[Urban Peasant]

Well, I just got back home from Hartford today. I spent the entire day in New England's Rising Star and I really had a great time there. Since I already visited the Wadsworth Arthenaeum and Elizabeth Park the last time I was in Hartford, I didn't go to those places this time.

Instead I took a brisk hour long walk all around Downtown and Bushnell Park and snapping pictures of every interesting landmark, building, or blooming tree I came upon. I also visited the Connecticut Historical Society over in the West End (they currently have a wonderful exhibit on the Amistad incident), took a side trip to West Hartford where I again walked around the downtown for another hour, and drove around several neighborhoods. West Hartford looks a lot like Wellesley, Needham, Newton, and Boston's other affluent suburbs but their downtown is unique I must admit. The place is very beautiful indeed.

And yes, I did manage to visit Hartford Public High School and its mini-museum and archives. The people there were surprised to find an out-of-state visitor who were interested in their school's history and so agreed to let me see the museum even though the curator was not in today. They even have pictures of the old HPHS, the one that was torn down to make way for I-84. That building was reminiscent of the building Boston Latin and Boston English shared in Boston's South End from 1881 to 1922 (likewise demolished), an example of classic Victorian architecture. I didn't have time to visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe or Mark Twain Houses but I might visit them next time I'm in Hartford. Hartford also has other similarities to Boston (the Travelers Tower really looks like Custom House in Boston I think) and it also somewhat resembles Providence, RI.

Overall, Hartford to me is a really nice city and I really enjoyed it. The people are all very friendly and I can tell that the residents are trying hard to make the downtown more pleasant and appreciative. With a few more retail shops, Hartford's Downtown will really thrive I think. True, Hartford may have rough neighborhoods and high crime areas but every city has them including Boston. I really don't consider it out of control at all.

On an end note, I hope Hartford gets another Whalers hockey team. I asked around to see if anyone knew where I can find Whalers souvenirs and memorabilia and the best answer I got was ebay and the Whalers' Booster Club!

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

I spent the entire day in New England's Rising Star

I believe Hartford officially abandoned that marketing campaign a few years ago for obvious reasons.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Well, I just got back home from Hartford today. I spent the entire day in New England's Rising Star and I really had a great time there. Since I already visited the Wadsworth Arthenaeum and Elizabeth Park the last time I was in Hartford, I didn't go to those places this time.

Instead I took a brisk hour long walk all around Downtown and Bushnell Park and snapping pictures of every interesting landmark, building, or blooming tree I came upon. I also visited the Connecticut Historical Society over in the West End (they currently have a wonderful exhibit on the Amistad incident), took a side trip to West Hartford where I again walked around the downtown for another hour, and drove around several neighborhoods. West Hartford looks a lot like Wellesley, Needham, Newton, and Boston's other affluent suburbs but their downtown is unique I must admit. The place is very beautiful indeed.

And yes, I did manage to visit Hartford Public High School and its mini-museum and archives. The people there were surprised to find an out-of-state visitor who were interested in their school's history and so agreed to let me see the museum even though the curator was not in today. They even have pictures of the old HPHS, the one that was torn down to make way for I-84. That building was reminiscent of the building Boston Latin and Boston English shared in Boston's South End from 1881 to 1922 (likewise demolished), an example of classic Victorian architecture. I didn't have time to visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe or Mark Twain Houses but I might visit them next time I'm in Hartford. Hartford also has other similarities to Boston (the Travelers Tower really looks like Custom House in Boston I think) and it also somewhat resembles Providence, RI.

Overall, Hartford to me is a really nice city and I really enjoyed it. The people are all very friendly and I can tell that the residents are trying hard to make the downtown more pleasant and appreciative. With a few more retail shops, Hartford's Downtown will really thrive I think. True, Hartford may have rough neighborhoods and high crime areas but every city has them including Boston. I really don't consider it out of control at all.

On an end note, I hope Hartford gets another Whalers hockey team. I asked around to see if anyone knew where I can find Whalers souvenirs and memorabilia and the best answer I got was ebay and the Whalers' Booster Club!

Thanks for an unbiased report on the city. Many times Bostonians bash the city to no end. Not sure why.

I would agree with your post. For those looking past the "stigma" they might just find a nice managable mid sized city/metro with much of the history and "character" of a city like Boston but without a lot of the big city problems that come with it.

After a decade of watching the city teeter on the edge of resurgence and falling back then going forward and then going back, I personally have had enough of the region. BUT that doesn't mean the things you posted about are any less true about the city and region.

Thanks again.

P.S. I recently did a restoration of the 120 year old "green" floor you see at the entrance to the Historical Society Museum. The lab analysis of what it was made up of was very interesting to say the least. Even the building has "history". The museum is a gem many in the region do not take advantage of.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by Rich Lee

I believe Hartford officially abandoned that marketing campaign a few years ago for obvious reasons.

Nope, Hartford is still referred to as New England's Rising Star in the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau's 2009 visitors guide, which I picked up from the visitors center yesterday. As far as I can tell, the nickname if not the campaign itself is alive and kicking for the better or for the worse.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by JViello

Many times Bostonians bash the city to no end. Not sure why.

I can only assume that my fellow Bostonians wish that there was another city just as big and cosmopolitan as Boston in New England and when they find out that Hartford just isn't that, they get upset. I know they do the same to Providence as well.

Like you, I like Hartford for its size though. Boston gets just too congested with people and cars at times. I got stuck in Hartford's rush hour traffic when leaving the city yesterday but the jam lasted only a short time. In metro Boston, those traffic jams would last twice as long if not longer.

What Hartford needs I think are a few more retail shops and perhaps an anchor department store or two in the downtown. Those aren't urgent things to have though. I am a great proponent of transit oriented development although asking for a rapid transit line connecting Hartford's downtown to West Hartford and/or East Hartford is a bit too much to ask for right now. I wonder what does Governor Rell think.

[Slipperman]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Nope, Hartford is still referred to as New England's Rising Star in the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau's 2009 visitors guide, which I picked up from the visitors center yesterday. As far as I can tell, the nickname if not the campaign itself is alive and kicking for the better or for the worse.

hartford.com used to display the rising star logo but they don't anymore. not sure what that means - especially since there's a building in E Hartford that can be seen from Recapture that still displays the rising star logo on it's roof (at least it looks like it).

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Nope, Hartford is still referred to as New England's Rising Star in the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau's 2009 visitor's guide, which I picked up from the visitor's center yesterday. As far as I can tell, the nickname if not the campaign itself is alive and kicking for the better or for the worse.

The nickname might be lingering, but the marketing campaign (as I stated) was abandoned...maybe as far back as 2006.

[missionhill]

As a displaced Bostonian myself, I think Hartford has a lot in common with Boston.

• Hartford settled by the same group of Puritans only 6 years after the Mass Bay settlement
• Became a very wealthy city in the 19th century
• Influential Protestant preachers--Horace Bushnell in Hartford; Channing, Everett, Ferris, and others in Boston
• Insurance companies (Boston has a few too!)
• A very nice central park adjacent to the state house
• State capitals of very similar states
  An "old state house" smack in the middle of modern banking and insurance buildings
• Big urban renewal projects in the 1960s--Constitution Plaza and Government Center
• Literary center in the 19th century with a literary outpost in the nearby country (Concord in the Boston case and Litchfield in the Hartford case)
• Lots of Catholics although neither city has even one important downtown Catholic church. Hartford has prominent Congregational and Episcopal churches right on Main Street; and downtown Boston and Back Bay are littered with important Congregational, Unitarian, and Episcopal churches; Boston also has the Vatican of Christian Science there in the Back Bay
• A distinctive early 20th century skyscraper in each (Custom House tower and the even more famous Travelers tower)
• Lots of wood-frame two and three-family houses, although Hartford doesn't have three-deckers like Boston's
• Small central city relative to the metro area, and each with many independent suburban towns and satellite cities
• Westward from downtown is the historic direction of fashionable people and high-end development (in Hartford, Assylum Hill, Farmington AVe, West End, West Hartford, Farmington, etc; and in Boston, Back Bay, Brookline, Newton, Wellesley, Weston, etc.)
• A middle to working class Jewish community suddenly displaced in the 1960s (Grove Hall, Franklin Field, Mattapan area in Boston and North End/Blue Hills area in Hartford), areas now struggling with crime and poverty
• Parks in outlying districts of the city designed by Olmsted (in Boston, by F.L.O. senior and in Hartford by his sons, the Olmsted brothers)

Chief differences: Boston grew much bigger through immigration, Boston is a salt water port, Boston today has highly desirable residential districts in its core areas, Boston is a center of higher education, and Boston has much more shopping.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by missionhill

• Big urban renewal projects in the 1960s--Constitution Plaza and Government Center

Too bad Constitution Plaza looks really nice and Boston's Government Center doesn't

• Lots of Catholics although neither city has even one important downtown Catholic church. Hartford has prominent Congregational and Episcopal churches right on Main Street; and downtown Boston and Back Bay are littered with important Congregational, Unitarian, and Episcopal churches; Boston also has the Vatican of Christian Science there in the Back Bay

It shows that the Irish, Italians, and other Catholics were shunted from the established city centers throughout history. They weren't allowed to set up shop in the then predominantly Protestant downtown communities.

Might I add that both cities lay claim to a few of the "oldest" whatevers in the nation

Boston: oldest public school, oldest public high school, oldest subway, etc

Hartford: oldest newspaper, oldest public park, 2nd oldest public school, etc

I think being in the same region (i.e. New England) has a lot to do with how the two cities are so similar.