The newly-published Hartford Through Time was launched Wednesday evening in the Hartford Public Library’s Hartford History Center. The book is a collaboration of the Hartford History Center, photographer Andy Hart, and historian Wilson H. Faude. This is a collection of before-and-after street scenes.
After?
His end of the project was capturing the street scenes today, so that readers could see how the urban landscape has changed over time. His end of the project required no special athleticism, just standing on some medians and having the eye for detail that many lack.
The most surprising part of the experience, as Hart described it, was learning about the sheer number of buildings that had been torn down over the years in the name of progress.
Not one to romanticize the past, Faude acknowledged that some of the residential areas that had been cleared in decades past were not pristine.
At the same time, he told those attending the launch that contrary to popular belief, the Park River never flooded, nor did Beatrice Fox Auerbach demand that the highway ramps lead directly to G. Fox.
The before images in the book are from the early twentieth century. These were created from glass plate negatives in the Hartford History Center collection.
Faude’s observations were similar to Hart’s: “The bulldozer’s not the answer.”
Then, what is?
For all of its issues, Faude said, this “should be a very easy city to manage.”
“Homestead the shit,” he suggested.
The book is available for purchase online and at all branches of the Hartford Public Library: $22.99
