Welcome to a stroll along Woodland Street! This stroll will take you back in time, to a point when Woodland Street was considered Hartford’s West End: it’s a story of Goodwins and Morgans, of two bishops and a senior pastor, and of influence on some of Hartford’s most enduring institutions. The tour will introduce you to some of these people and provide some insight into how Woodland Street became the street it is today. You’re welcome to start the tour at any point, but we recommend that you begin at the Classical Magnet School, then head north to Woodland Drive where you’ll cross to the other side of the street, then south to Farmington Avenue, and then back up the western side of the street to Classical Magnet. If you have any information or personal details about the street to share, we welcome it – there’s a way to do this at every stop! And now, we hope you’ll enjoy the tour!
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
2
The Goodwin Castle - and James & James Junius Goodwin
James Goodwin was born in Hartford in 1803 at his family’s home, the Goodwin Tavern, which was at the corner of Albany Avenue and Irving Street. The tavern was a stop on the stagecoach line between Hartford and Albany, and that led to James’s first job at the Morgan Tavern, which was a stop on the stagecoach line between New York and Boston. Morgan’s Tavern was run by Joseph Morgan, whose son was Junius Morgan and grandson was J. Pierpont Morgan, and Joseph’s daughter Lucy married James Goodwin. James eventually became an agent for the line and then its proprietor, and he would come to control the postal contracts for Connecticut. James correctly guessed that the railroads would put him out of business, and between 1835 and 1840 he completely divested himself from his stagecoach business. He did some farming (on Farmington Avenue), he got involved in insurance (he was president of Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company and a director of Hartford Fire Insurance Company), he bought a lot of real estate, and in 1872 he began construction of his new home at the corner of Woodland Street and Asylum Avenue – the Goodwin Castle.
The Goodwin Castle was considered the largest house built in Hartford at the time, and as it was under construction it became something of a local attraction, with people walking around the interior of the house at their leisure. The house was finished in 1873, and it cost $400,000 to build, which would be equivalent to almost $10.5 million today. James Goodwin lived in the house until his death in 1878.
James Junius Goodwin was James Goodwin’s son and Francis Goodwin’s brother. He left Hartford in 1859 to find his way in business, and he entered a business partnership with his cousin, J. P. Morgan. That business became Drexel Morgan & Company, which was the predecessor of JPMorgan Chase. James Junius retired from active business in 1871, and he returned to Hartford following the death of his father in 1878. He formed a partnership with Francis, J. J. & F Goodwin, to manage the Goodwin Estate, and he took up residence in the Goodwin Castle, where he lived until his death in 1915.
At some point after James Junius Goodwin’s death, the family sold the Goodwin Castle to the Aetna Fire Insurance Company, with the stipulation that James Junius’s wife, Josephine, would be allowed to use the Castle until her death. She maintained the Castle mostly as her summer home until her death in 1939, at which point Aetna Fire finally took title – but then they bought an office building downtown, so they had no real need for the Castle at that point. The house was demolished in May 1940, and the only surviving part of it is the parlor, which was donated to the Wadsworth Atheneum (Josephine’s nephew, Charles A. Goodwin, was on the board of the Atheneum at this time). The site was not occupied again until 1956, when the current building, now the Classical Magnet School, was constructed for the Factory Insurance Association.
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
3
Francis Goodwin
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
4
Joseph H. Twichell
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
5
Austin Organs
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
6
Melvin H. Hapgood
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
7
Edward M. Gallaudet
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
8
Bishop McAuliffe Memorial Lying-in Pavilion
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
9
Dillon Memorial & Catherine Dillon
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
10
O’Brien Building & Krapek Comprehensive Women’s Health Center
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
11
Francis McFarland
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
12
St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
13
Chauncey Brewster
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
14
The 16-acre tract
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
15
Grace Lutheran Church
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
16
Louis R. Cheney
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
17
Gustavus Pierrepont Davis & the Regency Towers
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
18
Theodore Lyman and the Town & County Club
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
19
Immanuel Congregational Church
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
20
Francis R. Cooley and The Woodland
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
21
Melancthon W. Jacobus
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
22
Charles E. Perkins
Center map on my location
Rabbit Holes!
Something to share?
Directions to next stop
Directions to Next Stop
X
Skip Ahead to
23
William & Florence Skinner, Samuel P. Avery, and Henry K. W. Welch
