The Courant describes the plans for Asylum Hill Congregational Church

This is the first reference in the Courant to Patrick Keely as architect of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.

1. The Asylum Hill Congregational Society petitioned for permission to build its new church on August 8, 1864.
2. The Asylum Hill Congregational Society building committee petitioned the city for a new grade for Asylum Avenue on September 12, 1864.

The chapel will be completed on March 4, 1865.

1. The same column in the Courant included a report on the September 24 session of the Hartford Police Court. Mary Walker, convicted of being a “common drunkard,” was sentenced to 30 days at the “town house,” which probably was the Town Farm.  The Town Farm was just north of the soon-to-be built church, its southern boundary being Collins Street. 
2. At the same court session, John Sullivan and William Cunningham apparently pleaded guilty to robbing William Tobin of his watch. Their $200 bonds were forfeited, and Sullivan and Cunningham enlisted.

1. “The church to be erected by the ‘Asylum Hill Congregational Society’ will be a handsome structure, judging from the view presented of it in a photograph of the ‘front elevation’ now before us. “
2. “The plans were furnished by P. C. Keely, a New York architect, who designed, we believe, St. Patrick’s cathedral on Church street.”
3. “The arrangement of the aisles is the same as in the new Congregational church to be erected on the corner of Asylum and High streets, a description of which appeared in Friday’s ”
4. “The church fronts on Asylum avenue near Affleck’s gardens, and the entrance to the chapel will be from a street which is yet to be opened.”

1. Patrick Keely did design Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church.
2. The new Congregational church was the North Congregational Church, which would become the Park Congregational Church upon completion of its new building.
3. Last Friday’s Courant was published on September 23, 1864.
4. The new street was Huntington Street.

Unattributed, “The Asylum Hill Church,” Hartford Daily Courant, September 26, 1864, page 2.