colonists purchased their
parcels from the Suckiaug (see map below), who were happy to have
an ally against the Pequot who had recently attacked and taken
their land in the South Meadows.
The settlement map shows about 48 original English
property owners. These house lots of approximately 2 acres were located between
what is now Main Street and the old Front Street. Lots in
the Little Meadow were for gardens and grazing, distributed
according to need: from 1/6 of an acre to 2.5 acres. Later
lots for farming and grazing were allocated in the north and
south meadows - some as large or larger than 40 acres. The Little River (now the Park River) divided the city north and
south. Dutch and Native American property are also shown.
1637
- The Pequot War
The settlement of Hartford occurred amidst the Indian wars between the
Pequot and Mohawk (who wanted to trade exclusively with the Dutch), and
the Pequot and Dutch and
English - each vying for control over Connecticut. The war
was triggered in 1634 by the Dutch sending a dead Pequot sachem,
despite the tribe's delivery of the ransom demanded by the Dutch
for their leader. Not making the distinction, the Pequot
retaliated by attacking two English ships and killing their crew
and captains, one a blackguard, and the other a respected
trader. A Massachusetts colony captain killed 14 Pequot
and burned two villages. The Pequot besieged Saybrook that
fall and winter and killed anyone outside of the fort.
In April, 1637, another tribe with Pequot help attacked
Wethersfield, killing six men and three women and
abducting two adolescent girls. The towns lost about 30
settlers in all. As a result, the court in Hartford
declared war against the Pequot on May 1, 1637, just one year
after the settlement's formation. The three towns sent
Captain John Mason with a militia of 90 and 70 Mohawk who joined
with 20 from Fort Saybrook to retaliate. Several hundred
Narragansett joined Mason as well. Thinking the English had
missed their forted village at Mystic, most of the Pequot men
left to attack Hartford. Mason ordered the Pequot
enclosure burned with all the inhabitants inside. They
were mostly women, children and older men, who were killed on
Mason's order as they tried to escape. Having no tribal
allies, the remaining Pequot faced Mason's troops in what is now
Fairfield. Mason killed about 2/3 of the Pequot men,
letting a few hundred women and children free. Possibly 80 men
escaped with their leader, Sassacus, heading for the Mohawk in
New York. The Mohawk sent Sassacus' scalp to Hartford, as
a symbol of friendship with the Connecticut Colony. In the
end, the colonists called for the near extinction of the Pequot,
divvying up their land with the Mohawk and Narragansett,
enslaving the remaining members and banning their
language. By 1666, the few who survived were assigned
reservations in Connecticut Colony. Today, you can see a
film reenactment of the Mystic Massacre at the Mashantucket
Pequot Museum at the tribe's famously profitable casino in
Connecticut.
After the defeat of Pequot in 1637, the Suckiaug conveyed
extensive land (currently Hartford and West Hartford) to the English
who reserved land in Farmington for them. While the Colonists
of 1636 paid the tribes for the land, the 1637 conveyance was
considered a gift until 1670 when the members of the
tribe were paid for the conveyance. The last descendent of
the native
property owners in Hartford's South Meadows sold his land in
1723.
The
Dutch in Hartford, 1636
Despite the fact that the Dutch claimed ownership
of the land south of the Little (Park) River, the English
claimed a prior authority when they arrived, and boldly parceled out land
there that had not been developed by the Dutch (see map). After 15
years of petty crimes between the Dutch and English in Hartford (missing cattle,
trampled crops, fences built and torn
down, etc.), arbiters of the Dutch and English determined that
the status quo should remain. Six years later, in 1656, a
treaty gave the Dutch land to the English.
Hartford
- Site of the First
'Witch' Executed in America
In 1642 witchcraft became a capital crime in Connecticut.
On May 26, 1647 Alse Young of Windsor was tried for witchcraft
and hung in Hartford on the green that is now The Old State
House square. The next year, Mary Johnson of Wethersfield,
already whipped twice for theft, confessed to murdering a child
and 'licentiousness'. Her baby, born during her five and a
half months in jail, was raised by the jailor's son. Three
years later, a Wethersfield couple was executed, and a Windsor
woman three years after that. In 1662 nine Hartford men and women
were tried for being under the influence of the devil - three were
executed, the last of a total of eight such executions in
Connecticut - all concentrated in this 15 year period. At
the center of the group of nine was Rebecca Greensmith,
repeatedly seen dancing and drinking with her friends on what is
now South Green. Her husband Nathaniel had been convicted
of theft twice, censured for lying and accused of building his
barn on common land. Rev. John Whiting described Mrs.
Greensmith as "a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged
woman". A small child in delirium accused the
group. The child's death was followed by speculations of
the neighbors. The accused were interviewed and arrested.
A daughter of John Cole had fits that, she said were caused by
Mrs. Greensmith. More arrests followed. Of the nine,
the Greensmith's and one of their friends, Mary Barnes of
Farmington were hung. The others fled or were
released. Elizabeth Seager, accused of adultery, spent a
year in jail. This was thirty years before the infamous
Salem witch trials. Witchcraft was last listed as a
capital crime in Connecticut until 1715.
The
West End 1636 - 1697:
The West End would have been outside of the footprint of the
Hartford Settlement in 1636, but once the Suckiaug conveyed the
land that is now Hartford and West Hartford in 1637, it became
part of the settlement. The identification of land
generally flowed in order from the Connecticut River
westward. However, for some unknown reason an area known
as Bridgefield (most of the current West End) was identified
well before areas to the east of it, and was not part of a
plantation division - the usual manner of apportioning
land.
Bridgefield was a rectangular area identified at
some point before 1651. It stretched from the
current Park River for six tenths of a mile west, a few blocks
past what is now the Hartford city line at Prospect
Avenue. Bridgefield stretched from what is now Capital
Avenue to about Elizabeth Street. The current Farmington Avenue
ran down the middle. In 1697 divisions were made here for
9 of the original settlers: Haynes, Hooker, Goodwin, John Allyn,
Talcott, Wadsworth, Goodman and Lewis. On average each
would have received parcels over 30 acres. Since each
would also have received large amounts of land for grazing when
they settled in 1636, presumably the West End remained wooded
for quite some time.
Most of the land here was initially heavily
wooded. Typically the progression was: cleared for grazing
land, and eventually used as farm land before a 'suburban' home
was built on a large parcel, or perhaps immediately subdivided
into building lots which were typically 1/4 to 1/3 of an
acre. Over 350 years, this was also the progression of
development in the West End.
Click map for enlargement.
Original plates combined - from: The
Colonial History of Hartford on-line
1636:
Hartford's
Founding English Settlement:
Click map for enlargement.
Original plates combined - from: The
Colonial History of Hartford on-line
(added notations in brown)
The
Beginning of European Settlement
Dutchman Adrien Block explored the CT River in
1614, and established a trading post in Hartford in 1633,
following the European epidemic that destroyed 90% of the
native population along the Eastern Seaboard of North and South
America. The Suckiaug (a clan of the Sequins) inhabited
the banks of what is now the Park and Connecticut rivers during
the summer but moved further inland for the winter.
Englishman The Rev. Thomas Hooker was was a charismatic religious
leader with a large following in England. He so threatened at
least three British bishops, that he just escaped arrest when he
left for the Netherlands. He concluded that only in New
England would they be allowed to practice religion their
way. In 1633, at the age of 48, he joined many of his
followers in Newtown (Cambridge), in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony. He found himself at odds with the Boston
leadership that enforced all citizens to be members of the
church or be banished (to the wilderness, and near certain
death). Hooker argued that non-church
members should be able to be citizens.
Hooker joined his two advance parties with more than 100 English colonists, including
wives, children, servants, wagonloads of property, a hundred and
twenty cattle and foul. He came in part to establish an
English beachhead in Connecticut against the Dutch, and to establish his own
flavor of Puritanism (Congregationalism) - without mandatory
membership in the official church. The
colonists were looking for large unsettled spaces, necessary
for becoming prosperous. They intended to earn their living raising cattle, so
a large amount of land was needed for grazing. Hooker renamed the settlement after Hertford,
England. An English patent from Hooker's friend Lord
Warwick gave Thomas Hooker's group the
right to settle the land between Windsor and Wethersfield, all the
way to the Pacific Ocean. (These two other English 'River Towns'
had been settled the year before with a group from Plymouth and
another from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.) The patent, no
longer in existence, also gave the colonists the
right to govern themselves.
The settlement map shows 50 original English
property owners in Hartford. Most of them were part of
Hooker's congregation, many highly educated, and all seeking land
to raise cattle and make their family fortunes. Most of their
names are familiar to us 350 years later. These house lots of approximately
two acres were located between
what is now Main Street and the old Front Street and along Charter
Oak Avenue. The the first and second meeting houses stood
on the site of the Old State House. (About 100 years
later, Center Church was moved to its present location on Main
Street and still rings the original bell cast in England in 1633.) Lots in
the Little Meadow were for gardens and grazing, distributed
according to need: from 1/6 of an acre to 2.5 acres. Later,
lots for farming and grazing were allocated in the north and
south meadows - some as large or larger than 40 acres. The Little River (now the Park River) divided the city north and
south into two separate plantations. The colonists purchased their
parcels from the Suckiaug (see map above), who needed
an ally against the Pequot who had recently attacked and occupied their
area in the South Meadows. The Dutch also claimed the
south side of the Park River. They had purchased their land
from the Pequot.
1637
- The Pequot War
The settlement of Hartford occurred amidst the Indian wars between the
Pequot and Mohawk (who wanted to trade exclusively with the Dutch), and
the Pequot and Dutch and
English - each vying for control over Connecticut. The war
was triggered in 1634 by the Dutch killing a Pequot sachem
boarding their ship to establish trade. Despite the tribe's delivery of the ransom demanded by the Dutch,
the Dutch sent their sachem home dead. Not making the distinction, the Pequot
retaliated by attacking two English ships and killing their crew
and captains, one a blackguard, and the other a respected
trader. A Massachusetts colony captain killed 14 Pequot
and burned two villages. The Pequot besieged Saybrook that
fall and winter and killed anyone outside of the fort.
In April, 1637, another tribe with Pequot help attacked
Wethersfield, killing six men and three women and
abducting two adolescent girls. The towns lost about 30
settlers in all. As a result, on behalf of the three river
towns and the fort at Saybrook, the court in Hartford
declared war against the Pequot on May 1, 1637, just one year
after the settlement's formation.
The three towns sent
Captain John Mason with a militia of 90 and 70 Mohawk who joined
with 20 from Fort Saybrook to retaliate. Several hundred
Narragansett joined Mason as well. Thinking the English had
missed their forted village at Mystic, most of the Pequot men
left to attack Hartford. Mason ordered the Pequot
enclosure burned with all the inhabitants inside. They
were mostly women, children and older men, who were killed on
Mason's order as they tried to escape the fire. Having no tribal
allies, the remaining Pequot faced Mason's troops in what is now
Fairfield. Mason killed about 2/3 of the Pequot men,
letting a few hundred women and children free. Possibly 80 men
escaped with their leader, Sassacus, heading for the Mohawk in
New York. The Mohawk sent Sassacus' scalp to Hartford, as
a symbol of friendship with the Connecticut Colony. In the
end, the colonists called for the near extinction of the Pequot,
divvying up Pequot land with the Mohawk and Narragansett,
enslaving the remaining members who wished to live and banning their
language. By 1666, the few who survived were assigned
reservations in Connecticut Colony. Today, you can see a
film reenactment of the Mystic Massacre at the Mashantucket
Pequot Museum at the tribe's famously profitable casino in
Ledyard, Connecticut.
After the defeat of Pequot in 1637, the Suckiaug conveyed
extensive land (currently Hartford and West Hartford) to the
Hartford settlement. It is said this was in gratitude for the
protection they received from the English. In return, land
was reserved in Farmington for the Pequot. While the Colonists
of 1636 paid the tribes for the land, the 1637 conveyance was
considered a gift until 1670 when the members of the
tribe were paid for the conveyance. The last descendent of
the native
property owners in Hartford's South Meadows sold his land in
1723.
The
Dutch in Hartford, 1636
Despite the fact that the Dutch claimed ownership
of the land south of the Little (Park) River, the English
claimed a prior authority when they arrived, and boldly (and
immediately) parceled out land on the south side that had not been developed by the Dutch (see map). After 15
years of petty crimes between the abutting Dutch and English in Hartford (missing cattle,
trampled crops, fences built and torn
down, etc.), arbiters of the Dutch and English determined that
the status quo should remain. Six years later, in 1656, a
treaty gave the Dutch land to the English.
The
Fundamental Orders, 1639
“The foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free
consent of the people.” These most famous words of
Thomas Hooker's sermon of 1638 would be central to the
Fundamental Orders, adopted by a vote of the freemen of
Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield in Hartford in1639. The
document does not refer to any government or power outside of
Connecticut itself. It did not limit the vote to members of
Puritan congregations. This appears to be the first written
constitution in the Western tradition which created a government
based on the vote of the citizens, and it is easily seen to be the prototype of our
Federal Constitution, adopted exactly one hundred and fifty
years later.
Hartford
- Site of the First
'Witch' Executed in America
In 1642 witchcraft became a capital crime in Connecticut.
On May 26, 1647 Alse Young of Windsor was tried for witchcraft
and hung in Hartford on the green that is now The Old State
House square. This was the first ever execution for
witchcraft in America. The next year, Mary Johnson of Wethersfield,
already whipped twice for theft, confessed to murdering a child
and 'licentiousness'. Her baby, born during her five and a
half months in the Hartford jail, was raised by the jailor's son. Three
years later, a Wethersfield couple was executed, and a Windsor
woman three years after that. In 1662 nine Hartford men and women
were tried for being under the influence of the devil - three were
executed, the last of a total of eight such executions in
Connecticut - all concentrated in this 15 year period.
At
the center of the group of nine was Rebecca Greensmith,
repeatedly seen dancing and drinking with her friends on what is
now South Green. Rev. John Whiting described Mrs.
Greensmith as "a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged
woman". Her husband Nathaniel had been convicted
of theft twice, censured for lying and accused of building his
barn on common land. A small child in delirium accused the
group before she died. The child's death was followed by speculations of
the neighbors. The accused were interviewed and arrested.
Then, a daughter of John Cole had fits that, she said were caused by
Mrs. Greensmith. More arrests followed. Of the nine,
the Greensmith's and one of their friends, Mary Barnes of
Farmington were hung. The others fled or were
released. Elizabeth Seager, accused of adultery, spent a
year in jail. This was thirty years before the infamous
Salem witch trials. Witchcraft was last listed as a
capital crime in Connecticut until 1715.
The
West End 1636 - 1697:
The West End would have been outside of the footprint of the
Hartford Settlement in 1636, but a year later the Suckiaug
conveyed the
land that is now Hartford and West Hartford to the
colonists. So the West End became part of Hartford in
1637. This newly acquired land was gradually parceled out
by each of the two plantations to its members, or identified as
common land gradually moving westward. However, for some unknown reason an area known
as Bridgefield (most of the current West End) was identified
well before areas to the east of it, at some point between
Hartford's founding and 1651 during the first town clerk's
appointment. It was not part of a
plantation division, which was generally based on a formula. Nine of the
50 original settlers: Haynes, Hooker, Goodwin, John Allyn,
Talcott, Wadsworth, Goodman and Lewis shared land in Bridgefield.
Bridgefield was a rectangle that stretched west from the
current Park River for six tenths of a mile, a few blocks
past what is now the Hartford city line at Prospect
Avenue. It stretched north and south from what is now Capital
Avenue to about Elizabeth Street on the north. The current Farmington Avenue
ran down the middle. In 1697 divisions were made here for
the nine owners. On average each
would have received parcels over 30 acres. Since each
would also have received large amounts of land for grazing when
they settled in 1636, presumably the West End remained wooded
for quite some time.
Typically land would start out as wooded, then
would be cleared for grazing land, and eventually improved as
farm land. A large 'country' home might be built, or
perhaps the farmland could be sold off in large parcels and
subdivided into building lots which were typically 1/4 to 1/3 of
an acre. Over 350 years, this was also the progression of
development in the West End.
1755-1766:
Hartford's Pre-Revolutionary
Period:
In pre-revolutionary CT, Hartford is the crossing point for the
Post Road going up the east
and west side of the
CT River into Massachusetts, through Springfield to Boston and south
through New Haven, then west to Danbury and south to New York.
The shoreline post road goes to Providence, R.I.
These historic post roads mirror present-day I-91 inland and
I-95 along the shore.
Below are the Thomas Jefferies map of the northeast, 1755,
and the
Miles Park map executed for the Earl of Shelborne, His Majesty's Secretary of
State -
"The Colony of Connecticut, North America, 1766".
Click maps for enlargement
.
The original footprint for Hartford included
present-day West
Hartford, East Hartford and Manchester.
East Hartford will split off in 1783, including Manchester, which
will incorporate in 1823.
West Hartford is part of Hartford for the first 215 years, until
1854.
The meeting house and two churches are shown in Hartford:
currently Center Church and South Congregational churches.
1776-1796:
Hartford's Revolutionary Period
By 1776, the beginning of the Revolution, the
major roads in the state appear much as they did twenty years
earlier.
A map dated 1780 shows
Farmington Avenue extending from Hartford all the way to
Fairfield.
The current cities of West Hartford, East Hartford and Manchester are still part of
Hartford.
Bohn's 1796 map shows the Wells Ferry crossing at
Hartford. In addition to the town center, there are four grist mills, 2 saw mills, an oil mill and a paper
mill in Hartford.
Four roads fan out from Hartford (Albany, Asylum,
Farmington and New Britain avenues).
1811:
Hartford During the British Embargo
By 1811, the developed core city has spread
a couple of blocks in each direction. Major homes are along
Washington Street and Maple Avenue. The Warren map shows only three grist mills in the city, a
reduction in small manufacturing within the city limits, compared to 15 years
before.
This is a period of British embargo spurring small manufacturing
everywhere throughout New England. But Hartford has
developed as a major shipping port - the most northerly navigable
point in the CT River.
Now eight major roads form the routes to towns outside of the City
of Hartford.
The first bridge across the CT River at Hartford was built the
year before, in 1810. It was an uncovered bridge made of
wood. It will be washed away in the flooding of 1818, and
replaced with a covered bridge.
Click map for enlargement.
1855:
Hartford in the Industrial
Revolution
Samuel Colt
gets his own factory in 1847 on Pearl Street. He is 32,
finally able to control his own product patented 11 years
earlier. Colt's manufacturing genius was to perfect the
concept of interchangeable parts - 80% of his gun was made by
machine alone. He hired Elisha Root as head superintendent
from the Collinsville Axe Co. By 1855 Colt builds his
spectacular armory along the Connecticut River, designed and
constructed by Root who would go on to train a generation of
engineers including Pratt and Whitney.
The railroad from Hartford to New Haven (1839),
skirts downtown and connects with a spur
to steamship service from the Hartford dock to New York.
There has been rail service to Boston for 9 years and to New York
for seven.
The path of the railway will define the highway footprint
constructed 100 years later.
The
West End in 1855:
By now, urban development has spread west
out to Flower Street, on the eastern edge of what is now Aetna.
The year before, West Hartford split off and
incorporated as a separate town, making Hartford's west boundary Prospect Avenue.
There are thirteen homes located in what is now the West End, all
of them along the only streets: Albany, Bloomfield, Farmington,
Asylum and Prospect - all
major routes from the city to other towns. The rest of the
land is primarily flat farmland divided by whitewashed wooden
fences.
1869:
Hartford after
the Civil War
Fifteen years later, the city has expanded west
into the current Asylum Hill neighborhood. It is 4 years
after the Civil War, and Hartford is still a major port city -
with 22 piers. Bushnell Park has just been built.
Harriett Beecher Stowe, world famous author of Uncle Tom's
Cabin (1851), moves to "Nook Farm" in Hartford
in1873. Mark Twain builds his house next door to her in 1874, and
publishes Tom Sawyer two years later.
The West End in
1869:
Fourteen years later, there are only 10 more houses in the West End - now totaling
23, and one more street has been added in the neighborhood - Sisson
Avenue. The area, then known as "Middle District', is still mostly
farmland.
Next year, Eugene Kenyon will build a path north of his home on
Farmington Avenue and build his farm house halfway up what is now
the first block of Kenyon Street (now 96 Kenyon).
It will be the first home in the neighborhood built off of one of
the major avenues.
Click map for enlargement, or click for pdf
file.
1896:
Hartford's Gilded Age
The covered bridge across the
Connecticut River burned the year before in 1895. The current Bulkeley Bridge is a stone arch bridge that opened
thirteen years later in
1908. It is one of the oldest bridges in use by the interstate
highway system (I-84).
The
West End in 1896:
xxx
Click map for enlargement, or click for pdf
file.
1909:
Hartford is fully urbanized
Hartford
The
West End in 1896:
xxx
Click map for enlargement, or click for pdf
file.
Many thanks to the Hartford
Preservation Alliance for the loan of the last three original
city plates from 1869-1909.
Maps digitized by C. West Designs.
The 1636 map most of the 1636 content appears in The
Colonial History of Hartford, William DeLoss Love, 1914.
Thanks to the University of Connecticut for the early maps of
Connecticut: 1766-1855.
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