Unhidden Gems: Bosnian-American Islamic Cultural Center

Before Hartford’s Bosnian community renovated this warehouse in 2007 creating a cultural center and mosque, it had at least six other lives: Buick dealership, auto repair shop, and church. It was a print shop, where the Connecticut Business and Financial Review was published. A uniform shop for nurses and others. The Canicattini or Canicattinese Society (spellings varied) was here, something that might have gone unrecorded if it had not been for the time a 62-year old man was shot in the chest by one of three masked men in 1993. He seems to have survived. 

With the building born around 1930, it’s likely to have had a few other occupants not named here. 

In the mid-to-late 1990s, Hartford welcomed refugees fleeing the war and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By 2000, there were at least 500 Bosnian and Kosovar Albanian Muslim families in Hartford. At first, they were in South Green: Morris, Dean, and Alden Streets, along with Franklin and Wethersfield Avenues. One newspaper writer referred to this area as “Bosnia Square,” — a term I have only seen used that once and never heard, despite living on one of those blocks not long after the piece was published. 

By 2004, a small room at Franklin Avenue and South Street was used for prayer services. After physically outgrowing the space, the community decided to raise money and look for a larger facility they could call their own.

The Bosnian-American Islamic Cultural Center is  about 1.5 miles south of “Bosnia Square,” about five blocks north of the Wethersfield town line. 

When the community acquired the building, they purchased it outright. That’s impressive regardless, but when you think about how the families, while escaping war, left their property and belongings behind, along with proof of having acquired advanced degrees, this becomes even more remarkable.

Unhidden Gems is a series published every other Monday, spotlighting one of Hartford’s treasures that sits right out in plain sight. These are restaurants, clubs, cultural centers, and other places that are either on or easily visible from one of Hartford’s main streets.