PARK AND CEMETERY 
481 
eastern end, which said hole is now a pretty basin or tarn, 
bordered neatly with turf for the great fountain. The waste 
and broken trumpery was everywhere, and besides the great 
hole above named there were two others inside the embank- 
ment triangle, and still another dug out in the western slope 
of the hillside, to obtain gravel for the dam of a huge old 
grist-mill standing on that border. Around the hill were 
grouped eight or ten low tenements, with as many pig sties, 
that appeared to have dropped there by accident. Farther 
around, at the extreme north bend of the river, and directly 
off Asylum street, in front of the New Park Church, all the 
garbage and truck of the city were dumped, as in a Gehenna 
without fire — shavings, under-bed fillings, tin waste, leather 
cuttings, cabbage stumps, hats without tops, old saddles, stove 
pipes rusted out — everything, in short, that had no right to be 
anywhere else. There were beside, on the premises, two old 
tanneries — one falling to pieces and the other managing to 
stand upon a slant; and on a high clay bank, just in front 
of the present Park Row block, was a little African Metho- 
dist chapel, looking out for prospect on the general litter of 
the region. And, finally, there was a back-side frontage of 
filthy tenements, including a soap works, that ran completely 
round the east and northeast bank of the rivers and projected 
their outhouses over it on brackets and piers.” 
After five years of energetic work Dr. Horace Bushnell 
succeeded in his efforts, and on the 22d day of December, 
1854, the city council proceeded to lay out the park, and went 
upon the grounds in a body to make proclamation to the 
owners of their intended occupation, thereby making Hart- 
ford one of the first cities in the United States to develop a 
rational scheme for a city park. The land consisted of forty- 
two acres and cost $135,000. The same ground is estimated 
to be worth, at the present time, over one and one-half mil- 
lions of dollars. 
Up to the early seventies Connecticut was afflicted with two 
state capitals, one located at New Haven, upon its famous 
green, and the other at Hartford, in the old Bullfinch build- 
ing, now owned by the city of Hartford and used as the head- 
quarters for its municipal departments. In 1871 the state 
decided to abandon its two capitals, and passed a bill author- 
izing the construction of a single state capital building at 
Hartford. It appropriated $500,000 for the purpose, provided 
the city of Hartford would contribute an equal amount and 
furnish a suitable site. The city appropriated the money and 
selected the westerly end of the new (Bushnell) Park as a 
suitable site for such a building. Dr. Horace Bushnell op- 
posed this selection most vigorously, in opposition to all the 
newspapers of the city and a great majority of its citizens. 
About this time Mr. A. E. Burr, editor of the Hartford 
Times, suggested the present site of the state capitol, upon 
ground which was then owned and occupied by the buildings 
of Trinity College. This suggestion was approved by Dr. 
Horace Bushnell, and appealed to the citizens in general as 
being the proper solution of this vexatious problem. The 
city then bought, for a sum of $600,000, the Trinity College 
grounds and turned them over to the state for the location 
of its new state capitol. 
The building now occupies a commanding position upon 
the summit of Bushnell Park. With its massive white marble 
walls, towering in sharp contrast above its broad, green- 
sward base, it is a striking example of a magnificent building, 
made more imposing by the beauty and harmony of its set- 
ting. But . this beautiful picture was far from complete. 
Between the state capitol grounds and the Consolidated rail- 
road, which borders upon Bushnell Park for a short distance 
near our Union Station, there was a tract of land familiarly 
known as the ‘‘Roundhouse Site,” of 12^4 acres, io 54 of which 
were used by the railroad company for the location of its 
local repair shops and roundhouses for the storage of its 
engines. This plant had been in operation for so many years, 
and Hartford’s citizens had become so accustomed to it, that 
they failed to realize the discordant features of the surround- 
ings. But the opportunity for the transformation of these 
grounds came in a peculiar way, and as the result of a 
spirited contest, as do all accomplishments really worth striv- 
ing for. 
During the Legislative session of 1901 an act was intro- 
duced appropriating $50,000 for repairs to the First Regiment 
x\rmory, located at Hartford. Upon investigation the appro- 
priation committee found this building in such a dilapidated 
condition that repairs of any nature would be unwise, and 
recommended the appointment of a commission to select a 
new site for a combination armory and arsenal. 
The report of this committee was accepted, and the com- 
mission provided for in the bill was later appointed by Gov- 
ernor George P. McLean. This commission selected a site, 
had plans prepared for an armory, and reported to the 1903 
Legislature. For various reasons the recommendations of 
this commission were rejected, but a bill was passed for a 
second commission to investigate the same subject and report 
to the 1905 Legislature. This commission was clothed with 
wider powers than the previous one, as it had an appropria- 
tion of $20,000 and authority to procure options upon the 
site, and plans, specifications and competitive bids for an 
armory, together with the site, to cost a sum not exceeding 
$500,000. 
After the adjournment of the Legislature, on' August 15, 
1903, and about four months before this commission was ap- 
pointed by the governor, the writer of this paper published 
a detailed article in the Hartford Times, suggesting the pro- 
priety of purchasing the railroad property adjacent to the 
state capitol and adopting it as the site for the new armory. 
In this article he remarked that “One great trouble with our 
American cities in the development of their municipal projects 
has been a lack of confidence in their own growth. This un- 
explainable conservatism has cost them many thousands of 
dollars. With decades of healthy expansion behind them, 
they are still unwilling to branch out and lay the foundation 
for a great future along the broad, comprehensive lines which 
their past history would certainly warrant.” 
This article was received throughout the state wdth com- 
mendable enthusiasm. Some of the state papers, while ad- 
mitting the wisdom of entering .upon such a scheme, were a 
little fearful that it was too bold and far-reaching for the 
present generation to undertake. One paper, in commenting 
upon it,’ said: “The fact that the Hartford Times devoted 
tw'o pages to its illustration and presentation is evidence that 
it regarded the scheme as being meritorious — a credit to the 
genius of the designer and an enterprise worth filing as some- 
thing which may move a future generation if it does not 
stimulate the present growing generation into action. There 
is no doubt that if the glory of a state is in its men — its 
citizenship — that its public buildings and institutions, by their 
grandeur and usefulness, disclose the character of its men 
and the enterprise and civic pride of its citizens. 
At first it strikes one as a large undertaking — perhaps as 
an extravagant idea — but to calmly think of the proposition 
leads to the conclusion that the capital city should be the 
great and attractive center in every state, and as the center 
of government every citizen and taxpayer should in it take 
personal pride. It would be a grand manifestation of enter- 
prise to have such A scheme entered upon.” 
The state of Connecticut at this time was not only con- 
templating the construction of a $500,000 state armory at 
Hartford, but was preparing itself through the work of an- 
other commission to build a beautiful state library building. 
