Revolutionary War Connecticut
What Ken Burns Left Out! While the recent documentary gave an excellent overview of the American Revolution, there were many important details relating to Connecticut’s contributions that were not included. Learn more about CT’s role as the “Provisions State,” vital figures such as Jonathan Trumbull, Jeremiah Wadsworth, and Silas Dean, as well as destructive British raids that culminated in an attack by the Connecticut-born traitor Benedict Arnold!
Connecticut’s Heublein Family and Heublein Tower
Settling in Hartford the mid-1800s, the German-immigrant Heublein family established a restaurant and hotel, as well as a nationally known liquor and food business that produced the world’s first commercial bottled cocktails and brought A1 Steak Sauce to America. Learn about the Heublein’s business ventures and the various buildings they erected, including the landmark Heublein Tower on Talcott Mountain, which was later visited by two future presidents of the United States.
Mansions of Connecticut’s Cheney Family
The Cheney Family of Manchester CT started what became the largest silk manufacturing company in the United States. Members of this wealthy family erected more than a dozen grand homes that still stand today in the vicinity of the Great Lawn in South Manchester. Learn about this fascinating family, which included innovative industrialists, as well as notable artists and writers, and their many landmark mansions!
Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe
An overview of the lives and famous works of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe and their connections with Connecticut. The two famous writers were neighbors in Hartford for nearly twenty years!
Highlights of Old Wethersfield
Wethersfield, called Connecticut’s “Most Ancient Town,” was founded in 1634. This presentation covers historic landmarks of Old Wethersfield, the state’s largest Historic District, from tales of the Old Burying Ground to examples of Colonial architecture, including a house where George Washington slept during the Revolutionary War.
Historic Hartford
Hartford’s Great Department Stores
Hartford was once a major retail destination with numerous large department stores that included G. Fox & Company, Sage-Allen, Brown Thomson, Wise-Smith, and more. We will explore the rise of these stores from initially modest concerns into multi-level shopping emporiums and consider the enterprising business leaders who oversaw their growth.
Lost Theaters of Hartford
Hartford once had over a dozen movie theaters, some of which could be described as “Movie palaces.” We will look into the histories of various theaters, from live performance venues of the 1800s, through the many the many theaters that sprung up in the era of vaudeville and silent films, to the decline and closure of the downtown theaters in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Performance spaces included the legendary State Theater, once the largest in New England!
Nook Farm: the Hartford Neighborhood of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe
Famous authors Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe called the Hartford neighborhood of Nook Farm their home from the late 1860s through the early 1890s. Their neighbors included other notable city residents, some of whose grand Victorian Romantic houses survive, while others have been lost to time. Learn about the Twain and Stowe houses, as well as these neighboring architectural landmarks.
Lost Mansions of Hartford
Hartford was once the most prosperous city in the country based on per capita income and its wealthy residents erected numerous grand homes that are now lost. Learn about the demolished mansions built by merchants, industrialists, insurance executives, and politicians, including the city’s grandest house, built by a cousin of the Hartford-born financier J.P. Morgan!
Hartford’s Lost Riverfront
For centuries, Hartford was an active port along the Connecticut River, with numerous wharfs, dockyard businesses and warehouses connected to the West Indies trade. Learn about the many buildings and fascinating personalities associated with the old riverfront, which was gradually lost to the development of modern bridges and highways.
Hartford’s Old East Side: Front Street
Home to generations of immigrants, Hartford’s once vibrant East Side, centered on Front Street, was demolished in the late 1950s to make way for the building of Constitution Plaza and the Interstate highways. In a virtual tour down Front Street, we will remember lost buildings, restaurants and other businesses of the city’s original “Little Italy.”
Hartford’s Old East Side: Market Street
Like neighboring Front Street, Hartford’s Market Street was a main artery of the city’s lost East Side neighborhood. Learn about some the many immigrant-run businesses, factories, houses of worship, and important city buildings that once lined Market Street before the construction of Constitution Plaza.
Highlights of Hartford’s Asylum Street
For generations, Asylum Street in downtown Hartford was a destination for shopping, entertainment, and business. This presentation considers both surviving architectural landmarks and many lost buildings and businesses, as well as some of the influential individuals who made Asylum Street a vital throughfare.
Around the Old State House in Hartord
The streets around Connecticut’s Old State House (which was built in 1796) have had many buildings come and go over the past two centuries, from imposing bank headquarters to popular hotels, restaurants, theaters, and other commercial businesses. This presentation reveals some of the lost architectural landmarks and notable enterprises that once flourished here on Main and State Streets and American and Central Rows before the destruction of twentieth century urban renewal.
Colonial Hartford
Using historic maps and images of old buildings (that have since been demolished!), we will explore Hartford’s Colonial and Revolutionary War eras, including stories about fascinating individuals and legendary landmarks like the Charter Oak.
Hartford’s Great Insurance Company Buildings
Hartford has long been known as the Insurance City. This presentation explores the history and architecture of some of the city’s most prominent insurance company office buildings, starting with earlier structures that are now lost and moving on to the landmark complexes of Travelers, Aetna, the Hartford, and more!
Hartford’s Legendary Restaurants of the Past
Hartford has had many well remembered restaurants over the years, including some that were in operation for well over a century, but are now sadly closed. We will revisit such beloved classics as Frank’s, Mickey’s, DePasquale’s, Honiss Oyster House, the Marble Pillar, and more!
Hartford at the Holidays
Learn about some of downtown Hartford’s beloved holiday traditions of the past, from the well-remembered Christmas Village display that featured scale replicas of historic Connecticut buildings atop the marquee of G. Fox and Company, to the Hartford Times Carol Sing, Constitution Plaza’s Festival of Lights, and more! Also included: a tale of Thanksgiving dinner inflation!
The Rise and Destruction of the Old Hartford Public High School
Hartford Public High School is recognized as the second-oldest public secondary school in the United States. This presentation starts with the school’s early buildings and then focuses on the massive Victorian complex that grew by stages in the late 19th and early 20th centuries between Hopkins and Broad Streets, at a time when HPHS was regarded as one of the top secondary schools in the country. This architectural landmark was demolished to make way for the construction of Interstate 84.
There are many other potential lecture topics I could present based on the histories of various Hartford neighborhoods and specific blocks of streets as they evolved over time. Please refer to my Hartford videos on YouTube for examples.