Technology to the rescue: inflation calculators

If a muskrat coat was valued at $200 in 1948, how much money would that be today, adjusted for inflation?  I wondered about this because I'd come into possession of a storage receipt in the course of my research for a book on Hartford's G. Fox & Co. department store.

Thankfully, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has an online calculator for just such a job. Your tax dollars at work.

The answer, by the way, is $1,904.38.

If you own an iPhone, there are also apps for that, of course.

Remembering G. Fox & Co.

How did I miss this? The Connecticut Historical Society has an online exhibit entitled "Remembering G. Fox & Co." It's wonderful, with lots of information and lots of photos, all well-presented. There's also a page where people can share their memories of the downtown department store, which opened in 1847 and closed in 1993.

Yours truly worked at G. Fox as a shoe salesman during his college years, in the early 1980s. It was still a hub of downtown Hartford but clearly losing business to suburban malls and strip malls--which, maddeningly for downtown boosters, often included G. Fox satellite stores. For prior generations, the downtown store had been integral to their sense of what "Hartford" meant, right there with the insurance companies, the parks, or any other institution you could name.

Here's hoping someone will create a similar tribute someday to G. Fox's competitor and next-door neighbor, Sage-Allen & Co.

Looking for info on Hartford theaters?

Start your search at Cinema Treasures, a newly redesigned website that has cataloged more than 30,000 "dream palaces" around the world, including those that are long gone. A search for "Hartford, CT" theaters brought 24 results. While the descriptions might be perfunctory, it's the recollections posted by visitors that make the site fascinating.

A Capitol idea for a website

The State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission has been around since 1973, but it only recently launched a website, at www.cga.ct.gov/cprc. The site is a beauty, with a nice history of the state Capitol and grounds, great photos, and lots of information on current projects.

The Capitol underwent a massive restoration between 1978 and 1988, but preservation of a historic landmark is never finished, especially when it comes to such a prominent -- and still-heavily-used -- symbol of Connecticut history. The current projects include a "Green Capitols" effort to keep rainwater from running off into the already-overburdened city sewer system by installing rain gardens, rain harvesting systems, and new walkways that allow the water to filter into the ground. Then there's the effort to replace the 1878 bronze Genius figure, which sat atop the Capitol dome until it was damaged in the 1938 hurricane and finally was melted down for ammunition and machine parts in World War II. A new bronze casting, made with laser measurements of the original plaster model, is complete but can't be hoisted to the dome until $200,000 is found for the operation. For now, it's on display in the Capitol lobby, along with the plaster model.

Congratulations to the state legislature's Information Technology Services staff for building a site that's sure to  raise the profile of a great landmark.

The trivia page is back!

The trivia questions were always the most popular feature of the old HartfordHistory.net, and I'm hoping fans will be pleased with how I'm presenting them in the new version. Rather than posting a question and making you wait a week (or longer) for the answer, I'm posting the answer along with the question -- you just have to hold your mouse over a hyperlink to read it. So instead of me torturing you, you can torture yourself ... if that's your thing. I haven't decided yet whether to try again at keeping a weekly schedule or simply post them in batches, as time allows. Stay tuned...

Stay tuned as well for news on what happened to all of the old trivia questions. They'll return soon in a new format. (That's the plan, anyway.)

Whalers fans, get your ‘Brass Bonanza’ fix here

Sure they play it once in a while between innings at Fenway Park, but what about those moments of nostalgia when you need to hear the Hartford Whalers victory march right now? Thank the hockey gods for brassbonanza.com, a nifty site that lets you listen to several versions of the song. For those of us who owned "Brass Bonanza" on a 45-rpm record, there's even the beloved B-side, "highlights" of Bob Neumier's radio call from the night in 1975 when players from the then-New England Whalers and the Minnesota Fighting Saints got into brawl that resulted in the World Hockey Association's record for penalties: 41. It meant a combined total of 217 minutes in the penalty box, where you feel shame. (Yes, that's a "Slapshot" reference.)

How CNNMoney.com views Hartford

CNNMoney.com has ranked Hartford the country's fifth-best metropolitan area in which to launch a small business.  While that may have many of us scratching our heads--especially in light of near-daily bummers like the City Council's acknowledgment last week that the Project Mayor project planned for the vacant corner of Main and Park streets will never become reality--it's worth noting that CNNMoney.com repeatedly references the city's history:

"The past few years have seen new life--hotels, restaurants, a convention center and a science center--sprouting in the historic city, where you'll also find the country's first public art museum and oldest public park."

There's even a photo of the Old State House. It all speaks to the potential for using the Hartford area's history as a draw not just for visitors but new residents. Heck, it seems to be one of the positive attributes people already associate with us, so why not get the most out of it?

Great new site on Connecticut radio history

Connecticut has made a lot of great history on the airwaves. (Anyone remember WTIC-TV's Ranger Andy?) Now it's celebrated on a relatively new website, Connecticut Broadcast History. The site tilts heavily toward radio history, but there are also pages devoted to TV stations, experimental stations--even pirate radio stations.

Meanwhile, "alumni" of  the Hartford area's most venerable radio stations have been operating some great websites on the individual stations right along. Check out wdrcobg.com and wticalumni.com.

Note: Though the URLs are similar, Connecticut Broadcast History is not connected to this blog's companion site, HartfordHistory.net. Connecticut Broadcast History lists as its webmaster John Ramsey, the general manager and chief engineer of WWUH at the University of Hartford.

Just cleaning out my in-box

Among the items:

1. A copy of the Hartford News, a free weekly that fans of Hartford history should love because the front page of each edition features a vintage photo of the city, under the headline, "Hartford ... Once Upon a Time." The most recent photos are courtesy of the Hartford Public Library's Hartford History Center. The April 9 issue has a great shot -- probably taken from the Capitol dome -- of Bushnell Park being torn up in the early 1940s in order to put the Park River in an underground conduit. As far as I can tell, the Hartford News has no online presence yet, though you can find copies in lot of local businesses. It's published by Southside Media on Franklin Avenue.

2. Speaking the library's Hartford History Center, you've got till Tuesday (great band, but never mind that) to view the "Rain of Parks" collection of vintage photographs taken at city parks.

3. Anyone who's serious about researching anything having to do with Hartford needs to bookmark iconn.org, a state-funded and -operated search engine (or "RE-search engine" as it's advertised.") All you need to use it is your local public library card. This site is absolutely indispensable for tracking down newspaper articles, demographic data -- you name it.

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.