USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > West Hartford > West Hartford, Connecticut > Part 3
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
were held in the spacious ballroom on the second floor. When the church was built, the tavern building was sold and moved to a position farther west on Farmington Avenue and converted into a tenement with provision for four or five families. It has since been reconstructed and is now the two family dwelling at Nos. 980 and 982 Farmington Avenue.
On the west side of Main Street south of the house which is now the rectory of St. James Church, about where the residence of Charles H. Ellsworth now is, was the old Academy building which was in use for many years prior to 1845.
The North End - After the Talcott Mountain Turnpike was opened in 1798, and a stage line from Hartford to Albany along this and two other connecting turnpikes was established, the northern part of the West Division became a somewhat busy locality. There were two taverns on the turnpike at the corner of that road and West Hartford's central or main street. One of these, of which Aaron Goodman was the proprietor, was on the northwest corner of the two roads; the other was a little east of the corner on the north side of the turnpike.
GOODMAN TAVERN-FIRST POSTOFFICE
On the southeast corner where Welch's restaurant is now located, Capt. George Flagg had a shoe shop in which he em- ployed several men and apprentices making boots and shoes. Just south of his shop on the west side of the road was a one-story wagon shop.
On the north side of the turnpike, near the foot of the hill west of the corner, was the blacksmith shop of Levi Sedgwick, under the shade of a large maple tree, where:
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
"The children, going home from school Looked in at the open door. They loved to see the flaming forge And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly, Like chaff from a threshing floor."
LEVI SEDGWICK'S BLACKSMITH SHOP
Mr. Sedgwick was a man of sterling character, a skillful workman, of industrious and thrifty habits, a highly respected citizen. I thought, in my schoolboy days, as I saw him occasionally in his shop, and on Sunday sitting among his boys in the village church, that he was the veritable village blacksmith described by Long- fellow in his poem.
The workmen in the shops, their patrons, the stage coach passengers and teamsters in the taverns, the people of the com- munity who frequented the ballrooms and barrooms, and those other residents of the community who occasionally called at the post office in the Goodman tavern for their mail, all contributed to the life and activity of the community. The fact that the public school in that locality was the only one in the West Divi- sion occupying two rooms may be taken as evidence that the North End was a populous neighborhood then. The Cadwells, Butlers, Elmers, Flaggs, Goodmans, and Whitings living there at that time had large families of children.
The South End - The southern section of the community in the early years of its history was distinguished on account of its manufacturing enterprises, a distinction which it still retains. The abundance and quality of the clay which was found there led to the establishment of several brick yards and of flourishing
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
potteries. On the west side of the road now known as South Quaker Lane and on the bank of Noyes River near where it passes under the bridge was a mill or factory for making woolen cloth. On Piper Brook, the stream that comes in from Newing- ton, and at a point on the south side of New Britain Avenue where it makes a sharp turn to westward, was a mill pond and a shop where Asaph Deming made and repaired ploughs for the farmers. On the north side of the road just east of the present rectory of St. Bridget's Church, Chester Faxon had a shop where he made and repaired wagons.
The South Road to Farmington was undoubtedly an impor- tant thoroughfare, but there appears to be no evidence of its ever being chartered as a turnpike. Harvey Goodwin at one time kept a tavern in the brick house still standing on the north
SARAH WHITMAN HOOKER HOUSE
side of the road east of the railroad, and the house at the top of Four Mile Hill, the home of Sarah Whitman Hooker in the days of the Revolutionary War, was later owned by Capt. Jedediah W. Mills and kept as a public house known as the Sheaf of Wheat Inn. There is a tradition that Washington and Lafayette were at one time entertained there. There is a tradition that the present residence of Mrs. Ralph E. Gerth, farther west on New Britain Avenue, was at one time a tavern, but of this there is no positive evidence.
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
Pounds - The grass which grew abundantly in the country roads of the West Division, on the sides of the narrow traveled wagon path, often proved a strong temptation to the cattle and cows of the farmers, and if they found a weak place in the pasture fence by the side of the road, they would break through to feed by the roadside. Some of the farmers were wont also to bait their cows in the road at times. It finally became necessary for the people to elect annually in town meeting certain officials a part of whose duties it was to take stray animals found in the roads to enclosures called pounds, which had been provided for their confinement.
These pounds, each surrounded by a high board fence with a gate that could be locked, were located by the side of the road at convenient points in different parts of the community. At the North End the pound was on the south side of the road now known as Flagg Road, just west of the present residence of John A. Butler. At the Center there was a pound on the west side of Main Street about opposite the old cemetery. Farther south on Main Street there was a pound on the west side of the street a little distance south of the Noah Webster birthplace, and at the South End was another pound near the corner on the east side of the old road to Newington. Probably there were pounds also in the western and eastern parts of the community. In connec- tion with each of the pounds a near-by resident officiated as "pound keeper," caring for the animals while in confinement and collecting fees from their owners when they came to secure their release.
The last pound in West Hartford to disappear was located on Ridgewood Road in the southwestern part of the town. It was removed to that locality from South Main Street after all the other pounds had disappeared.
Early Stores - There were but few stores in the West Hartford of long ago. It is quite probable that as early as 1832 Elihu Olmsted, the postmaster, kept a few articles for sale in the building out in the corner of the road in front of his house where the post office then was.
His successor, Nathan Burr, built a two-story, two-room building on the southwest corner of Farmington Turnpike and West Hartford Main Street west of Goodman Park. The post office was on the first floor in one front corner, and in the opposite corner was a small showcase, with shelves on the wall back of it.
The writer still retains very pleasing memories of the glass jars that stood on the shelves, containing sticks of candy of different colored stripes and peppermint drops of various colors.
Mr. Burr had a shoemaker's shop on the second floor. He gave his attention mostly to that, while Mrs. Burr cared for the post office and the store, dealing out to customers a few staple groceries, candies, and Yankee notions.
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
Mr. Leonard Buckland, who succeeded Mr. Burr as post- master and owner of the corner property, gradually built up a substantial business in the grocery line. He devoted special attention to the selection of his goods, driving to Hartford oc- casionally with his one-horse wagon, purchasing his supplies at
L. BUCKLAND.
BUCKLAND RESIDENCE AND STORE, 1856
the wholesale stores, and bringing them out to West Hartford. His business developed slowly for many of the farmers and other citizens of the community still adhered to the custom of going to Hartford once a week to do their trading. However, it may be truthfully stated that the foundation for business in connection with stores, which is now an important feature of the town, was laid in those years when West Hartford was still a parish of Hart- ford, by Leonard Buckland.
In 1881 Walter Cadwell bought land on South Main Street and erected a building where he, in partnership with John H. Fish of Newington, conducted a grocery and meat business for several years, maintaining in connection with it meat routes through the town and in adjoining towns. The post office was. in that building during Mr. Cadwell's term of service as post- master. After the business was closed up, the building was leased by the town for a few years for the use of a primary school be- fore the new school building was erected on School Street in 1896.
On April 4, 1898, Myron J. Burnham, who for several years.
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
had been associated with the flourishing grocery firm of Hills & Smith on Asylum Street in Hartford, came to West Hartford and began business in the building on South Main Street, succeeding the Guilfoil Grocery Company. His helpers at first consisted of one man and a boy. Mrs. Burnham served as bookkeeper.
BUCKLAND STORE AND POST OFFICE
The careful attention given by Mr. Burnham to the interests of his customers in providing goods of first quality and in prompt and courteous attention to their needs and desires speedily se- cured for him a large and ever increasing patronage, not only by residents of West Hartford but by residents of adjoining towns and of the western section of the city of Hartford. He has found it necessary to enlarge the building four times. In 1910 he added a well equipped meat department and later a bakery. The floor space now devoted to offices is equal to the entire floor space of the original building. The business at first amounted to $27,000 per annum. It has now reached the annual sum of over $750,000, and the force of employees now assisting Mr. Burnham consists of seventy persons. Mr. Burnham's business is still increasing from year to year.
The storekeepers in West Hartford and other country towns were accustomed to keep for sale a few of the standard medicinal remedies for the benefit of those families that did not have them on hand in their homes or did not secure them from the village physician. In some towns remote from the cities there were drug stores, but there seemed to be no call for such in West Hartford. Mr. Allen B. Judd was the first person to establish a drug store.
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
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In February, 1899, he opened a fully equipped store in a three- story business and apartment building on the present site of the Boston Branch Grocery building on the south side of Farmington Avenue, just west of Main Street. He continued his business there for about a year, then moved to the building on the corner of Farmington Avenue and South Main Street, commonly known as the Buckland Building, in which the post office was located. He built up a flourishing business, but under unfavorable condi- tions with respect to proper accommodations. In 1922 this build- ing was removed, Mr. Judd locating temporarily in the old brick dwelling house just south of the corner, and the fine new building which now adorns the corner, commonly spoken of as the Judd Block, was erected, in which Mr. Judd had a store fully equal to some of the large city drug stores. He continued there until November, 1926, when he sold out and retired from the business.
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ROBERT & ŠENGLE ATOKNEY > JUDD BLOCK 26 HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD MEMORIES OF SOCIAL LIFE IN THE "GOOD OLD DAYS" The social life of West Hartford, in common with that of many other New England towns in days of old, was quite infor- mal and simple in its manifestations but permeated by a beauti- ful spirit of kindly interest and cordial friendship. Families living near each other in different sections or locali- ties were accustomed to frequent one another's homes in a very free and easy way, at morning, noon, or night, to inquire as to one another's welfare, to communicate the latest news, or to bring choice flowers or vegetables from the garden or dainties or more substantial food from the pantry. Such visits were often of daily occurrence, and the members of those families were bound to- gether in neighborly and friendly bonds almost like the bonds of kinship. Of course there were those who maintained a spirit of independence, almost of exclusiveness, who seldom called on their neighbors, and if they did so at rare intervals were careful to observe strict rules and customs of society as to dress, manners, and times. There were many families who were somewhat closely re- lated by ties of kinship. Back and forth and among them there was usually considerable visiting of uncles, aunts, and cousins. The manifestations of the friendly neighborly spirit at some time during the year took the form of basket picnics at Bartlett's Tower on Talcott Mountain, or Shuttle Meadow Lake near New Britain, or nearer home on Selden Hill, or in Burr's Grove, or at Whitman Falls. (Elizabeth Park in those days was a swampy wooded pasture.) The place, so long as it provided natural at- tractions, was not of so much importance as was the spirit of the occasion. Then in the autumn came the husking bees on some farmer's spacious barn floor lighted for the occasion by lanterns, when the husking of the corn was intermingled with song, stories, and joyous laughter. At the close there was feasting on doughnuts, apples, and pumpkin pies, and for the young men, "going home with the girls." At times "surprise parties" prevailed. Someone had built a new house, or married a wife, and thereupon his friends and neigh- bors secretly planned to go to his home some evening in a body and take him by surprise, carrying with them provisions for a feast and spending an evening of social enjoyment. Oftentimes the person thus taken by surprise would later plan a similar sur- prise on the leader of the party that had surprised him, and the spirit having been thus aroused, parties were extended from time to time to other homes until such visits became expected events and no longer a surprise. 27 HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD In the winter the social enjoyments often were in connection with sleigh ride parties, when a company of friends and neighbors would climb into a farmer's two-horse sled, sit down in the straw on the floor of the sled body, and ride away over the drifted roads to the music of the sleigh bells on the horses, as far as Windsor or Rockville or New Britain. There they would take supper at the tavern or hotel, and then return to their homes, perhaps by a different and longer route. In these and other ways the social spirit of the community was cultivated and perpetuated and the dull, monotonous round of daily tasks in the home or on the farm or in the shop was brightened and cheered. Because of these experiences there is good warrant for referring to that period in our history, as some people are wont to do, as "the good old days." Prominent in the memories of one's boyhood are those oc- casions when relatives or friends living in some distant part of the state or in some other state came in their family carriages or wagons to make a visit of several days. Such an occasion was a great event for them and for those whom they visited. It was especially welcomed by the young people in the home, for such visits were an interruption and change in the daily routine of farm life and afforded the rare opportunity of association with young people of another community. At some time during the visit a trip was taken to Hartford for sight-seeing. The principal objects of interest to be shown to the "country cousins" were the wonderful reservoir on Lords' Hill, the old Statehouse with its little park and fountain on its eastern front, the historical collection in the rooms of the Con- necticut Historical Society in the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Charter Oak, and the dike which Col. Samuel Colt had built enclosing a part of the South Meadow, with the curious Swiss cottages on its inner bank. There must be also a drive down to Wethersfield for a visit to the State Prison. On another day the friends were taken out to Wadsworth Tower on Talcott Mountain north of the Albany turnpike, for sight-seeing from the top of the tower and for a picnic under the shade of the fine old forest trees. If time permitted another day for sight-seeing before the friends returned to their homes, a visit was made to the ruins of the old State Prison at Copper Hill, or to Shuttle Meadow Lake near New Britain. These new experiences afforded the visitors much pleasure, and provided material for many a story to be related to friends and neighbors on their return to their homes. When the time came for the West Hartford people to return the visit, perhaps a year later, the event was looked forward to with great interest, especially by the younger members of the 28 HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD family. The time chosen for such visits was usually during the latter part of the summer, "after haying." The family horse was brought in from the pasture the night before the day for starting out and given an extra ration of oats or provender. At about half past four o'clock the next morning the members of the family, and the baggage, were packed into the best carriage or wagon, and the journey began. It was necesaary to get an early start, for this journey was to be a long one of forty or fifty miles, out into some distant part of the state. If the journey was east- ward, into some part of Windham or New London County, then the family passed through the streets of the city while they were still quiet and dark, through the old covered toll bridge, across the Connecticut River and on into a strange land. Perhaps a mid- day meal would be enjoyed at some old stage coach tavern on the turnpike, and a little time spent in resting. Then the journey would be continued until, as the evening shadows were coming on and the weird song of the whippoorwill was heard in the pasture land a little distance from the road, the home of the friends to be visited was reached and the journey ended. The days that followed were replete with strange adventures amid new scenes, and with new and joyous experiences for the young people, affording material for many stories to be told later to friends and acquaintances at home, and to be remembered with pleasure for many a year in after life. The most delightful memories of old time visitors seem, in the mind of the writer, to be connected with Thanksgiving Day - not alone with respect to the home gathering and the feast around the family table, but in connection with the service held in the old village church. The sons and daughters, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, and cousins were accustomed to come from homes far and near, on Thanksgiving, back to their childhood homes, or to the homes of relatives and friends; and in connection with those visits, they made a practice of attending the public Thanks- giving Day service in the village church. That seemed to be, in their estimation, an important part of the proper observance of the day. How cordially, and happily, these visitors, at the close of the service, greeted the people whom they had known in child- hood or in later years, even including in their greetings all whom they met. What interest they manifested in all the people whom they met and greeted, just as though all were members of one happy family group. And with what reverent and affectionate regard they greeted the pastor of the church and expressed their appreciation of him and of his service. Thanksgiving in those years was a veritable Old Home Day in West Hartford, graced and cheered by the presence and friendliness of such welcome visitors. Occasionally, in the early days of West Hartford history, bold, venturesome people dared to attempt a journey to the far- 29 HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD away country of New York State, or Ohio, or possibly Illinois. It is related that whenever one undertook such a journey, he would make his will before his departure, lest he might never return. But when such a visitor did return, he had marvelous stories to tell of his observances and experiences in the far-away land of his travels. The story of a journey to New York State and of travelling on the wonderful canal boats of the Erie Canal provided entertainment for many a fireside circle for years after- wards. One prominent citizen of West Hartford, Jonathan Butler, whose home was in a house which is still standing on North Main Street near the Bloomfield line, as early as 1825 had OLD BUTLER HOUSE a pleasure wagon built to order, and in it he and his daughter Eliza made a journey to Ohio to visit another daughter, whose home was on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Their jour- ney was over very crude, rough roads a part of the way, and along trails or paths a part of the way where roads had not been made. The story of this journey and its experiences was often told in the family circle and to friends in the succeeding generations. The writer regrets that he cannot show, in this connection, a picture of one of the fine old family carriages which were in use in his boyhood days, for conveyance to Church on Sunday 30 HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD JONATHAN BUTLER'S WAGON. BUILT IN 1825 AND STILL IN USE IN 1927 and for family visits to other parts of the community or to other communities, but apparently none of these carriages have been preserved intact, and it is not possible to obtain a photograph. Many of them were elegant equipages with fine upholstery and trimmings. Come with me on wings of memory for a brief visit to the old church of my childhood days. It is a beautiful Sunday morning in June. We are early and will stand outside under the shade of the maples in the yard for a little while. The people are beginning to come from the east, west, north, and south in goodly numbers, some on foot but many more in family wagons and carriages, with two and in some in- stances three seats all occupied by members of the family or neighbors who have been invited to join them. The best of vehicles will cause no comment nowadays, but when Captain Ebenezer Faxon drove to church in the first four-wheeled carriage used here, the people were greatly disturbed at such a vain show and desecration of the Sabbath, and he was permitted to continue its use only upon condition that he drive very slowly. The far- mers who have the fleetest horses will get upon the road first and arrive early, for it is not considered proper for one team to pass another on the way to church. The women alight in front of the church, and the men drive 31 HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD away to hitch their horses in the sheds. Presently the sexton begins to ring the fine old bell in the tall tower. Soon he will toll it; then the minister and his family will come out from the par- sonage opposite the park, cross the street, and enter the church. The family is ushered into their pew in the center aisle well up in front, and the minister enters the pulpit. The pulpit is at the west end of the auditorium, high up, approached on each side by a winding stairway. On the wall above the pulpit, on a board painted white, is seen MDCCC- XXXIV, giving the date when the church was built. And there in the gallery, opposite the pulpit, are the seats for the choir, tier upon tier. Along the front, suspended from a brass railing, are short damask curtains designed, when drawn, partially to conceal the front row of singers from the gaze of the congregation. Over there in the corner, leaning against the wall, is the big bass viol, silent now, but resonant with deep tones when Benjamin Sterling Bishop puts his hand to the bow. And Thomas Brace, the chorister, has brought his fine old violin from his house near by, and Julius W. Deming is there with his flute. The faithful members of the choir will fill the seats. The tolling of the bell ceases. The men who love to linger on the porch until the very last moment hasten in. The service begins. The minister announces and reads the opening hymn. The chorister in low tones announces the tune to the choir, and soon all are singing. An account of the chorister and his violin seems to be appro- priate at this point. In 1820 Lory Brace, who was then chorister, purchased a violin of a sea captain who had brought it from Holland. Mr. Brace used it as chorister and on other occasions for many years. After his death his son Thomas Brace inherited the violin and succeeded his father as chorister. He used it in church until the church organ was purchased in 1867. He also used it in conducting weekly singing schools in West Hartford and many THE BRACE VIOLIN 30 HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD JONATHAN BUTLER'S WAGON. BUILT IN 1825 AND STILL IN USE IN 1927 and for family visits to other parts of the community or to other communities, but apparently none of these carriages have been preserved intact, and it is not possible to obtain a photograph. Many of them were elegant equipages with fine upholstery and trimmings. 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.