USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 51
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With regard to highways, the mayor, aldermen, and common council were empowered to lay out new highways, streets, and public walks, and to alter those already laid out, to exchange highways for highways, and to sell highways for the purpose of buying others. The Court of Com- mon Council, composed of the mayor, aldermen, and common council, were authorized to make " bye-laws " concerning the erection and regu- lation of markets, commerce in the city, streets and highways, nui- sances, landing-places, wharves, anchoring and mooring vessels, trees and fruits, trespasses in gardens, public walks and buildings, sweeping chimneys and fire, manner of warning meetings, property qualifica- tions of mayor and aldermen, city watch, burial of the dead, restraint of geese and swine from going at large, and several other minor sub- jects. No by-laws could be enacted repugnant to the laws of the State,
380
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
and all by-laws of the Court of Common Council were required to be approved by the city in lawful meeting, and published at least three successive weeks in a newspaper before the same had any force or effect. Furthermore all by-laws were, within six months, liable to be repealed by the Superior Court if found by it to be unreasonable or unjust.
At the time the charter was granted, Matthew Griswold was gov- ernor of the State, Colonel Jedediah Elderkin was speaker of the house, and Colonel Jesse Root and Captain Jonathan Bull were representatives from the town. On the fourth Monday of June, 1784, and the two fol- lowing days, the first city-meeting was held, to organize a government under the charter. George Wyllys, the town clerk, acted as modera- tor. William Adams was first elected clerk, and following his elec- tion Thomas Seymour was chosen mayor. The following named were elected as the first Court of Common Council : Aldermen - Colonel ATIS H RT Samuel Wyllys, Jonathan Bull, Jesse Root, and Captain Samuel Marsh. Councilmen -Captain John Chenevard, Barnabas c ORDIENSIS Deane, Ralph Pomeroy, James Church, Chauncey Goodrich, Peter Colt, Captain John Ol- cott, Captain John Caldwell, Zebulon Seymour, Zachariah Pratt, Ashbel Steel, William Nichols, John Trumbull, Bar- zillai Hudson, Captain William Bull, Caleb Bull, John Morgan, Captain Israel Seymour, Daniel Olcott, and Daniel Hinsdale. SIG I'LLUM The treasurer was Hezekiah Merrill, and the sheriffs Cap- tain Joseph Talcott and James THE FIRST CITY SEAL. Wells. The Court of Common Council held its first meeting, July 13, 1784, at nine o'clock in the forenoon ; but adjourned after appoint- ing a committee to draw up a code of by-laws, rules, and regulations for the government of the city. The meetings were held in the old State House, a two-story wooden structure erected in 1719, and located on the green a little southeast of the present post-office. Six days later the committee reported a long list of by-laws. City-meetings were to be called by one of the sheriffs who was required to ring a bell and make public proclamation at certain points in the city at least three days previous to the day of meeting. Inspectors of many articles of mer- ehandise were to be appointed, with fees ranging from one cent to fifty cents. Infractions of by-laws were punishable by a fine of ten pounds, - one half the penalty to go to the city, and one half to the prosecutor. These by-laws were approved in city-meeting, held July 20, 1784, and the officers therein mentioned were appointed. After this meeting little business was done until Feb. 21, 1785, when Colonel Samuel Wyllys and John Trumbull, Esq., having been appointed a committee to select a design for a city seal, reported the following : "Connecticut
381
THE CITY OF HARTFORD.
River represented by the figure of an old man crowned with rushes seated against a rock, holding an urn with a stream flowing from it ; at his feet a net, and fish peculiar to the river lying by it, with a barrel and bales ; over his head an oak growing out of a cleft in the rock ; and round the whole these words : 'Sigillum Civitatis Hartfordiensis,' " which was accepted. This seal was adopted and used by the city until 1852, when the present seal was adopted. Feb. 22, 1785 (an appropri- ate day), the freedom of the city was voted to the Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington de Lafayette, his son, and the first city tax laid, one penny on the pound. It was also provided that the city clerk should be ex officio clerk of the Court of Common Council. At the annual city-meeting in March, 1785, the number of councilmen was reduced to twelve, where it remained for some years.
The city took early action in reference to highways, which was by no means unimportant. In the erection of buildings no attention had apparently been paid to highway limits, until the evil had gone so far in certain instances that the original highway was CIT OF almost wholly occupied. This the council attempted, with considerable success, to THE remedy.
As tending to show the area of the set- tled portions of the city and its gradual extension, it may prove interesting to trace the location and names of the streets for a few years at least. John C. Parsons, Esq., in a paper read at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the First Church of Hartford, says : -
TVES
POST
PHŒBUS
NUBILA
HARTFOR
D
THE PRESENT CITY SEAL.
" From 1640 till after the incorporation of the city in 1784, one hundred and forty-four years passed, during which but a single highway was added to the original streets of the town. Again, it is noticeable that the limits of the city for nearly seventy years after its incorporation and about two hundred and twenty years from its settlement, did not exceed the distributed and settled portion of the town in 1640."
The condition of the streets was deplorable, however, and the atten- tion of the common council was immediately directed to accomplish some improvement. At a meeting of the council in September, 1784, a committee, previously appointed, recommended that the streets be named and numbered. This suggestion was approved, and later in the same month a new committee, with John Chenevard, Esq., as chairman, reported names as follows : -
Main Street, from present Belden Street to the South Green ; State House Square, from Main Street east to Mrs. Olcott's house (now Central Row) ; State Street, from State House Square to present Front Street (it was not continued to the river until after 1800) ; Front Street, from Haynes's corner (now the site of the gas works) to present corner of Talcott Street ; Jones's Lane, present Ferry Street. The present Kilbourn Street was first called Ferry Street ; Talcott Street was first named Talcott's Lane ; the present north end of Front Street was then known as Meadow Lane; from Haynes Lord's west to the prison, which then stood on the present southwest corner of Pearl and Trumbull streets, Prison Street ; from thence
382
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
west to the present Ford Street, Workhouse Lane, - the workhouse then being located near the site of the old jail ; from the prison north to Samuel Burr's (now Trumbull Street), Back Street ; from the prison to the present Daniels's dam, Maiden Lane; from the dam to the bridge over Main Street, Mill Street ; from the bridge to Haynes's corner (present Arch Street), School Street ; from the bridge to Isaac Sheldon's (present Sheldon Street), Water Street ; from Isaac Sheldon's to Dr. Hempstead's (present Governor Street and Wyllys Street to the South Green), Cole Street ; from Captain Aaron Bull's east to Cole Street, Charter Street ; the continuation of this street was then known as South Meadow Lane ; from the South Meeting-House west to Ashbel Steel's (from Main Street to present Cap- itol) Buckingham Street ; this street was straightened in 1828, when a new street, College Street, now Capitol Avenue, was opened ; from the bridge west to Colonel Joseph Bull's (present Elm Street), Tanner Street ; from Ashbel Steel's to James Steel's (present Lafayette Street), West Street; from Ashbel Steel's to the upper mills, Upper Mill Street ; this street must have run from the present junction of Trinity and Washington streets north and west to the river nearly opposite the present railroad shops. What is now Prospect Street then had an existence, though it was not formally laid out and approved until 1786 ; and it is probable that several of the streets named were not then legal highways. Prospect Street was in 1640 called the Chase Lane. In 1788 the present Talcott, Commerce, and Market (then Dorr) streets were opened.
The first city map was made by Mr. Solomon Porter, and was ex- hibited by him at the annual city meeting in March, 1791. This map shows two or three streets in addition to those above named ; namely, Orient Street (present Grove Street), Division Street (afterward Theatre and now Temple Street), Creek Street (afterward Bridge, now Morgan Street), and Potter's Lane (now Potter Street). The city was early impressed with the necessity of convenient streets, and before the century had expired, action had been taken to prevent the lay-out of any street less than forty feet in width. In 1806 Kinsley Street was ordered opened from Main to Dorr Street, now Market Street. In 1810 the ex- pediency of straightening Theatre Street (now Temple Street) and con- tinuing it to the river was discussed. Apparently, it was not considered expedient. In 1812 a committee of the common council reported other names.
Grove Street, same as now ; Dutch Street, continuation of present Arch Street to Dutch Point ; Back Street was changed to Trumbull Street ; Church Street from Main to Trumbull Street ; Tower Hill Street, present Asylum Street to depot. Prison Street was then given its pres- ent name, Pearl Street. It is but a few years since Market Street was straightened and widened at its junction with State Street; but as long ago as 1814 the common council considered the matter and agreed to an act, provided the changes necessary should not cost the city more than sixty dollars. The committee reported that the expense to the city would be one hundred and thirty dollars, and therefore the improvement was indefinitely deferred. In 1815 Meadow Lane (Front Street north of Talcott Street) was opened. In 1821 the streets now known as High, Chapel, and Park, were named. Mulberry Street was named in 1828, and the present Gold Street was called Nichols Lane. The fol- lowing year steps were taken with a view to extending Chapel Street west to the railroad, but owing to strong opposition of land-owners the scheme was abandoned, and to-day the only thoroughfare connecting High and Ann streets north of Church Street is the narrow alley-way
MAIN STREET, LOOKING SOUTH, SHOWING THE BANKING-HOUSE OF G. P. BISSELL AND COMPANY.
385
THE CITY OF HARTFORD.
at the head of Walnut Street, sometimes called, the " Oriental passage- way." Windsor Street, called at one time "Skinner's Road," as leading to property owned by I. Lord Skinner, who built the "Pavilion," on Pavilion Street, was ordered to be opened during this year, and Market and Kilbourn streets received their present names. Since 1830 the growth of the city has been more rapid, and the number of the streets has increased in proportion. In 1820 there were but thirty-eight streets in the city, while the number has now become something over three hundred.
In 1799 a by-law fixed the compensation of city officers as follows : the city judge, $2.50 per day ; side judges, each, $2; city sheriffs for attending on court and jury, $1 a day ; the city treasurer received two and one half per cent "on all monies received by him into and paid out of the treasury "; the collector, five per cent on amount collected ; the auditor received $8 a year; the city clerk, $15 annually. Occa- sionally the common council considered matters not usually noticed by such bodies. In 1811 Theodore Dwight and others were directed "to consider the means of restoring persons apparently drowned, and to digest and report to the Court of Common Council a system on that subject."
May 28, 1812, Mayor Seymour,1 who had held that office continuously since the incorporation of the city, tendered his resignation to Governor Griswold, and on the 8th of June following Chauncey Goodrich was elected to the vacancy. Mayor Goodrich died in August, 1815, having held office under the city in some capacity (with the exception of two years) from 1784. Mr. Jonathan Brace succeeded him. Under its original charter the city might locate and regulate wharves and landing- places on the river. Accordingly, in 1817 the common council ordered that the public wharf at the foot of Ferry Street be removed in order to make a convenient landing-place for open boats. This is now the only point along the city water front at which small boats can readily
1 The following is a list of the Mayors : -
Name.
Date of Election.
Vacated Office.
Hon. Thomas Seymour,
June
18, 1784,
May 28, 1812.
Chauncey Goodrich,
June
8, 1812,
Sept. 9, 1815.
Jonathan Brace,
Sept.
9, 1815,
Nov. 22, 1824.
66 Nathaniel Terry,
Nov. 22, 1824,
March 28, 1831.
Thomas S. Williams,
March 28, 1831,
April 27, 1835.
Henry L. Ellsworth,
April
27, 1835,
June 15, 1835.
66 Jared Griswold,
June
15, 1835,
Nov. 22, 1835.
Jeremy Hoadley, Sen. Alderman, Nov.
23, 1835,
April 13, 1836.
Henry Hudson,
April
18, 1836,
April
20, 1840.
Thomas K. Brace,
April 20, 1840,
April
17, 1843.
Amos M. Collins,
April
17, 1843,
April
19, 1847.
Phillip Ripley,
April
19, 1847,
April
21, 1851.
Ebenezer Flower,
April 21, 1851,
April
18, 1853.
Wm. James Hamersley,
April
18, 1853,
April
17, 1854.
66
Timothy M. Allyn,
Henry C. Deming,
April
9,1860,
(resigned)
Jan.
27, 1862.
60
Wm. James Hamersley,
April
14, 1862,
April
11, 1864.
66
Allyn S. Stillman,
April
11, 1864,
April
9, 1866.
66
Charles R. Chapman,
April
9, 1866,
April
1, 1872.
Henry C. Robinson,
April
1, 1872,
April
6, 1874.
66
George G. Sumner,
April
1, 1878,
April
5, 1880.
Morgan G. Bulkeley,
April
5, 1880,
Still in office.
66
Henry C. Deming,
April 17, 1854,
April 12, 1858.
April 12, 1858,
April
8, 1860.
Charles Benton,
Feb.
10, 1862,
April
14, 1862.
Joseph H. Sprague,
April
6, 1874,
April
1, 1878.
VOL. I. - 25.
386
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
land, and its value is demonstrated in winter when the ice permits the passage of teams over the river. Not long after this certain individuals became impressed with the idea that coal in abundance was to be found under the present City Hall Square ; and so the common council allowed Sheldon W. Candee and others to bore in the northwest corner of the square "in search for coal " for sixty days. The anticipations were not realized. In 1821 Temple Street was ordered to be widened and ex- tended to Front Street. The extension was made, but the old portion of the street was never widened.
A city watch was early instituted. In 1797 the council divided the city into four watch wards and appointed Captain James Pratt, Ezekiel Williams, Ashbel Wells, and Richard Butler watch wardens. Four persons were required to watch each night in the week from ten to five o'clock. The purpose originally in view in appointing this "watch " was to provide against fire ; but in 1812 the watch was directed to hand over any person by him arrested to the deputy sheriff or constable, with notice of the offence committed; so that while they were not techni- cally police officers, practically they were such. The watchmen and wardens were to receive one dollar for every night's service; but in a few days the council limited the number of nights in a year upon which the watchman could draw pay, to twelve. In 1819 the months for the watch were from December to April, each watchman receiving one dol- lar per night ; and in 1820 the watch was increased to five men. The fund required to pay these men was raised by subscription. In 1822 a tax of one mill on the dollar was laid to defray this expense. In 1834 twenty-five special constables were appointed; and this force, together with the few night watchmen, constituted the only protection the city had until the organization of the police department. The amend- ments of the charter were numerous, but as stated above related prin- cipally to measures against fire for several years. In 1810 the council was empowered to order the construction of sidewalks and street crossings. Power was granted in 1815 to license and regulate carmen, truckmen, butchers, petty grocers, hucksters, and common victuallers. In 1825 the term of office of the mayor was fixed at two years, " subject, however, to be removed by the General Assembly." Prior to 1835 the common council had but small authority in respect to drainage. In some instances where public health required it, low lands had been filled up or a temporary drain laid ; but in these cases the expense was gen- erally defrayed by the residents immediately interested, without expense to the city. In 1835 power was given the council to order the construc- tion of sewers, and the cost was to be assessed on those benefited. In respect to criminal jurisdiction the old town system was pursued until the establishment of the police court in 1851. Offenders were tried before justices of the peace who were town officers, though the mayor and senior alderman had like jurisdiction. The amendment to the char- ter provided that the judge of the police court should be elected by the common council, and for some years this mode of election was followed; but the Supreme Court having declared this course unconstitutional, the judge has, since 1871, been elected by the legislature. Complaints were still made to this court by grand jurors of the town until the office of prosecuting attorney was created in 1875, when the powers of grand jurors ceased. In 1836 the mayor ceased to be judge of the city court,
387
THE CITY OF HARTFORD.
and the Court of Common Council were authorized to appoint a recorder. This court having existed prior to the adoption of our State constitu- tion, its provisions requiring the legislature to elect judges does not apply.
In 1842 the legislature passed an amendment to the charter, allowing the division of the city into not less than four nor more than six wards for the election of members of the Court of Common Council. Not ob- taining the approval of a majority vote in city-meeting, this amendment did not become operative until the city election of 1851. In 1852 the council was given control of gas and water pipes. The following year the limits of the city were for the first time extended. This extension was first proposed in a city-meeting in February, 1849, where it received favorable consideration. It was stated that it would add 1,100 to the population and $14,000 to the tax-list. This extension was bitterly opposed by those who received the benefits of the city but lived outside its limits, and for three or four years they succeeded in defeating or postponing the passage of the measure. The city at this time embraced but a little over six hundred acres. The territory added was a strip on the north from Belden's Lane to about Capen Street; on the south the limits were extended to what is at present Wawarme Avenue, in- cluding the Colt property, thence west to Broad Street, just north of New Britain Avenue, and thence nearly north in a straight line to Gully Brook, near Capen Street. The bill was approved by an overwhelming vote in city-meeting. This territory was divided into six wards. The same year the council was empowered to lay out public parks, and for the first time was permitted to establish the fire limits of the city.
In 1854 the town of West Hartford was set off. In 1859 the limits of the city were a second time extended, principally on the west, and the corporate name changed to " The City of Hartford." The act of 1859 was substantially a repeal of the original charter and the enactment of a new one with greater powers and privileges. In 1861 the council was authorized to expend $2,000 annually in improving the navigation of the Connecticut River. In 1862 further powers were granted the common council relating to the internal police of the city. The follow- ing year the common council were authorized to appropriate sums of money for public celebrations and receptions not exceeding five hun- dred dollars in any one case. Small sums had before that time been paid from the city treasury for such purposes; and though no opposition had been made by tax-payers, such use of the funds of the city was of very doubtful legality. Power was also given the common council to establish an institution called the "Hartford Home," for vagrant and neglected children. The institution contemplated by this act was in its main features and scope similar to the " temporary homes " now estab- lished in the different counties. In 1867 the charter was amended rela- tive to highways, parks, building lines, sidewalks, and sewers ; and commissioners of relief were appointed to whom an appeal lay by per- sons aggrieved by any appraisal of damages or benefits by the council. The same year it was provided by the legislature that no city tax ex- ceeding six tenths of a mill on a dollar should be laid or levied upon any land within the then limits of the city used exclusively for farming purposes, unless the market value of such land exceeded six hundred dollars an acre. In 1869 the city was divided into seven wards and the
388
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
board of street commissioners was created. This board was to there- after act in the assessment of betterments and appraisal of damages instead of the common council; and in the following year it was provided that an appeal from the action of the street board should be taken to a judge of the Superior Court or to the judge of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1872 an amendment provided for an associate judge of the police court, wlio was to act in the absence or disability of the judge. The year previous the city had been authorized to issue bonds to the amount of one million dollars for the purpose of purchasing land and constructing a State House ; and having purchased the present site at an expense of six hundred thousand dollars, the legislature granted the right to the city to issue an additional one hundred thousand dollars worth of bonds. The same year the mayor was given the power, "by and with the advice and consent of the board of aldermen," to appoint the members of the boards of water, street police, fire, and port com- missioners. In 1871 the limits of the city were slightly extended on the southwest, and in 1873 the city territory was enlarged so as to cover all the land within the town except a narrow strip on the north. In 1875 the office of prosecuting attorney was created, and all complaints of a criminal nature were to be brought by him to the police court. Prior to this any one of the several grand jurors of the town issued and prosecuted criminal complaints. In 1876 the eighth ward was estab- lished, being set off the fourth ward. The town and city limits were made coincident in 1881, and the arca of the city is now about 11,500 acres, and considerably larger in that regard than any other of the eleven cities in the State. In 1882 an attempt was made to consolidate the town and city government, and a charter was prepared with that end in view and passed by the legislature; but owing to the failure of the people to approve it by a majority vote, the scheme failed, and we still have two governments over the same territory.
Jast andrews.
389
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
SECTION III. THE CHURCHES OF HARTFORD.1
THE NORTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
BY THE REV. N. J. BURTON, D.D.
THE NORTH CHURCH of Christ in Hartford, which changed its name to the Park Church when, in 1866, it left its first house of worship on the corner of Main and Morgan streets and went to its new one on Bushnell Park, was organized Sept. 24, 1824, and was made up mostly of members of the First Church, who forsook their old nest in no ill-will and in no contention for principle, but simply and only because the edifice of that church could not accommodate all the people who wished to worship there. Their first minister was Carlos Wilcox, who was installed Nov. 30, 1824, and was dismissed May 31, 1826. Their next minister was Samuel Spring, who was installed March 21, 1827, and dismissed Jan. 8, 1833. Their next was Horace Bushnell, installed May 22, 1833, and dismissed Nov. 2, 1859. He was followed by George N. Webber, who was installed Nov. 2, 1859, and dismissed June 2, 1862. Next succeeded George B. Spalding, installed Sept. 29, 1864, and dismissed March 23, 1869. On the 28th of March, 1870, the present pastor, Nathaniel J. Burton, was installed.
Carlos Wilcox died in 1827, in his thirty-third year, having been frail from his boyhood. He was a fervid, spiritual, eloquent preacher, and a very engaging man. He completely won the hearts of the North congregation, and they released him from his office among them only as they were forced to it by the state of his health. He was born in Newport, New Hampshire ; he died in Danbury, and he lies in the North Cemetery, Hartford. For brief periods he served churches in Pittstown, New York, and in Monroe, Newtown, Norwalk, and Danbury in this State. In 1828 a volume of his sermons and his poems, with a memoir by Edward Hopkins, was published in Hartford.2
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