Civic Center roof collapse: 30 years ago today

It doesn't seem that long ago, but it's true: In the early-morning hours of January 18, 1978, a flaw in the "space frame" roof's design and about 5 inches of heavy, wet snow combined to cause the collapse. No one was hurt, but only six hours earlier, a crowd of about 5,000 had left the arena after watching a men's basketball game between the University of Connecticut and University of Massachusetts. A rebuilt Civic Center opened in 1980. Gallery of Hartford Courant file photos

An excellent idea

On his WTIC-AM talk show this afternoon, Colin McEnroe offered a great idea for reviving downtown Hartford: build a museum dedicated to the written word. Sure, we're already building a science museum -- but so is every other city, he noted. A written-word museum would not only make Hartford unique, he said, but it would also allow the region to draw on its long heritage of great authors, like Mark Twain, Noah Webster, Wallace Stevens, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. McEnroe described a museum where visitors would learn about everything from the Gutenberg press to the latest developments in computing. He also spoke of making the building distinctive by designing it to look like a letter of the alphabet. That's fine too, but I'd be reluctant to enter a building shaped like the letter "V." Colin McEnroe's blog

Things on my plate in '08 and books of '07

Happy new year! Among my resolutions: to thoroughly overhaul wwww.hartfordhistory.net and blog more regularly. On the latter score, I never got around last year to mentioning the publication of several books that deal in one way or another with city history. So I'll take the opportunity to list them here:

• "The Hartford Whalers" is another addition to Arcadia Publishing's indispensable series, Images in History. This pictorial tribute to "The Whale," put together by Brian Codagnone, traces the team's history from its membership in the upstart World Hockey League to its absorbtion into the National Hockey League, which eventually allowed the team to move to -- ugh! -- North Carolina. Relive the fun and heartbreak.
  
  
• "Victorian Hartford Revisited," another Arcadia photo book, is Tomas Nenortas's follow-up to his "Victorian Hartford," a compilation of postcards from Hartford's days as one of America's wealthiest and most beautiful cities. According to Arcadia, this volume contains "many never-before-published images."
  
  
• "House of Good Hope: A Promise for a Broken City," tells the true story of five gifted Hartford boys who met as high school athletes and promised to stay in the city and work for its improvement. Intertwined with it is author Michael Downs' soul searching over whether to remain in Hartford, the scene of so much of his family's history. The book is published by the University of Nebraska Press.
  
  
• "Girls of Tender Age: A Memoir" actually appeared at the end of 2005, but I can't resist plugging this amazing book, which has since been published in paperback. Author Mary-Ann Tirone Smith uses the 1953 murder of an 11-year-old classmate as a spur to explore her Hartford childhood, which included living with an autistic brother who could not bear many everyday sounds -- this in a time when autism was little recognized, let alone understood. Those nostalgic for the kinder, gentler Hartford of the 1950s will find lots of fodder here, but Smith also dissects the repressive mindset that led the adults around her to all but pretend the death of her friend never happened. Smith's experience as a mystery writer shows too, as she gives a riveting, step-by-step account of the movements that brought her friend into the path of her killer. This is an absolute page-turner.
  

More State Aid Urged for Colt Project

In its lead editorial today, the Hartford Courant urged the state to ante up more funding for the nearly finished renovation of the Colt armory complex. The developers find themselves in a Catch-22, according to the newspaper, with banks refusing to lend more money without greater state investment and the state refusing to increase its share unless the developers show they have enough private investment to complete the project.

"To have this promising $180 million restoration fall through at this late stage would be beyond disappointing," the Courant writes. "For Connecticut to let an internationally important landmark lapse into ruin would be a travesty."

Read the Courant editorial

Celebration on Saturday at Pope Park

Looking for something to do on Saturday, September 8? Stop by historic Pope Park, where the nonprofit Friends of Pope Park and its partners will celebrate the completion of the second phase of improvements to the park.

Here's the Friends' press release for the event:

On Saturday, September 8 from noon to 2:00 p.m., community leaders, neighborhood residents, the Friends of Pope Park and members of the Pope family will gather to celebrate the completion of Phase Two of the Pope Park Master Plan. “Pope Park Comes Together” is a free event that will take place in the new courtyard area at the Pope Park Recreation Center on 30 Pope Park Drive. The celebration is open to the public and will take place rain or shine. The event is sponsored by the Friends of Pope Park, the Pope Hartford Designated Fund, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the City of Hartford.

This project is the signature component of the Pope Park Master Plan, an overall multi-million dollar initiative to improve the century-old park and update it for modern uses.

“ Pope Park literally and physically has come together with the removal of Pope Park Drive, the interior road that had long divided the Park for over 90-years. We are delighted to celebrate the public private partnership that made this possible,” says Nancy Macy, Chair of the Pope Park Designated Fund. This road was not part of the original plan park design conceived by Frederick Law Olmsted and later built in 1903 by his sons, the Olmsted Brothers. The road removal, a new courtyard to the park’s recreation center, and major pedestrian and parking improvements were funded by the city of Hartford and by a $270,000 capital grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The Pope Hartford Designated Fund is the nonprofit entity responsible for the overall campaign to restore the Park.

The celebratory event will begin at noon with free refreshments by Sweet and Savory Creations LLC featuring hot dogs and ice cream. Turn of the century music will be provided by the Matt Dechamplain Ragtime Trio and entertainment by Unicyclist/Juggler Robert Carroll, stiltwalker Terri Moore, Clarity the Clown and caricaturist Elaine Mills. The Pope Park Recreation Center staff will participate in the fun by conducting board game demonstrations on the new board game tables in the courtyard area and face painting.

The Hartford Food Systems’ Farmers Market will be selling locally grown produce in the new parking lot and the Hartford Public Library’s Bookmobile will be open to the public.

A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at approximately 12:15 p.m. with remarks from neighborhood and business leaders including Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, Pope Hartford Designated Fund Chair Nancy Macy, and Pharibe Hannon, the great-great granddaughter of Colonel Albert Pope.

Also featured at the event will be a the display of a vintage 1906 Pope Hartford automobile assembled in the early 1900s in Hartford and a demonstration of old-fashioned high-wheeled bicycles by the Connecticut Wheelmen, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the restoration and riding of early cycles.

The event will also feature the unveiling of the Friends of Pope Park and Pope Hartford Designated Fund’s “Memories of Pope Park” campaign. A selection of “Memories” featuring stories from individuals, historic photographs and historic articles will be on display in the Pope Park Recreation Center.

The land for Pope Park, originally 90 acres, was donated to the city of Hartford in 1894 by Colonel Albert A. Pope for his employees and city residents to enjoy games, walking and out-of-door activities. Colonel Pope was the head of the Pope Manufacturing Company, which manufactured bicycles and automobiles, including the well-known Columbia bicycle. It is particularly fitting that during this celebration thousands of bicyclists will sweep through the Park as part of the Discover Hartford bicycle tour that day.

Today Pope Park is an example of the best that a park can contribute to the neighborhood and the livability of the city. Preserving and improving the park is an essential component of Hartford’s revitalization. Fortunately, this project represents a comprehensive effort to reverse the last half century’s gradual decline of this valuable resource.

The Pope Park Master Plan makes specific recommendations for Pope Park to help achieve the city’s vision to improve all thirty-two of its parks as outlined in the Hartford Parks Master Plan of 1992. For more information about the Pope Park Master Plan, visit www.popepark.org.

New Blog Highlights Historic Buildings

If you're looking for photos and information on the Hartford area's most historic buildings, check out a blog called Historic Buildings of Connecticut, at historicbuildingsct.blogspot.com. It contains mini-profiles of dozens of buildings, including about 30 in Hartford.

Is Broadcast House Doomed?

The Hartford Courant reports today that Broadcast House, the longtime home of television station WFSB, Channel 3, may be demolished once the station completes its move to a new facility in Rocky Hill. The building, at the foot of Constitution Plaza, has been on the market for two months, but there have been no takers. Part of the problem is Broadcast House's unique configuration; using it for anything other than a TV station would require gutting the interior, according to the Courant.

When it opened in 1961, Broadcast House "was hailed as a marvel of modern architecture and technology, the first structure to be completed on Constitution Plaza after the razing of the Front Street neighborhood," the newspaper reports. The occasion was "so momentous" that a bronze sculpture and original symphony were commissioned for the dedication ceremony. "The music was later released as a record because so many wanted a copy," according to the Courant.

At the time, the CBS affiliate went by a different name: WTIC. It became WFSB following its sale by the original owner, the Travelers Insurance Cos. The call letters were later picked up by a new station, Fox affiliate Channel 61.

In his blog, WFSB anchor and reporter Dennis House explains why the station is heading for the suburbs:

"Broadcast House was built in the early 1960s, and it shows. This iconic building has served us well for the past 46 years, but it was constructed when our news crews shot stories on film, and technology has progressed rapidly since then.

"When Broadcast House opened, there were parking lots where skyscrapers now stand. For years, there has been no employee parking. Even all of our news vehicles can't fit in our rather small garage. Our new building has plenty of parking."