USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88
"The market in this town [New Haven] is moderately good. . . . A few years since a new market was established in a convenient part of the town. The consequence was that all the customary supplies were furnished abundantly and of the best quality. Unfortunately, however, several respectable citizens opposed the establishment so strenuously and perseveringly as finally to destroy most of its good effects. There is something very remarkable in the hostility of the New England people to a regular market. Those who buy and those who sell manifest this opposition alike."
451
PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS.
Without opposition so pronounced as seems to have been met in New Haven, it is probable that the public market was at no time after the carlier days thoroughly popular here.
In 1719 the first State House was built in the centre of the west front of the square. Previously the meetings of the legislature had been in the meeting-house. In 1792 the legislature appointed a com- mittee to build a new brick State House. It was placed in the rear of the old one, and is the present city hall. It was occupied in 1796, and continued in use by the legislature until the occupancy of the present
STATE HOUSE SQUARE, AS IT NOW APPEARS.
State House in January, 1879. The Government building commonly known as the post-office building, from its principal use, stands east of the city hall, and was begun in 1873 and occupied in 1882. In connec- tion with the erection of this building there was a new lay-out of the land immediately about it, so as to take something from the open square for the post-office enclosure. About the time the post-office was finished, the old iron fence, which in 1834 the legislature had ordered placed around the then State House, was removed, and in October, 1882, it was sent to be put up at the Old People's Home, on Jefferson Street. It was originally furnished at a cost of about $8.000.1 In its place a low stone coping was run around the enclose. At the same time new walks were laid, and the space between the city hall and the post-office was covered with a granolithic pavement. It is noted that the central part of the present square was originally much higher than now. The probable cutting away from time to time is estimated at fifteen feet.
As long as the buildings stood separate the chief danger from fire was in foul chimneys. Chimney-viewers were appointed almost as soon as the settlement was made, and there was a fine of two shillings and sixpence for leaving chimneys dirty. The inspectors made their visits monthly. Later, every householder was required to have the chimneys
1 See History of Commerce and Banking, p. 308.
452
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
of his house cleaned by sweeping or burning (at suitable times) once a month, and there was a fine of one dollar for neglect. It was further provided that if any chimney should " take fire and burn in such a man- ner that the flames shall be visible at the top thereof," the occupant of the house should pay a fine of two dollars. But the regular burning at suitable seasons was specially exempted from the application of this law. That is, a man might burn out his chimney on purpose, and could be fined for not doing it ; but if he allowed it to burn accidentally he was fincd. It does not appear when provision was first made for regular appliances for extinguishing fire ; but in 1789, five years after the granting of the city charter, a fire department was formed, and a committee appointed to procure engines and other suitable apparatus. In the following year it was voted to pay firemen one shilling and sixpence a day for not more than eight days in the year ; but this rule was repealed five years later. From that time until 1864 the fire department was made up of volunteer companies, which were by degrees brought under a tolerably complete system. Fire-wardens were first appointed in 1790. In 1795 it was voted to appropriate a sum not exceeding $1,800 for the pur- chase, from Joseph Pratt, of a lease for nine hundred and ninety-nine years of a " suitable lot of land on the north side of Church Street, next east of Charles Sigourney's lot, for an engine-house," and for building the house.
Early in the present eentury every householder was required by law to keep a leather bucket which, on an alarm of fire, he must carry to the spot for use in passing water from hand to hand along a line of men from the well or other source of supply to the scene of the fire. This rule was coexistent with the use of hand fire-engines. It gradually fell into disuse as the engines became better and the fire companies more thoroughly trained. The last enumeration of fire-buckets was made in 1828, and showed only about sixteen hundred fit for use, in place of about three thousand required under the rule. In 1843 the council authorized the purchase for the city of " such fire-buckets as are fit for use, which its citizens may have provided according to law." New fire-buckets were also to be ordered. This was nearly thirty years after the large double-deck engine, worked by forty men, had been bought, and when there were several independent fire companies in the city. It is to be noted that as early as 1799 fire limits were established within the more thickly settled portion of the city, within which limits " all meeting-houses and dwelling-houses, and all other buildings hay- ing a chimney, fire-place, or store," must have the outer walls built wholly of brick, or of stone and mortar.
Within the memory of many who are still alive the ordinary course of events at a fire was substantially this : when the alarm was raised every one was at liberty to run through the streets shouting "Fire !" The people turned out generally ; indeed, it was long the law that every able-bodied male between fifteen and sixty years of age should attend and do his part. The fire-buckets, that hung ready at every house, were carried to the spot, a double line of men was formed between the place of the fire and the nearest water-supply; the fire-wardens, carrying white wands as a badge of authority, directed the work and compelled the un- willing ; the fire-engines, drawn by men, or later by horses, hurried to the place ; the bells rang constantly; there was much tumult and dis-
ยท
453
PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS.
order, and much vigorous work. Along the double row of men full buckets passed from hand to hand to the fire, and empty buckets came back to be filled. The terribly severe work of pumping called for con- stant relays of men, - a demand that can be understood when it is
A FIRE IN THE MITCHELL BUILDING, ON STATE STREET.
(From an old Picture drawn by J. G. Kellogg, for the certificates of the Firemen's Benevolent Society.)
remembered that on some machines two minutes was the time for a man to work before being relieved. With all this the spectators crowded in, and often seriously impeded the work. The firemen were liable to get into fights, for the spirit of rivalry ran high after the volunteer department was pretty well organized. They wore large helmets and capes, such as are still used in many places ; and the department came to be a power in many ways before it yielded in 1864 to the paid ser- vice. For the latter part of the period the duties first assigned to the fire-wardens were chiefly done by the fire-engineers. There were steam fire-engines shortly before the change to a paid department.
The city ordinances as revised in 1856 contain much that throws light on the subject. The ordinances as to fires and firemen cover some fifty pages, and much of this space is occupied with details as to the older parts of the system, now wholly past. As to the fire-wardens, it was provided, among other things, as follows : -
" It shall be the duty of the fire-wardens, whenever a fire shall break out in said city, forthwith to repair to said fire, there to form the citizens into lines for conveying water from such place or places as the engineer shall direct ; . . . and in order that the fire-wardens and assistants and aids may be the more readily distinguished at fires, each of them shall carry in his hand a white staff or wand
454
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
of at least five feet in length. ... No person without permission of a fire warden shall depart until the fire shall be extinguished." (Chap. ii. sec. 2, pp. 129, 130.)
Persons violating this provision could be fined not less than one dol- lar nor more than five dollars. It was further provided (sec. 4, same chapter) that any person who disobeyed a warden at a fire should be liable to be held in custody " during the fire, or for any shorter term, . . . provided that no more force shall be used by such fire-warden or his assistants than shall be necessary for the purpose aforesaid."
There were various rewards for early attendance at a fire. Thus, when an alarm of fire was given, the first one who rang a bell desig- nated for the purpose, and continued to ring it until duly ordered to cease, received one dollar " as the reward of his diligence and activity." The engine company which first arrived at any fire received five dol- lars as a "reward for their diligence and activity," and the first hose company three dollars (sec. 52, p. 145). There was also an elaborate system of penalties for neglect or disobedience on the part of citizens or firemen. The whole population was subject to duty at any fire. The same section which contained the clauses already cited as to the powers of fire-wardens began thus : -
" That every able-bodied male residing in this city, between the ages of fifteen and sixty years, upon every alarm that may be made on account of fire in said city, shall forthwith repair to the place."
Part of the rules already mentioned were repealed in 1843, when the fire department as an organization was quite well developed. About that time there were several forms of engine. One machine, and that perhaps best remembered by the older residents of the city, was that bought in 1815, and known as Deluge No. 5. It was a " double-decker," and was worked by forty men, part of whom stood on the machine itself and part on the ground. The brakes ran across the ends of the en- gine, and at each end was a folding platform which opened outwards and made a place for the men to stand. When not in use these folded in on the machine, which thus avoided any unusual width. Another, in- troduced some time after, had a slow stroke, and was much less exhaust- ing to the men who operated it. In 1852 it was ordered that the fire department should consist of 380 regular working firemen over eighteen years of age, besides the engineers and 110 volunteer firemen. Each class was enlisted for one year, but the 110 volunteers were required to perform duty at fires only. These men were to be divided into seven engine companies, two hose companies, one hook-and-ladder company, and one sack-and-bucket company. Each engine company was to have 40 regular working firemen and 10 volunteer firemen ; the hose com- panies, 12 firemen and 10 volunteers ; the hook-and-ladder company, 35 firemen and 10 volunteers ; and the sack-and-bucket company, 40 fire- men and 10 volunteers. The regular fireman received five dollars a year and a certificate of exemption from military duty and his city poll-tax. On the other hand, absence from any fire, or neglect to obey an order, involved a fine of one dollar.
Until the city water was introduced in 1855 the supply for buckets and engines was obtained from wells and from certain large cisterns built between 1789 and 1850. There were seventeen in all, built of
455
PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS.
brick and holding about fifteen thousand gallons each. In the main they were supplied by rain-water led from the roofs of neighboring build- ings. They were located as follows : Main Street, near Nos. 32, 91, 93, 126, 217, 300, 413, 480, 645 ; State Street, east end of State House Yard (City Hall Square); Temple and Kinsley streets, in vard west of the old city hall ; Front Street, near Nos. 104, 217 ; Trumbull Street, near Nos. 70, 105, 139 ; Mill (now Wells ) Street, Park River, west end, No. 47; Elm Street, Park River, west end, No. 40; Washington Street, near No. 155; Wadsworth Street, near No. 36. Most of these are still in exist- ence and available. Those on Kinsley Street and Washington Street have been discontinued.
The paid fire department in substantially its present form was or- dered by the Council in October, 1864, and the board took possession the 1st of December of the same year. Before that time the chief engineer and his assistants, with the foremen and assistants of the companies, had formed the " Board of the Fire Department." Under the new system a city board of six members was created. There was a chief engineer and three assistant engineers. There were four steam fire-engines and two hose companies. The first board was composed of R. S. Lawrence, W. S. Bronson, Joseph S. Woodruff, Samuel H. Havens, Albert W. Roberts, and A. M. Gordon. The cost during the last full year of the old system, which ended April 1, 1864, was $22,450.27. Three years later the expense was only $18,000. The yearly payments for working expenses have increased more rapidly than the population, and in 1884 were $62,762.30. In this year there were seven steamers, including two propellers, and a corresponding supply of hose-carriages, hose, and other apparatus. In 1868 the fire-alarm telegraph system was put in operation, and now has fifty-five signal-boxes and about thirty-five miles of wire.
On the introduction of the paid system there was a great falling-off in the yearly number of fires. The figures for the decades preceding and following the change, which was made late in 1864, were as fol- lows: 1855, 46; 1856, 28; 1857, 62; 1858, 70; 1859, 110; 1860, 80; 1861, 47; 1862, 40; 1863, 34; 1864, 53; 1865, 39; 1866, 35; 1867, 14; 1868, 23; 1869, 28; 1870, 30; 1871, 37; 1872, 43; 1873, 32 ; 1874, 22. The total for the former decade was 570, and for the latter 281. This was in the face of a considerable increase of population and of buildings.
The engineers of the department since its organization in 1789 have been : Miles Beach, 1789-1805; James Ward, 1805-1820; Jeremy Hoadly, 1820-1825; J. M. Goodwin, 1825-1833; William Hayden, 1833-1843; A. S. Stillman, 1843-1846; R. G. Drake, 1846-1848; Charles Benton, 1848-1850 ; Erastus Hubbard, 1850-1852; John Car- ter, 1852-1854; J. G. Parsons, 1854-1856 ; Joseph Pratt, 1856-1858 ; S. H. Havens, 1858-1860 ; Edward Norton, 1860-1862 ; Horace Billings, 1862-1864 ; Jared B. Butler, July 1864 to Dec. 1864; Henry P. Sey- mour, 1864-1868 ; Henry J. Eaton, 1868-
The Hartford Aqueduct Company was chartered in 1797, but did nothing. In 1801 the Gleason and Cowles Aqueduct Company was chartered, and there was another Hartford company of a similar nature in 1803. It is commonly said that the Hartford Aqueduct Company laid the wooden pipes from near Cedar Hill, but it does not seem to be
456
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
certain that the work was done for this company. These pipes, early in the present century, brought water from the famous well on the Dolly Babcock farm, on Park Street, and probably from a spring near the David Clark place, on Cedar Hill. Some such supply had been long de- manded because of complaints as to the character of the well-water in certain regions. In the north part of the city the well-water was hard and somewhat impregnated with sulphur ; and toward the river, where many of the best families then lived, wells were liable to be affected by the water of freshets. The aqueduct was made of bored logs, reamed and tapered at the ends, so that they could be driven together, making a tight joint. The work was done by a Vermonter named Cutler, who while engaged in it was engaging himself to the daughter of Captain Robbins. He married her, and Mr. Robbins put money into the aque- duct scheme and lost it. The work was completed, and it is supposed that about two hundred persons used the water for a number of years. It gradually fell into disuse. The supply was not what had been antici- pated, probably because the pipes were too small, having only a two- inch bore. The system, however, remained in pretty good order. In 1850, many years after it had been abandoned, the cellar of Bartlett's tavern on Ferry Street was found one morning full of water, and it appeared that an old plug connecting with this aqueduct had blown out, and the water had poured in as promptly as it would have done forty years before. These pipes ran from the sources above mentioned down Lafayette Street, across Bushnell Park, crossing Park River near where the Plimpton Company's stamped-envelope works now stand ; thence down Pearl Street to Main, where branches led north and south ; and thence to the lower part of the city near the river. There was much opposition to the project at its inception.
The same feeling, on a large scale, was manifest when, between forty and fifty years later, the agitation for an adequate system of public water-works began. There had been some recent discussion of the subject when, in January, 1847, Dr. Bushnell preached his famous ser- mon which, under the title "Prosperity our Duty," was eminently suggestive, and suitable to the time. Its text was the passage : "This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works." In it he especially disclaimed having preached a discourse on the water project, and it is true that it does not directly and explicitly deal with the question ; but its ap- plication was too clear to escape the notice even of the heedless, and it was admirably suggestive in the time in which it was delivered. It was at that time proposed to bring water in a canal from Windsor Locks, and use the power furnished from the canal to pump part of the water to a suitable reservoir. Soon after the council appointed a committee to report on this plan. The report was adverse. Sev- eral years passed, during which all sorts of plans and sources of supply were suggested. The plan adopted, after much discussion, pro- vided for a supply from the Connecticut River at Hartford, the water to be pumped by a Cornish engine and delivered in a reservoir to be built on Lord's Hill. Another locality for the reservoir favored by many was on Clark Street. The work was beset with difficulties from the outset. The engineer had made estimates that it was found must be
457
PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS.
far below the actual cost; the Hartford firm of Woodruff & Beach, which built pumping-engines and had been neglected in awarding the contract, used what influence it had to call attention to defects in estimates and plans of construction ; contraets were made requiring payments at fixed dates, and the bonds authorized by the city were not yet on the market. This was in 1854, the surveys having been begun in October, 1853, and ground broken in June, 1854. The first board of water commissioners succeeding the incorporators, who had partly bought the land and made certain contracts, came into office in 1854.1 It was composed of Ezra Clark, Jr., E. K. Root, E. M. Reed, Daniel Phillips, and Hiram Bissell. Mr. Clark was the president of the board. Their first annual report, dated April 23, 1855, was such a document as is not often seen. In reciting the condition of things when the board took office, it gave particulars that were unpleasant to many persons. It announced the discharge of the engineer for incompetence, suggested that the common council had not used reasonably good judgment, showed how a technically irregular sale of bonds had been necessary, how one member of the board had put in his own money to help the credit of the city, how an injunetion on the delivery of bonds sold had been obtained on a technicality, and how this had reduced the market value of the bonds, cost the city several thousand dollars in premiums, and hurt the city credit. The council declined to receive the report, and no copy was printed that year. The year following five hundred were printed with other public documents, apparently without any order to that effect, although they were paid for by the council. One act of this board was to annul the contract for a Cornish engine and order a Woodruff & Beach engine, at a cost of $17,500 in place of $21,000, which was to have been paid for the Cornish engine.
Nathan Starkweather was made chief engineer in March, 1855, and under his direction the original water-supply system was built. The pumps were started Oct. 23, 1855. The water was taken from the Con- neeticut through a 24-inch pipe which extended out into the channel of the river, having its orifice about six feet below the surface. This pipe led to a well, from which the water was drawn by the pumps.
Within a year it was found that the reservoir was too small, and this was mentioned in the 1857 report. This also contains a complaint of the enormous waste of water. During the year covered by this re- port the largest amount pumped in any month was 16,836,280 gallons in January, 1857, and the least, 2,625,800, in March, 1856. Water was supplied to 725 families, 112 stores, 75 offices, 12 restaurants, 8 hotels, 33 private stables, 12 livery stables, 44 manufactories, and 18 markets, - the income from these being $9,517. Other charges for water sup- plied to the Hartford and New Haven, and the Providence and Fishkill railroads, the fire-hydrants, street watering and building purposes, brought the receipts up to $14,792. The commissioners announced their expectation that within two years the income from water-rents would meet all expenses. This hope was not realized. In the 1858 report the number of families supplied had increased to 1,457, and the rents were $18,964.98. In the 1859 report it was noted that up to date about 23 miles of pipe had been laid, and that of 2,911 buildings on the
1 The incorporators were Thomas Belknap, Calvin Day, John Carter, E. K. Root, and E. K. Hunt. They were chosen in May, 1853.
458
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
line of pipe, 1,976 used the city water. A revision of the rates charged was advised. The average daily consumption was 661,245 gallons, which was said to be at least twice that probably used for legitimate purposes, the rest being wasted. Tests showed that in November the use of water between 10 P.M. and 7 A.M. was about two thirds the aver- age use, indicating a great waste. The 1860 report alluded to a plan for an additional water-supply which would be submitted to the council, and not far from the time the report was printed this plan was communicated to the council in a special report. In brief, it suggested a reservoir at West Hartford and a supply by gravity, substantially as afterward carried out. The 1861 report, in alluding to this subject, said : "There is no time for delay ; the exigency of the city demands action, final and definite." It had become evident to those at all famil- iar with the subject that a supply depending on a single pumping-engine, and a reservoir holding little more than a week's supply, was inadequate to the needs of the city, whether the actual consumption was legitimate or wasteful. The 1862 report announced a surplus revenue for the first time, the amount being $1,031.65. On May 27, 1861, the common council referred to the water-board the inquiry as to an additional water-supply. The board employed Professor Benjamin Silliman, of Yale, to look into the quality of the Trout Brook water and the probable adequacy of a supply from that source. Mr. McRae Swift, a well-known civil engineer, was also employed to report on the matter from an engi- neering standpoint. Professor Silliman's report was in every way favorable. Mr. Swift advised either increasing the pumping facilities or adopting the West Hartford plan, and favored the latter. At this time it was proposed, in case the pumping system were developed, to build a reservoir on Zion Hill. The estimates were made on a daily consumption of 2,000,000 gallons, nearly twice that then recorded. Nothing came of all this at the time. In 1863 the pumps were repaired and the engine regulated to a higher speed, so as to give an increase of about 25 per cent in the pumping capacity. On Nov. 9, 1863, the council directed the water-board to obtain plans and estimates for an increased supply from the Connecticut River. Mr. William E. Wor- then, of New York, was employed, and reported a plan for the addition of a pumping-engine with twice the capacity of that then in use, the two to be capable of delivering 6,000,000 gallons a day, and a reservoir of 35,000,000 gallons capacity to be placed on Zion Hill. The total cost was estimated at $230,000. This plan was then laid aside, and in October, 1864, the city voted in favor of a supply by gravity from West Hartford. The land (eighty acres) was secured at once and the work begun.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.