Board of Directors of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company approve the purchase of the American School for the Deaf property

05/13/1919 |

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Meeting at 10:30 in the morning, the directors of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company formally approved the plan to acquire the land and buildings of the American School for the Deaf on Asylum & Garden.

More details

The Courant reporter asked Richard M. Bissell what the “attitude of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company would be with relation to the Garden Street reservoir”.
Bissell responded “that he had given the matter little consideration, but, in his judgment, it was something to be decided by the city.
Bissell agreed, however, “that all rights now held by the American School for the Deaf would be acquired by the insurance company if the deal went through, including, of course, the restriction on the reservoir property.”
Bissell’s understanding was that while the city owned the land, the land would revert back to ASD in the event the city abandoned the property’s use as a reservoir.
Bissell also “understood that, in the scheme of the new city water works, it was the idea for the city to give up the Garden street reservoir, which is not now used in the role which it originally played.”
“The water board, at several meetings, has considered the reservoir proposition, and it was pointed out by Chief Engineer C. M. Saville that a considerable outlay would be necessary to make the property serviceable as an auxiliary water supply.”
Bissell hoped that the city would not restore the reservoir as an auxiliary water supply, “for he shares the view that the reservoir is of little use and is generally regarded as an eyesore.”
Bissell said that “his company would not object” to a plan to fill in the reservoir and turn it into a city park, “for it would but add to the general attractiveness of the locality.”

And then there's this

The city acquired the reservoir property from the American School for the Deaf “many years ago.”
The acquisition included restrictions that had thus far prevented the city from abandoning the reservoir.
The American School for the Deaf refused to waive these restrictions.
The reservoir has been a “back number in the water system for years,” but it was briefly re-used “a number of years ago” when the “city facing a serious condition, owing to the lack of water, a supply of river water was pumped into the reservoir after being properly treated with chemicals.”

The past recalled

The Courant learned that the Hartford Fire Insurance Company had an option to buy the Hartford property of the American School for the Deaf yesterday.

The future foretold

The board of the directors of the American School for the Deaf approved the sale of its Hartford campus to the Hartford Fire Insurance Company tomorrow.

Neat little tidbit

“The reservoir would hold only one-third of one day’s supply for the city.”

Caught my eye

“The Garden street reservoir, once a real reservoir, has not only long been an eyesore, but it has been an expensive luxury to the city, making no return on the investment tied up in it and calling for outlays from time to time to keeping it in anything like condition, to say nothing of the cost of a caretaker.”

A peek behind the blue-beaded curtain

The article noted that the city had “acquired the reservoir property from the American School for the Deaf, then the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb”.

Source

Unattributed, “Hartford Fire takes favorable action on real estate transfer,” Hartford Courant, May 14, 1919, page 13.

Garden Street Reservoir
The Hartford

History

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