Formal dedication of Hartord's new city hall

1. Gas jets were placed on the fence along Main Street, State Street, and Central Row.
2. Gas jets were formed into an arch over the main gate, and atop the arch was an illuminated star.
3. A bandstand was erected in the southwest corner of the yard, and Colt’s band played throughout the event.
4. In all, the Courant estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 people attended the event.

1. The City of Hartford took formal possession of the Old State House from the State of Connecticut on March 13, 1879.
2. The first meeting of the “common council,” which consisted of the Board of Aldermen and the Court of Common Council, was held here on July 21, 1879.

1. George G. Sumner gave five reasons for the conversion of the Old State House into City Hall:

• There was a pressing need for a new, larger building because the old city hall, on Kinsley Street, could no longer accommodate the municipal government.
• The conversion of the Old State House was less expensive than building a new city hall
• The Old State House was centrally located.
• The conversion preserved the historic landmark.

2. E. Cone offered some interesting bits of trivia:

• John Winthrop traveled to England to secure a royal charter for the Connecticut Colony. During his meeting with Charles II, he presented a ring to the king that had been given to Winthrop’s grandfather by Charles I:  “This, it is said, exceedingly pleased his majesty, as it had once been the property of a father most dear to him.  Under these favorable circumstances the petition of Connecticut was received with uncommon favor.”
• State House Square had been the site of the Center Burying Ground: “When this ancient cemetery was abandoned it is said that many of the tombstones were used in laying the foundation of some of the oldest buildings which now or until recently fronted on the square on its north side.”
• The first building constructed on the square was the Center Church: “John W. Barber, in his history of Connecticut published in 1835, states that some of the timber of this building is still in existence being used in the construction of the Center Congregational church in this city.”
• In the autumn of 1693, “upon this square and near this building … Colonel Fletcher, another would-be governor, attempted to read his royal commission and instruction. Captain Wadsworth, in command of the train bands, ordered the drums to beat.  Colonel Fletcher commanded silence.  Captain Wadsworth again ordered the drums to be beaten and turning to Fletcher said with great earnestness: -- “If I am interrupted again I will make the sun shine through you in a moment.”  He spoke with such earnestness that no further attempt was made to read the commission and Fletcher deemed it expedient to soon leave the town and return to New York.”  As it turns out, Benjamin Fletcher was already Governor of New York, and he had actually come to Hartford to take command of the Connecticut militia.  Captain Joseph Wadsworth was already famous for having hid the royal charter in the Charter Oak in 1687.  According to the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Wadsworth completed his statement to Fletcher by saying, “We deny and defy your authority.”
• On June 10, 1797, a funeral was held on State House Square for Richard Done (also Doane), a condemned murderer who attended his funeral before being led to his execution on Gallows Hill. According to Cone, “there were from eight to ten thousand persons present, a great crowd for those days, when the population of Hartford was about three thousand.”

1. “The ladies of Hartford were numerously represented in the throng.”
2. From George G. Sumner’s address:

• “As we survey it in all its aspects and consider its cost, we are impressed with the good sense of our municipality in accepting and improving it, especially as we turn our attention close by and see the expensive luxury to be known as the post office building, which in its slow progress and enormous cost, betrays the useless prodigality of government work compared with the caution of private enterprise, and the wholesome economy which usually characterizes the people of Hartford.”
• “A spirit of economy which recognizes all reasonable necessities of public administration, and at the same time is comprehensive enough to deal liberally without waste, is always to be commended: and the examples we have had in our city council of a determination to cut down useless expenditures are worthy of close imitation, especially during such a period as may be required to secure relief from existing burdens of debt: and the following of these examples by administration to come will fast hurry the time when Hartford will occupy an exceptionally advantageous position as a place of business and of residence.”
• “We drop all partisan divisions when the best good of Hartford is concerned, and though we are misrepresented sometimes by eager critics, yet, after all, those who criticise us admire our strength of purpose and our unity of action. I few maintain this co-operative feeling, as I have no doubt we shall, our city will be the better for it, and our citizenship will have a loftier aspiration.”

3. “Altogether, the programme of the evening was very successfully carried out.”

1. George G. Sumner was the mayor of Hartford.
2. John B. Harbison was an alderman.
3. E. Cone was an alderman.
4. William H. Talcott was an alderman.
5. John H. Brocklesby was a councilman.
6. Patrick McGovern was a councilman.
7. Richard McCloud was a councilman.
8. John Winthrop was the governor of the Connecticut Colony.

Unattributed.  “New City Hall,” Hartford Daily Courant, October 23, 1879, page 2.