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This is complete, total nonsense. All the major east coast cities had suburbs along the train lines. Ever heard of Philadelphia Main Line? Swarthmore. Villanova. Radnor. Those date back to the Civil War era when West Hartford was a cow pasture. Westchester County? The Chicago rail suburbs date back to that era. Aurora. Englewood. Highland Park. I used to live in Winchester MA. The housing stock older than West Hartford. The management class train commuted into Boston. Newton is like that. All the streetcar suburbs of the 1920s.
Hartford had nothing to draw people back after the dark years of the 1960s. Other cities did and now have vibrant affluent urban neighborhoods.
What is nonsense? The homes built prior to World War II in West Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor were mostly for people moving out of Hartford. If you look you will see many homes built even earlier. I did not mean to imply other cities in the northeast did not see this happen too but because Hartford is so small in area there was little room for expansion within the city limits. A lot of cities in the south, west and midwest did not experience their growth outside the city limits until the housing boom after World War II.
The Philadelphia Mainline towns were originally started as country homes for people that lived in the city. It was a place for them to get away. Greenwich and the Fairfield County Gold Coast has a similar history. Commuting into the city from these far out towns came later when regular affordable commuter rail service. Jay
This does not jibe with fact. Hartford actually reached its peak population of 177,397 per the 1950 census which was after WWII. The city had 166,267 in 1940 before the US entered the war.
If you look at the population history of the adjacent towns you will see what I am talking about. West Hartford's population started to grow around 1890 and really grew fast from 1920 to the 1960's. That growth was mostly do to people moving out from Hartford. Jay
You think maybe 200,000 college students had something to do with it? They all live there. That gave the city a young, happening vibe during the dark years when everyone fled Hartford. Boston has way more slums than Hartford. The colleges stopped them from completely overtaking the city. In Boston-proper, BU and Northeastern have huge footprints. Plus Emerson, Berklee, Boston Conservatory, Wentworth, Suffolk, Mass College of Pharmacy, .....
The universities, yes. Another key factor was the persistence of high-grade neighborhoods in the core city, Beacon Hill and Back Bay. The typical thing over time for urban neighborhoods was initial growth and prosperity followed by a period of stasis followed by decline as fashions changed and people with choices moved on to newer areas. This is what the New Deal period red-liners for the Homeowners Loan Corp were doing, mapping urban areas as to new & growing, i.e., good investment; stable (o.k. investment), in decline (some risk) and in free fall (considerable risk). Beacon Hill through all its decades never really lost its cachet; people have always wanted to live there. Back Bay definitely slipped after WWII, never to the point of becoming a slum but it had plenty of dormitories and rooming houses in the 60s and 70s. But the presence of these two well preserved districts of high architectural quality in choice locations was key to Boston's revival since the 1970s. In Hartford it's a lot harder to see where the rich people lived back when it had the title of richest city in the nation. Asylum Hill was a wealthy area then, and while there are still some houses from that era, many of them were torn down and replaced with insurance behemoths (Aetna) or with ordinary apartment buildings. South Green was a wealthy area then, and along Congress Street and Charter Oak Place you can still feel it (if you squint) but on the whole the city center is surrounded by more or less dismal streets and housing.
Suburban towns are much more successful overall in preserving their economic status-- Newton, Brookline, Winchester, West Hartford, Farmington, etc. Unlike so many city neighborhoods that have seen prosperity, decline, and sometimes gentrification, these places use their discriminatory tools to preserve their status.
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Originally Posted by JayCT
I suspect the reason that greater Hartford residents are not more urban has to do with the size of the city and that there was room to spread out more than anything else.
Maybe, but Hartford is about the same size as Providence which has a very good urban neighborhood anchored by Brown Univ. Even Springfield has more of the high-end stock near the downtown left intact from a century ago than Hartford, which does have a high end neighborhood within city limits but all the way over on the West Hartford boundary which doesn't help fuel a revival in or around the downtown.
Last edited by missionhill; 03-06-2019 at 01:25 PM..
The universities, yes. Another key factor was the persistence of high-grade neighborhoods in the core city, Beacon Hill and Back Bay. The typical thing over time for urban neighborhoods was initial growth and prosperity followed by a period of stasis followed by decline as fashions changed and people with choices moved on to newer areas. This is what the New Deal period red-liners for the Homeowners Loan Corp were doing, mapping urban areas as to new & growing, i.e., good investment; stable (o.k. investment), in decline (some risk) and in free fall (considerable risk). Beacon Hill through all its decades never really lost its cachet; people have always wanted to live there. Back Bay definitely slipped after WWII, never to the point of becoming a slum but it had plenty of dormitories and rooming houses in the 60s and 70s. But the presence of these two well preserved districts of high architectural quality in choice locations was key to Boston's revival since the 1970s. In Hartford it's a lot harder to see where the rich people lived back when it had the title of richest city in the nation. Asylum Hill was a wealthy area then, and while there are still some houses from that era, many of them were torn down and replaced with insurance behemoths (Aetna) or with ordinary apartment buildings. South Green was a wealthy area then, and along Congress Street and Charter Oak Place you can still feel it (if you squint) but on the whole the city center is surrounded by more or less dismal streets and housing.
Suburban towns are much more successful overall in preserving their economic status-- Newton, Brookline, Winchester, West Hartford, Farmington, etc. Unlike so many city neighborhoods that have seen prosperity, decline, and sometimes gentrification, these places use their discriminatory tools to preserve their status.
Maybe, but Hartford is about the same size as Providence which has a very good urban neighborhood anchored by Brown Univ. Even Springfield has more of the high-end stock near the downtown left intact from a century ago than Hartford, which does have a high end neighborhood within city limits but all the way over on the West Hartford boundary which doesn't help fuel a revival in or around the downtown.
The West End of Hartford is still pretty nice. A lot of wealth. Always has been. Jay
The "white flight" phenomenon of people leaving US cities for the suburbs was accelerated by the building of the interstate highway system. The interstates made it convenient for city workers to live outside of the city. As these residents provided much of the tax base for the cities, they city services generally decayed and large slums were often the result. This, of course, happened after WW2 and affect almost every city in the country not just Hartford.
The trend began reversing this century when baby boomers became empty nesters and returned to urban settings. This is not anywhere near as large as the original white flight but it is a significant trend. As noted above, Hartford is simply part of a larger national movement.
The "white flight" phenomenon of people leaving US cities for the suburbs was accelerated by the building of the interstate highway system. The interstates made it convenient for city workers to live outside of the city. As these residents provided much of the tax base for the cities, they city services generally decayed and large slums were often the result. This, of course, happened after WW2 and affect almost every city in the country not just Hartford.
The trend began reversing this century when baby boomers became empty nesters and returned to urban settings. This is not anywhere near as large as the original white flight but it is a significant trend. As noted above, Hartford is simply part of a larger national movement.
There’s a second effect to the interstate highway system that was more of a push out of the city than a pull into the suburbs. The interstate highway system also literally destroyed some neighborhoods and cut off sections of the city from each other; the exhaust from concentrated traffic coming in and out of the city also contributed to more additional woes for those living in the city especially in the decades of leaded gasoline (its presence and elimination has one of the strongest correlations with urban violent crime rates with a time difference of roughly two decades); the necessity for parking and the devalued land of the city then had a feedback loop with more and more parking lots replacing more buildings until reaching a pretty mediocre stasis of few things to do and plenty of parking.
The exhaust situation has gotten markedly better and there’s some attempt to convert parking lots a bit and have some residential, so things are sort of getting better, but that decline in the latter 20th century for not just Hartford but the majority of US cities of significant size at the time was steep and long.
The Hartford City Council approved the plan to redevelop the properties at the corner of Park Road and Main Street. These properties have been vacant for years after a fire destroyed the historic buildings that stood there. Several previous projects proposed failed to be built on the sites but this project is being proposed by a highly successful developer, Spinnaker Properties, so it is hopeful that it will move forward. Jay
The Hartford City Council approved the plan to redevelop the properties at the corner of Park Road and Main Street. These properties have been vacant for years after a fire destroyed the historic buildings that stood there. Several previous projects proposed failed to be built on the sites but this project is being proposed by a highly successful developer, Spinnaker Properties, so it is hopeful that it will move forward. Jay
They are never going to be able to attract middle class or young people to that area. I suggest the owners (Spinnaker) take a walk around that area at night. That little park across the street is a drug den. Also that area is a big transfer stop for buses.
Spinnaker might have a chance if they can provide 24 hour armed security.
Theres many reasons that lot has been empty all these years.
They are never going to be able to attract middle class or young people to that area. I suggest the owners (Spinnaker) take a walk around that area at night. That little park across the street is a drug den. Also that area is a big transfer stop for buses.
Spinnaker might have a chance if they can provide 24 hour armed security.
Theres many reasons that lot has been empty all these years.
That area kind of is the transition between a tough area and the good area to the north. The northern half block has nice offices and businesses as well as some residential. They just sold the church property across the street for more apartments so there are a number of people who think it will change. Also just south of it is the already nice Congress Street area as well as the massive Hartford Hospital/Connecticut Childrens Hospital/Institute of Living complex. Thousands of workers there who could easily help change the area.
Spinnaker is a pretty smart developer. When they started redeveloping South Norwalk, it was pretty tough too. Today it has thousands of upscale apartments as well as stores, restaurants and is the site of one of the country’s only new shopping malls. Jay
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