Visiting Hartford, Connecticut in 1919


Let's time-travel back to 1919 in Hartford, Connecticut. I just came across this wonderful image at the Duke University site, and since it's similar to another image that my history adventuring friend and I figured out a couple of days ago, I know where we are. We're looking north on Main Street at Morgan. No, none of these building exist anymore, if you stood there today you'd just be looking at a parking lot.


But we're time-travelers, and we're in 1919. At least I'm pretty sure we are - the Duke site was very specific about the date, which they wrote as September 23rd, 1919, but if you see a car that seems chronologically out of place, let me know and I'll update this post. This does look earlier than the 1925 pic that I found. Anyway, let's look around!


I'm just loving the old cars, especially that vehicle there on the right, the big one, next to the man who's reading the newspaper. Looks like you could carry a lot of stuff in it! I think that I can read Fowler & Hunting Co., Something-dealer. By the way, my taste runs to smaller vehicles, so I'd take that sporty little job there parked up in front of it.

The men are all hatted, and it also looks like all of them are wearing three-piece suits. I never owned a suit with a vest, but I'd imagine in a cooler climate it would be nice (I've lived in Arizona and California all of my adult life).


You can see the trolley tracks curving on Main Street. The sign next to the traffic cop seems to say Go and Stop, so if I were driving there I'd be confused, and have stop and ask him what I should do. My best guess is that it would seem like a free-for-all if I took my 21st-Century driving attitude back there. At least I would know to stay on the right! But that's about it. The cars honking at me to get out of the way would say "Aaa-ooo-gah!"


The building on the corner became M. Glazer Tires by 1925, but here the only thing I can see on it is the word "Ignition". And dang, I like those cars! I suppose that they were noisy, and dangerous, didn't have air bags or a place to plug in your iPhone, but they just look like a lot of fun.


The gigantic tangle of wires there worries me, but I'm sure that they had in under control, at least for 1919. The billboard, by the way, is the reason that the Duke site has this image because their site is dedicated to the study of historic advertising. Yes, that's a thing. I wonder what Adams California Fruit Gum was like? Apparently it was delicious!


I wonder what they did with the old bricks when they tore town the buildings? Hopefully they were reused and are still in Hartford. And how about those cool old signs? It would be nice if they were in a museum somewhere, but they were awfully big. Too big to fit in my garage!

Thank you for visiting Hartford in 1919 with me!
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