USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > West Hartford > West Hartford, Connecticut > Part 5
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45
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
OLD HIGHWAYS AND PUBLIC CONVEYANCE
Old Highways - The ancient highways from Hartford to the West Division, and in the West Division, were at first crude pathways, somewhat circuitous and hilly, often blocked with snowdrifts in the winter, almost impassable in the spring on ac- count of the deep, miry, clay mud, and disagreeably dusty in the summer. A Hartford citizen, writing some years ago concerning the early history of Hartford, stated that "one of the first embar- rassments of the early settlers was the badness of the roads,"and that the tenacious clay which underlies the rich loam of Hart- ford and vicinity was the most intractable material for road making."
There were originally three main thoroughfares from Hart- ford to and through the West Division, each eight rods wide. One of these was known as the South Road to Farmington. Starting out from the southern part of Hartford, it practically followed the present line of New Britain Avenue to Corbin's Corner and thence over to Farmington.
The second was called the South Middle Road to Farming- ton. From the South Green in Hartford, now Barnard Park, it ran along the line of the present Park Street and Park Road to Mountain Road, the western boundary of the West Division, thence over Selden Hill and in a northwesterly direction across where the western end of Reservoir Number One is now, on over the mountain into that part of Farmington which is now the southern part of the town of Avon. The western portion of that road has been known in the later years as the Mountain Spring Road. At the foot of the mountain there appears to have been a branch road which extended in a southeasterly direction into Farmington.
The third main thoroughfare was in the northern part of the West Division, extending from Hartford along the line of our present Albany Avenue to the main street and thence westerly on the line of our present Flagg Road.
In 1798 a corporation was formed called the Talcott Moun- tain Turnpike Company and the road built by this corporation became a part of the Talcott Mountain Turnpike which extended from Hartford to New Hartford. In New Hartford it connected with another turnpike known as the Greenwoods Turnpike, which extended from New Hartford to North Canaan. A connection was made there with still another turnpike extending to Albany. So these turnpikes afforded opportunity for a through stage route from Hartford to Albany, and the name Albany Turnpike came to be used in reference to this through route. At a later
46
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
1
Tavern
Smith
· Tavern
Tavem
Tavern
Sawmill
First Church
Quaker Meeting House !
Woolen Mill
Sarah Whitman Hooker House
Plough Shop
MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF OLD BUILDINGS.
47
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
date the turnpike west of the main street in the West Division was changed from the road now known as Flagg Road to its present position farther north.
SIDNEY WADSWORTH. WIDELY KNOWN AND POPULAR TAV- ERN-KEEPER FOR MANY YEARS. HE WAS ALSO A FARMER AND A BREED- ER OF FINE HORSES, RECOGNIZED ON THE ROAD AS THE OWNER AND DRIV- ER OF A FINE SPAN OF HORSES.
On the boundary line between Hartford and Windsor, which is now Bloomfield, was a four-rod highway. This was abandoned many years ago, but traces of it may still be seen in the fields east of where our Main Street and the Simsbury Road meet, and in Hartford a portion of it is now open as a section of Tower Avenue.
The original approach to the central part of the West Divi- sion appears to have been by a road which crossed Noyes River, now Trout Brook, by a bridge located quite a distance north of the present bridge on Farmington Avenue. There was a mill pond there and a gristmill known as Brace's Mill. Some remains of the old mill dam and bridge are still to be seen at that point when the water is low in midsummer. On the western side of the river the roadway ran in a southerly direction for several rods, then, turning westward, it connected with the main street near the present location of the home of Henry C. Whitman. I have
48
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
never been able to ascertain the course of the road east of the river, whether it was connected with Quaker Lane or with Fern Street.
In 1723 Aaron Cook, Nathaniel Stanley, and Robert San- ford were appointed to lay out a highway eight rods wide through the West Division from north to south. The proprietors of the sections or lots had built their homes near the central part of
THE WADSWORTH TAVERN ON TALCOTT MOUNTAIN OR ALBANY TURNPIKE AT THE FOOT OF PROS- PECT HILL. THE TAVERN WAS ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE ROAD IN HARTFORD, BUT THE BARNS AND SHEDS WERE ON THE WEST HARTFORD SIDE.
49
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
S.WADSWORTH'S
INN.
RICE
THE OLD TAVERN SIGN. IT WAS SUSPENDED FROM THE CORNER OF A LONG SHED ON THE WEST SIDE OF PROSPECT HILL ROAD.
their lots on the most desirable sites without respect to a highway, and when this highway was opened each proprietor was allowed to direct as to the course to be followed in crossing his property. As a result the new highway, now West Hartford Main Street, had many curves and angles, some of which still remain. If this highway had been preserved in its original width of eight rods, West Hartford might now have a wide and beautiful boulevard extending through the central part of the town from north to south which would be a very attractive feature. And this state- ment may be applied with equal pertinence to the three ancient wide highways from Hartford to the West Division and west- ward. In these times of congested traffic wide boulevards such as those ancient highways provided opportunity for, would be of great public benefit.
In 1727 a road was opened to extend from the South Road to Farmington at Four Mile Hill to Wethersfield, now Newing- ton. It was at first a "pent road," that is, a road with tollgate where all passengers had to pay toll, but in 1743 it was made a free road. It was the road which now extends from New Britain Avenue south to Newington Junction as an extension of West Hartford Main Street.
In 1737 a survey was made on the western boundary of the West Division for the establishment of a highway two rods wide
50
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
along the line of an existing roadway the boundaries of which had become somewhat uncertain because of encroachments by adjoining property owners. That road was called Mountain Street and is now our Mountain Road. The section south of Bel- den's Corner on Farmington Avenue was called West Street or West Lane.
-
Anderson
THE OLD TOLL-GATE HOUSE ON ALBANY AVENUE. IT STOOD AT THE TOP OF THE HILL JUST WEST OF MOUN- TAIN ROAD, NEAR PHELPS TAVERN. A SKETCH MADE FROM MEMORY OF JOHN M. FOOTE AS HE WAS ACCUS- TOMED TO PASS THROUGH IT ON HIS JOURNEYS FROM CANTON TO HARTFORD IN HIS BOYHOOD.
In 1796 a road was opened on the eastern border of the long tier of lots, extending from Capt. Ebenezer Faxon's past Ben- jamin Gilbert's to the Windsor line. That was the road which we now call Quaker Lane. Capt. Ebenezer Faxon lived in the house which is still standing on the northeast corner of New Britain Avenue and Quaker Lane, and Benjamin Gilbert lived in the house which has recently been moved from the northwest corner of Farmington Avenue and Quaker Lane to a position farther north. I have not been able to ascertain whether this road ever extended farther north than Bishop Road, now called Fern Street.
There is a possibility that what is now known as Steele Road may have been considered a continuation of Quaker Lane, although not directly connected with it. From the records it appears that when Samuel Griswold petitioned to have his farm set off from the Prospect Hill School District to the East School
51
HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
District, the eastern boundary of the farm was given as Quaker Lane. Mr. Griswold's farm was north of Bishop Road, now Fern Street, and the eastern boundary was the road now known as Steele Road. It was originally a narrow lane with trees and bushes on each side whose branches brushed the sides of passing vehicles. Steele Road is now a fine street with beautiful resi- dences on both sides of it.
OLD PHELPS TAVERN.
IT STOOD ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF ALBANY TURNPIKE, NEAR THE TOLL-GATE HOUSE. IT WAS OWNED BY MEM- BERS OF THE PHELPS FAMILY -SAMUEL, ERASTUS, JULIUS - IN SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS; ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR STAGE COACH TAVERNS IN WEST HART- FORD. THE HOUSE WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE SEVERAL YEARS AGO WHEN IT WAS THE PROPERTY OF THE WELLES FAMILY, WHO WERE ENGAGED IN THE MILK BUSINESS. THE HOUSE NOW STANDING ON THE SITE OF THE TAVERN IS THE PROPERTY OF WILLIAM G. WELLES OF ARCADIA, FLORIDA.
Oakwood Avenue was originally only a lane through the fields and woods from the South Middle Road to the Commons, affording the people who lived in that section opportunity to get to Hartford or West Hartford before Baker Road, now New Park Avenue, had been extended southward from the point of its connection with Prospect Avenue.
The western part of Bishop Road, now Fern Street, was opened in 1793. There is a record of a petition presented to the County Court by some of the people of Avon for a road westward from Mountain Road at the west of Bishop Road over the moun-
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
tain to a point on the road from Farmington Center to the Al- bany Turnpike, but no evidence has been found of the granting of the petition. A cart path or wood road from the west end of Fern Street through the fields and woods to the top of the moun- tain is still in existence, apparently along the line of the proposed road. West Hartford farmers and owners of wood lots on the mountain had a right of way to their wood lots along the line of this path, and those who still own wood lots on the mountain retain that right of way. There are traces of a path through the woods from the top of the mountain westward to the town of Avon.
In 1800, Farmington Turnpike was opened, extending from Hartford through the West Division to Farmington, where it connected with a turnpike extending westward through Burling- ton and Harwinton to Litchfield. It was sometimes called, on this account, the Litchfield Turnpike. From West Hartford Center west to Mountain Road it was laid out along the line of an old cart path which the farmers had used in going to their land in the western part of the parish. From Mountain Road it ran in a northwesterly direction around the northern slope of Gin Still Hill to its intersection on the western side of the hill with the South Middle Road to Farmington, which crossed over Selden Hill, and on in a northwesterly direction across where the west end of Reservoir Number One is now located, over the mountain into the northeastern part of Farmington.
In 1837 some of the people residing in Farmington peti- tioned the County Court for a shorter route to Hartford, com- plaining of the hilly and circuitous character of the existing road, which evidently was the South Middle Road. The Court ap- pointed a committee to consider the matter and report. That committee held a number of meetings at Seymour's store and the Eagle Tavern in Hartford, at Simeon Arnold's house in West Hartford, and in Farmington. They listened to the testimony of the petitioners and the opposition of other people in Farmington and finally, in 1839, reported in favor of a new road, the same to be a branch of the South Middle Road extending from a point about half a mile west of West Hartford Main Street through land of Timothy and William Sedgwick, David Selden, and Leonard Braman, and connecting with the south road to Farmington at a point called Andrew's Corner. This road was what is now known as Tunxis Road. When the Trout Brook Ice Company built their reservoir or pond a few years ago, its location in that vicinity was changed for a short distance; otherwise it is as originally laid out.
The road in the western part of the town from New Britain Avenue northward across Tunxis Road to Park Road, which is called Ridgewood Road, was laid out in 1850. Its further ex- tension from Park Road to Farmington Avenue is of recent date.
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
The "ancient highway" called Prospect Hill Road, now Pros- pect Avenue, originally extended from Albany Avenue to Farm- ington Avenue, but in 1851 it was extended southward along the line of an old lane to Park Street. In 1863, it was still fur- ther extended to its present juncture with New Park Avenue.
In 1852 the people residing in the Elmwood section desired a shorter and more direct road to Newington than was afforded by the road on the hill from the southern terminus of West Hartford Main Street to Newington. One reason was that the people doing business in that part of the town might avail themselves of the opportunities for the reception and sending out of freight at the railroad station at Newington Junction. In response to this desire, the road now known as Newington Road was opened in 1852, and it has become one of the principal residential streets in that part of the town.
The people who had built their homes in that section of the town which for many years was called the Commons, because it was a part of the original "Common" set apart in 1674, for the use of all the people, were desirous of better facilities of approach to their homes and of going from their homes to other localities. They therefore petitioned the town to open a street through that territory. After considerable delay, a street was opened from a point on East Street, now Quaker Lane, eastward to the town line, with the understanding that the town of Hart- ford would continue it from the town line to a connection with Zion Street in Hartford. This condition was complied with and the road now known as Flatbush Avenue was opened.
Most of the other roads and streets of West Hartford, at the present time, are of more recent origin. Many of the streets have been opened by parties interested in real estate developments, providing homes for the people who have been coming to the town to reside in these later years. The names given to these new streets have been selected by the real estate promoters, according to their fancies or tastes. Many streets, however, bear the names of former owners of the property, or of residents of the town, such as: Arnold, Belden, Bishop, Brace, Burr, Cadwell, Caya, Crosby, Ellsworth, Flagg, Griswold, Hamilton, Keney, LeMay, Price, Seymour, Selden, Stanley, Staples, Talcott, Thomson, Whiting, Whitman.
The maintenance of the public roads in early days was a very simple and inexpensive matter. Here and there a few shovel- fuls of dirt thrown upon the road in places where holes or de- pressions appeared and a few furrows plowed on each side of the road and the dirt thus loosened scraped to the middle of the road, constituted the chief repairs. For more extensive repairs, gravel from the pits or deposits on Farmington Turnpike in the present locality of Concord Street, or from the Prospect Hill Road at Asylum Avenue, was carted to different parts of the
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
town and spread upon the roads. It was the custom, for some years, for residents in different sections of the town to have the general oversight of the roads in their respective sections and property owners sometimes had the privileges of paying their highway taxes by labor upon the roads.
At the first town meeting in West Hartford, in 1854, a com- mittee of eight persons, one from each school district, was ap- pointed to consider, and report at a subsequent meeting, the best plan for caring for the roads. That committee reported in favor of the annual election of eight Highway Surveyors, one from each school district, who should have general oversight of all the roads and provide for all necessary repairs of the same. This plan was adopted. The first persons elected to the position of Highway Surveyors were Chester Griswold from the Center District, George Giddings from the East District, Thomas O. Goodwin from the South District, Thomas M. Belden from the Southeast District, Milton Braman from the West District, Morgan Good- win from the Northwest District, Levi Sedgwick from the North District, and Edmund Dart from the Prospect Hill District.
A special highway tax was levied annually to provide funds for meeting the expense of repairs. In 1856 the rate of the tax for this was two cents on the dollar, as appears from a tax bill for that year of Elihu Barber, a well to do farmer residing in the northern part of the town.
The plan of electing eight Highway Surveyors, each repre- senting and being responsible for a district or section of the town, apparently did not prove to be wholly satisfactory, for in 1856 the people voted in an annual town meeting to adopt the plan of electing three Highway Surveyors to have charge of all the high- ways in the town. That plan or method was continued for several years, but finally the care of roads was made one of the duties and responsibilities of the selectmen.
In 1889, largely through the influence and advocacy of Mr. Adolph C. Sternberg, the attention of the citizens of the town was directed to the Good Roads Movement, or a plan for the sub- stantial and marked improvement of highways by macadamizing. A committee was appointed to take the matter under considera- tion, make thorough investigation, and report at a town meeting to be held later. That committee consisted of the three select- men, E. T. Stanley, Wilbur E. Goodwin, and C. Edward Beach, and two additional members, Frederick C. Rockwell and De- Forest H. Peck.
The committee reported at a town meeting held in 1890 in favor of adopting a plan for grading and macadamizing the princi- pal roads of the town as follows: Albany Avenue from Moun- tain Road east to the town line; Farmington Avenue from Moun- tain Road to West Hartford Center; Park Street from Thomson Corner east to the town line; New Britain Avenue from Corbin's
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
Corner to town line; one thousand feet of East Street, now Quaker Lane, from Park Street south; Prospect Avenue from Park Street to a point near the residence of F. C. Rockwell; Quaker Lane from Park Street to Farmington Avenue. They reported that it was estimated that seventy-five percent of the people of the entire town had their homes on these roads or near them. The cost of the work, they stated, would be $50,000. Their report was acceptable to the voters, and it was decided to enter the improvement of the roads as suggested and to issue bonds for borrowing $50,000 for covering the expense.
This work was successfully carried forward. The foundation for the macadam consisted of stone furnished by the farmers and other property owners of the town, who in this way found a mar- ket for the material in many of the stone walls and in the cobble- stones found in the fields. The hills on New Britain Avenue, Park Road, Farmington Avenue, Albany avenue, and West Hartford Main Street were lowered, and these roads brought to a better grade. This improvement in the roads was later extended to other parts of the town.
Farmington Avenue in Days of Old - Farmington Turnpike, now known as Farmington Avenue, has changed greatly since days of old. It was originally quite a hilly road. Hamilton Hill, later known as Vanderbilt Hill and now called West Hill, was at its high- est point, eight or ten feet higher than it is at present, and the road east of the hill to Prospect Avenue and west to Quaker Lane has been raised to a higher level. At the Center, the hill on both sides of the bridge across Trout Brook has been lowered two or three times. The old Vestry on the southeast corner of Main Street and the Turnpike was on quite a high bank above the road. This is true also of the Elihu Olmsted house on the opposite corner on the north side of the turnpike. After the hill had been lowered, the north end of Goodman Park was three or four feet higher than the road.
West of the Center, between LaSalle Road and Walden Street, the short hill was much higher than now. The carriage drives from the residences on either side were practically on a level with the street. In like manner the hills farther west, at the point where Staples Place and Cadwell Street are now, were several feet higher than at present.
Across the brook just west of Belden's Corner, now Foote's. Corner, was a crude wooden bridge with a railing on each side. The bridge across Noyes River just east of the Center was of the same general character. By the side of each of these bridges there was a pathway leading down to the brook, where the drivers of passing teams might drive through the stream and give their horses or cattle an opportunity to drink.
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
From Prospect Hill Road to Quaker Lane there was on each side of the road an almost continuous row of fine tall trees. A few of these still remain on the north side of Farmington Avenue
B.Beiden
· E.W. Belden · J.B.Griswald.
Mountain Road
John Selden o
Farmington
James B Domingo
Stove & P. O.
0 St.
Allyn Burra Academy a Parsonagea Vestry
Saw Mill.
Ave
D P.G. Parsons
a Benjamin Gilbert
Quaker Lane.
D Sciomon Dunham
A Hamilton Brothers.
E H.Arnold 0
Prospect
Ave.
RESIDENCES ON FARMINGTON AVENUE IN 1854.
a Frederick Brace David E Stoddard Congl. Church
Thomas Brace
Main
School. Mrs.E.Olmstead Pollard Merrills
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
east of Hamilton Avenue. Most of those west of the hill were cut down many years ago by order of the selectmen of the town because they hindered the melting of the snow and ice in the spring and kept the road in a muddy condition for a long time. From this it appears that town officials in former years, as in some cases at the present time, had slight regard for trees as of advantage in an ornamental way for improving the general appearance of the town.
The accompanying chart shows the location of the dwelling houses which were on Farmington Avenue when West Hartford was set off as a town in 1854. All but five of them were farmhouses. P. G. Parsons, whose house was located where Troop B Armory is now, was a painter and had only a small house lot. Pollard Merrills, who lived where the Trout Brook Ice Co. plant is now, was the owner of the saw mill. He too had only a little land. The corner house farther west was occupied by Mrs. Olmsted, widow of Elihu Olmsted, formerly postmaster. David E. Stod- dard, who lived in the old tavern just east of where the Baptist Church is now located, was a carpenter, and Frederick Brace, whose home was at the present corner of Farmington Avenue and Dale Street, was the proprietor and driver of the first omnibus line to Hartford.
Only six of these old Farmington Turnpike houses now re- main, and they have changed in respect to conditions and appearance greatly. In all but two instances they have changed in location also. The Hamilton house is now the residence of Frederick W. Arnold. The Benjamin Gilbert house is now north of the brick apartment house on the corner of Quaker Lane and Farmington Avenue. The Pollard Merrills house is a gaso- line filling station. The Elihu Olmsted house, which stood on the northeast corner of the street where the Bank is, is now just north of the Bank. The David Stoddard house is farther west at Nos. 980-982 Farmington Ave .; the Frederick Brace house is now on Whitman Avenue; the James B. Deming house is now a double house on the south side of Farmington Avenue, just west of Four Mile Road. The Edwin W. Belden house at the corner of Mountain Road is now, in an enlarged and improved condition, the residence of John M. Foote.
On the south side of Farmington Avenue from the State- house in Hartford through West Hartford and Farmington and on toward Litchfield, there were stone mile-posts, marking the distance. Three of these were in West Hartford: one marking the third mile from the Statehouse, just west of Quaker Lane; another marking the fourth mile from the Statehouse, at the corner of Four Mile Road, which takes its name from the fact that the mile-stone is still located there; the third west of Moun- tain Road near the junction of Albany place with that road.
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HISTORY OF WEST HARTFORD
The Boulevard - One of the most noteworthy projects for the development of streets and building lots in West Hartford was inaugurated in 1895 by Frederick C. Rockwell, a prominent citizen of the town. He purchased a large tract between Farm- ington Avenue and Park Road, and extending from Mountain Road eastward to Prospect Avenue. At that time, Mr. Rock- well was one of the promoters of a new trolley line from Hartford to Unionville, and he conceived the idea of having it pass through the land which he had purchased. He planned a broad boulevard with a park in the center and driveways on each side, the trolley line to pass through the center of the boulevard. He had rows of trees planted on both sides and induced the Hartford Board of Water Commissioners, who were planning to lay a new water main from Reservoir No. One to Hartford, to lay their pipes along the line of the boulevard. Poles were set for the trolley wires a part of the way, and a bridge was built across Trout Brook, east of Raymond Road. That section of the boulevard from South Main Street to Raymond Road was developed according to Mr. Rockwell's original plan.
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