USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume I > Part 35
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The towns groaned under the cost of maintenance and the prospect of a new bridge. Effort to put the burden on the state, because it was such a general highway, met with success in the Legislature of 1893 but with a repercussion that set the whole
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state agog. A bill of $25,000 was paid to a law firm for services in the employ of the selectmen of the towns and much more was said to have been spent in the lobby. J. H. Hale of Glastonbury, one of the commission named by the state on taking over the bridge, resigned when he learned of these things. His town held a meeting to denounce lobbying expenditure. Hartford did like- wise and an investigation was demanded by many. It was finally concluded all around that the lawyers and not the legislators got the money. Henry L. Goodwin of East Hartford won through the Supreme Court an injunction against his town's paying its share of the lawyers' bill. It was apparent that all had wanted such legislation but only by proper method. It became the important issue of the 1895 legislative session, and the outcome was that the act of the previous session was repealed, the towns were to resume the burden, a good part of local street railway taxes should be given them, and there should be a regular bridge and highway commission. The commissioners named were among the foremost citizens-Morgan G. Bulkeley (who continued as chairman till his death), Meigs H. Whaples, John G. Root and John H. Hall, all of Hartford; James W. Cheney of Manchester, Alembert O. Cros- by of Glastonbury, John A. Stoughton of East Hartford (who de- clined and was succeeded by Charles W. Roberts), and Lewis Sperry of South Windsor.
The pyrotechnics came while the Legislature was still debat- ing-in the evening of May 17, 1895, when the old bridge caught fire, and despite the work of the firemen, burned out, like so much tinder. Thousands gathered on the river banks to watch the spec- tacle. The Berlin Iron Bridge Company, which already had a contract, quickly built a temporary bridge and when the winter storms destroyed that, another.
The act of 1895 had provided for an issue of $500,000 bonds and for an apportionment of expenses. Glastonbury refused to pay orders for its share of the work till the Supreme Court decided it should. Springfield and other up-river towns fought stren- uously for a draw and the government upset plans by ordering one in 1903, but the order subsequently was rescinded on its being shown that, by the plan proposed, any shipping that could navi- gate the river could pass under the bridge. In 1901 there were three plans under consideration: All stone, $1,000,000; steel arch, $878,000; steel girder, $782,000. Hartford's Board of Trade
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and Business Men's Association voted vociferously for a stone bridge and a fitting Hartford approach; the Common Council fol- lowed suit and the people in a city meeting voted by large majori- ties for the stone plan and for $709,000 for extension of the Hart- ford approaches. Adjoining land for the causeway at the east end cost $500,000. The other towns had to pay only the appor- tioned 21 per cent of the originally estimated $500,000-Hartford the balance. The cornerstone of the east pier was laid in 1904; the story of the celebration in 1908 will be told further on, with the other events of its time.
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It was when industry was at high pitch, when people were enjoying themselves as never before and when they were showing the fine spirit that met the demands for the free library and the great stone bridge that the community was visited with its worst tragedy. Hotels in America were entering upon that era when comforts should mean something more than a bed and washstand and two or three long dining tables. The old American to the east of State House Square was to linger many more years as a relic of past splendor. The United States, across State Street from the State House was adapting its stage-coach traditions to modern times; the City Hotel down Main Street was the resort for com- mercial travelers; Timothy M. Allyn's famous Allyn House at the corner of Asylum and Trumbull streets, the place of assemblage for political, business and social clans; the Heublein on Lewis and Wells streets-long a happy reminder of the colonial institutions like the Bunch of Grapes tavern-was coming to furnish most acceptably something more than inner refreshment, and the Park Central had been built at the corner of High and Allyn streets as what was considered a fine example of the up-to-date hostelry. The Park Central was well filled with permanent and transient guests on the bitterly cold night of February 17-18, 1889, when a sleepy engineer allowed the water to go low and shortly before dawn there was an explosion that aroused the city. Twenty-three people were killed and many more injured as walls and floors fell. Among the killed were the daughter of Brig .- Gen. C. P. Graham of Middletown and her husband, Louis H. Bronson of Hartford, together with their child; Rev. Dr. La Vallette Perrin, formerly
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pastor of the First Church in New Britain, then of Torrington and latterly in charge of the Congregational Memorial Building on Asylum Street; Mrs. Perrin, and Dwight H. Buel, native of Litchfield, for many years proprietor of a large Hartford jewelry store. Soldiers joined the police and firemen and relays of civil- ians in guarding and searching the ruins for two days.
An unparalleled incident in the national guard soon after was to shock the military sensibilities of General Graham, command- ing the four regiments, and of several of his officers. That fall he issued orders for intensive drill which should keep his com- mand up to its high standard. The Hartford companies of the First Regiment, Col. W. E. Cone, in their armory on Elm Street, which once had been a rink, were proud of the record they bore. For two years a local amusement association had held hot polo contests there, but with the understanding that it would secure another place by 1889. The quartermaster-general granted its application for use of the armory two nights a week and was sup- ported therein by Governor Bulkeley. The Hartford officers re- signed and believed they should receive honorable discharge since they had served more than five years and resignations of staff officers must be accepted on approval by their superiors. General Graham returned the resignations, in hope of adjusting the mat- ter. All but those of the staff and one lieutenant were sent back to him and were forwarded without his endorsement. By direc- tion of the governor, Adjt .- Gen. Lucius A. Barbour disapproved the resignations on ground of insufficient reasons, himself re- signed and was succeeded by A. H. Embler of New Haven, for- merly major of the Foot Guard of Hartford, like Colonel Cone a Civil war veteran and one of the most efficient officers in the state.
The resignations again were sent up and with no endorse- ment by Graham. When requested to endorse, he wrote, "Ap- proved, with regret," his resignation was demanded and by order of the governor the other officers, mostly prominent citizens, were discharged for unlawful combination, Colonel Cone, Lieut .- Col. Charles E. Thompson (who had just returned from Europe) and Major Smith dishonorably, and Capts. Edward Schulze and George B. Newton for the benefit of the service. The staff officers were honorably discharged; resignations of subalterns were dis- approved. Capt. A. L. Thompson was directed to assume com-
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mand. The matter of armory rental was left to the Legislature. The law firm of Hyde, Gross & Hyde gave the opinion that the officers were still in the service as there had been no court martial and the bill of rights had been violated. Graham, refusing to re- sign, was honorably discharged and Col. Thomas L. Watson ap- pointed by Governor Bulkeley. Capt. C. B. Erichson of New Brit- tain was nominated and appointed colonel; Capt. A. L. Thomp- son of that city, lieutenant-colonel; Capt. P. H. Smith of Hartford, major. Captain Schulze was reinstated. By quo warranto against the new officers, the contest got into court. It was dragging along when Graham appealed to the Senate in 1891 where, against the report of a special committee and on the principle that an officer who could not be appointed without consent of the Senate could not be discharged without such consent, the appointment of Wat- son was disapproved. During recess following adjournment, the governor discharged Graham for the benefit of the service and re- appointed Watson. That officer later resigned and Colonel Haven of New London was appointed. Graham petitioned the Senate for removal of the stain on his record but the Senate voted 11 to 10 that it had no power. Subsequently the stain was removed when Graham was made adjutant-general by Governor Coffin in 1895. After a long period, the cases in court were dropped.
This exceptional affair was only one of the incidents, in its later stages, of what was known as the "deadlock session." Mor- gan G. Bulkeley's ability and popularity as a mayor had contrib- uted to successful nomination for governor on the republican ticket in 1888. Samuel E. Merwin, republican, and Luzon B. Morris, democrat, both of New Haven, were the candidates two years later. On the face of the returns the latter had twenty-six majority, but with sufficient "specked" ballots to cause investiga- tion in the Legislature; and if the majority vote were overcome, the election would have to be by the Legislature under the law because there were 3,600 votes for other candidates. The Senate, which was democratic, refusing to join with the republican House in the investigation, declared Morris elected and swore him in. Comptroller Nicholas Staub locked the door leading from the ex- ecutive chamber to the hall of the House. Governor Bulkeley, who was holding over, had it reopened with the use of a crow-bar. Ex- citement continued to run high and only the self-possession of the men most concerned prevented rioting. Quo warranto action by
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Morris was finally agreed upon. Chief Justice Andrews, demo- crat and formerly governor, in giving the opinion of the court in favor of Bulkeley, said : "It is perhaps not too much to hope that the General Assembly will make haste to put an end to the anoma- lous condition of our election law." In 1901 the plurality law was adopted by that body in place of the majority law. Governor Bul- keley, who was president of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, advanced the funds for state expenses during the deadlock and was reimbursed at the next session.
Another reform resulted from a period of distress in 1889, another survival of the old days was lopped off, when it was de- creed that the Legislature no longer should sit as a criminal court. Hartford furnished the culminating illustration of the error of that. A man named Swift had been sentenced to hang for killing his wife. Appeal was made to the Legislature for com- mutation to life sentence, chiefly because the man was drunk at the time of the murder. The Judiciary Committee was composed of able lawyers who freely expressed their opinion of bringing such matters to the General Assembly and, over-burdened with more appropriate subjects, reported in favor of commutation. By narrow margins, and in utter repugnance, both houses followed this lead. Governor Bulkeley promptly sent in his veto. The Sen- ate insisted but the House sustained the veto 121 to 96, and thus, through disagreeing action, the decision of the courts prevailed. Subsequent legislation made that the last instance of confusing legislative and judiciary functions.
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Those of today who lived through that pre-twentieth-century period can but be impressed, in this review of it, by the force and steadiness of the progress, without exploitation, and by the man- ner in which both chastenings and problems were met, as well as by the proud, general achievements which are still and long will be a source of enjoyment. The city's increase in population to 53,000 in 1890 was an increase of but 11,000 for the decade, but the foundations were then being laid for an increase in the suc- ceeding ten years 150 per cent greater than this. That for a hun- dred years this territory had had the name of being the home of ingenius and skilled mechanics was simply bound to draw other
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highly intelligent workmen to it as industry was entering upon a new stage. Lines of nationality were being forgotten; men were being taken for what they were worth, and there was need of the strong arm no less than of the deft finger and the alert brain.
As in the previous decades the newcomers were being assimi- lated largely through interest of their predecessors but more largely, perhaps, through the native spirit of kindness and coöp- eration. If since 1633 the history of Connecticut can be read in the record of the churches, so in this period the record of the churches furnishes irrefutable evidence of the assimilation of those from continental Europe. The Irish Roman Catholics were constantly advancing, along with the Protestants, the Germans were bringing not only their societies but their churches, but here now were appearing the Swedish Baptists (1888)-in the same year with the Adventists-the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran (1889), and that same year the French Roman Catholics, to be followed in rapid succession by others, as will appear in the '90s.
In evidence of what newcomers could bring by way of learn- ing, fellowship and patriotism may be cited the life of Rabbi Mey- er Elkins (1832-1915). His parents died soon after his birth in Breslau in 1832. His hardships were relieved by neighbors and by Rabbi Arnstein, under whose tutelage he developed a thirst for knowledge. At an early age his writings had attracted the attention of the chief rabbi of England, Dr. S. Adler, and he was called to be rabbi of the temple in Liverpool. Only three in the congregation understood his German tongue. He readily met the requirement that he master English within the year. In 1872 he was made rabbi of Beth Israel in Philadelphia, which office he had to give up to live in the West on account of his wife's health. After her death he came to the congregation here in 1887, continuing his duties till 1912 when he was retired on salary and was succeeded by Rabbi Harry W. Ettleson. Liberal in his the- ology and of broad, democratic views, he was full of public spirit and planted seeds of charity and patriotism. Isidore Wise and Dr. A. J. Wolfe, the eminent bacteriologist, were among the men who assisted him in his work, and other leaders he had won to himself carried on for him till his death, and after. The con- gregation was-and now in association with other congregations continues to be-a potent factor in the city's development and well-being.
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A severe loss had been suffered in 1887 when Rev. Dr. Na- thaniel J. Burton of the Park Congregational Church died as the result of a carriage accident. This was the old North Church which had removed to Asylum Street in 1866 after the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Horace Bushnell who had fought for the principle of catholicity of faith. Dr. Burton, who was born in Trumbull in 1824 and was graduated at Wesleyan in 1850, had been called to this city from West Haven to be pastor of the Fourth Church, which pastorate he resigned in 1870 to accept that of the Park Congregational.
In 1885 a committee of twenty was appointed to arouse in- terest in the subject of liquor licenses and other public questions, with Charles E. Gross as secretary. Three years later a public meeting ratified the report of a committee of ten, consisting of Rev. Dr. E. P. Parker and other clergymen, Judge Nathaniel Shipman, Henry C. Robinson, W. F. Henney, J. A. Smith, F. P. Lepard and Col. Jacob L. Greene, relative to public morals and to charities, and Judge Shipman was made chairman of a perma- nent committee.
The memory of Thomas Hooker was ever an inspiration to good citizenship. An association of his descendants was formed in 1889, with John Hooker as president, Seth Talcott, Mrs. Mar- tha W. Hooker and Gen. Alfred H. Terry, Henry G. Newton and Charles E. North of New Haven, vice presidents; Mrs. Emily Curtis of Hartford and Thomas W. Hooker secretary and treas- urer respectively.
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Now was the first marked tendency in the county as a whole away from agriculture toward industrialism. The county was ranking fourth in the United States in agricultural importance but the factories were exercising their drawing power. Secre- tary W. F. Andross of the County Agricultural and Horticultural Societies was complaining that Hartford did not give enough support to the state fair to warrant its being held longer at Char- ter Oak Park in preference to Meriden, and to Meriden the fair went for the year 1889. A deficit resulted but Meriden people made it up and offered inducements. Then followed years of hesitation and doubts about the fair itself, say nothing of loca- tion; the character of the exhibitions and entertainment changed ;
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state and local associations, interested in dairies, horticulture and various branches of agriculture, were formed, state appro- priations for local or county fairs were obtained, a Connecticut Fair Association was formed, the law against betting at horse races took Charter Oak Park out of the national circuit, and al- together the business of fairs was an index to the change in the times. Thus on till business men and manufacturers, like Henry Trumbull of Plainville, have come to see the wisdom of having Connecticut farms, so fast being abandoned, find a way to profit- able representation in the Connecticut market, one of the best and most easily reached in America; to have a fair at Charter Oak where industry and agriculture should combine; to build attractive permanent buildings at the park, and to be assured of the financial backing of the state. With the cooperation of those who already have established famous farms, the promise of some- thing practical for Connecticut itself is more dependable than was that at the time the agricultural college was being endowed by the Legislature.
Manufacturing enterprises mentioned in the preceding pages were devising and progressing when the Hartford Board of Trade was organized in 1888 with Jeremiah M. Allen as president (for the next ten years) and P. H. Woodward secretary. Both of these were insurance men, wherein is indication of the scope of this the first real general council of business interests. Mr. Allen for many years was president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company and president of the Y. M. C. A. Mr. Woodward was an officer in the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. The function of the board was not so much to invite or advertise as it was to record annually and to diffuse information of what Hartford concerns were doing, and also to secure closer community of interests. The first building it erected, on the corner of Capitol Avenue and Woodbine Street was specifically for the accommodation of young concerns that were seeking to get a start-and it was taken in 1900, soon after it was finished, by an outside company attracted here by the repu- tation for fine mechanics.
But that carries back to 1885 and the first typewriter, the caligraph. The American Writing Machine Company which made it was brought here from Corry, Pennsylvania, through the
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instrumentality of George A. Fairfield of the Hartford Machine Screw Company who had answered questions about the character of Hartford workmen. The machines, which were crude but were welcomed by business concerns, were made at the screw company's works till the so-called typewriter trust took over the company and the manufacture was discontinued.
Employed by the caligraph concern was Charles D. Rice who later, after two years with the Yost Writing Machine Company in Bridgeport, returned to Hartford as chief engineer of the Pope Manufacturing Company, making Columbia and Hartford bicycles and automobiles. When the bicycle business was discon- tinued here, Mr. Rice went with the Underwood Company of Bayonne, New Jersey. With this proposition of skilled labor, Mr. Rice influenced the founder of that company to move his typewriter business to Hartford. The Board of Trade Building, which latterly had been the property of the Hartford Cycle Com- pany, was bought and in 1901 the concern came, with 300 men to start with on less than 100,000 square feet of space-now with 5,000 employees and twenty-four acres of space, the largest type- writer plant in the world, Mr. Rice still in charge and still greater plans maturing as will be seen later on. These figures do not include the Bridgeport plant where the portable writers are made. Another concern of the Underwood group, to develop rapidly in Hartford, is the Underwood Computing Company, making book- keeping machines.
Industries were being diversified. Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company had added graphophones and phono- graphs to its list for ingenious mechanisms. The National Ma- chine Company on Sheldon Street was making torpedoes, an order for the French government in 1888 having attracted much at- tention. The Beach Manufacturing Company, producing fleece- lined goods, was getting well established at its plant on Grove and Commerce streets, with George W. Beach as president. The use of chain and sprocket on the bicycles furnished the Whitney Manufacturing Company with a specialty over and above the machine devices it was making and "Whitney Chains" became well known. Various improvements brought still more prestige, and with the advent of the automobiles, business increased four- fold. Outside inventions, like that of the self-starter, caused a demand for the specially adapted machinery and upon the ex-
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perienced men at Whitney's. Camshaft or timing chains come in chief part from the same factory. Smith, Bourne & Co., with name changed to the Smith-Worthington Company, long-time producers of saddlery, undisturbed by automobile inroads, were pressed to meet the requirements of the revival of riding.
Francis Henry Richards was the leader among many individ- uals whose inventive genius was rapidly intensifying the possi- bilities of machinery, a man who has come to rank second only to Thomas A. Edison as inventor and patent-holder and wider in his field than the famous "wizard," a man who has done his work so quietly from within that his name is unfamiliar to the average reader. He was born in New Hartford, a direct descendant of Thomas Richards, one of the Hartford pioneers, and of William Whiting who, with his son and grandson in succession, kept the office of colonial treasurer in the family from 1641 for nearly one hundred years. When in 1865 Mr. Richards' father became head of the machinery department of the Stanley Rule and Level Company in New Britain, the boy went with him and soon was devising machines. From 1882 to 1886 he was at Pratt & Whit- ney's, leaving only to establish his own office here where he con- tinued till 1924 when he removed his residence to Stamford to be nearer his main office of today, in New York. Among his in- ventions that have given employment to thousands of Hartford mechanics are an envelope machine, an automatic weigher, the fundamental principles of the air-cushion door-springs, a process for making golf balls which revolutionized the industry, and a revolving grate appliance for giant coke furnaces.
The Hartford Electric Light Company, led by men like Austin C. Dunham, of remarkable courage and foresight, was forcing electricity to produce its incredible results. At this particular stage of its progress it had undertaken and accomplished the substitution of direct power from the main plant for home-made power for running a factory. People-and not a few stockhold- ers-laughed, not all of them gleefully, when in 1890 the drop- forge plant of Billings & Spencer was wired with promise that power would be furnished at wholesale rates. It was successful and the cut rates, the savings to the manufacturer, meant rapid increase in demand for power. The Hartford Rubber Works Company, among the first to use electricity for lighting, was almost simultaneously scrapping its troublesome and expensive
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power plant for power from the Dunham company. And it be- came general. Other electrical achievements will be summar- ized later.
The great Pope plants were reaching their culmination. Their story is indelibly the story of their times-brilliant genius, courage, consideration of employees, victim of confused groping for capital in the period when, nationwise, capital was beginning to pile up. Of the three men who contributed to bring Hartford fame the leader was Albert A. Pope. Of a family of strong men he was born in Boston in 1843. When his father met with losses and moved to Brookline, the boy worked for farmers and at twelve had established a business for himself, peddling produce, afterwards going into the shoe-finding business. In the Civil war he went out as a second lieutenant in a Massachusetts com- pany and returned a lieutenant-colonel. In a few years he had the largest shoe-finding concern in the country. When he saw a bicycle at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, the whole tenor of his life was changed.
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