USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 59
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It may be noted that the progress of the movement to secure a sup- ply from West Hartford, as above outlined, omits a host of details. As early as May 21, 1860, the common council had voted that the water commissioners be authorized to bring water from West Hartford accord- ing to a plan already proposed by them. This, however, needed to be ratified by a vote in a city meeting. After various conferences and amendments, the matter was voted on at a city meeting, April 13, 1863, and the Trout Brook scheme was carried, 2,501 to 831. Then it appeared that the charter authorized votes at a city meeting for the choice of city officers only. At the May session of the legislature that year a
459
PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS.
resolution was passed which practically supplied this deficiency in the charter, and a new election was ordered for July 7, 1863. At this the Trout Brook scheme was defeated, 843 to 1,091, and it was after this vote that Mr. Worthen was employed and made his report for a new pumping-engine. A vote to carry this plan into effect was indefinitely postponed in both branches of the council, March 28, 1864, and the water-board was directed to apply to the legislature for leave to bring water from West Hartford. Six weeks later, a new council having come in, this vote was rescinded, and on May 27 the council again di- rected the board to press the petition. This last resolution, however, was vetoed by the mayor, and lost on reconsideration, June 27. In August a preamble and resolutions providing for an additional supply from the Connecticut River were tabled, and September 24 were re- jected, and the final resolution in favor of the West Hartford scheme passed, the necessary city meeting being ordered for October 3. At this the Trout Brook plan was adopted, 1,510 to 508. The difficulties of the board were not ended. There was an injunction from Childs Goodwin, of West Hartford, which made no great difficulty; and then in March, 1865, another, granted on the application of Messrs. Lawson C. Ives, J. F. Judd, and ten others, of Hartford, restraining the city and the board from "purchasing any pipe or land or other materials, or making any contract, or doing any other act for the purpose of bringing the water from Trout Brook to the city, or for taking the same from any other place but the Connecticut River." All obstacles were not removed until late in July of 1865, from which time the work contin- ued without further interruption. On Jan. 2, 1867, at 2 P.M., the water was let on from West Hartford, and the pumps, which had long been running far beyond their proper capacity, were stopped. For the last part of the time they had been furnishing over 2,000,000 gallons a day.
This first reservoir, now the distributing reservoir for the whole system, was built under the direction of Mr. George Marsh and Mr. Samuel M. Gray, the latter succeeding as engineer on the death of the former. It is on the Farmington road, five miles from Hartford, has an elevation of 260 feet above low water at Hartford, covers 32 acres, and has a capacity of 145,000,000 gallons. The main pipe laid at this time was the wrought-iron and cement, which proved unsatisfactory, and after causing trouble for a number of years was in great part replaced by cast-iron pipe.
The reservoir stood, as built, less than a year. Gravelly soil had been used in its construction, and when, on the night of Sept. 5, 1867, there came a rain-storm said to be the most violent remembered in that region, the torrent of water running off the road at the side of the dam, together with the water from the overflow sluice, cut the outer bank and caused an extensive landslide. The dam was thus weakened. A new reservoir was at that time partly completed some distance up the stream. This held considerable water, and its dam then gave way, letting this body of water down into Reservoir No. 1, raising the water at once about four feet above the line of its established level. The waste-way relieved it so slowly that for several hours the water stood against the upper part of the already weakened dam, and subjected the whole structure to an additional pressure corresponding to the increased depth. The water began to work through the upper part
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
of the dam, and presently formed a channel connecting with the land- slide above mentioned. The report of the board says, as to what happened afterward: "So rapid was the action thereafter, that in twenty-two minutes from the first starting of the small current the whole dam was cut asunder down to its base, and all the water-about 200,000,000 gallons - discharged from the reservoir." The escape of this great quantity of water caused no loss of life, and perhaps less damage to property than might have been anticipated. The claims on account of private property were only about $7,000, and the town of West Hartford estimated its loss in bridges, etc., at about $11,000. All claims were settled for less than $11,000. The dam was so far repaired that water could be supplied to the city by the 5th of December in the same year.
The reservoir mentioned as partly finished, and contributing by its breakage to the destruction of Reservoir No. 1, was that known on the maps then made as No. 3. No. 2 was to be on Mine Brook, an affluent of Trout Brook ; No. 3, on the same brook higher up, and No. 4 on Trout Brook, nearly a mile above Reservoir No. 1. This reservoir was fin- ished in 1869, and as built held, when full, 185,000,000 gallons. It was first filled in May, and the first flow over the waste-way was early in June. In the autumn of 1870 the dam was raised five feet, adding about 100,000,000 gallons to the capacity of the reservoir. In the 1871 report, as in all before it, attention was called to the great waste of water and the rapidly increasing consumption, and it was suggested that a new reservoir be built. The disappointment which had been ex- perienced as to obtaining a sufficient supply was partly due to the fact of the greatly increased consumption, and partly to an apparent failure to understand that, though the available watershed might yield more than could be used, most of it would run to waste through coming at times when the reservoirs were already full.
In November, 1871, a contract for new pumps at the pumping-station was made. They were to be ready in four months, but, in fact, were not ready to run until Sept. 27, 1873. There had been a very dry sea- son, and the supply of water from West Hartford gave out just four hours before the pumps were started. During this interval the only source of supply available was the Garden Street reservoir, which had been filled, and was kept as a reserve in case of fire. In consequence of this the proposition for an additional reservoir was pushed with more vigor, and the work of building No. 4 was begun in 1875. By Novem- ber water began to be stored, and the work was finished November 22, in the same year. It contains 154,000,000 gallons. It was built by Seth E. Marsh, then president and engineer of the board, with Henry W. Ayres as assistant engineer in charge of the work.
The report for 1877 announced that for the first time in its history the department was fully self-sustaining, the cash receipts paying all ex. penses, including $24,124.14 for construction, the interest on the bonds, and over $9,000 extra repairs, and leaving a surplus of nearly $4,000 in the treasury.
Beginning in August, 1874, there was a prolonged drought, which continued into the summer of 1876. The pumps were run from August, 1874, almost every day until December, and then from Jan. 7, 1876, until March of the same year. This, with the constantly increasing
461
PARKS AND PUBLIC WORKS.
consumption of water, led to the construction of another reservoir. This was placed on an independent watershed, lying in the towns of West Hartford, New Britain, and Farmington, and has a capacity about equal to that of all those previously built. It was finished Nov. 1, 1879. In 1884 a supplementary reservoir holding 100,000,000 gallons was built on Mine Brook, to save the overflow from the upper reservoirs. In the same year the pumping-engine was repaired, and put in so good condi- tion as to pump as much water in fourteen hours as it had previously furnished in twenty-four hours. The Brandy Brook canal, connecting with the Farmington reservoir, was completed, and adds the water from a drainage area of about two miles.
The system thus elaborated during twenty years is in brief as fol- lows : There is a pumping-engine which takes water from the Connecti- cut River and ean furnish 3,000,000 gallons a day. This is now merely a reserve. The main supply comes by gravity from a system of five reservoirs on two different watersheds, having an aggregate storage capacity of about 1,300,000,000 gallons. Four of these- Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5 - are on the watershed first utilized, and one -the Farmington reservoir - on the second. The numbering has been changed from that first adopted, the present Nos. 2 and 3 having been originally 3 and 4 respectively. The capacity, depth, elevation above the Connecticut River, and date of completion of these reservoirs are : ---
Capacity.
Depth.
Elevation.
Date.
No. 1 (Distributing)
145,000,000
34
260
1867
No. 2
285,000,000
41
395
1869
No. 3
145,000,000
36
400
1875
No. 5
100,000,000
23
315
1884
Farmington
600,000,000
20
287
1879
66
with flash-boards
675,000,000
The water from the Farmington reservoir is carried through an open canal three and a half miles to the distributing reservoir, and is thor- oughly aerated on the way. Along this canal are numerous catch-basins, which add materially to the supply. The works take the watershed of some eleven square miles.
With all the complaints as to the waste of water, the introduction of meters has been slow. In the 1868 report their use was first suggested. Nothing more was heard of their introduction for some time, and early in 1879 there were only nineteen in use. About two hundred were in use in 1884.
The presidents of the water board have been : Ezra Clark, 1854; Hiram Bissell, 1855-1871; Ezra Clark, 1872 (pro tem.), 1873; Seth E. Marsh, 1874-1878; E. J. Murphy, 1878-1880; Ezra Clark, 1882- Mr. Marsh died in September, 1878, and was succeeded by Mr. Mur- phy, who in the autumn of 1880 left this to go into other business. The office of president was then vacant until April, 1882, there being a deadlock in the board ; and during this time Mr. Rodney Dennis served as president pro tem. The engineers, in addition to those men- tioned in connection with the earlier work, have been Mr. Seth E. Marsh, who was engineer as well as superintendent ; Mr. Murphy, who acted in the same capacity during his term as president ; Mr. Samuel Nott, who served 'in 1880-1882, when there was no president; and
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Mr. Henry W. Ayres, who was assistant engineer under Mr. Marsh, and has been engineer in charge since early in 1882. The total cost of the works to March, 1885, was $1,603,428.57. At this date the bonded debt was $937,000, and the department liad for years been self-supporting, and had for several years paid off $20,000 or more of bonds annually.
The first very imperfect lighting of the city was by oil-lamps, which were few and feeble. This was first done at the public expense in 1821. After a time burning-fluid was substituted to some extent. In 1848 the Hartford City Gaslight Company was chartered, and the first public gas-lamps were lighted Nov. 14, 1849. There had been no active opposition to the project, but there was comparatively little interest in it, and very few lamps were at first used. Under the agreement the Gas Company began work with what was known as a 6-inch apparatus, the inlet and outlet pipes being of this diameter, the holder having a capacity of 60,000 cubic feet, and four miles of pipe being laid. In 1855 the year's supply of coal for carbonization was 600 tons. It is now over 10,000 tons, the holders store 800,000 fect, there are 78 miles of street mains, and 4,400 meters are supplied. There are 802 street gas- lamps and 180 naphtha-lamps. About 500 gas-lamps have within two years been displaced by electric lights. The original price of gas was $4 a thousand feet. It was gradually reduced to $2.40, this being the rate just before the war. With the rise of prices in war-time the old rate of $4 was restored. This was maintained for several years, when reductions began, and eight have been made, bringing the price in 1885 to $1.60.
Electric arc lights were first used experimentally in 1881. In 1883 the Thompson-Houston system was introduced, and a local company formed. After much opposition the council ordered thirty of these lamps put up, and since that time the number has been increased to ninety, these being put in under a rule that each must displace six gas- lamps and cost no more than the sum previously paid for the gas. A considerable number besides these are maintained by private individuals either in or in front of their places of business. The total cost of public lighting in 1884 was $43,039.12, of which $33,555.89 was for gas, $6,213.58 for electrics, and $3,269.65 for naphtha-lamps.
In 1879 the Hartford Steam Company was chartered to make at a central station, and furnish through pipes, steam for heating and for power. In the winter of 1881 the system was put in operation. After a time it was found to be a losing business on account of waste and leakage; and the furnishing of power, which had involved carrying steam at a high pressure, was discontinued. It is still retained for heating, and about a hundred and twenty-five customers are supplied, many of whom represent blocks or large public buildings. Some few attempts were made to use this steam in cooking. The Gas Company has done a considerable business of this kind, and has placed about eight hundred stoves for cooking or heating.
W. a. ayres
463
ARCHITECTURE IN HARTFORD.
SECTION VI.
ARCHITECTURE IN HARTFORD.
BY WILLIAM C. BROCKLESBY.
ALMOST the first building erected in Hartford was for "Christian worship." The church was primitive in character, twelve feet in height from ground to eaves ; plain windows pierced the four wooden sides, and a lofty pyramidal roof formed the crowning feature. Rec- ords inform us that in the present Centre (First) Congregational Church are timbers that had been used in this first colonial church building. Among the earliest houses, that of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, one of the founders, may be cited as a type. It was a frame building, paral- lelogram in shape, with continuous ridge from gables at either end, two stories in height, the second slightly overhanging the first; the sides were sheathed or boarded horizontally, and the windows fewer in number than at a later period. To vary the uniformity of the front a central projection extending through both stories was thrown out, and contained at the ground line the main entrance. In these early houses the chimney-stack occupied a central position, as the open fire- place did in the household, and represented in quantity of material the aggregation of several modern chimneys. The Hooker house stood " on the north side of the high and romantic banks of Mill (now Park) River."
In the course of a few years a variety in the style of house-building was made very apparent both in roof-construction and in general de- tails, the treatment of the main entrance doorway presenting an inter- esting study. Not only do we find the overhanging second story adhered to, - a feature imported from the old country, -but it is observed also that the typical house is in better proportion than its predecessors, as instanced by the introduction of the sloping roof-line, destined to long service in the future. Rose Terry Cooke succinctly describes the front of a house of this period as containing " nine win- dows and a door." This distribution of openings was an architectural " happy thought," and was booked for many years.
The " gambrel roof" treatment was also in great favor in the colo- nial times, and in and about the city are to be found good examples of this type. In point of accommodation it had good advantages, while its picturesqueness was unquestioned. To the " gambrel roof " we should justly return thanks, as it introduced dormer windows. These at first were disposed along the front, three in number, and finished with delicately moulded pediments, the central window having a circular treatment in contrast to its flanking neighbors. The perfectly plain casements of the nine front windows suffered a change later. The opening above the entrance door received marked attention. Here was introduced a triple window, the central one having a circular head with
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
A COLONIAL DOORWAY.
(Front Door of the Churchill House, in Newington, built in 1754. See vol. ii. p. 328.)
transom light, the sash divided by radiating muntins. The effective introduction of collonnettes was a feature of the design, the carving of the caps being generally most excel- lent and the mouldings of the entab- lature members of almost minute proportions.
DOORWAY OF 123 MAIN STREET.
The quaint porch at the front door was an interesting study. The sup- porting columns were at first after the Doric style with plain shaft and moulded cap and base; and, in the refinement of treatment which characterized Ionic work where in- troduced, the house-builders of mod- ern times may learn a lesson when they look upon the deformities of " classic " porches, whose badly pro- portioned columns stand up to defy alike good taste and sound judg- ment. A pleasing example of door-
465
ARCHITECTURE IN HARTFORD.
way treatment is shown in the accompanying illustration of what is now No. 123 Main Street. In place of a porch a broken pediment is intro- duced, supported by pilasters standing on plinthis. The pilasters are fluted, and above the neck-moulding are quaint incised rosettes. Three other doorways are given herewith, illus- trative of different styles. One is on Main Street, corner of Church ; the sec- ond, Main, corner of Capitol Avenue ; and the third is on Front Street.
TER
One of the early historic houses of Hartford was the Daniel Wadsworth mansion. Encumbered with some mod- ern appendages marring its colonial archi- tecture, it is still to be seen shorn of its pristine grandeur, standing on the south side of Buckingham Street, near Main Street. It formerly stood on Main Street,
where the Wadsworth Atheneum was after- ward built, and on the 20th day of September. 1780, it was the scene of the famous interview between General Washington and Count de Rochambeau, at which the plans for the York- town campaign were discussed and arranged.
The Talcott house, also located on Main Street (No. 459), is another example of the pe- riod. It was built in 1770 by Colonel Samuel Talcott, and is still standing. A curious bit of detail to be noticed upon its front is a deli- cately moulded course, cornice-like in charac- ter (midway between the stories at chamber-floor line), with its bev- elled upper portion shingled. The sketch on the next page shows the quaint staircase, still in existence.
Many fine specimens of domestic architecture during early times were to be found upon what are now known as Morgan, Front, Temple, VOL. I .- 30.
466
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
and Grove streets. The Barnabas Deane house, on Grove Street, was built in 1778. State Street was one of the principal business locations, but boasted also a number of fine residences ; while the houses of gen- erous proportions which were built and some of which are still stand- ing upon the present Prospect Street af- forded other examples of the early colonial style, and were con- spicuous for their lofty porches with supporting columns. To the student exam- ining the ornamental detail work of this class of buildings the fact is revealed that where carving is found, its execution is almost invariably excellent and shows evidence of skilled workmanship.
STAIRCASE IN THE TALCOTT HOUSE. (Drawn by Miss Mary K. Talcott.)
It is a mooted question as to the exact location of the first brick house in Hartford. There were several the date of whose erection was nearly the same. Among these one oc- cupied the site of the present " Courant " building, north of what was then called
" Meeting-House Square ;" another stands on Governor Street, then known as Cole Street, which is remarkable as showing the first intro- duction of black brick in construction ; and one is on Main Street, at the north corner of the present Mulberry Street, also remarkable, but for a different reason. In it Noah Webster compiled and published his " Elementary Spelling Book." In a remodelled form this building is still standing. The first bricks ever used in Hartford were laid in the walls of the " House of Hope," in 1633, more familiarly known as the " old Dutch fort," on the south bank of "Little river " at its junction with the " Great river" (Connecticut), and were in size and color not unlike the buff bricks now made at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A specimen of the 1633 brick is owned by a Hartford citizen.
Another of the early brick houses was the building formerly standing on the southeast corner of the present Grove and Main streets. It was a large square structure crowned with lofty pyramidal roof, and was erected by Captain Thomas Hopkins; and it is reported that the shingles
KILBURN & CROSS-
THE BARNABAS DEANE HOUSE, ON GROVE STREET, - NOW THE RESIDENCE OF MR. NELSON HOLLISTER.
469
ARCHITECTURE IN HARTFORD.
and also the bricks 1 used in construction were imported by him from Holland. The front was characterized by a generous doorway with early Dutch door divided horizontally, and the windows were built with splayed caps of briek, the sash being glazed with the miniature lights which are alike the despair and the envy of modern times.
A mention of the early brick structures in Hartford would be incom- plete without a word regarding the " Mansion house " on the north side of Kinsley Street, not an object of special interest to the average passer- by of to-day, but to relic-hunters a pleasing revelation. The house was built by Dr. Kinsley, and, as a record informs us, from brick made by himself in a brick-pressing machine which he invented. The building is about forty-five feet by forty feet, and faces to the east, this front being characterized by a liberal doorway with elliptical arched head, above a basement story standing up eight feet or more from the street. Many of the windows have splayed caps of marble ten inches high, the sills being of the same material ; but the strongest interest attaches to the bricks themselves, as we find that they are in some instances of ornamental forms, noticeably in a water-table course, where a moulded projection is seen, and also in two courses marking the location of floors within. Here is shown a species of enriched running guilloche ornament with rosettes. Near the ground line the bricks are of unusual dimensions, measuring four inches in height by sixteen inches in length. On one of these, in lieu of a corner-stone, is found the brief legend, " A. Kinsley, 1796."
The first inn of Hartford was opened about 1644. It stood on Main Street, nearly opposite the present Centre Church, and was the identical building from which, forty-three years later, the famous charter was stolen at the General Court session and hidden in the oak on Wyllys Hill. At Bennett's Hotel General Lafayette was entertained in 1825, and later, on the 8th of February, 1842, Diekens and his wife were wined and dined on the same site, the building being then known as the City Hotel. While the early inns and taverns partook, from an architectural point of view, more of the nature of private houses than publie build- ings, they were to the owner like Charles Lamb's " poor cough," " the best he could do," and what they may have laeked in imposing archi- teetural effeet they made up in homely accommodation, good cheer, and hospitable entertainment at the numerous " assemblies " gathered be- neath their roof. The customs connected with the inns, their estab- lishment by law, and the rules by which they were governed, fill many a curious and interesting page of history, unfortunately beyond the province of this article. Suffice it to say they were many in number, and were located conveniently in and about Hartford.
The first State House in Hartford was a wooden structure, built in 1720, and it stood on Main Street, in front of the present City Hall, the site of the present post-office (or a portion of it) being then occupied by the old meeting-house. The State House contained on the second floor two rooms for meetings of the General Assembly on the north and south sides, with an intervening room for consultations, there being no public offices within the walls. A peculiarity in construction was that the second floor was supported by columns, and, all cross-
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