THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OECAUEORNIA LOS ANGELES |iartford, §099. AS A ar^d Qommergal Center WITH Brief ^\[e\:Q\)es of Its jHistory, /attractions, leadi^^ Industries, ai^d JQstifiJtioQS llijstrated PiJblisl?ed by Jl^e jHartford Board of Trad(? 1889 Ir^troduetory. FT a meeting of the Board of Trade held October i, 1888, it was voted that the secretary be directed to prepare a pamphlet setting forth the advantages of Hartford as a manufacturing center and place of residence, and giving other facts of general interest. While the scope of the work is limited, great pains have been taken to secure accuracy of statement. The Board is indebted to Edward L. Osgood, of Boston, for the use of several fine cuts, engraved for the Memorial History of Hartford County, a book of unusual merit, the value of which has not been properly recognized. A number of the illustrations were made expressly for this volume and appear now for the first time. Obligations to Geer's Directory are stated elsewhere. The articles on Schools, Trinity College, the Asylum, the Retreat, and the Theological Seminary, were written by persons having intimate knowledge of the subjects. To those who have aided by furnishing facts, or otherwise, the thanks of the Board are tendered. P. H. WOODWARD, Seirdary. Hartford, Conn., April 9, 1889. 7/ie Case, Lochwood & Brainard Co., Printers, Hartford, Conn. no Jl^e Board of Jrade THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN., ROOMS 39 PEARL STREET. OFFICERS. J. M. ALLEN, President. P. H. WOODWARD, Secretary. M. H. WHAPLES, Treasurer. VICE-PRESIDENTS. C. C. Kimball, Pliny Jewell. DIRECTORS. J. M. Allen, C. C. Kimball, Frank S. Brown, Geo. a. Fairfield, JUDSON H. Root, Wm. H. Post, Wm. H. Goodrich, John C. Mead, John F. Morris, James L. Howard, Chas. E. Billings, L B. Davis, Geo. p. Bissell, H. C. Dwight, Morgan G. Bulkeley, John H. Hall, F. a. Pratt, Chas. M. Beach, A. E. Burr, Geo. H. Day, James J. Goodwin, Chas. E. Gross, Asa S. Cook, A. B. Gillett, M. H. Whaples. STANDING COMMITTEES. S. M. Bronson., N. B. Allyn, Henry A. Botsford, Franklin Clark, Chas. H. Dresser, C. M. Henney, J. G. Lane, Wm. T. Parks, F. F. Street, On Membership. John W. Stedman, Albert F. Brown, Fred. C. Billings, A. Catlin, Jr., H. Griswold, S. L Freeman, J. J. Poole, F. M. Peck, J. W. Starkweather. 2012422 COMMITTEES. On Reception. Geo. L. Chase, W. C. Skinner, W. N. Pelton, Edgar F. Burnham, John M. Holcombe, John W. Welch, E. S. KiBHE, J. Samuels, Wm. H. Gross, R. N. Fitzgerald, W. H. Wiley, Chas. G. Frisbie, D. W. C. Skiltun, Geo. E. Hatch, RoBT. N. Seyms, Edwin S. Bartleit, Geo. W. Beach, H. P. Hitchcock, S. B. Boswortk, P. P. Bennett, John S. Camp, F. B. Wilson, A. B. Gillett, Elisha B. Squires. Charles B. Whiting, F. E. Belden, On Finance. Geo. H. Day, E. J. Bassett, Ward W. Jacobs, Sam'l E. Elmore, Frederick Plimpton. On House. J. D. Browne, Wm. H. Lockwood, Francis C. Pratt. On Transportation. H. C. Dwight, Geo. A. Fairfield, John H. Hall, O. H. Blanchard, Clarence B. Ingraham. On Public Affairs. Francis Goodwin, Henry C. Robinson, Leverett Brainard, Chas. E. Gross, Judson H.'"Root, Frederick S. Brown, Lemuel T. Frisbie. /T\emb<^r5. Abbot, John C. Adams, Sherman W. Ahern, Jamks Allen, J. M. Allen, John Allyn, Noyes B. *Allyn, R. J. Alton, Charles D., M.D. Ammerman, p. & Son. Arms, James C. Ashmead, Robert H. Backes, F. W. Baker, H. C. Ballerstein, R. Barbour, Lucius^A. Barker, Ludlow &; Co. Barrett Bros. Bassett, E. J. Batterson, J. G. Beach, C. M. Beach, George^W. Beach, H. B. & Son. Belden, Charles R. Belden, F. E. Bell, C. H. Bennett, M., Jr. Bennett, P. P. Besse, Joseph L. Best, George Bidwell, M. a. Bill Bros. Billings, Charles E. Billings, Fred C. BissELL, George P. Blake, T. J. & Son. Blanchard, O. H. Bliss, E. L. Bliss, Francis E. Boardman, William & Sons. Bolles, George A. Bosworth, N. a. Bosworth, S. B. Botsford, Hknry a. Brainard, L. Brewer, C. S. Brewster, J. H. Brockway, Ulysses H. Bronson, S. M. Brooks, Henry P. Brown, Albert F. Brown, Frank S. Brown, Fred. S. Browne, J. D. *Buell, D. H. Bulkeley, Geor(;e L. Bulkeley, M. G. Bulkeley, William H. Bull, Lamb & Co. BUNCE, J. B. Burdett, Charles L. Burnell, C. J. Burr, A. E. Burr Index Company. Burt, Charles R. Cadden Clothing Company. Cady, Ernest Camp, John S. Capewell, G. J. Carpenter & Bartlett. Case, C. H. Catlin, A., Jr. Chamberlin, S. D. Chapman, Charles R. Chapman, M. S. Chapman, Silas, Jr. Charlton, A. H. Chase, Charles E. Chase, George L. Church, Abner Clark, Charles H. Clark, Edred W. Clark, E. S. Clark, Ezra Clark, Fayette C. ♦Deceased. MEMBERS. Clark, Fr.\nklin Clark, H. H. Clark, L. \V. Clark, Theodore Clark, W. B. Clark & Smith. Collins, Atwood Colt, Caldwell H. Cone, J. H. & W. E. Conklin, H. W. Conrad, Philip Cook, A.sa S. Cook, C. W. Cook & Whittemore. Cooley, Francis B. Corning, H. F. & Co. Cowles, S. W. Cowles, Truman Crilly, John A. Crosthwaite, F. H. Cunningham, M. G. CuRLEY, John Cutler, Ralph W. Davis, I. B. & Son. Day, George H. Dennis, Rodney Dickinson, Leonard A. DiMOCK, J. W. Donaghue Bros. Donaghue, Patrick Dow Bros. Downing, Emory Drake & Parsons. Dresser, Charles H. Duffy, Thomas F. Dunham, S. G. Dunn, P. H. Dwight, Henry C. Edwards, Fred. B. Ellis, George Ellsworth, F. Elmore, Samuel E. Emmons, C. H. Enders, T. O. Ensworth, L. L. Fairfield, George A. Fairfield, Jno. M. Fenn, Linus T. Fichtner, p. a. FiSK, J. D. Fitzgerald, R. N. Folts, George H. Forbes & Buckland. Foster, A. L. & Co. Foster & Co. Fowler & Hunting. Fowler & San Souci. Fox & Co. Fox & Whittemore. Freeman, S. I. French & Strong. Frisbie, Edward C. Frisbie, L. T. & Son. Fuller,* C. C. Fuller, G. W. & Son. Gallup & Metzger. Gates, J. J. Gatling, R. J. Gay, George A. Gemmill, Burnham & Co. Gillett, a. B. Goldschmidt, H. Goodman, Aaron C. goodnow, j. Goodrich, C. C. Goodrich, E. S. Goodrich, Stephen Goodrich, Wm. H. Goodwin, J. J. & F. Goodwin, Lester H. Graves, Miles W. Gray, John W. Greene, Jacob L. Griswold, Charles R. Griswold, H. Gross, Charles E. Gross, Wm. H. Habenstein, Edward Hall, Jas. P. Hall, Jno. H. Harbison, J. P. Hart, Charles R. Hart, Edward G. Hartford Printing Co. Hartford Silver Plate Co. Hatch, George E. Hawley, R. D. Haydh;n, J. M. Haynes, J. P. HaYNES & FORBY. Henney, C. M. Henney, David Henney, William F. Heublein, Gilbert F. MEMBERS. Heublein, Louis F. Hicks, E. M. HiGGiNS, John E. Hills, A. C. Hills, C. S. Hills, J. C. Hills, John R. Hills, Isaac & Sons. Hills & Co. Hillyer, Drayton Hinckley, Howard N. Hitchcock, H. P. Hoadley, E. J. HOLBROOK, C. M. HOLBROOK, George A. HoLCOMBE, John M. Hollander, Abraham HoRSFALL & Rothschild. Howard, A. E. Howard, James L. Howe, D. R. Hubbard, S. A. Hunt, A. A. Hurd & Mellen. Hussey, Samuel J. Hyde, Alvin P. Hyde, E. H., Jr. Hyde, Frank E. Hyde, Salisbury Hyde, Wm. Waldo Ingraham, C. B. Jacobs, Avery & Jacobs. Jacobs, Ward W. Jaros, Samuel Jewell, Charles A. Jewell, L. B. Jewell, Pliny Jillson, A. W. Jones, H. N. & Co. Jones & Little. Jones, O. H. Joslyn, Charles M. JUDD, H. C. Kashmann, Isaac Keeney, W. B. Keller, George Kellogg, Julius A. Kendall, E. S. Keney & Roberts. Kenyon, Rinaldo p. KiBBE, E. S. Kimball, C. C. King, Charles King, Horace H. KiNGSLEY & Miller. Kingsley & Smith. Knox, Frank J. Kohn, Henry Krug, Powers & Co. Lane, J. G. Laragy, Patrick Earned & Hatch. Lathrop, W. H. Lawrence, Charles H. Leschke, E. & Pletcher Lincoln, Brooks H. Lincoln, Charles G. Lincoln, Charles P. Lincoln, Frederick M. Lincoln, Theodore M. Lockwood, William H. longley, c. e. LoRENZ, William A. LovELL, Tracy & Co. Mandlebaum, J. & Sons. Marcy Brothers & Co. Marks Brothers. Marston, C. T. & Co. Maslen, Stephen Matson, William L. Mayer, David McManus, John C. Mead, John C. Merrill, L. D. Moore, James B. Morgan, H. K. Morrell, Daniel Morris, J. F. Moseley, G. W. & Son. Mulhall, James Nichols, James Nelson, R. W. Netter, G. Newton, Charles E. Newton, J. P. Newton, Philo W. Ney, j. M. NoTT, Samuel Nugent, R. A. W. Oakey, F. D. Olds & Whipple. Otis, J. H. Palmer, H. W^ & Co. Parks & Savage. lO MEMBERS. Parsons, J. C. Peck, A. L. Peck, F. M. Pelton, W. N. Phillips, E. B. Phillips, Daniel Pitkin, Brothers & Co. Plimpton, Frederick Plimpton, F. W. Plimpton, L. B. Plimpton, James M. Pomeroy, A. H. Pomroy, George W. Poole, J. J. & Co. Post, William H. Powell, J. B. Pratt, C. W. Pratt, Francis A. Pratt, Francis C. Pratt, Rufus N. Prentice, Samuel O. Preston, Miles B. Prouty, L. M. & Co. Pullar, James Quiggle, Elmer C. Quinn, p. H. Rapalye, Charles A. Rathbun, J. G. Redfield & Craig. Renshaw, James B. RiCKER, Alfred T. Ripley Brothers. Roberts, E. M. Roberts, Henry Robertson, E. G. Robertson, William P. Robbins Brothers. Robinson, Henry C. Rockwell, Fred C. Rogers, William H. Rogers, William, Mfg. Co. Rood, U. A. Root, John G. Root, Judson H. Royce, p. C. Russell, Charles H. Russell, F. W. Russell, John S. Russell, Thomas W. Ryan, P. D. Salomon & De Leeuw. Samuels, J. Sawtelle, a. W. & Co. Sawyer, George O. Saunders, H. H. Schall, Ernst Schroeder, F. scoville, a. w. Seidler & May. Seyms, R. N. Shannon, T. R. Shaw, Thomas A. Shelton, Edward Simonds, William|Edgar Simmons, W. G. & Co. Skilton, D. W. C. Skinner, William C. . Slate, Dwight Slate, D. N. Sloane, John & Co. Smith, Charles H. Smith, Willis E. Smith, White & Co. Smith, Northam & Co. Soby, Charles Spear, D. A. Squires, Elisha B. Starkweather, J. W. Steane, I. J. Stedman, John W. Steele, George W. Stillman, Henry A. Stoddard, S. D. Stokes, Fred Storrs & Candee. Stoughton, D. G. Street, F. F. Strickland & Shea. Strong, D. E. Sturtevant, F. C. Taintor, James U. Talcott, C. M. Talcott, W. H. & Brother, i Tallman, James H. Taylor, E. & Sons. Taylor & Huntington. *Terry, Stephen Thomson, J. M. Tillinghast, a. H. TOLLES, E. & Co. Tracy, D. W. Tracy, Tarbox & Robinson. Topping, J. R. Tucker's, E., Sons. * Deceased. MEMBERS. II TuRNBULL, Thomas Walker, Albert H. Wander, William & Son. Warren, F. M. Wasserbach, J. C. Way & Co. Webb & Shedd. Weidlich, Herman Weise, J. & Co. Welch, John W. Welles, Charles T. Westphal, William Whaples, M. H. White, Alonzo Whiting, Charles B. Whitney, Amos W. Wilcox & Maxham. Wiley, Waterman & Eaton. Wiley, William H. WiLLES, J. H. Williams, Eugene H. Williams & Carleton. Wilson, Frank B. Woodruff, O. D. Woodward, Joseph.G. Woodward, P. H. Woodward, W. J. Woodward & Rogers. Woolley, G. W. Son. Worthington, a. D. Zweygartt, Henry J. J\)e Qty of |^artfo^d. EARLY SETTLEMENTS. PT the beginning of tlie year 1633 the only English-speaking set- tlements in New England were confined to Plymouth and to a narrow strip along the central shores of Massachusetts Bay. With the exception of a solitary fort and trading-post established near the confluence of the Connecticut and Little rivers by the Dutch from New Amsterdam the entire region to the westward was a wilderness occupied by savages. Two years earlier an Indian sachem from the Connecticut valley brought to Governor Winthrop glowing accounts of the richness of the country, and urged that a colony be sent out to possess the land. Winthrop received the proposal coolly, but Governor Winslow of Plymouth became sufficiently interested to explore the territory in person. In the course of the next few months a knowl- edge of the fertility and loveliness of the beautiful valley became diffused through the infant settlements, and began to work upon the imaginations of the people. Ere long the more adventurous were discussing the expediency of exchanging the sterile sands on the coast for the exuberance of the newly-found El Dorado buried in the depths of the primeval forest. Political and ecclesiastical differences were already producino- dis- sensions in the churches. Newtown (now Cambridge), in May, 1634, petitioned the general court for "liberty to remove." Having secured favorable action they applied the following September for leave to remove to Connecticut. After a heated debate the reqivest was denied by the assistants, though favored by the deputies. The arguments used on both sides conceal rather than disclose the real motives underlving the movement. Meanwhile individuals, without waiting for permission from the authorities, abandoned the towns in Massachusetts Bav to (13) 14 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. build new homes at W'ethersfield, ^^'indsor, and Hartford. No historian has transmitted a record of the adventures and hardships of the earHest explorers. The refusal of the general court to permit the disaffected to migrate only deepened the feeling of discontent. Under the charter- government of Massachusetts Bay the power of regulating the affairs of the colony was confined to a few leaders, the common people, though largely in the majority, having no vote in the election of magistrates, or voice in determining its policy. In fact, none but church-members were called "freemen," or permitted, however remotely, to touch the machinery of state. Annoyance and oppression invariably accompany the exercise of unlimited power. Nurtured under an aristocratic system, the leaders looked down upon the less favored as made of inferior clay, and as incapable of taking proper care of themselves without a constant and all-pervasive oversight. A sense of superiority furnished the license and the warrant for vexatious interference in many ways with purely private and personal concerns. The tyranny was keenly felt and bitterly resented. Having given up the tender associations of home and braved the perils of the Atlantic to gain in a distant wilderness the liberty denied in England, the poor found, not freedom and equality, but another despotism working under less sanguinary but not less meddlesome and exasperating forms. Fortunately for the colonists and fortunately for humanity. Thomas Hooker, a man of rare gifts and force, appeared on the scene, in 1633, as the champion of democracy. In his mind were taking shape conceptions of government then novel and revolutionary, but destined to be incorporated in the constitutions of the States severally and of the Ignited States, and destined in the future, no doubt, to universal Acceptance. The people turned to Hooker and found hope in his views. Overborne by the local oligarchy and weary of strife, he resolved to depart from the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and to find elsewhere freedom for himself and for his churcii. With the broad continent spread out before them it is not strange that the little band turned their eyes wistfully to the \alley of the Connecticut. Six months earlier, in October, 1635, a party of sixty, mostly from HARTFORD: EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 1 5 Cambridge, with their cattle and other belongings, journeyed across the country with the purpose of settling in Hartford. Terrible ex- periences awaited them. Before the middle of November ice closed the river, barring out provisions for the winter which had been for- warded by water. Threatened with starvation some made their way to Saybrook, and thence by boat to Boston ; some retraced through deep drifts the path by which they came ; while a few remained, subsisting in part on acorns gathered beneath the snow. In June, 1636, Hooker, with Stone, his assistant, led the Cambridge congregation, numbering one hundred, overland to Connecticut. The goods, tools, and farming utensils of the party were carried in wagons, and the cattle were driven on foot. For two weeks the column journeyed through an unbroken wilderness, surmounting as best they could the obstacles by the way. At length was reached the fair spot which had long lured their thoughts, and with this accession of strength the first inland outpost of civilization in New England became per- manently established. Honesty in dealing with the natives marked the progress of an enterprise born of high moral impulses. In behalf of the proprietors. Stone and William Goodwin bought from the Indians on satisfac- tory terms an area of thirty or forty square miles, the whites already on the ground being admitted to the privileges of the purchase. The transaction did not please the Pequots, an intrusive column from New York, who claimed sovereignty over the local tribes by right of conquest, but the sturdy Puritans gave no heed to titles based on violence and robbery. The Pequots lost little time in making things uncomfortable, sallying from their fastnesses east of the Thames to ex- terminate the young settlements with torch and tomahawk. But the savage pastime was of short duration, for the following June a com- pany of ninety men, recruited at Hartford, Windsor, and W'ethersfield, under command of John Mason, destroyed forever at a single blow the power of this strong -and cruel tribe. Thenceforth the peo- ple of Connecticut had little trouble with local Indians, though they contributed generously of men and means to aid other colonies in the wars waged for a century and a half beyond their borders. 1 6 THE CITV OF HARTFORD, CONN. CONTRIBUTIONS OF HARTFORD TO CONSTITUTIONAL SELF-GOVERN IV! ENT. We are approaching events seemingly trivial, but, in reality, worthy to be counted among the most important that have happened in the history of the race. During the first year after the migration from Cambridge the three towns were governed by a commission appointed by Massachusetts Bay. At the expiration of the period the little com- munities, in close alliance with each other, set up an independent gov- ernment, with not even an implied reference to parliament, king, or any other external earthly authority. Deputies chosen by the towns met at Hartford, ^Lay i, 1637, elected six magistrates, and prescribed an oath of office. In the two houses thus constituted appears the germ of the American legislative system, composed of two coordinate but in- dependent branches, the concurrence of both being required in the enactment of laws. The Massachusetts plan of allowing only church- members to vote or hold office was emphatically repudiated. Immi- grants wedded to sacerdotal restrictions moved on to New Haven, where they were amply accommodated. In January, 1639, the three towns adopted '"the first written con- stitution in the history of nations." It rested on the doctrine pre- viously elaborated by Hooker, that the choice of public magistrates belongs to the people, from their free consent alone springing the fountain of authority, and that they have the further right to define and limit the powers of their rulers. The ever memorable words of Abraham Lincoln at Getty.sburg, " a government of the people, by the people, for the people," were • but an echo from the pulpit of Hart- ford's first pastor, given forth more than two hundred years before at the birth of the commonwealth. American democracy traces its origin to Hartford. One hundred and iifty years later the long and bitter struggle in the convention of 1787. to form a Union of the States, ended in a compromise which adopted the essential features of the Connecticut system. As here the towns retained all powers except those specil'c- ally given to the commonwealth, so the federal constitution lodged in the States all powers not expressly delegated to the general govern- ment; and as here the units, whether large or small, were guaranteed HARTFORD: ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION. 17 •equal * representation in one branch of the legislature, so the federal constitution gave to all States alike equal representation in the senate. It was this essential feature which alone induced the small States to ratify the instrument, and thus make possible a united and powerful nation. In a little pamphlet intended to call attention to the merits of Hartford as a place of business and residence, a sense of filial duty almost compels her children to begin by pointing to the great part she has played in the evolution of constitutional self-government. As yet the idea has barely started on its fruitful and beneficent mission. By its own inherent rightfulness and strength it must in the coming ages depose all kings, abolish hereditary castes, uproot abuses born of remote deeds of violence, enthrone justice in the place of prescrip- tion, and establish universally the paramount right of the people to choose their own rulers and make their own laws. The transfer of sovereignty from a single family to the community at large involves the duty of educating present and future generations to meet the obligation with intelligence, and with fidelity to common interests. How Hartford is performing this part of her work will be seen fur- ther on. ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION. With the continent to select from, the first emigrants from Massa- chusetts Bay made no mistake in turning their steps to Hartford, for the adjacent country possessed the natural resources which rendered life easy during the agricultural period, and which enabled their de- scendants to easily lead in the mechanical era, introduced early in the nineteenth century. At this point the valley is about twenty miles broad, bounded on the east by the Bolton and on the west by the Talcott range of hills, both often by courtesy called "mountains." From buildings high enough to command an unobstructed view, the unaided eye on a clear day descries the wavy outlines of Mt. Tom, indenting the line of the northern horizon, and further east the irreg- ular hills that skirt the southern borders of Massachusetts. A little west of south appear the rugged bluffs overhanging Meriden, and * Under the State constitution of 181 8 new towns to be formed thereafter were allowed one representative, the old towns retaining two. 1 8 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. turning thence a few degrees eastward the valley fades from sight far away in a broad and seemingly unbroken plain. The towns north and west of the city are famed for fertility of soil, having long been known as the garden of New England. The streams round about were among the first to be utilized for manufac- turing purposes, so that the valley is thickly dotted with prosperous and tributary villages, all bringing traffic to Hartford and adding to her fullness of life. Residents of cosmopolitan habits with unanimity aver that no equal area on the planet contains so many beautiful drives over good Voads, and strangers, after devoting a few summer days to the enjoyment, generally acquiesce in the correctness of the claim. RAILWAY SERVICE. Railways radiate from the city in seven directions, leaving no ter- ritory undrained, and relatively speaking the extent is surpassed by the quality of the service. On the " Consolidated '' road sixteen pas- senger trains run daily to New York and Boston, the fastest at the rate of forty miles an hour, including stops. Accommodation alternate with express trains in a way to give intermediate stations the benefit of the quickest service beyond the nearest city without delay to through travel. With the rapid removal of draw-bridges and grade crossings the running time will be still further reduced. The rails are of heavy steel, the road-bed ballasted with rock, the cars luxuri- ous, and devices, contrived to promote the comfort and safety of the public, are tested as they appear, and freely adopted. This is the only line in the country which has voluntarily reduced fares to a uni- form rate of two cents a mile, and perhaps the only one which can afford to make the concession, for the element of water is so far ab- sent from the property that it could not be duplicated to-day for less than three times the amount of its outstanding stock and bonds. The shares injected by the Schuyler frauds and old consolidations are off- set many times over by earnings expended in construction and by enhancement of values due to growth of population and wealth. A single line connects the city with ample pier accommodations, not only in New York harbor, but also at Bridgeport, New Haven, Say- brook, and New London. Local freiglits are low, and to all distant HARTFORD: RAILWAV SERVICE. WATER TRANSPORTATION. I9 points Hartford is put on a footing of equality with New York. Goods requiring care in handling are forwarded in cars furnished with passenger trucks. Over the New England road, double-tracked the entire distance except for twenty miles between Vernon and Williniantic, Hartford has a second line to Boston, furnished with the best terminal facilities to be found in that city. From Willimantic a branch — once the main trunk — extends to Providence. Westward the New England connects at Newburg with the Erie and the Pennsylvania coal fields. Within a few years, by consolidations and extensions, this has expanded into one of the great systems of the East, the physical improvement of the property meanwhile keeping pace fully with the increasing de- mands of travel and traffic. The Connecticut Western, flanking the Talcott hills on the north and crossing the southern spurs of the Green Mountain range in the northwestern corner of the State, opens an independent and compet- ing route to the anthracite coal region, over the new bridge at Pough- keepsie — the only bridge spanning the Hudson below Albany. The transition from the turnpike, winding wearily over endless hills, and at times almost impassable from snow or mud to the smooth pathway of glittering steel — from the cramped and comfort- less stage coach to the palace car — has been wrought within the memory of many who still think themselves young, for the whistle of the locomotive first sounded in Hartford late in 1839. The trip between New York and Boston, previously filling four long and wearisome days, is now luxuriously accomplished in six hours. WATER TRANSPORTATION. Besides excellent railway facilities Hartford has an outlet for its com- merce by water, the river opening for navigation about March 25th, and closing about December loth. The Transportation Company, which does most of the business, owns two steamers, eight tugs, and twelve barges. Its two steamboats make daily trips to and from New York, carrying both passengers and freight. The City of Springfield, a craft of 1,417. tons burden, drawing from nine to ten feet according to load, when the river closed last winter had lost but two trips in five years. The tugs have a capacity for towing 1,000 tons each up stream, except 20 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. in times of freshet, and from 3,000 to 6,000 tons on the Sound. Ordinarj' barges now bring 600 tons, and the next size to be built will carry 800, the capacity having been increased from 200, the largest in use fifteen years ago. On the Saybrook bar the depth of water is twelve feet at medium tide. Over 400,000 tons of freight are shipped to and from Hartford every season by river. In 1888, the Transportation Company brought 140,000 tons of coal, while large quantities of coal and lumber were brought by craft belonging to other parties. This great natural highway guarantees in perpetuity low rates for freight. In the summer months the Sunshine makes tri-weekly trips to Sag Harbor, stopping at New London and other intermediate points. Propellers and other independent craft come and go from various ports as cargoes offer. About $10,000 are expended annually by the government to deepen the channel, and otherwise improve the nav- igation of the Connecticut. A PORT OF ENTRY. The customs district of Hartford embraces all river towns from Saybrook to the Massachusetts line, with this as the port of entry. The entire collections reach ^250,000 per annum, of which four-tifths, or $200,000, are upon goods either consumed in or distributed from this city through local merchants. Most of the imports are brought by rail under government locks without detention in New York or Boston. It is estimated that at least $125,000 additional are paid elsewhere every year on merchandise consigned to Hartford parties. INSURANCE. In enumerating the activities of Hartford one naturally begins with insurance, for the town was a pioneer on this line of effort, and has passed triumphantly through sore straits and great public disasters, winning by pure merit a preeminence, which promises to be permanent. Beginning in a small way by the issuance of marine and fire policies, , she afterwards established life companies, and later on diverged into special branches, wherein her success has provoked many imitators, most of whom have paid dearly for their rashness. Leadership has been gained not by luck or accident or favoring circumstances, but FIRE INSURANCE. 21 by profound study of the facts and principles involved in the business, by high native intelligence, sharpened to a keen edge in frequent adversities, by patient endurance through periods of misfortune, by heroic courage in meeting exceptional calamities, and not least by scrupulous integrity in dealings with the public. Sporadic cases of dishonesty will occur everywhere, but here instances of the kind have been rare, and even before any overt act, men suspected of crooked proclivities have found the atmosphere extremely uncongenial and repellent. A few years ago when reputed wreckers from over the border obtained control of the Charter Oak Life, the intrusion roused a storm of righteous indignation, which swept them out in spite of herculean efforts to retain possession. This was the first and last attempt of professional manipulators to capture a Hartford company, the raid ending in such ignominious failure that the memory of it is likely to preclude for coming time repetition of the experiment. Aside from the ruin of the Charter Oak, the history of the business here, old and full as it is, offers but one other instance where bankruptcy can be traced even remotely to improper practices. From the inhospitality extended to the strangers who were driven from the Charter Oak, it would be an error to infer that feelings of provincialism or narrowness have any share in the conduct of the business. Ability, character, special aptitudes, technical skill, are both welcomed and drafted from every quarter. Less than one-half the men now managing the home offices were born in Connecticut, and a bare half dozen in Hartford, for in her cosmopolitanism she takes as freely as she gives. In brief, the phenomenal success of the city in underwriting has been gained by intelligence and integrity. A pecuniary measure of the popular estimate of the mental and moral solidity of the fire insurance management may be found in the market value of the shares of the several companies, for with one billion of dollars at risk and liable to destruction, they sell at a price which, after the payment of taxes, leaves an average income of about six per cent, a year on the investment. 22 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. The lessons of history are most easily learned by examples. The Hartford was chartered in May, 1810, but from a policy still extant seems to have had an inchoate being as early as 1794. On the 10th of June following the company was organized by the choice of Na- thaniel Terry as president and Walter Mitchell as secretary, with a capital of $150,000, made up of ten per cent, in cash and the balance in the notes of shareholders, secured by mortgages or approved in- dorsements. It was hoped that the profits would gradually pay off the notes, removing the liability to furtiier assessments, but the makers were men of pecuniary solidity, prepared to meet the obligations should the necessity arise. Thus equipped the pioneer company, like THE HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 23 Columbus at Palos, embarked upon an unknown sea, little dreaming of the discoveries to be made, the wealth to be won, or of the all- pervasive influence of the venture upon the future development of the town. -They started on the voyage without compass or chart, for even the elementary laws underlying the business had not then been generalized, the facts were ungathered, and the literature of the science, now loading the shelves of large libraries, had not thrown one ray of light athwart the darkness. Those early navigators took great risks — risks which their lineal successors, though commanding three hundred and fifty times the vol- ume of cash assets, would scrutinize closely before accepting. Policy No. 5 covered $11,000 on a gin distillery, at i per cent, per annum. No. 12, $13,000 on a frame store and stock-, at 87^- cents. No. 21, $20,000 on a stock of dry goods, at 75 cents. No. 22, $20,000 on a stock of hardware, at 25 cents. The hazard was less than it seems, for the character of the in- sured, though unmentioned in the policy, formed one of the most important elements in the contract. Every risk was accompanied by a survey of the property, and the written representations of the owner had the force of a guaranty. Persons desiring insurance solicited it as a privilege from the officers of the company, and being required to carry themselves a material part of the hazard, the two parties to the agreement became partners in the venture. A man of bad repu- tation found difficulty in obtaining a policy on any terms. At first no commission was paid to agents, their compensation coming from the survey and policy fee, which varied with the labor, and was col- lected from the assured. P'or the first year the income of the company was $4,498, and the expenses $530, of which $300 went in salary to the secretary, with an allowance of $30 extra for rent and firewood. Measured by modern ideas progress was very slow, and hence all the more sure, for . the managers were learning the principles of the business and correcting in the germ errors which, under a less careful system, might have grown to fatal dimensions. A decade later the annual income had crept up to Sio,io2, and in 1832 to $52,394, showing for 21 years an average annual gain of about $2,300. During a part of the period 24 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. losses were heavy, and some timid holders gave away their shares ta get rid of the note-liability. In June, 1835, Eliphalet Terry became president; James G. Bolles, secretary; and C. C. Lyman, assistant secretary. Mr. Lyman held tlie place 43 years, refusing all offers of promotion. Si.\ months of re- markable prosperity followed the installation of the new management, and in December a supper was given to celebrate the coming divi- dend, which, however, was doomed to disappear in smoke, for the next day came news of the great fire in New York city. The losses of the company exceeded $60,000, but the crisis was m^t with a courage that turned a calamity into a blessing, bringing at once a large, per- manent, and profitable enlargement to the volume of its business. Mr. Terry, having pledged his own property to the Hartford Bank as security for drafts to be drawn, with ]\Ir. Bolles, started in a sleigh, with the mercury below zero, to grapple in person with the issue. On arriving in the city they found most of the insurance companies bankrupt, and a state of despondency bordering on panic. Property- owners outside of the burnt district felt that they were no longer pro- tected, while the actual sufferers looked for small dividends on their policies. Mr. Terry announced that he would pay in full all losses of the Hartford, and take new insurance. The promise — the first sign of cheer in the gloom — was fulfilled to the letter. Business poured in at highly remunerative rates, and the deep gap in its assets was soon refilled. Between July 19, 1845, ^^^ ^^Y i^' 1849, fires occurred at New York city, Nantucket, Albany, and St. Louis, which cost the Hartford $69,691.30, $54,521.65, $57,637.43, and $58,676.83 respectively, making a total of $240,563.21 in less than four years, or more than the total amount of its gross assets at either the beginning or end of the period. Sixteen years of exemption from notable disasters ensued, to be followed in swift succession by the fires at Augusta, Maine, Sep- tember 16, 1865; at Portland, July 4, 1866; and at Vicksburg, De- cember 24, 1866; involving losses of $57,022.16, $151,288.31, and $55,- 077.55 respectively. But the company was now much better prepared to withstand the strain, for the capital had grown to a million, and even after the extraordinary payments at Portland and \'icksburg, was able to add over $200,000 to its assets from the business of 1866. THE HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 2$ Mr. Terry remained president till his death in 1849. The other presidents have been Hezekiah Huntington, from 1849 to 1864; Timothy C. Allyn, 1864-7 ! ^^^ George L. Chase, the present incum- bent, since 1867. The Hartford entered the agency field early, and from 1854 pushed westward and southward with great vigor, having the head- quarters of this department at Columbus, Ohio, under the charge of David Alexander. When the rebellion cut off relations with the South the western office was transferred to Chicago, where G. F. Bissell succeeded Alexander in 1863, and at the end of the war the loss of receipts from the Southern States had nearly been made good by ex- tensions in the Northwest. The capital stock remained at $150,000 — 90^ paid in earnings — till doubled in 1854. In 1857 it was increased out of profits to $500,000, and in 1864 the company celebrated its rounded half century by a third stock dividend which brought the capital to one million. The year 1870 witnessed the completion of the tasteful and con- venient home office, built of Quincy granite, having a frontage of 60 feet on Trumbull and 100 feet on Pearl streets, with four stories above the basement. For losses incurred in the Chicago fire of October, 187 1, the Hart- ford paid out $i,-968, 225.32, meeting every obligation in full. A bare million — a sum insufficient to meet the requirements of the re-in- surance fund*— was left in the treasury. By a vote of the directors the capital was reduced to $500,000, and at once increased to $1,000,000 by fresh subscriptions, the rights to subscribe commanding a premium of $85 a share in the darkest days of the disaster. Thirteen months later, November 9, 1872, it incurred losses amounting to $485,356 at the Boston fire, but met the drain out of current , receipts. During the last decade the assets of the Hartford have increased from $3,456,021 to $5,750,080; the net surplus, from $935,399 to $2,233,982 ; the premium income from $1,460,124 to $2,594,587. It has disbursed $2,500,000 in cash dividends to shareholders. In 1877 it made a stock dividend of $250,000 from surplus. From the invest- 26 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, COW. ments alone the annual income is sufficient to pay twenty per cent. in diviclends on the $1,250,000 of capital. George L. Chase has been president of the company since 1867. He brought to the position a rich and varied experience, and his skill as a pilot was early put to the test in carrying the institution successfully through the calamities at Chicago and Boston, which over- whelmed most of its cotemporaries. P. C. Royce, the secretary, and. Thomas Turnbull, assistant secretary, have both had long familiarity with the problems of underwriting. ^TNA INSURANCE COMPANY. The ^tna Insurance Company, the second in the city in age but the largest in assets and busi- ness, was organized in 1819, with Thomas K. Brace as president and Isaac Perkins as secre- tary. Of the original cap- ital of $150,000, ten per cent, was paid in cash and the rest in the notes of shareholders. How modest were the begin- nings of this great institu- tion appears from the bal- ance sheet presenting its operations up to May 31^ 1820. On the debit side the principal item is the dividend of 6 per cent., declared Dec. 15, 18 19, on the actual cash investment, making ^900. From the organization till May 31, 1820, the total current expenses, including $225 for rent and the salary of Isaac Perkins, reached the sum of $451.82. During this period the receipts from all sources amounted to $3,646.42, and as no /EJXA I.XSUKAXCK lilH-DlNc; THE ;etna insurance company. 27 losses had occurred the fiscal year closed with a profit balance of $2,294.60. Until the formation of the yEtna the few American companies in existence restricted their efforts almost entirely to the local business that could be conveniently secured by the executive officers. Very early the JEtnz initiated a radical departure from the previous method, planting agencies cautiously at the more important centers of trade, and gradually extending the system till every desirable place in the country was occupied. April 2, 1822, the directors, by vote, requested the secretary "to journey on the sea-board of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maijie, thence through the interior of the country home, and establish agencies at all places he may think proper, for which he shall be allowed his expenses and two dollars a day for his services." During the trip the per diem allowance took the place of salary. In the summer of 1838 Mr. Brace made a trip through Central New York, going as far west as Lockport, and returning via Mon- treal, Burlington, and Saratoga. His letters by the way, addressed to Simeon L. Loomis, secretary, are still preserved in the archives of the company. The journey, which would now require a week, was then leisurely performed between the middle of June and the first of September. No small part of the pioneer work was performed by the early director, who traveled west and south by stage and boat, long in ad- vance of railways, establishing outposts at frontier towns which have since developed into populous cities. In this way, to a large extent, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Louisville, St. Louis, Memphis, Natchez, New Orleans, Mobile, and other places were reached, and the terri- tory partially pre-empted. The yEtna was the first company to issue a fire policy in Chicago, having in 1834 appointed Gurdon S. Hubbard to represent it. The document was on exhibition in the historical library of that city till destroyed in the fire of 187 1. Mr. Hubbard remained a trusted agent of the company till his retirement,' after more than thirty years of faithful service. During the period of infancy, while the company was fighting for existence, the economical scale of expenditure arranged for Secretary 28 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. Perkins on his initiatory trip through New England was rigorously adhered to. Just twenty years later, in 1842, Joseph Morgan, one of the original directors, made an extensive circuit, taking in New Or- leans and Chicago and all the important intermediate towns. The journey, estimated at 6,104 miles, occupied ten weeks, at an average expense, including fares and hotel bills, of $3.29 per day. Chicago then had from four to five thousand inhabitants. The seed thus scat- tered by the way-side has already brought forth fruit an hundred fold, and the harvest has hardly begun. The ^tna escaped the fire of Dec. 16, 1835, ^^ ^e\v York city — the first in the series of great American conflagrations — which de- stroyed property to the value of $15,000,000, and bankrupted twenty- three out of twenty-six local insurance companies. It entered the city the following year, having for agent Augustus E. Hazard, afterwards the organizer and president of the Hazard Powder Co. of Enfield. It was not so fortunate in the fire of 1845, which swept $6,000,000 of property from the business center of the metropolis, and cost the ^tna $115,000. When the news reached Hartford Mr. Brace called together the directors and told them that the calamity would proba- bly exhaust the entire resources of the company. Going to the fire- proof he took out and laid on the table the stocks and bonds repre- senting its investments. Little was said, each member waiting for some one else to take the initiative. At length the silence was broken by the question, "Mr. Brace, what will you do?" "Do," replied he, "Go to New York and pay the losses if it takes every dollar there," pointing to the packages, " and my own fortune besides." " Good, good," responded the others. " We will stand by you with our fortunes also." Such an increase of premium-receipts followed that in twelve months the Aitna. was as strong in cash as before. Affairs ran along with the usual vicissitudes till 1849, when the company was called upon to contribute $125,000 to the sufferers at St. Louis, and to see nearly one-half of its capital of $300,000 evapo- rate in the disaster. But the season of storms which culminated at St. Louis and sent many competitors to the bottom, convinced the public of the inherent staunchness of the .-I^tna, and by the prudent THE .ETNA INSURANXE COMPANY. 29 enterprise of its managers even cruel reverses to the general interests of fire insurance were made to bring to it large accessions of business and revenue. The Protection, the third insurance company organized at Hartford, failed in 1854 through the continuous unprofitableness of its marine department, aggravated by the incurable injuries received at St. Louis in 1849. It had been the pioneer in occupying the small as well as the large towns of the west, but the gains from these sources were insufficient to ofi^set the losses incurred at sea and on our inland waters. Here was a broad gap to be filled, and the ^tna lost no time in meeting the emergency, for it opened a branch ofiice at Cincinnati in 1853 with the firm purpose of keeping step with civilization in progressive occupancy of the west. When a few months later the Protection yielded up the ghost a material share of the business dropped as ripened fruit into the lap of its rival. Soon a thousand agents were at work west of the Alleghanies, and in the ensuing period of exemption from large fires the company rolled up wealth with a rapidity never equaled before either in the United States or elsewhere. In 1854 the capital w^as increased from $300,000 to $500,000, one-half contributed by shareholders and the other half by« dividend from profits. The figures remained at this point but a short time, for in 1857 they were changed to an even million. In 1859, from the profits of two years, the owners were gladdened by a second stock dividend of half a million, which was followed in 1864 by another for $750,000. Evidently the figures, $2,250,000, offended the eyes of the directors, and accordingly, after enduring the sight for two short years, they raised the capitalization in 1866 by a stock dividend to the rounded, symmetrical, and artistic sum of $3,000,000. In April, 1852, Chillicothe, Ohio, called for $115,000, and three months later Montreal took $105,000. For the next ten years the company enjoyed remarkable immunity from large losses, considering the extent and magnitude of its business. With the turn of the tide even the $163,000 required to settle the Portland claims in July, 1866, and the $120,000 sent to Vicksburg in January, 1867, did not per- ceptibly interrupt the upward flow of assets. Not content with furnishing indemnity to an ever-widening circle of patrons the ^'Etna initiated the work of educating the public in art 30 THE CI TV OF HARTFORD, CONN. by publishing the first chromo poster in 1855. The picture represented a steamer throwing a stream of water upon a burning block. How deep in human nature lay the hitherto dormant and unconscious appetite destined to be roused by the venture into omniverous voracity, was quickly disclosed through the abundance of aliment supplied for its gratification. The company was the first to introduce the use of outline charts in 1857. Out of this germ grew the Sanborn maps, now an essential part of the equipment of all large offices. By the Chicago fire of 187 1 the ^tna lost $3,782,000. To meet the impairment the capital was reduced one-half, and immediately re- filled by cash payments of $1,500,000. Thirteen months afterwards the Boston fire absorbed $1,635,067 more, and the inroad was made good by a further contribution of $1,000,000 from the shareholders, making two and one-half millions furnished by them in a year to maintain the technical solvency of the company. After deducting the losses at Chicago, over $2,600,000 of assets were left in the treasury exclusive of the fresh contributions. In 1881, the capital was raised to $4,000,000 by an issue of $1,000,000 of new stock to the share- holders at par, not as in 187 1 in consequence of unusual disasters, but simply to make it the largest fire insurance company in the country. Prior to January i, 1889, the ^tna had paid in losses, $63,046,000, and at the same time had in its strong box $9,780,751 in solid securities. The presidents of the ^tna have been Thomas K. Brace, 18 19-1857 ; Edwin G. Ripley, 1857-1862 ; Thomas A. Alexander, 1862-1866 ; Lucius J. Hendee, 1866 till his death, September 4, 1888. Mr. Hendee was succeeded by J. Goodnow, who had been secretary since 1866, and at the same time William B. Clark, assistant secretary for twenty years, was promoted to the vice-presidency. Both of these gentlemen have been with the institution through periods of trouble as well as prosperity, and both are eminently qualified to carry it forward in its career of growth and usefulness. The other officers are Andrew C. Bayne, secretary ; James F. Dudley and William H. King, assistant secretaries ; E. J. Bassett, general agent ; and J. C. Hilliard, T. P. Stowell, E. O. Weeks, C. H. Hollister, F. W' . Jenness, H. E. Rees, and W. A. Warburton, special agents. THE I'H(]£NIX INSURANCE CUMPANV. 3> itilLtiii PHCENIX INSURANCE COMPANY. The Phoenix, the third and only remaining stock company of Hart- ford which had accumulated a sufficient volume of assets to pay in full the enormous losses sustained in Chicago in 187 1, was seventeen years old when struck by the cyclone, having been organized June 21, 1854, under a perpetual charter granted by the legislature the pre- vious May. When opened the subscription books called for a capital of $100,000, but so eager were the public to join in the venture that at the first meeting for the election of officers it was voted to in- crease the amount to $200,000, and one week later, the date fixed for the additional subscriptions, the shares were instantly taken with no abatement of eagerness. N. H. Morgan was chosen first president, and Henry Kellogg, who drew the charter, selected the corporators, and really formed the company, secretary. Unlike its elder brothers, the Hartford and .-Etna, the Phtenix did not pass through a prolonged period of infancy, but by a few stalwart bounds leaped into the strength and responsibilities of manhood, for at the outset its guiding spirits brought to the work the skill and experience acquired in long-established schools, and were thus able to render immediately available the stores of knowledge accumulated by experts during forty years of underwriting. According to custom the 32 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, COXX. directors called for an installment of ten per cent, in cash, and took the notes of the subscribers for the balance. On the 15th of June, 1855, a dividend of $20,000 was endorsed on the stock notes, and six months later a second of equal amount was similarly applied. But the exigencies of the situation did not permit the delay re- quired to pay the stock notes out of profits, even at the rate of ten per cent, semi-annually. Numerous failures among fire insurance com- panies gave rise in various quarters to more stringent legislation, and several of the States passed laws permitting only those whose capitals were fully paid in cash to do business within their borders. Accord- ingly, on the 25th of February, 1856, the directors voted to call in the remaining 70 per cent., and by the 28th of March the money was all in the treasury. Simeon L. Loomis, an underwriter trained in the ^tna under Mr. Brace, was elected president June 27, 1855, and, being a master of all the intricacies of the profession, commanded the confidence of his associates while pushing into new territory with a vigor that, guided by less intelligent foresight, might have passed for rashness. At his death in August, 1863, the office passed into the hands of Henry Kellogg, who presided at the birth of the company, and whose life efforts have been devoted to its success. The business grew rapidly, and was profitable. Five years from the date of organization the capital was doubled, one-half of the addition having been contributed in a stock dividend from profits, and the other half by cash subscrip- tions. In 1864 the capital was increased to $600,000 by an issue of shares at par. The progressive policy of the managers was re- flected back in a large increase of premium receipts, which rose from less than $600,000 in 1864 to over $1,100,000 in 1866, and which were afterwards pushed steadily upwards, till, in 1888, they reached ^2,34S>857-i2. In 1871, the Phcenix had accumulated over $1,900,000 of solid assets, which enabled it to pay in full at Chicago losses, under 280 policies, amounting to $937,219.23. Marshall Jewell, a large stock- holder and a director, happening to be in Detroit at the time, hurried thither to look after the interests of the company. A feeling of despair pervaded the city. Thousands of homeless people were en- camped on the outskirts without money, without hope, and almost THE PHCENIX INSURANCE COMPANY. 33 without clothing and food. In a calamity so unlooked for and over- whelming, and hence so far removed from the hazards contemplated in the business of underwriting, the sufferers believed their policies to be practically worthless. Press dispatches laden with painful rumors deepened the despondency. Soon after his arrival, Governor Jewell met E. J. Bassett, general agent of the .-Etna, when both agreed that some decisive step must be taken at once to declare the resolution of their respective com- panies, and to turn into more hopeful channels the currents of popu- lar feeling. On the morning of October 13th, they stood on the banks of the river, overlooking three thousand flame-swept acres, from which a mighty city had vanished. Around w-as a surging, sullen, half-crazed, despairing crowd, which seemed to feel that even the foundations of the earth were crumbling with the destruction of their fortunes. At this juncture Governor Jewell, mounted on a dry goods box, with a smile in itself a benediction, announced that the Phcenix would pay all losses in full, and offered to draw his check on the spot for any claim approved by H. M. Magill, general agent of the western department. Shortly policy No. 10,752 for $10,000 was pre- sented by Isaac C. Day, when as director, Mr. Jewell drew on the company for the full amount, less interest for two months — the term allowed for payment. Though the remarks of Governor Jewell contained no suggestion of oratorical display, no other speech ever delivered in the Lake City compressed into a few words so much cheer and helpfulness, or changed so quickly and effectively the temper of the people. The draft bears date Oct. 13, 187 1. Immediately the Tribune dropped from its window a huge placard, announcing that the Phoenix of Hart- ford had begun to pay its losses in full. As the news spread from one to another, the multitude cheered, and cried, and laughed by turns. From over-burdened hearts the vapors began to roll away, as even then the clouds of smoke were drifting from the scene, and. as if her baptismal name had been selected in anticipation of the event, both company and city rose from the ashes stronger than before. A few feet from Governor Jewell, Mr. Bassett made a like an- nouncement for the .-Etna, and using a barrel head for a desk, drew his check on the company, dated Oct. 13, 1871, to the order of John 34 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, COXX. B. Drake for 57,350, in full settlement of all demands under policy No. 34.382. The Sth and 9th of October, 187 1, are also memorable in insur- ance annals on account of the simultaneous forest fires in Michigan and Wisconsin, which drew from the coffers of the Phoenix $50,176.73, making the total losses for the two days §987,395.96. or one hundred and sixty-four per cent, on its capital stock. After meeting without delay these extraordinary demands, the company had nearly a million of assets left, but to repair the reserves required by law, the capital was reduced, December i, one-half to $300,000, and immediately re- stored through subscription of the stockholders. Although the Boston fire of Nov. 10, 1872, called for $385,956.18 more, the burden was met without assistance from the shareholders. The capital was increased to $1,000,000 in April, 1876, and to $2,000,000 in April, 188 1. Since its organization it has paid nearly five millions in dividends and over twenty-four millions in losses, and now has assets of over five millions. The supervision of Henry Kellogg as secretary and president cov- ers the entire life of the Phoenix. Asa W. Jillson was elected vice- president April 23, 1864, and brought to the position a large acquaint- ance with manufacturing interests. He resigned from ill health, August I, 1 888. The secretaries have been Henry Kellogg, June, 1854-August, 1863; \Vm. B. Clarke, August, 1863-November, 1867; DeW'itt C. Skilton, November, 1867-August i, 1888 ; George H. Bur- dick, since August i, 1888. Mr. Skilton succeeded Mr. Jillson as vice-president, August i, 1888. J. H. Mitchell was elected second vice-president, Sept. 11, 1888, and Charles E. Galacar, assistant-secre- tary, March 10, 1888. THE CONNECTICUT FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. This institution was organized in 1850, with a strong directory under a perpetual charter. B. W. Greene, the first president, held the ofiice till 1865, when he was succeeded by John B. El- dridge, till then the secretary. Like the Hartford and the ^tna, the Connecticut passed through a long novitiate, and like them, by stal- wart strides, later on reached a secure place in the front rank of American companies. Beginning with a capital of $200,000, mostly THE CONNECTICUT FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING. 36 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, COXX. invested in the notes of the subscribers, as was then the uniform local custom, it paid dividends with commendable regularity, but advanced slowly in accumulating riches, for at the end of the first decade its gross assets slightly exceeded $230,000. though at the end of the second they rose to nearly $400,000, progress, having been rapid after 1866. By a policy deliberately adopted and consistently pursued, the management restricted the operations of the company to non-hazardous risks, subordinating ambition for large receipts to desire for safety. For similar reasons, agencies were planted with caution, and chiefly in towns with well-equipped fire departments. Although bringing an excellent reputation and solid prosperity, the prevision that long avoided extraordinary perils served to paint in stronger contrast the overwhelming misfortune of 187 1, at Chicago. In that fire, the losses of the Connecticut considerably exceeded its entire assets, but its representatives settled all claims, thus preserving a val- uable charter. Underwriters were taught by the hard lesson, that the day of small companies had gone to return no more, and accordingly, after the removal of the debris, the Connecticut reorganized with a fully- paid capital of $500,000. A year later, the Boston confiagration called for $120,000, but within a few weeks the premium income more than repaired the loss. In 1873, M. Bennett, Jr., secretary since 1865, was elected presi- dent, and Charles R. Burt, secretary. Mr. Bennett retired in 1880, and was succeeded by J. D. pjrowne, then secretary of the Hartford fire insurance company, who now holds the ofiice. L. W. Clarke, president of- the Meriden fire insurance company, became assistant secretary. In 1876, the capital was increased by cash subscriptions to one million of dollars. The home ofiice of the Connecticut is one of the most notable structures in the city, combining beauty and utility to a degree rarely attained. The location at the corner of Prospect and Grove streets, within a l^lock of State House Square on the north, and Main Street on the west, is central, quiet, and in every way desira- ble. It is built of brick, brown-stone, and terra cotta, after the Byzantine style of architecture, fifty eight by one hundred and twenty feet, two stories in height, with an hexagonal tower of three stories. Till. m.NNECTICUT FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 37 every part of which is utihzed. The general office, forty by forty- five, with ceiHng twenty feet high, hghted and ventilated on three sides, is not only admirably adapted to the present requirements of the business, but will answer equally well, when its magnitude shall have expanded four or five fold. Directly li the rear of this is placed the steel vault, twenty feet square on the floor, and twenty-two feet high, so arranged with galleries and light stair-cases as to afford a maximum of available and easily accessible space. Underneath is a second vault of equal length 'and breadth, which will ultimately be needed for storage purposes. The vestibule, the rooms of the directors and president, and the large clerical room, all finished in hard w^oods, are models of quiet elegance. The company occupy the entire building, and all the supplies of a large insurance company can be prepared for shipment within its walls. Built upon land advantageously purchased at a time when the cost of material and labor was low, the enterprise has proved profitable in giving every desirable convenience at the equivalent of a small rental. Since the date of reorganization, in 187 1, the history of the Con- necticut is the record of continuous and uninterrupted progress, which, though bare of dramatic incidents, is of a kind to bring contentment to patrons and solid satisfaction to shareholders. In 1877 the assets were $i,388,»3i3, the premiums $356,815, and the investment earnings $76,460; in 1882 the several accounts had grown to $1,781,626, $713,- 446, and $81,787, respectively; and in 1888, six years later, to $2,260,- 917, $1,020,022, and $100,054. From the books it appears that during the period its premium re- ceipts have nearly trebled; that its assets have increased eight hun- dred and seventy-two thousand dollars, and its investment earnings thirty-three per cent., notwithstanding the tendency to reduced rates of interest, and the further fact that the stockholders have received meanwhile nine hundred and sixty thousand dollars in dividends. Although the dividends seem large in the aggregate, they have, during the past five years, been drawn wholly from the income of assets, ^ besides leaving a balance of $68,850 from this source as a contribu- tion to the reserves. All the profits from the insurance department proper have been used to fortify the strength of the company. The Connecticut has agencies in nearly every State and Territory 38 THE CITY OF IIARTFORU, COXX. of the I'nion, and also in the Dominion of Canada, where a deposit of $100,000 is required. Abram Williams of Chicago, is manager of the western department, and Robert Dickson of San Francisco, of the Pacific department — both conservative underwriters of long experience. THE NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. The National Fire Insurance Compan)-, though of recent origin, came of royal lineage, for it succeeded the Merchants under circum- stances which gave it a commanding position and a prosperous busi- ness from the start. The history of the two is intimately connected and highly honorable to both. The Merchants began with a capital of $200,000, fully paid in cash, having been the first company in the city to set the example and to repudiate the old custom of building on a foundation of stock notes, with a small installment in actual money. At the first meeting of the directors, July 7, 1857, Mark Howard was elected president, and E. Thomas Lobdell secretary, a position which he held till his death, Jan. 23, 187 1, when James Nichols, general agent of the company, was unanimously selected for the place. Besides paying to the stockholders dividends at an aver- age rate of over ten per cent, a year, the Merchants steadily increased in strength till, at the last annual meeting in May, 187 1, the cash assets reached $580,270.71, and the shares readily brought $240 each in the market. In October came the Chicago fire, with losses of $1,075,643 — over five times the amount of its capital, and nearly half a million in ex- cess of its entire assets. Payment in full was clearly impossible. In an emergency that put virtue to the severest test by suggesting many fair reasons for adopting a less unselfish course, the directors, under the lead of the executive officers, decided that no attempt should be made to compromise with the sufferers in Chicago, or to save a single penny from the wreck. Every dollar was turned over to the policy- holders, to be distributed pro rata among creditors. While an institu- tion of splendid promise was thus engulphecl in the fiery tempest, the managers emerged with a record many times more valuable com- mercially than any salvage which the sharpest settlements could have secured. Under a charter granted in May, 1869, but till then unused, the THE NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 39 parties interested in the Merchants' proceeded to form the National fire insurance company, deeming it better to give up the old organiz- ation, with its honorable history and good name, than to contend with the complications liable to arise from the unpaid balances at Chicago. Oct. 18, 1871, ten days after the outbreak of the great fire, the books were opened, and $608,000 were subscribed on a call for $200,000, a notable proof both of the unconquerable resolution of the community and of confidence in the men who were to conduct the affairs of the new company. At the first meeting of the stockholders, November 27, the directors of the Merchants, with few changes, were made directors of the National, and it was voted to increase the capital to $500,000. On the same day the board unanimously elected Mark Howard president, and James Nichols secretary. Mr. Howard, who passed from us Jan. 24, 1887, beloved and lamented by a wude circle of friends, was an influential force in in- troducing scientific methods into the system of underwriting. For forty years in the business as local agent, special agent, and presi- dent, he inspired the instruction book issued in 1848 by the Protec- tion, where for the first time appear definitions of insurance terms, and which covered the field so thoroughly and comprehensively that all subsequent literature pertaining to the subject has drawn largely from its pages. A man of strong convictions and lofty ideals, he never temporized or lowered the standard of duty to the uses of expedienc)'. While it is generally held to be impracticable for ordinary mortals, amid the complexities of business, to follow, except at a distance, the stern and self-denying methods pursued by this type of character, all are encouraged to high aims by such examples. During the first eleven months of business the National increased its assets to $623,000. Then followed the Boston fire with losses of $161,000. To meet the emergency the capital was reduced to S350,- 000, and at once restored to the former figures by subscriptions of the shareholders. From that day on its success and growth have been uninterrupted. In 1878, the contribution for Boston was in part returned in a stock dividend of $100,000 from net profits, and in 1881, the capital was further increased to $1,000,000 by cash subscriptions. The National has never failed to pay semi-annually its regular 40 THE CITV OF HARTFORD, COXN. cash dividend, and, with a single exception, has added each year to the volume of its assets. Stockholders have received on an average nearly 13 per cent, per annum on the investment, and on the ist of January, 1889, the gross assets were $2,326,581, with a net surplus of $507,126. In January, 1887, James Nichols, secretary of the National from its organization, and also of the Merchants before it, was elected presi- dent, a sufficient guaranty of the continuance of the policy under which the institution has attained eminent success. In the follow- ing May, E. G. Richards of Boston, an experienced underwriter, was made secretary. In January, 1888, the National reinsured the ^^■ashington fire and marine insurance company of Boston on all their business through- out the United States, except in Connecticut, New York, Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland ; established a western department at Chicago, in charge of Fred S. James as general agent; and reorganized and enlarged the Pacific department, placing it under the management of George D. Dornin, with headquarters at San Fran- cisco. The transaction added to the books of the company a large amount of good business, guarantying a large and permanent increase of premium receipts. ORIENT INSURANCE COMPANY. Although the charter of the Orient was granted by the legislature of Connecticut in May, 1867, the company did not organize until Nov. 23, 187 1, being the lineal successor of the City fire insurance, which, with most of its contemporaries, was blotted out of existence in the holocaust at Chicago. By the terms of the charter, a capital of $2,000,000 was authorized, with the privilege of doing business on a minimum of $500,000. In view of the enormous drafts upon the resources of Hartford recjuired to pay the losses at Chicago, the cor- porators thought best to begin with half a million, and to increase afterwards as the growth of business might demand. The first offi- cers were Charles T. Webster, president ; Selden C. Preston, vice- president ; and George W. Lester, secretary ; these gentlemen having held similar positions in the City Fire, whose agency system the OKIEXT INSURANCE COMPANY. 4I Orient proceeded to adopt. On its demise, the City fire insurance company distributed its entire assets among creditors. January i, 1872, the first poHcies were written, and a handsome business was assured from the outset. Ten months later came the Boston fire, which took $164,000 from the Orient, a very heavy blow to befall a small company at the beginning of its career. However, it met every obligation by sight drafts, paying all losses in full. In April, 1881, with the view of establishing a broader basis for future growth, and providing absolute security for its patrons, the shareholders voted to increase the capital to $1,000,000, thus round- ing up the list of millionaire tire insurance companies in Hartford. Our people, who, from long familiarity with large figures in insurance, have ceased to think of small concerns as having any rightful place in the hazards of the business, will more fully appreciate the solidity of their own institutions by recalling the fact, that outside of this city there are but eleven American companies whose capita! equals the capital of their youngest. Under the laws of different States reg- ulating reserves, surplus accumulations above certain sums can be divided or otherwise disposed of to suit the inclination of sharehold- ers, but whether losses are small or large, capital must be kept unim- paired. Hence, in part, comes the superior security offered to policy- holders by large institutions like the Orient in times of exceptional disaster. The presidents of the Orient have been Charles T. Webster, Dec. 19. 1871-May, 1874; Selden C. Preston, May, 1874-May, 1883; John W. Brooks, May, 1883-May, 1886 ; Charles B. Whiting, since May 5, 1886. The present officers are, Charles B. \Miiting, president ; James U. Taintor, secretary ; and Howard W. Cook, assistant secretary, — all underwriters of experience. The company has a western department with headquarters at Chicago ; one on the Pacific coast with an office at San Francisco ; and a southwestern department, with an office at Dallas, Texas. It is carefully but energetically extending its agency system, and, though the youngest in the Hartford fraternity, promises to keep step with its elder brothers in growth, prosperity, and use- fulness. 42 THE CTTV OF HARTFORD, COXX. HARTFORD COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. This institution was incorporated in May. 1831, and on the 19th of the following September, at a -meeting held in the State House, David Grant was appointed president, and Elihu Phelps secretary and treasurer. In less than a month, Mr. Phelps resigned, and was succeeded by Charles Shepard. At first, the scheme embraced in its scope little more than a friendly combination of neighbors for mutual protection against losses by fire. A small premium was turned into the treasury bv each member, together with a note pledging the maker to a liability of twenty fold the cash payment. It was the evident intention of the corporators to meet claims by assessments on the notes, very much as certain associations now insure the lives of the members by levying a tax on each one, whenever a death occurs in the ranks. The underlying idea is the same, except that the assessments in the modern guilds are generally definite and uniform, while in the early mutuals they were to vary with the amount at risk. The Hartford County began modestly, and after disbursing $12 in losses, and $179 in contingent expenses, had a surplus of $12 at the end of the first twelve months. For tiie next eleven years the business grew slowly, and at each annual meeting the books show-ed a small balance on the credit side of the ledger. In 1842, however, came a turn in the tide. Losses mounted up to $3,269.14, and at the close of the fiscal year, in December, the directors were confronted with a deficit of $362.11. Matters seemingly trivial have often proved to be pivots on which the fate, not only of nations, but of civilization itself, has turned. So of this deficit. It pro- voked earnest thought and much discussion. Some advocated an assessment. Mr. Shepard took ground in favor of borrowing the money and raising the cash rates to a remunerative basis. Already the theory which prevailed at the outset, and which in many change- ful forms has been revived and discarded since, had proved its insuf- ficiency. The sensible views of the secretary were approved, and a note for the arrearages, presumably indorsed by the officers, was dis- counted at the Hartford Bank. From current receipts the obligation was soon discharged, and the company has never been compelled by reverses to pass through a similar experience since. HARTFORD COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 43 September, 1844, Mr. Shepard was made president. James Ward treasurer, and R. Augustus Erving secretary. At the annual meeting, in justification of the policy advocated by him in 1842, Mr. Shepard was able to point to a cash balance of $1,995. Oct. 8, 1853, Mr. Erving was succeeded by his brother, D. D. Erving, having resigned to accept the position of secretary of lega- tion under Ex-Governor Thomas H. Seymour, then recently appointed minister to the court of St. Petersburg. Having spent a number of years in Russia, he was lost with the steamer Pacific on the voyage home. At the death of Mr. Shepard, D. D. Erving became president, July 23, 1867, and W'm. A. Erving secretary. On the morning after the great Chicago fire, residents of the city did not know whether the policies on their property issued by stock companies were worthless or not. Of the solvency of the Hartford County Mutual they were certain, for it did no business beyond the boundaries of Connecticut. iVIany came in at that time to take ad- vantage of the protection it offered, and have since remained upon its books. Having accumulated over $200,000 in solid assets, the company voted, in 1879, to reduce the premium lien, on which assessments could be levied, ninety per cent., making it only twice the amount of the cash payment, and thus practically eliminating the element of contingent liability. Since 1880, by virtue of additional powers then granted by the legislature, the company has inserted in all policies, without extra charge, a clause insuring against damage by lightning, whether fire ensues or not. On the first of January, 1889, it had in force, all in Connecticut, 14,752 policies, with $23,246,504.75 at risk, and with $407,821.87 of well-invested assets to protect the liability. It had then distributed to the people of the State $609,972.66 in pay- ment of losses. The rates are low, and the amounts written generally small, the premiums averaging from seven to eight dollars. D. I). Erving died August, 1873. Later presidents have been. Julius Catlin, September, 1873, to September, 1874; Walter H. Havens, September, i874-'76; James B. Shultas, September, i876-'8o; Wm. E. Sugden, since 1880. Present officers, Wm. E. Sugden, president; James L. Howard, vice-president; and William A. Erving, secretary. Office, northwest corner of Main and Asylum Streets. 44 'J''IK CITY OF HARTFORD, CONX. STATE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. This company commenced business in October, 1867. On Jan. i, 1889, its gross assets, exclusive of premium notes, amounted to $46,831.38. Ralph Gillett, president; Isaac Cross, Jr., secretary. FACTS AND INFERENCES. From the story of the marvelous growth of fire insurance in Hart- ford, one might hastily infer that the prosperity of the companies has been secured by the imposition of excessive rates. Such conclusion is wholly unwarranted. During the long period of infancy, both the Hartford and the ^-Etna were several times brought to the edge of the grave by unexpected calamities, and were saved only by the in- domitable courage of officers and owners. After each of the great fires prior to 187 1, more careful methods were introduced, till at length the belief became common that no strong and conservative company could be dangerously involved in any single disaster. Yet, within the period of thirteen months and a day, the Hartford, yEtna, and Phoenix were called upon to contribute to policy-holders in Chicago and Boston $9,162,765.73, or over one hundred and ninety- nine per cent, on an aggregate capital of $4,600,000. Payments by other local companies swell the above figures to a total of over twelve millions of dollars — an almost incredible sum to be taken from a town of thirty-eight thousand inhabitants in so short a time, in addi- tion to the ordinary losses incident to the business. Pecuniarily Hart- ford suffered more than either Chicago or Boston, though the enor- mous drafts upon her accumulations were in part made good by exceptional profits during the next few years. Some stockliolders in the Hartford, Coimecticut, National, and Orient, may be surprised to learn that their dividends are drawn ex- clusively from the income of assets, and that whatever profits accrue from premium receipts go to swell the reserves, and thus equip the companies to meet extraordinary disasters, liable at any time to occur, 'i'he Connecticut and Orient keep the dividends they pay consider- ably within the dividends they receive, while the .Etna and Pha-nix, with their large capitalization, draw to a small extent on current l^rofits. With these exceptions, all moneys paid by policy-holders are BEGINNINGS OF LIFE INSURANCE IN HARTFORD. 45 either returned in the settlement of losses, or, after defraying the expenses of management, go to strengthen the security of the in- sured. Statistics prove the need of strength. Since i860, six hundred and forty-five American companies, representing over eighty-nine mil- lions of capital, have either failed or retired from the field. Although, as corporations, supposed to be endowed with the attributes of im- mortality, yet most of them, like man born of woman, are "of few days and full of trouble." Survivors continue to live only by strict adherence to scientific methods. Any material and persistent devia- tion on the wrong side of the line must, in time, lead even the larg- est to inevitable bankruptcy. In the modern industrial system, becoming continually more com- plex and interdependent, insurance is as essential to the continuance of life, as the heart or lungs in the animal economy. The protection thus afforded is indispensable in enabling the manufacturer, the mer- chant, the farmer, the owners of the countless buildings which make our cities, to borrow on their properties. The policies issued by the institutions of Hartford enter as a vital element into one billion of actual or potential credits. Unskilled hands should be commanded by enlightened public sen- timent to leave the delicate mechanism severely alone. The instinct of self-preservation should lead the public to condemn with united voice the ever-recurring attempts of crude legislators, and still worse, of the freebooters of the lobby, to engraft pernicious sophisms upon the laws which regulate the business. As proved by experience, com- petition tends to reduce rates to the line of danger or below, while the value of a good name guarantees a full measure of indemnity to the insured. BEGINNINGS OF LIFE INSURANCE IN HARTFORD. James L. Howard was the first person to call the attention of the people of Hartford, at least in any effective way, to the claims of life insurance. In February, 1S46, he took out policy No. 1079 in the Mutual Benefit of New Jersey, and the same year accepted an agency from the company. He was soon successful in impressing his 46 THE CITV OF HARTFORD, CONN. views upon a number of inrtuential citizens, wiiose example in insur- ing, others followed. In the counting-room of Governor Howard began the discussions which soon culminated in the organization of the Connecticut Mutual Life, Guy R. I'helps, the leading spirit in the movement, having been so impressed by the merits of the system as to take a policy from Mr. Howard. Elisha B. Pratt, another of the founders, was not only brought to share the same view, but he was probably the first to suggest the expediency of forming a local company and thus keeping the premiums at home. It was a new subject, and the vigorous presentation of the affirmative side provoked a good deal of curious opposition. Some good people argued that the scheme was irreligious in substituting reliance upon human instrumentalities for trust in providence. A Baptist elder, noted for the boldness of his pulpit illustrations, in a sermon at an annual State convention, resolved to crush the pernicious novelty at a blow. Rising to 'a climax in denunciation, he said : '' Suppose that Jesus, on His way to the Jordan, had met John among the foot-hills, and to the question ' whither goest thou ? ' John had answered, 'behold all these years have I trusted in the God of Israel, and have been sorely pressed by many troubles. Wist thou not that I go up to Jerusalem to get my life insured ? ' Would the church, my hearers, have outlived the few and feeble days of infancy had treachery so foul been permitted to occur and to pass unrebuked ? If lack of faith was a sin then, it is a sin now. Avoid the snares of a perverse generation, and say to the tempter, 'get thee behind me, Satan.'" Prejudice yielded surely, if slowly, before enlightened discussion, and the act which the good elder condemned as a sin is now regarded in many cases as a duty. THE CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. The Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company is one of the original five whose history goes back to the beginning of the business in this country. Chartered in May, 1846, it was organized, and issued its first policies, in December of the same year, with Eliphalet A. Bulkeley as president, and Guy R. Phelps as secretary. Before the THE CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING, 48 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, COXX. subject liad attracted much attention, and while its true theor\- was very imperfectly understood, Dr. Phelps, the chief promoter of the enterprise, from personal inquiry and reflection, came to appreciate the need of insurance, and to foresee its importance and \alue to the people of this country. To his good sense and judgment it is due that this company, intended to meet a great public necessity, was organized on a purely mutual basis, the policy-holders owning all the property, getting the benefit of all savings, and managing affairs them- selves through a body of directors chosen annually from their own number. The principle of strict mutuality and equity among the members has controlled from the beginning, and on suitable occasions the company has not failed to manifest its hostility to schemes for the unfair distribution of benefits, or which are not plainly grounded upon justice. In seasons of intense competition the anxiety for new business, which in many quarters has hatched in fertile brains broods of plans that appeal to selfish expectations of superior advantages to be gained through the weakness or misfortune of associates, rather than to principles of equity, has never for an instant exerted the slightest influence in turning the managers from their course. Up- right aims, pursued with simple means and rigid economy, have char- acterized the policy of the management. Dr. Phelps was secretary until iS66, and then president until his death,, in 1869. James Goodwin, a man of rare financial abilities, succeeded Mr. Bulkeley as president in January, 1848, and, with an interruption of three years, from 1866 to 1869, during the incumbency of Dr. Phelps, held the position until his death, in 1878. Jacob L. Greene was chosen secretary in 187 1, and president in 1878, and still fills the office. To the great abilities, energy, and self-devotion of these three leaders the remarkable success of the company has been chiefly due. Starting without funds, save a guarantee of $50,000 for the protec- tion of the insured during the first few years, the company had accu- mulated at the end of 185S assets amounting to $3,000,523.47, although meanwhile it had distributed among policy-holders $3,957,824.57. At the end of 1868 it had increased its assets to $23,500,008.47, and its payments to policy-holders to $15,063,666.53. In 1878 its assets reached $48,179,128.34, and payments to policy-holders $76,014,692.11. THE CONNKCTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 49 In the forty-tliree \-ears ended Dec. 31, 1888, it had — Received, for prnniuins, $155,424,036.97 from interest and rent, 58,426,794.34 balance profit and loss, . . . . . 685,110.45 $2i4.535.94i-76 Disbursed to policy-holders, $134,162,485.15 for expenses, 18,065,501.57 for ta.xes 6,455,055.17 balance net assets, 551852,899.87 $214,535,941-76 The average expense of creating, handling, and distributing this great business has been but 8.4 per cent., a degree of economy hitherto unattained by any other company, and still less likely to be reached in the future. It is less than half the ratio of American, and but little more than one-half the ratio of English and Continental institutions, despite their traditional conservatism. With the tendency to the centralization of the business in large and wealthy cities, where the cost of management is in many ways enhanced, this item will continue to grow in relative importance. How much has been re- ceived, how much judiciously invested, and how much paid out for conducting operations, are the most vital questions involved in the practice of life-underwriting. Moneys held by life insurance compa- nies are trust funds, and should not, under any circumstances, be sub- jected to any expense beyond a fair cost for care and investment, and a proper outlay for maintaining a suitable volume of business in force. The Connecticut Mutual is peculiarly strong, not only in solid assets, but in a conservatism of policy, the wisdom of which will be- come more and more apparent with the lapse of time. Its premiums and reserves upon risks taken since April, 1882, are computed on the assumption that before the liabilities mature, safe investments can- not with certainty be depended upon to yield a yearly net income of over three per cent, instead of four per cent., the basis heretofore required in prudent legislation and estimates. When taken, the step, quite at variance with the prevalent tendency, provoked, in certain quarters, acrid criticism, but its justification is coming more quickly, perhaps, than its advocates foresaw. Within a decade, able econo- mists have wTitten elaborate papers to prove that for a generation, 4 5© THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. at least the annual rate of interest in the United States, except for short and transient intervals, could not fall below six per cent. The argu- ments were based upon the extent of our undeveloped and partially developed territory, the tireless energy of our people, and the enor- mous sum certain to be required both for the enlargement of old and the initiation of new enterprises. In reality, capital increases much more rapidly than the demand for it in safe investments. For many months at a time, call loans on the best security have ranged from one per cent, to a fraction above, the best State bonds yield barely three per cent., and government bonds still less. Nothing but a long and destructive war can arrest even temporarily the downward movement. In view of the further fact that life insur- ance contracts, in many instances, will run forty, fifty, or sixty years, and that every one kept in force must ultimately be paid in full on penalty of bankruptcy, it is easy to see that all similar institutions, to meet remote obligations, must follow in practice, if not avowedly, the example first set by the Connecticut Mutual. On the highly improbable assumption, that the destruction of capital in wasteful wars should restore, for a long period, former rates of interest, and thus postpone the necessity for revising the tables of cost, patrons of the company would reap the entire benefit in the way of larger dividends. In case the accumulation of wealth, with the attendant decrease of income, goes on without interruption, they are fully protected, and in case the natural order of econom- ical development is suspended or temporarily reversed, they lose nothing by the changes introduced in preparation for the seemingly inevitable. The profits of the Connecticut Mutual inure wholly to the ben- efit of the insured. It has no special class of policy-holders who are to get the divi- dends earned and forfeited by others. The surplus earned is returned each year to those who have contributed it, and is not held to be divided only at the end of a period of years, among the survivors, as a speculation. Every policy-holder is therefore sure of getting his insurance at its actual cost, year by year. It selects its risks with great care, and in the healthy sections of THE CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE LNSURANCE COMPANY. 5 1 our own country only. Its actual losses by death have been only eighty-five per cent, of those indicated by the tables of mortality. It does not increase its commissions on new business to enable agents to compete by " throwing otT." On the contrary, it has on certain lines reduced commissions. It seeks new business only at such a cost as will enable it to continue to give insurance at as low figures as heretofore, so far as the fall in the rate of interest will permit. It maintains its old-time economy and carefulness in all things, elements that will atTect future dividends and the cost of insurance more and more, as the income from investments gravitates downward. In the management of assets, critical attention is given both to security and productiveness. It does complete equity, wronging no member and favoring no member at the expense of others. Its con- servative basis for future solvency — the three per cent, reserve — benefits members who are unfortunately compelled to withdraw, by adding proportionately to the amount of paid-up insurance, or to the cash sum paid on surrender. Each, policy now issued provides, that in case of lapse after two or three premiums are received, it is fully paid up for an amount stated upon the policy itself, and which is the full amount the entire reserve will buy, less a small surrender charge. Each policy now issued may be surrendered at the end of ten years, or five-year periods thereafter, for a cash sum stated in a table printed thereon, thus giving to every member, at convenient intervals, the option of withdrawing from the association and taking his share of the reserve. Each member will get all he pays for, and nothing of what any other member pays for. No one is made to lose because he cannot continue paying, and no one else gains at his expense. Incidentally, much has been accomplished by the company in working out solutions of the various problems of life underwriting in this country, and in providing a body of knowledge and a number of trained men for the benefit of newer organizations, whereby its influ- ence has been dift'used and will be perpetuated. When the history of life insurance in America is fully written, many of the most im- 52 THE CITV OF HARTFORD, CONN. portant and instructive facts will be supplied from the records of the Connecticut Mutual. The present officers are Jacob L. Greene, president; John M, Taylor, vice-president ; William G. Abbot, secretary ; Daniel H. Wells, actuary; and George R. Shepherd, M.D., consulting physician. THE ^TNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. The year after its incorporation, in 1819, the .-Etna (Fire) Insurance Company obtained an amendment to its charter, authorizing it to --^— ^^_ grant annuities, upon an addi- Lp: ^■' »'n'''»fii I rpf llff 111,'''- THE ^TNA LIFES BUILDING. tional capital not exceeding $150,- 000, to be held as a separate guaranty for the liabilities arising under the business. The privi- lege was never exercised. In 1850, by a second amendment, the ancillary company was em- powered to grant insurance upon lives, and thirty years after the inception of the original plan, organized as the ^tna Insurance Company Annuity Fund. Rights to subscribe were distributed among the owners of the parent com- pany in proportion to their holdings. Officers of both were the same, certain directors, with Eliphalet A. Bulkeley as chairman, having been delegated to manage the affairs of the new department. After a brief experience, it was thought best that the control of the two institutions should be made separate and distinct, and accord- ingly, in 1853, by still another amendment to the charter, the child was launched on its independent career under the name of the ^2tna Life Insurance Company. E. A. Bulkeley was chosen president, and John W\ Seymour secretary. In 1858, Thomas O. Enders, who had been employed in the home office since 1854, became secretary. During the first decade of its existence the company developed slowly. It will be remembered that a period of long, and at times severe, financial depression preceded the war — a condition that bore THE vKTNA LIFE INSURANXE COMPANY. 53 heavily upon new enterprises, and brought to both new and old wide- spread mortality. Till 1861, all contracts for insurance made by the /Etna Life were written on the proprietary plan. It then began to issue participating policies, and established a mutual department under the same control, but with entirely distinct books, accounts, and investments. Since then applicants have had their choice between the two methods. Till 1868, patrons on the mutual side were allowed to pay a part of the premiums by note, a system once quite popular, but under plans then matured all subsequent contracts have required payments in cash. One of the first effects of the war was to aggravate the depression previously existing. As it went on, and issues of paper currency stimulated speculation and extravagance not less than legitimate busi- ness, the life companies already in the field soon began to profit from the changed conditions. ■ Large numbers of men rushed into hazard- ous ventures, and amid the uncertainties of their private affairs, made provision for their families by taking out heavy lines of insurance. Others of more prudent habits were influenced by the example to in- vestigate the merits of the system, and to avail themselves of the same protection. Inquiry could not fail to satisfy the mind that the principles were sound, or that any well managed company must always be in a position to meet maturing obligations. The sudden popularity of life insurance was due partly to more urgent need of its benefits, and partly to more thorough comprehension of the subject. Nowhere is the greatness of the change in the attitude of the public toward life insurance more clearly reflected than in the records of the yEtna. In 1863, thirteen years from the date of organization, its assets amounted to $310,492. In 1866, they had risen to $2,036,- 823. The impetus then given to the development of the company was stimulated and multiplied by the energy of the management. Its subsequent growth in resources and surplus, in reputation and popu- larity, has never for an instant been checked by adversities of any nature, or troubles from any quarter. It has been singularly fortu- nate, too, in avoiding the errors of judgment which intelligence and prudence may, without discredit, be expected to make under the law of averages. In 1868, its assets had increased to $7,538,612; in 1878. to $24,141,125; in 1888, to $32,620,676. 54 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, COXN. On T^^iiu^i'V I, 1889, it had 67,749 policies in force, insuring $102,904,303.44. It iiad received from all sources, $116,980,144.41. It had paid for claims by death and endowments, $37,106,280.60, and in dividends to policy-holders and surrender values, $30,135,848.- 21. Its assets reached $33,819,034.97, and its surplus, as regards policy-holders, to $5,566,055.24, on the basis of 4 per cent, reserve, and to $7,325,000 on a 4.^ per cent, basis. Success far transcending the dreams of the founders, and on the whole perhaps unequaled in the records of life insurance, either in Europe or America, is easily explained in the light of the facts. One of the postulates of the business demands that investments shall yield an annual income of four per cent., the excess being available either for immediate distribution among the insured, or for building up a fund held in reserve to. meet claims maturing many years hence, when the rate of interest on approved secunity will certainly fall be- low that figure. The ^Etna Life was a pioneer in loaning to western farmers, having entered the field under highly favorable conditions. At the time when its treasury began to be distended by the volume of inflowing premiums, the Illinois Central railway had a large num- ber of outstanding contracts with settlers on their lands, agreeing to convey titles on payment of the purchase money. Both sides desired the completion of the contracts. At this juncture the yEtna Life came forward and furnished the needful funds, taking mortgages on the farms as security. All the early loans bore interest at ten per cent. The arrangement proved highly advantageous to both lender and borrower. The fertility of the soil attracted heavy immigration, with consequent enhancement in the value of the properties. While the company had abundant reason to be satisfied, thousands of farm- ers rose from poverty to wealth by the aid thus afforded them. As the region grew rich, and the loans were paid off, the company pushed westward into Iowa, repeating the process on the same terms. Employing only trained and faithful agents it seldom met with de- faults, and when compelled to foreclose generally succeeded, by patience, in drawing a profit from the transaction. The perils of growing competition were met by increase of carefulness, one of the rules being to loan, in no case, in excess of the value assessed for taxation. At present the A^Ana Life has about $15,000,000 invested THE PHdiXIX MUTUAL LIFE LXSURANCE COMPANY. 55 in farm mortga2;es, averaging about $1,500 each, and $20,000,000 more have run tlirough their term and been paid at maturity. On the small proportion of foreclosures the books show a balance on the credit side. ' While loanable funds were much less abundant than now the -^tna Life also invested largely in the bonds of prosperous cities at the west, bearing 7 and 7 ,''0 per cent, interest. On transactions in- volving many millions the losses were few and small. The surplus annually accruing from investments of extraordinary productiveness enabled the company to return generous dividends to the participat- ing policy-holders, which in turn stimulated growth in new business, and added to the tide of inroHing premiums. In economy of management the ^tna Life ranks with the first three or four on the list of American companies. With customary good fortune it lately acquired for $231,000 the commodious and ele- gant building erected by the Charter Oak Life, at a cost of $850,000, and valued by the special legislative commission at $600,000. The home offices were transferred to the new quarters in the summer of 1888. The present cash capital is $1,250,000. The marvelous growth of the ^tna Life cannot be repeated in the future by any similar organization, because the conditions which rendered the process pos- sible have passed, never to return. At the death of Judge Bulkeley, in 1872, Thomas O. Enders be- came president, and at his retirement, in 1879, was succeeded by Morgan G. Bulkeley, son of the founder, and now Governor of Con- necticut. The other executive officers are, J. C. Webster, vice-presi- dent; J. L. English, secretary; H. W. St. John, actuary, and Gurdon W. Russell, M.D., consulting physician. THE PHCENIX MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. Proceeding on the theory that total abstainers from the use of alcoholic drinks could safely be insured at lower rates than miscella- neous risks accepted without close regard to personal habits, a num- ber of men, connected for the most part with the temperance reform, organized, in 185 1, the American Temperance Life Insurance Com- pany. Among the incorporators were, Barzillai Hudson, a prominent 56 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. ... leader in the crusade against alcohol; Benjamin E. Hale, editor of the '^Fountain,'' a cold-water sheet; Thomas S. Williams, ex-chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court ; Francis Gillette, a noted abolitionist in the formative period of the party, and for a year in the United States Senate; and others of similar stamp. Moved by strong convictions they gladly accepted an opportunity to subject their beliefs to a practical and perhaps decisive test. Accordingly, tables were prepared graduating the cost of insurance about ten per cent, below the current rates, and the issue of policies began. Had the scheme met with popular favor perhaps the correctness of the theory would have been demonstrated. However, persons interested in the cause of temperance did not hasten to seize the privilege, and others did not care to sign a pledge of perpetual abstinence in con- sideration of the discount. Solicitors found the restrictions placed upon the freedom of the individual an ever-present obstacle, blocking the persuasive force of their eloquence. Satisfied after a fair trial that, however correct the principle might be, the attempted application of it ran counter to the inclinations of human nature, the managers abandoned the temperance feature in 1861, conformed the rates and contracts to the common practice, and with legislative permission changed the name to the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company. Many of the risks taken under the original plan still remain on the books, and as a whole, have perhaps justified the opinions of the founders in regard to the greater longevity of those who entirely avoid spirituous drinks. B. Hudson was the first president ; Tertius Wadsworth, vice-presi- dent ; and Benjamin E. Hale, secretary. At the end of two years Mr. Hudson was succeeded by Edson Fessenden, who retired in 1875, and was followed by Aaron C. Goodman, the present incumbent. In 1875, Jonathan B. Bunce became vice-president, and John M. Hol- combe, secretary, both still filling those positions. After the abandonment of the restrictive plan, which confined its efforts to a limited class, the company extended its operations with vigor. At one time it did a large business in the Southern States, but withdrew after a trial of about six years, having learned that the climate and conditions of life caused a higher rate of mortality. Since its organization the company has received in premiums from THE CONNECTICUT GENERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 57 its policy-holders $36,104,153.25. It has paid to beneficiaries on account of deceased policy-holders $13,231,703.96, and in matured endowments $2,499,099.96. In addition it has disbursed to the in- sured in dividends, surrender values, etc., $12,508,050.43, making a total of $28,238,854.35 returned to its patrons or their heirs. It now has $10,587,353.45 in assets held for the protection of its outstanding policies. A large portion of these funds, for more than twenty-five years, have been loaned in various parts of the west, materially aiding in the development of the country, and yielding also a remunerative income. In return for its charter and such protection as the laws of the commonwealth are supposed to afford, it has paid in taxes to the treasury of Connecticut the sum of $689,029.47 — a handsome requital, certainly, for favors received. The Phoenix Mutual is one of the solid and enduring institutions that have given to Hartford its reputation as the center of safe insurance. THE CONNECTICUT GENERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. The youngest life insurance company in the city, the Connecticut General, entered a field already crowded, not as a competitor of older institutions, but with the view of selecting at adequate rates from the risks which others rejected. Dr. Phelps, father of the Con- necticut Mutual, was also the god-father of the Connecticut General, and proposed to further aid the infant enterprise with liberal slices from the excess lines of the parent company. The promoters rea- soned, quite plausibly, that if fire-rates could be so adjusted upon all classes of property as to be remunerative, there could be no inherent difficulty in graduating the cost of insurance for impaired lives also. It was soon found, however, that the infirmities buried in the human system were too deceptive and variable to respond to any determinate law of averages. Moreover, applicants who failed to pass the stan- dard examinations did not display expected alacrity in accepting the benefits of the new departure on the terms proposed. Each one's confidence in his own destiny is so strong that he must either sufl^er from "malaria," or be clearly nearing the grave, before he will admit that his chances of longevity are less than those of his neighbor. Happily the error in the theory was soon shown by the perplexities 58 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. encountered in attempts to apply it, and in two years the feature was abandoned and the business of the company thenceforth confined to first-class risks. It is worthy of note that the Universal life insurance company, organized about the same time on the same theory, persisted in adhering to the plan, and paid the penalty a few years later by dying bravely in the last ditch. The Connecticut General began business in September, 1865. In view of the extra hazards and unknown conditions to be met, the capital was fixed at $500,000. When fifty per cent, of the amount had been called in, the abandonment of the original design removed the need of a larger sum, and accordingly, by act of the legislature in 1874, the capital was reduced to $250,000, and again in 1880, to $150,000, where it remains. James S. Niles, president during the short period of organization, Avas succeeded by Pxlward W. Parsons, first vice-president. Thomas W. Russell, secretary of the company from its origin until then, was made president in May, 1876, and still fills the position. Taught by the peculiar experience of the first two years, the pol-» icy of the managers has since been to do a thoroughly safe business, confining itself to the salubrious portions of our own country, and to well-approved plans of insurance. Its losses have always been paid promptly. Although one of the youngest, it is also one of the strong- est companies intrinsically in the United States, the ratio of assets to liabilities, upon a four per cent, basis of reserve, being 132 to 100. Its funds, carefully invested in sound securities, amounted, Jan. i, 1889, to $1,841,696.70, with a surplus to policy-holders of $469,477.81. The officers are 'i'homas \V. Russell, president; F. V. Hudson, secretary; E. B. Peck, assistant secretary; and M. Storrs, M.D., con- sulting physician. HARTFORD LIFE AND ANNUITY INSURANCE COMPANY. The Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company, chartered in ISIay, 1866, under a different name, to do an accident business, began issuing life policies on the customary plans in August, 1867, having after a short trial given up the accident feature, on account of its supposed unprofitableness. After careful elaboration, the company, HARTFORD LIFI-: AND ANNUITY INSURANCE COMPANY. 59 early in 18S0, adopted the system which requires poHcy-holders to pay only for the actual mortality among members as it occurs in quarterly periods. Applicants for insurance pay a single admission fee, which varies according to the amount required, but not with the age of the person. For collecting and distributing the funds, and all other expenses of management, a yearly charge of $3 per $1,000 of insurance is made, and the rate cannot be increased. The safety fund, which gives the system its name, is made up exclusively of con- tributions of $10 per $1,000, required of each member once only, and placed in the hands of the Security Company of Hartford as trustee for the policy-holders. At present it amounts to over $600,000, and will continue to be augmented by payments from new members till it reaches one million of dollars, invested at face value in United States bonds. Semi-annually the entire net income from the fund must be divided pro ratcx among the holders of certificates in force, who, five years before or earlier, contributed to it their full share, and the divi- dends thus accruing are applied to the reduction of future dues and mortalit)\calls. When the fund reaches one million, the contributions from new members are semi-annually added to the income from it, when the entire surplus thus accruing is distributed in like manner. The principal, placed by a deed of trust beyond the control of the company, remains at an even million, as a guaranty that death claims shall always be met in full, even if the membership for any cause be so reduced that stipulated mortality-calls fail to produce enough to satisfy the claims. By mathematical computation the rates are so fixed that the amount of insurance in force must fall below^ one million dollars to cause an insufficient membership. Should such contingency occur, the trustee is required, from the principal of the safety fund, to pay all outstanding policies in full, without waiting for death to mature the claims. Had the condition arisen in the early stages of the venture, and before the accumulations were sufficient to meet all liabilities in full, the deed provided for the division of the fund pro rata among the holders of certificates in force. This is the only company in the country doing business on the assessment plan where an ample fund is built up to protect the insured against adverse possibilities liable to occur in the distant future. 60 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. Cash capital, $250,000; outstanding insurance, over sixty millions; new business, about eleven millions per annum. The officers are, Fred. R. Foster, president; H. A. \Miitmore, vice- president; Stephen Ball, secretary; and A. T. Smith, superintendent of agencies. MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE COMPANY. This company commenced business in 1869. On Jan. i, 1889, its gross assets amounted to $137,680.75. Alfred R. Goodrich, president; DeWitt J. Peek, secretary. NATIONAL BENEFIT LIFE ASSOCIATION. This association commenced business March 26, 1888, and on Jan. I, 1889, had assets amounting to $69,817.85. O. H. Blanchard, president ; Eben E. Smith, secretary, THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY. A quarter of a century ago, while traveling in Europe, James G. Batterson, of Hartford, became interested in the subject of casualty insurance, and after examining the methods pursued in England and on the continent, was convinced that the system could be advan- tageously transplanted into the United States. On his return home, the scheme was talked over with influential friends, but at first met with little encouragement or sympathy. However, the personal force of the projector, backed by arguments which grew in number and cogency as the discussion went on, began to win valuable converts, and the enterprise soon materialized in tangible form. Outside of the charmed circle skepticism still prevailed, but a nucleus had been formed, and a charter was secured in June, 1863. The new venture "of strange device," organized on a capital of $300,000, was ready for business in April, 1864. Borrowing the central idea from the Railway Passengers' Assur- ance Company of England, the Travelers was incorporated with power to insure "persons against the accidental loss of life or personal injury sustained while traveling by railway, steamboat, or other mode of conveyance." Finding the power granted too narrow, the managers secured an amendment in June, 1864, authorizing " all and 62 THE CITY OF HARTroRD, COXX. every insurance connected with accidental loss of life, or personal injury sustained by accident of every description." Mr. Batterson was fortunate in inspiring with a full measure of his own enthusiasm Rodney Dennis, who took the secretaryship. To the substantial nucleus of president and secretary, were added in time several other young men who manifested capacity for the assimilation and mastery of complex details, and the gifts of all were put to a severe test in the early struggles of the company for existence. Severe labor, rigid economy, and especially quickness and accuracy in the interpretation of facts, carried the enterprise safely through the perils of infancy. Not a penny was wasted on superfluities. The first office, located on the second floor to save rent, was furnished with two chairs and a second-hand pine desk set on a cheap table. A carpet was an extravagance not to be thought of. For a while the officers did all the work alone, writ- ing the letters, keeping the books, instructing agents in the mys- teries of the craft, and running on errands for exercise. The first luxury to be introduced was an office boy, who became assistant secretary. For eight generations children have read with unabated interest of the pilgrimage of Hooker and his flock through the trackless forest, from Massachusetts Bay to the banks of the Connecticut, with only the compass and north star for guides. On starting into the wilderness the Travelers had the benefit of neither compass nor star. At home no one had gone before to cut a bush or blaze a tree, while the conditions underlying the casualty business in Eng- land differed so widely from those in America that the scanty gen- eralizations formulated in tables by the pattern-company proved treacherous and misleading. From the bottom stone in the founda- tion to the flag-staff on the tower, the officers constructed as they went, without aid from architectural designs or preformed plans, nec- essarily making many mistakes, and costly mistakes, too — tearing down, changing, rebuilding, adding here and discarding there — till from a chaos of materials grew the present, solid, statel)^ and endur- ing edifice, the despair of rivals and the delight of friends. No kind of business, and especially no branch of msurance, can be carried on with safety till its laws have been generalized from a THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY. 63 wide range of experience. In the case of the Travelers, it was nec- essary to get the experience and to deduce tlie governing principles simultaneously. The process of adjustment demanded frequent and radical changes in classifications and rates, introducing confusion into methods, annoying and losing patrons, and exciting in faithful agents ebullitions of sore displeasure. The knife of the surgeon was in con- stant requisition. Meanwhile, the executive officers did not sleep on beds of roses, at least till the small hours of the morning, for mid- night often found them at headquarters, toiling over the solution of changeful problems, or anxiously discussing what should be done next. The palpable benefits of the system, the disbursement over a wide area of many small sums to injured persons who fortunately held policies in the Travelers, the gratuitous advertising given to the business by its relations to destructive railway accidents, though productive of a copious inflow of premiums, damaged the company at a certain stage of growth in two ways. Men engaged in dangerous pursuits insured in large numbers before the actual cost of the hazard had been determined, and, in fact, bought indemnity much too low. Perils from this source passed away as enlarged experience en- abled the officers to correct the tables. The other danger came from the opposite quarter, and though serious enough in the thick of the fight, now seems almost ludicrous, when viewed in connection with the mental conditions which preceded and followed in swift succession. Reversing the normal sequence of development, the age of skepticism yielded place to an age of faith, and before the doubting Thomases near home had ceased to hum, with a slight accent of derision, " what will the harvest be," a swarm of casualty companies, organized in 1865 and 1866, rushed wildly into the field. With ample powers of destruction all lacked the art of construction, and after emulating the feats of the historic bull in the china shop, sank one by one into un- remembered graves, and though mourners were many, the only monuments of the departed are the death-records in the State insur- ance reports. The company issues accident insurance tickets, chiefly sold at railwav stations, running from one to thirty days, and covering general accidents on or off public transportation ; and general accident policies, sold through agents, and running from one to twelve 64 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. months. " In case of death or loss of both hands, both feet, a hand and a foot, or the sight of both eyes, from such injuries alone within three months, the principal sum insured will be paid ; if one hand or one foot is thus lost, one-third the principal sum ; in all cases of total disability, weekly indemnity will be allowed up to a limit of twenty-six weeks. Policies are not forfeited by change of occupation, being paid in the same proportion the premium under the new ex- posure bears to that under the old." Nearly all the concerns, organized in the sixties in imitation of the Travelers, also began to issue railway accident tickets, introducing such confusion into the business that the principal ones soon agreed to combine in the formation of a new company, intended to prosecute the work for their joint benefit under a uniform system extending over the whole country. Accordingly, in May, 1865, a Connecticut charter was procured for the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, which was organized the following year on a capital of $250,000, contributed by the several corporations under the hegemony of the Travelers. Each had at least one representative in tlie directory. Headquarters were established at Hartford, and James G. Patterson Avas chosen president. Py a singular fatality all the others found the losses from the residue of their business too great to be repaired by the dividends from their common offspring, and one after another perished by the wayside till the Travelers remained sole survivor, residuary legatee, and reinsurer of the rest. The occasion for its separate existence having passed, the company retired in 1878, having turned over its risks to the only living parent. In 1866, under legislative sanction, a life department was added to the Travelers, and while the accounts are kept entirely distinct, both are under the same management. All policies are issued at low cost for cash, the element of participation and the margin that adorns it being entirely excluded. Having outgrown rented rooms, the Travelers purchased, in 1872, the historic mansion at the northeast corner of Prospect and Grove streets, occupied, among others, by Oliver Wolcott, secretary of the U. S. Treasury under Washington, governor of Connecticut, etc. ; Professor Charles Uavies ; Henry L. Ellsworth, commissioner of patents ; Roswell C. Smith, manufacturer of school books ; Isaac THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPAW. 6$ Toucey, governor, secretary of the navy, etc. The structure has been remodeled and enlarged in the rear, making a commodious home office. A very great proportion of the losses in the accident department of the Travelers come from the ordinary casualties daily occurring all over the country, which attract little attention beyond a limited circle ; the large sums which the company is often required to pay to the injured and to the heirs of the killed, after notable disasters, making but a small fraction of its disbursements. Still, death-claims alone amounted to $32,000 from the railway accident at Angola, January, 1868; to $43,000 at Carr's Rock, April, 1868; to $20,000 at New Hamburg, February, 187 1; to $13,000, steamer Metis, September, 1872; to $52,000 at Ashtabula, January, 1877; to $15,000 at Chatsworth, 111., August, 1887. At the time of the great conflagration, one hundred and eighty-one Chicago firemen held policies in the* Travelers, and not one was in- jured, though over $20,000 had previously been paid there on this single class of risks. The Travelers Record, issued monthly from the home office, by giving wide currency to facts and arguments showing the benefits of casualty insurance, has aided materially in enlightening the public, and thus extending the business. Jan. 1, 1889, the gross assets of the Travelers were $10,382,781.92, with a surplus to policy-holders of $2,041,210.41. It had paid policy- holders in the life department $4,853,643.68, and in the accident de- partment $11,0^7,132.72, making a total of $15,890,776.40. For the year 1888, the entire income of both departments was $3,987,399.99. Its executive officers are, James G. Batterson, president; Gustavus F. Davis, vice-president; Rodney Dennis, secretary; John E. Morris, assistant secretary ; George Ellis, actuary ; J. B. Lewis, M. D., surgeon and adjuster; Edward V. Preston, superintendent of agencies. After the lapse of more than a quarter of a century, the organiza- tion remains essentially the same as at the beginning, little change having occurred in executive officers, or in the board of directors except from death. 66 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. THE HARTFORD STEAM BOILER INSPECTION AND INSURANCE COMPANY. In the year. 1857, a coterie of young men in Hartford, drawn together by similarity of tastes, organized the " Polytechnic Club " with the view, primarily, of investigating and discussing questions of science in relation to the utilities of practical life. Among the mem- bers were Elisha K. Root, who succeeded Colonel Colt in the presi- dency of the armory. Francis A. Pratt, Amos W. Whitney, E. M. Reed, Professor C. B. Richards of Yale, Charles F. Howard, Joseph Blanch ard, J. M. Allen, and others. Although few in number, they have, on different lines of effort, made a marked impression on the events of the period. About this "^ime Professor Tyndall threw out the suggestion incidentally in one of his lectures that the spheroidal condition of water on the fire-plates of boilers might be the cause of disastrous explosions. The hint, for it was scarcely more, became the text of frequent talks regarding the cause of such explosions and the best methods of prevention. Meanwhile, Mr. Reed, on returning from a European trip, brought home the results of late experiments conducted under the direction of Sir William Fairbairn. It also became known that the Manchester Steam Users Association had already been organized in England with the view of preventing boiler explosions by periodical inspection. Under the system as started there, the manufacturer paid a certain sum annually for the examination, re- ceiving in return either a certificate of the safe condition of his boiler, or a report condemning it, but the certificate, like those in some places since issued by direct appointees of the State, involved no pecuniary obligation whatever, and if disaster occurred, the paper, while relieving the holder from the charge of carelessness, entitled him to no indemnity. Although not one of the members of the Polytechnic Club was connected with insurance, the body unconsciously drew inspiration from the local predominance of the interest, which was then making Hartford famous as the home of skilled underwriters. In the course of the debates on the subject the attention of the young men was- attracted to the feasibility of combining a guaranty with the in- STEAM BOILER INSl'ECTION AND INSURANCE. 6^ spection, thus giving both parties to the contract a pecuniary interest in the safety of the boiler. So far as known, the conception had not at that time materiahzed elsewhere. Although distinctly evolved in the club, the seminal idea waited several years for further develop- ment on account of the intervention of the civil war. With the return of peace, the subject was revived, and in May, 1866, prominent manufacturers in and out of the State secured a charter empowering the company formed under it " to inspect steam boilers and insure the owners against loss or damage arising from boiler explosions." Among the corporators were Richard W. H. Jarvis and Charles M. Beach. In the following November the company was organized, when J. M. Allen, who had given much study to this and related subjects, was urged to take the management, but having made other engagements for the year, was compelled to decline. E. C. Roberts was accordingly elected president, and H. H. Hayden, secretary. In October, 1867, Mr. Allen succeeded to the presidency, and under his care a*sickly infant, seriously threatened more than once with early death, has in twenty years grown into present usefulness, strength, and influence. For a long time the process was slow, and the way wearisome. Most seemed to regard the new departure as a useless novelty that must soon run its short-lived course. W'hat will Hartford people undertake to insure next ? was a question often asked in tones of undisguised derision. In the hands of a manager less firm in con- viction, or less conciliatory in manner, the prophecy of disaster must have wrought ■■ its own fulfillment. Mr. Allen met the flavor of sarcasm , with the antidote of pleasantry, and toiled on to create a demand which it should be his future business to supply. For the first five years the company occupied a single room six- teen or eighteen feet square, and for the same period the floor of the vault was spread with papers for the protection of the books, from the unwillingness of the officers to go to the extravagance of fitting It up with shelves. In a moment of self-indulgence the president did invest fourteen dollars in a desk for his own use, but such outbreaks of luxury seldom occurred. It is an open secret that all the successful insurance companies of Hartford practiced the most rigid economy till their business be- 68 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. came thoroughly estabUshed, while those which set out with the theory that success could be hastened by a liberal scale of expenditure, in- variably dropped into the sleep that knows no awakening. Other classes may profit by the lesson. During the first year of his incumbency, Mr. Allen started the Locomotive, a monthly w^hich has built up a body of valuable literature concerning the steam boiler and cognate subjects. In it, after ex- haustive investigation, are treated, with various illustrative aids, par- ticular cases of explosion, with the view of explaining the exact cause. From the multiplicity of inquiries thus pursued, generalizations of the utmost value have been formed. Nineteen thousand copies are dis- tributed each month, and the paper is highly prized, not only by practical men, but also by students of science. In the prosecution of its work the energies of the company are mainly directed to the cure of defects and the prevention of disaster. Boilers under its care are visited by experts at stated periods, and thoroii^hly examined, while the appliances intended to secure safety are put in complete order. During the year 1888, 91,567 defects were reported, of which 8,967 w-ere dangerous. Had these been allowed to go undetected, the neglect in bad cases would have borne fruit hereafter in the needless destruction of life, limb, and prqperty. This part of the work is performed by ninety-five skilled and trained inspectors. Some defects are beyond the reach of human scrutiny, and hence, with the resources now at our command, the element of danger can- not be completely eliminated. In case of explosion or rupture, the company makes good all loss or damage to property, with indemnity for loss of life or personal injury, to an amount not exceeding the sum insured. The home office is a magazine of statistics and information, col- lected from all parts of the country, and relating to every phase of the business, and of the whole patrons h'ave the benefit free. The company, without charge, furnishes to the insured plans and specifications for boilers, settings, and piping; also for steam chim- neys, and when desired, supervises the erection, at reasonable expense. These embody the principles taught by scientific research and approved by experience, as made to subserve the attainment of the highest de- iETNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING. (Home Office of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company.) (69) 70 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. gree of economy, efficiency, and safety. Many large plants have been thus built, requiring few years to offset the original cost by the sav- ing of fuel. Suggestions in the way of economy make a part of the ordinary inspections. The company has a laboratory for the analysis of waters injurious to boilers, and is thus able to prescribe the proper chemical remedy. No ofificer or employe is permitted to have a pecuniary interest in any boiler or boiler appliance. While the best advice is given, an attitude of impartiality toward the trade is strictly maintained. They now insure 29,000 boilers, the annual explosions averaging about one one-hundredth of one per cent. The imagination alone can deal with the saving of life, of suffering, and of property through the methods which have been elaborated and introduced to the world by a company which might, without violence to language, be classed among the beneficent institutions of Hartford. Up to Jan. I, 1889, the company had returned to patrons, in losses paid and cost of inspections, the sum of $1,750,286.01. As an index of the public appreciation of the service rendered, the gross premiums since 1884 have increased at the rate of about $100,000 a year, rising in 1888 to $708,212.11. The heavy drain upon the revenues comes from cost of inspections, not from settlement of claims under policies. On Jan. i, 1889, the total assets reached $1,275,114, and the entire liability for losses accrued but not adjusted, $8,064.66. In 1873, the company moved into the present .^tna Life Insurance building, where its rooms are equipped with all the scientific appli- ances for the conduct of the business. Jn January, 1869, Theodore H. Babcock succeeded Mr. Hayden as secretary, holding the place till February, 1873, when he retired to become manager of the New York department, where he still remains. J. B. Pierce was elected in 1873. Present officers are, J. M. Allen, president; W'm. B. Franklin, vice-president; V. B. Allen, second vice- president; and J. B. Pierce, secretary and treasurer. DISCOUNT AND SAVINGS BANKS. 71 CO :^ 2 < < Z a cc o ii. H CC < £ • j= £ .22 il X) r/ "^ C^ 'v^ ^ M^ \D rO" N 0>iO0>'^0^0 MO CO 8888888 r^co 00 CO CO CO CO 00 'Xi fc U < u S tL, ^^ CO z < CO u h < h 0) Q CC O Lu h QC < X be S X 0; U n, <-! ,- XdcJfc-:>5:^W aJ irt t" o s > u . 5 'S « a; [/I .11 1^ u -* - ^ g v- S Q^I Q t^X M ^ > in W M i-c ; 10 OVO t^ t^ t^CO xxooxcocoxx OJ O X! • - .ti o o (X ro 0^ fO 72 THE CITV OF HARTFORD, COXN. BANKS OF DISCOUNT. The banks of discount in Hartford, National and State, have an aggregate capital of $7,975,000, with a surplus, at the date of the last official returns, of $3,194,789, and with deposits of $15,371,320. Capi- tal and surplus united exceed eleven millions, and this large sum is further swollen by the deposits to over twenty-six millions. In a city of less than sixty thousand inhabitants, only a fraction of the loan- able accumulations represented by such figures can find employment at home and in affiliated communities. Our banks are compelled either to let their funds lie idle, or to buy millions of paper every year in outside markets. They prefer local customers, partly because they know more about the character, methods, and condition of neigh- bors, and partly because home borrowers are also depositors. Obvi- ously, residents entitled to credit can be furnished with discounts at rates ranging somewhat below the rates current at the same time in ordinary manufacturing centers, where the supply is much less and the demand equally urgent. Borrowers without something substantial to offer as a basis of credit, find all climates .about equally frigid. It can be stated authoritatively that manufacturers locating here on a solid foundation will be treated by the banks with a liberality that few places can afford to offer. SAVINGS BANKS. At the May session of the General Assembly of the State, 18 19, a charter was granted to "The Society for Savings" in Hartford, which then had a population of a little less than 7,000. The society was a self-perpetuating body of forty-one corporators. Deposits were restricted to $200 a year for one person. At that time there was but one similar society in New England, which had been chartered, in 1816, in Boston. Upon organizing, the corporators defined the object of the society to be to " aid the industrious, economical, and worthy, to protect them from the extravagance of the profligate, the snares of the vicious, and to bless them with competency and happiness." Its first deposit was June 19, 1819. In the first six months it received $4,352.77 in de- posits, and declared a dividend of $37.31. STATE SAVINGS BANK. 73 STATE SAVINGS BANK AND BOARD OF TRADE ROOMS. The State Savings Bank was chartered in May, 1858; the Mechanics, in 186 1 ; and the Dime, in 1870. Below is shown the growth of the business by periods of five years each. Deposits, 1824, " 1829, 110,520.93 Increase, 1834, 1839, 1844, 1849, 1854, 1859, 1864, 1869, 1874, 1879, $72,347.25 110,520.93 312,720.20 562,190.34 874,669.59 1,432,671.53 2,624,285.59 3,320,180.91 5.743,551-40 6,792,486.09 10,318,227.11 10,925,118.91 13,874,173-07 17,120,844.77 $38,173.68 202,199.27 249,470.14 312,479.25 558,001.94 1,191,614.06 695,895-32 2,423,370.49 1,048,934.69 3,525,741.02 606,891.80 2,949,054.16 3,246,671.70 74 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, COXN. It would be difficult to classify the depositors by occupation, and we know of but one serious effort ever made to accomplish this object, and that was fifteen years ago by the State Savings Bank. The classification made at that time is as follows, and would un- doubtedly apply to the present time : Per cent. Mechanics, laborers, and operatives in factories, . . . . . . . 28.01 Women and children, 42.50 Farmers 9.18 Clerks and agents, 3.65 Merchants and Traders, 2.61 Professional , men, ............. 1.51 Teachers, male, .29 Artists, musicians, hotel and boarding-house keepers, officers of the army and nav}', keepers of livery stables, editors and publishers, .... .41 Unknown, 11.84 100.00 It is reasonable to assume that the unknown are so divided among the known classes that the relative proportions would remain unchanged. MKMokl.M. .\RCH. fT\3T)iif3eture^ \\) j^artford. THE BEGINNINGS. '^^OR many years after the settlement of the country the energies r ^ of Hartford were largely monopolized by agriculture and trade. Everywhere as new towns were planted in the wilderness, the evolution of ancillary industries followed for generations within narrow limits certain well-defined lines, and it was not till well into the present century that differentiation on a geometrical scale of progress began. Such aids to muscle as were most urgent, and could be supplied from the resources of a primitive community, came first. In 1637, a grist mill was built on *Little river, on a site that has been continuously occupied for the same purpose since. More than twenty years elapsed before the colonists enjoyed the benefits of a saw-mill, having built all their early homes from logs and boards prepared by hand. Cloth from hemp, flax, wool, and cotton was made at odd hours on domestic looms. Tanneries were soon introduced, the shoemaker rather preceding the tailor in ministering to the com- fort and adornment of the settler. \Mthin the limits of the town, before the end of the seventeenth century, were several fulling mills for removing greasy matters from domestic woolens and giving them a more compact texture. Later, the export of hoops and staves to the West Indies encouraged cooperage. The making of hats began early and continued till recently, but in the modern whirl has been transferred to other places. Attempts to domicile the silk industry, pursued on a small scale for over a century at Mansfield and elsewhere, finally expanded in Hartford and South Manchester into the factories of the Cheney Brothers, in which millions are profitably invested. *This stream has been known at clift'erent times as "The Riveret," "INIill," "Little," and now as "Park" river. (75) "6 Till >. II \ *»l ll\Krii>KI>. (.*>N.\. THE FIRST WOOLEN MILL IN AMERICA. A woolen null, (lio tirst in the country, was startcil in Harttord in 17SS. Its o.ipit.il ot .{."1.^50 was t.jkon bv thirtv-ono poisons, including several leading nten ot" the Stale. At the ceremonies attending the inauguration of (u-ncral Washington. April ^^o, 1779. the president, vice-president, .ind ronnecticut delegation in Congress, were dressed* in cloth t"ion> this mill. (.'onleinc»or.ineous press nt>tiees show that the promoters of the enterprise knew h^nv to improve the incident to advertise their wares. On his loin through New England General Washington visited the factory in October, and on the assembling of (.\">ngress, )an. S. 171)'^"'. addressed both houses in a "crow colored suit" from the s.nne establishment. During four months, from Sept. 1, 17S8, 10.278 vards were made, in brown and gray, known as "Congress Brown" and "Hartford dray" It sold at prices ranging from 5.^.50 to $5.00 per yard. In 1701. a lottery, created to aid the enterprise, netted nearly $10,000, postponing but not arresting the ine\itable coUajise. Lack of conununicalion between ditVerent parts of the country narrowed the market : the general poverty after the revolution iH-rmitted few to indulge in the luxurv of broadcloth ; and in the supply of such demand as existed the company was forced to compete with the abundant capital, superior machinery, and cheap labor of Europe. Unsold goods accumulated in spite of their excellence. Auctions relieved the plethora, but weakened the treasury. In December, 1794, the company declared a dividend of tifty per cent., to be paid in cloth, and a few months later dissolved. A venture courageous but premature ended in disappointment. The old factory on Little river, near the foot of Mulberrv street, was burned April ^^, 1S54. *Just a century Liter, on March 4, 1SS9. President Harrison and \icc -President Morton wore inaURiiral suits made from cloth manufactured in the immeiliate vicinity of Hartford, and these liigh officials are expected to appear at the cvimins centennial celebration in New York city similarly attired. Not to be left tiw far l^ehind in tho n».irch of progress, the South American republics also are ni>w send- ing t»> the same mill for inaugural suits. Twenty-tive million pounds of wool are consumed annually in the factories about this city. MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES. ^J MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES. About 1797. Dr. .\pollos Kinsley built the first steam road wagon ever operated. He also invented the first brick pressing machine, and with it were made the molded bricks still to be seen in the '• mansion house " just west of the police station on Kinsley street. Bell-making flourished through a long period — a century ago in the hands of Doolittle «Sc Goodyear, and a generation later in the large establishment of Ward, Bartholomew &: Brainard, located back from Main street, opposite St. John's Church. Although the busi- ness has departed, some of its secrets survive. A Spanish half real (6^ cents), melted with each casting, was supposed to give a silvery tone to the metal, while this prodigality in the use of coin served the double purpose of explaining to church committees the cost- liness of bells, and of saving, in some cases, perhaps, the conscience of the dealer from the dread alternative of straining the truth to the point of fracture. East Hartford, including Manchester, formed a part of the town- ship of Hartford till 1783, and since, as well as before, the commu- nities have been closely united by social and business ties. In 1747, under an exclusive privilege granted by the general court for fourteen years. Col. Joseph Pitkin set up. on Hockanum river, a forge for making bar-iron, and a mill for iron slitting. Three years later, par- liament passed an act prohibiting the continuance in the colonies of iron mills and furnaces for making steel, under a penalty of two hun- dred pounds, and thus at birth was throttled a promising industr}-. During the Revolution, in the same buildings, powder was made in large quantities, by the Pitkin family, for the Continental army, for which they were afterwards compensated in part by grants of exclu- sive privileges in the manufacture of glass and snuff. In 1782, they were also forging anchors, and making mill-screws and nail-rods. Here, in 1797, were cast the guns which Elisha Pitkin gave to the old artillery company. Most of the prominent families of Connecticut during the eight- eenth century found in politics and in the professions spheres for the exercise of their superfluous energies, but the Pitkins were also irrepressible leaders in the modern industrial movement, which long nUSHNKI.I, PARK AND CAPITOL. MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES. 79 struggled against heavy diiliculties, but which, after the adoption of the constitution of 1818, soon took a foremost place in winning wealth and influence. In a mill built by Elisha Pitkin about 1770, at the lowest privilege on the Hockanum, was set up the first wool-carding- machine run by power in the State, and probably in the country. Felt was made here in 1807 by Joseph, son of Elisha, under a patent for making " cloth without yarn." Samuel Pitkin, with John Warbur- ton, an Englishman, as overseer, started the first successful cotton factory in Connecticut, known to the present generation as the Union Manufacturing Company. For the past forty years the family has been honorably represented in the industrial activities of Hartford by the Pitkin Brothers, of whom more will be said elsewhere. Before the revolution, John Austin made silver spoons and other articles of luxury for the wealthy, working, from lack of capital, upon metal furnished by customers. Not long after the revolution, Jacob Sargeant began to manufacture silver ware upon a much more exten- sive scale, taking the lead, not only in Hartford, but in Connecticut. He erected the building west of the United States Hotel, now Nos. 20 and 22 State Street, using the entire premises. On the lower floor, back of the store, was a shop for fine work, including gold beads and eardrops, silver spoons, ladles, and sword trimmings. On the floor above he made the old-fashioned tall clocks. E. M. Roberts has some of the tools used by Mr. Sargeant a hundred years ago. The brothers, John O. and Walter Pitkin, succeeded largely to the business. They had a shop across the river for the manufacture of solid silver spoons, forks, and spectacles, and the leading jewelry store in Hartford, in a building on Exchange corner, which was destroyed in the fire of 1833. The disaster did not check the prosperity of the firm. Pressure of orders often kept the men employed till midnight. The goods were made exclusively by hand until about 1855, when the concern procured dies for cutting out the forms, thus saving a large amount of labor. Competitors, however, soon forced it to discard the dies and return to the old method, by convincing the public, through advertisements, that the hand-made article was much more durable. In 1834, Henry and James F. Pitkin made the first watches pro- duced in this country, known as the American lever. Through work- 80 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. men trained by the Pitkins, the Waltham Watch Company may be said to be a scion from this stock. Early in the century, T. D. & S. Boardman led the way in the production of hollow ware from Britannia, laying the foundations of an industry that, since the discovery of electro-plating, has grown into great importance here and elsewhere. The firm was one of the ear- liest to introduce the steam engine. THE FIRST SPELLING-BOOK. In 1783, Noah Webster published in Hartford his "First Part of a Grammatical Institute of the English Language," the second and third parts following in the two succeeding years. The series com- prised a spelling-book, grammar, and reader — the first books of the kind published in America. So great was the sale of the speller that during the twenty years he was employed upon his dictionary, an in- come of less than a cent a copy provided the means for the entire support of his family. THE SITUATION IN 1818. In 1819, John C. Pease and John M. Niles issued a gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island, based upon statistics for 1818. In Hartford a population estimated at 6,500 were housed in 850 dwellings, worshiped in six churches, and sent their children to twelve district schools. Free from dependence on the external world, the bibulous could drink the ])roduct of eight distilleries at twenty-one taverns, and if constrained by sudden thirst, could further refresh themselves at eighteen ale houses, presumably intercalated at convenient intervals between the more ambitious inns. By 1825, the number of distilleries had dropped to two, not from violence of reformatory measures, but because the restoration of foreign trade, after the war of 18 12, with- drew the inordinate stimulus to domestic production. Then, as now, Hartford was the leading trade-center of the State, having five wholesale and twenty-six retail dry goods, and sixty-eight grocery, provision, crockery, and drug stores. Nine printing offices helped to disseminate the wisdom of the community. So important was the river, not only to the town and country adjacent, but like- BOOK PUBLISHING. 8l wise to the region stretching many miles northward, that fourteen houses were concerned in navigation. Seven book stores add to the evidence that personal culture is indebted to generous gifts of inherit- ance for the current intellectual activity, manifested among other ways in the formation of coteries of ladies for the study of subjects histor- ical and political, literary and social, philosophical and scientific, of all degrees of abstruseness and complexity. In 1818, the city was well provided with artisans, like blacksmiths, masons, builders, carriage and cabinet-makers, and others, whose labor was chiefly directed to the supply of local needs. There were, one cotton factory of 320 spindles; two woolen factories, one employing fifteen hands; one machine cord factory, with an annual product of $10,000; one oil. mill; six tanneries; five potteries; one button-factory; one whip-lash factory, with a yearly output of $10,000; two hat facto- ries, one employing thirty-six hands; two tin shops; two looking-glass factories, with an aggregate annual product of $30,000; four copper- smiths, one employing twenty workmen; one bell foundry; one paper hanging and one marble paper factory; six book binderies; three en- gravers; eight gold and silver smith's shops; fifteen shoe factories; ten coopers; three lottery offices; one maker of pewter (Britannia) ware ; two gold leaf, one umbrella, and one brush factory ; with the usual complement of miscellaneous employments. BOOK PUBLISHING. Early in the century, under the impulse communicated by Hudson & (joodwin, the business of book publishing began to assume im- portance, and soon grew to large proportions. Hartford took the lead in selling books by subscription, and for many years retained its po- sition at the head of the trade. Oliver D. Cooke & Son were the pioneers, having in 1822 issued a "Family Encyclopedia," of which thousands of copies were circulated by this method. The late Timo- thy M. Allyn began his career as an agent for the firm, making much money for them as well as for himself. Silas Andrus, alone and in partnership with Homer Franklin and J. W. Judd, did a large busi- ness, especially in furnishing cheap editions of standard works, which were sold mostly at auction. About the year 1825, D. F. Robinson 6 82 THE CITY OF HARTFORD, CONN. & Co. opened the leading book-store in the city, selling over the counter as well as by agents. They published many school books. The firm of A. S. Barnes & Co., of New York, was a scion from this stock. L. E. Stebbins gave a further impetus to the trade by invent- ing a process for coloring pictures and maps by stencils. H. F. Sum- ner & Co., Case & Tiffany. J. S. Brown, and others, entered the field early. Firms multiplied till there were nearly twenty publishing houses in the city at one time. The business culminated with the literature of the war, but of late has declined materially in importance, though still represented by strong and enterprising establishments. THE FIRST FOURDRINIER. In 1829, Henry Hudson of Hartford introduced into his paper mill, on Hockanum river, one of the first two Fourdrinier machines made on this continent, the other going to Amos H. Hubbard of Nor- wich. They were built by Phelps & Spafford, now Smith, Win- chester & Co., of South Windham. Previously all paper produced in America was either made by hand or on the old cylinder machine. From the introduction of the Fourdrinier dates the manu- facture of the fine grades of paper. In the production of cotton and woolen goods, paper, and some specialties, Hartford began early to utilize the water-power of neigh- boring towns, furnishing both capital and direction. Many of the prosperous villages that dot the country drew their first sustenance from this city, and are still bound to it by close business connections. She was herself,' however, compelled to wait for the advent of the steam engine before entering on an industrial career distinctively her own. Steam, too, changed the character of her home manufactures. Few of the industries, catalogued in the Gazetteer of 18 19 became per- manently domiciled here. A mention of the lines that have drifted elsewhere would involve a repetition of most of the list. The heavy concerns of to-day, with few exceptions, trace their lineage to the foundry and machine shop. TRANSITION TO THE AGE OF IRON AND STEEL. In 1820, the brothers Alpheus and Truman Hanks, members of a family noted for mechanical talent, bought the foundry of Good- win, Uodd (S: Gilbert, on Commerce street. They afterwards added A FATAL MOVE. 83 the machine sliop across the way, which had been started b}^ Daniel P. Copeland. Here, it is chiinied, were made the first iron plow castings in the country, and here was set up the first steam engine in the city. After various changes Samuel Woodruff was admitted to the partnership in 1839, '^"