some eighteen acres on the slope of Rocky Hill, commanding a beautiful view in every direction, was purchased by the College. Ground was broken on Commencement Day, 1875, with impressive ceremonies, and two large buildings were ready for occupation in 1878. The erection of the Northam Gateway, in 1881, unites the buildings and completes the western side of the proposed quadrangle. The lofty towers have added greatly to the appearance of the structure. The style of architecture is secular Gothic of the early French type.
The buildings of the Theological Seminary on Broad Street attract attention by their size and dignity. The institution was established in East Windsor in 1833, and was removed to Hartford in 1865, occupying the old Wadsworth house and other buildings on Prospect Street. In 1879, the present structure was occupied, and it has since been enlarged by the addition of the Case Library.
The first great manufacturing enterprise in Hartford, and still perhaps the best known and most important, is the Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, established by Colonel Samuel Colt in 1848. Colonel Colt
planned his works on a magnificent scale, and time has proved the wisdom of his plans. To pistols, rifles, and shotguns the company has added, from time to time, the manufacture of gun machinery, Gatling guns, printing-presses, portable steam-engines, and Colt automatic guns. Aside from the output of weapons and machinery, the Colt works have been of great value as an educating force in applied mechanics, and they have turned out many men who have founded large manufacturing establishments. The armory grounds now include two memorial buildings, the Church of the Good Shepherd, built in 1868 by Mrs. Colt, in memory of her husband, and a companion to this, built in 1896, a parish house, in memory of Commodore Caldwell H. Colt, a structure complete and satisfying in all its decorations and appointments. Another memorial structure in the city is just approaching completion,—the Keney Memorial Tower. In this, Hartford will possess an architectural feature unique in American cities,—a Norman bell and clock tower, with fine carvings.
The Messrs. Keney have left another memorial of themselves in the Keney Park, a fine addition to the Hartford park system. The beauty of Hartford and its desirability as a residence have both been much increased by the munificence of individual citizens, and the wise policy of the city government in creating a system of public parks. The first of these, Bushnell Park, the city owes to the wise forethought of Dr. Horace Bushnell, one of her most distinguished citizens. Laid out in 1859, it is, probably, after Central Park in New York, the oldest public city park in the country, and it was obtained in the face of much opposition by a man possessed of great intellect and foresight—for whom it was named in 1876. The building of the Capitol on the brow of the hill overlooking the Park, and the construction of the Soldiers’ Memorial Arch in 1886, have added much to its beauty and completeness. In 1894, Hartford acquired another park the gift of Col. Albert A. Pope, the head of the Pope Manufacturing Company. This park is situated in the south part of the city.
Very soon afterwards, by the will of Charles M. Pond, the city became possessed of a valuable tract of land on Prospect Hill, the former residence of Mr. Pond. This he desired should be called Elizabeth Park in memory of his wife. Now the Pope, Elizabeth, Keney, and Riverside Parks, the latter on the north meadows and near the city water-works, make a boulevard around Hartford, which will add much in the future to the beauty of this already beautiful city.