Neighborhoods of Hartford, Connecticut
The neighborhoods of Hartford, Connecticut in the United States are varied and historic.
Image:Hartford connecticut capitol.jpg|250px|right|thumb|The Connecticut State Capitol in downtown Hartford
Central Business District/Downtown
Downtown is Hartford's primary business district. It is the location of the city government offices as well as the State Capitol.Parkville
Parkville is a mixed industrial-residential area on Hartford's west side, and was one of the last parts of the city to be developed. Parkville is bounded by Capitol Avenue, Interstate 84, and New Park Avenue.Although the modern city of Hartford was founded in 1636, farms only began to be established in the Parkville area after 1750. In the 1870s large-scale industrial development began in Parkville as a shortage of construction materials affected the rest of the city, with its new industry later promoting the expansion of the neighborhood's residential areas. A brickyard was established in 1873, and a rubber works began operation in 1881. Despite increasing industrialization, in 1878 residents of Parkville unsuccessfully attempted to secede from the rest of Hartford, with some claiming they were too highly taxed for how little-developed their neighborhood was, especially when compared to others nearby such as Frog Hollow. As late as 1909, northern areas of Parkville remained largely vacant, with one section of Capitol Avenue between Arbor Street and Sisson Avenue containing only two houses. From continued industrial growth in the early-20th century however, the same area was entirely developed by 1912.
Frog Hollow
Frog Hollow stretches along Capitol Avenue directly west of the State Capitol until Laurel Street, and south towards Trinity College. The area takes its name from the marshy conditions in the low land near what is now the corner of Broad and Ward streets.Most of the area was farmland until 1852 when the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company constructed a factory, beginning the area's transformation into a major industrial area. Although not the first factory to be situated along now-buried Park River, Sharps located there specifically to take advantage of the railroad line that had been constructed along the river in 1838. After the Sharps Rifle Company failed in 1870, the Weed Sewing Machine Company took over its factory and soon surpassed the Colt Armory in nearby Coltsville in size.
Inspired by a British-made, high-wheel bicycle, or velocipede, he saw at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, industrialist Albert Pope bought patent rights for bicycle production in the United States. Wanting to contract out his first order, however, Pope approached George Fairfield of Hartford, and the Weed Sewing Machine Company produced Pope's first run of bicycles in 1878. Bicycles proved to be a huge commercial success and production in the Weed factory expanded, with Weed making every part but the tires, and by 1890, demand for bicycles overshadowed the failing sewing machine market. That year, Pope bought the Weed factory, took over as its president, and renamed it the Pope Manufacturing Company.
The bicycle boom was short-lived, peaking near the turn of the century when more and more consumers craved individual automobile travel, and Pope's company suffered financially from over-production amidst falling demand. In an effort to save his business, Pope opened a Motor Carriage Department and turned out electric carriages, beginning with the "Mark III" in 1897. Pope's venture might have made Hartford the capital of the automobile industry were it not for the ascendency of Henry Ford and a series of pitfalls and patent struggles that outlived Pope himself.
After his business failed, Pope donated a parcel park provides recreational facilities for neighborhood families. Today, the park provides recreational facilities for neighborhood families.
Park Street has also been called "New England's Spanish Main Street" because of the predominantly Puerto Rican population and merchants. Former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez hoped to attract new merchants looking to expand their businesses into Hartford and in 2005, plans were first floated to spend $64 million on a project at the intersection of Park Street and Main Street. Original plans included two luxury condo towers, some retail, and a massive main square—or Plaza Mayor, as it came to be known. The plan later got smaller in size, and was eventually shelved entirely during the Great Recession.
The neighborhood is home to Hartford Superior Court, Hartford Community Court, Family Court, Trinity College, The Learning Corridor, , and Broad Street Juvenile Court.
Asylum Hill
Asylum Hill is a centrally located Hartford neighborhood with about 10,500 residents. It rises uphill directly west of Downtown Hartford but is mostly flat until it slopes downward at its western edge, along the flood plain of the north branch of the now-buried Park River. Aside from the river, it is bound on its other three sides by railroad tracks and I-84.Originally known as 'Lords Hill', the area was primarily farmland and named after one of the city's original settlers. In the early 1800s, the area was dominated by the Imlay farm, which occupied most of the land from present-day Imlay Street west to the north branch of the Park River, and from Farmington Avenue south to the Park River.
In 1807 the Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons was founded here and its first student, Alice Cogswell, was enrolled. She is depicted in a commemorative statue, designed by Frances Wadsworth, that honors Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Mason F. Cogswell and Laurent Clerc, founders of the American School for the Deaf, which was the first of its kind in the country. It remained at its original location for 100 years. The area became known as Asylum Hill.
John Hooker and Francis Gillette purchased the farm in 1853 for the purpose of developing the real estate into smaller holdings. They built their own homes and encouraged friends to do the same. As a result, a literary colony developed that included Isabella Beecher Hooker, the Gillettes, Charles Dudley Warner, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, and other reformers and activists. The area became known as Nook Farm, taking its name from the bend‚ or “nook‚” in the Park River‚ which bordered the area.
Some houses of this colony still survive. Most notably, the home of Samuel Clemens who wrote under the pseudonym Mark Twain. He created some of his most notable works, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, while living in Hartford. These houses, along with the Katherine Day House, are preserved as museums open to the public. By the early 1900s Asylum Hill had become an established residential area, with spacious Victorian-style homes.
Image:Mark Twain House.JPG|thumb|right|Mark Twain House
Beginning in the 1920s, major insurance companies began moving from downtown to Asylum Hill and would bring major change with office development. The Hartford was the first major corporation to move into the neighborhood, followed by the Rossia Insurance Company and Aetna. To make room for corporate headquarters, employee parking and housing, blocks of single family homes were gradually replaced by apartment buildings with small one-bedroom and efficiency apartments. Aetna remains as a major fixture along Farmington Avenue and recently moved more than 3,400 of their Middletown employees to its Hartford campus.
With many dating from the 19th-century residential period, a number of significant religious institutions are located in the neighborhood, including the Asylum Hill Congregational Church and the Trinity Episcopal Church. The modernist Cathedral of St. Joseph, was constructed in the mid-20th century and dedicated in 1962. Asylum Hill also was home to many educational institutions. The original Hartford Public High School was designed by architect George Keller. It was demolished in 1963 to make way for construction of Interstate 84.
Saint Francis Hospital was established in 1897 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambéry. The 617-bed acute care hospital is located on Woodland Street and is the largest Catholic hospital in New England.
In March 2006, the Connecticut Culinary Institute, which was recently renamed the Lincoln Culinary Institute, opened a branch in the former Hastings Hotel and Conference Center next to the world headquarters of Aetna. The Hastings was primarily a business hotel; President Bill Clinton stayed here when he visited the city while he was in office. The hotel closed abruptly in 2003, but reopened as the Lincoln Education Center. In late 2016, the Lincoln Culinary Institute announced that it was closing.
West End
The West End neighborhood, which runs from the Park River, just past the Mark Twain House to the West Hartford border, was mostly farmland until 1870. During the 1900s–1920s many two and three story homes were built, lending a residential, Victorian air to the neighborhood which persists to this day.Elizabeth Park in the West End was created in 1895, when Charles N. Pond gave his estate to the Hartford Parks Commission which created the park and named it in honor of his wife. The park boasts a playground, softball field, and other recreational facilities in addition to views of the downtown skyline. It features the oldest, and one of the largest, municipal rose gardens in the United States. Elizabeth Park's famous rose arches were designed by noted rosarian Theodore Wirth in 1904.
The University of Connecticut School of Law, Watkinson School and the Hartford Seminary are located in the West End. Prospect Avenue boasts belle epoque and jazz age mansions, including the Governor's Mansion. Grand estates also line Scarborough Street, including the former residence of A. Everett 'Chick' Austin.
The southern West End and Parkville also constitute a local gay village, with many notable residents — including former Mayor Pedro Segarra, the second openly gay mayor of a US state's capital city.