College Hill and the Original Trinity College Campus

Trinity College was founded in 1823 in Hartford, Connecticut, and was the second college to be founded in the state after Yale University. The college, known as Washington College until 1845, originated through the efforts of Episcopalian church leaders to establish an institution that would provide an alternative to the Congregationalist institution at Yale. Though the college came about through the efforts of prominent clergymen, led by  Bishop Thomas Church Brownell , the original charter for the college stipulated that it be non-denominational and prohibited the imposition of religious standards on any student, faculty members or other members of the college. This charter was approved by the Connecticut House, Senate and Governor and granted to the institution on May 16, 1823. During the planning for incorporation it was proposed that the college could be located in either Hartford, Middletown, or New Haven, and in May 1824, the newly appointed board of trustees voted to locate the college in Hartford.

Once the decision was made to site the college in Hartford, a committee was formed to select the location. They chose a prime 14-acre site on West Street, known as the Whiting-Seymour place, with a purchase price of $4,000. The acreage was elevated above the local topography, with a view to the east of the city of Hartford, and a slope down to the west to the Little (Park) River, which formed the western boundary of the parcel. Due to this elevated topography and hilltop view, the location of the campus later came to be known as "College Hill."

This story map provides a visual narrative of College Hill and the original Trinity College campus, which was demolished in 1878 when the college moved to its current location on Summit Street. This narrative focuses on three different areas in Hartford as shown in the image to the right: College Hill, including Bushnell Park; Summit Street, located southwest of downtown Hartford, and Constitution Plaza to the northeast. To take full advantage of the story map, click on any map to pan to a different location, and use the controls in the bottom right for zooming in and out. Click on an image to view a higher resolution version, and attribution information for an image can be viewed by clicking on the 'i' in the upper left.

For several decades after the Civil War, Hartford, Connecticut, was the richest city in America.In 1869 it was a thriving metropolis and major manufacturing center, with precision manufacturing companies such as Colt and Pratt & Whitney located in downtown Hartford. The city also hosted impressive civic and cultural institutions, including the  Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art , which is the oldest continuously-operating public art museum in the United States, opening its doors to the public in 1844.

Since before the American Revolution, the General Assembly of Connecticut, or state legislature, alternated between the cities of New Haven and Hartford for their sessions. However, after the Civil War, it was decided that this was no longer viable, and the location of the capitol was awarded to Hartford in 1870. City leaders immediately focused on acquiring the most desirable location in Hartford for the new capitol building - College Hill. This site offered a commanding view, plus it was located next to the open green space of Bushnell Park.

The Trinity College trustees were hesitant at first to consider leaving the site, and plans to expand the campus at College Hill had been underway as seen in the  1866 college catalog . However, after extended negotiations the city offered $600,000 for the site, to be delivered as $100,000 cash and a $500,000 bond, and the college trustees voted to accept the offer on March 21, 1872. As part of the negotiations, the college reserved the right to continue to occupy the campus and grounds until April 1877, though excavation work began right away on the site for the new capitol building.

After accepting the purchase offer from the city, a search began for a location for the new campus, and after considering several options, a site was selected on Summit Street, just south of Vernon Street and near the Zion Hill Cemetery. The college purchased this site in 1873 for the sum of $225,000, almost half of the sale price for the College Hill campus. This new Summit Street, or Rocky Hill, campus was located a little over a mile to the southwest from College Hill, and was thought by Trinity students to have little to recommend it besides the view.

British architect  William Burges  was commissioned by then current president Rev. Abner Jackson to design the new campus, and the original plan consisted of an elaborate four-quadrangle "Victorian Gothic" group of buildings that included a chapel and observatory. Due to financial constraints, this was later modified to a three-quadrangle master plan, and ultimately only the western side of this quadrangle was constructed, creating Trinity's " Long Walk ." Groundbreaking for the new campus occurred in July 1875, and local architect  Francis Kimball  adapted and oversaw the construction, while  Frederick Law Olmsted  was commissioned to landscape the grounds. The 100-acre Summit Street campus is the current location for Trinity College and the story map " Snapshots in Time ," documents its growth and change over time.

After the new campus and Long Walk buildings were ready, students, faculty and equipment started moving from the original campus in the spring of 1878. On College Hill, Seabury and Jarvis Halls were demolished in the summer of 1878, while Brownell Hall had been vacated and demolished earlier in 1877. The Thomas Church Brownell statue was also moved and relocated to the central quadrangle of the new campus. The College Hill campus of Trinity College was gone.

Construction of the new  Connecticut state capitol  building on College Hill had been underway during the transition, and the building was completed in 1878 and opened for the Connecticut General Assembly session in January 1879.  Richard M. Upjohn  was the architect for the ornate Victorian Gothic building, though during construction extensive renovations were done to the original design by the building contractor, James G. Batterson.

The capitol building is roughly rectangular, with two interior courts and a circular rotunda beneath the central golden dome. Elaborate exterior  facades  with statuary and roundels document the history and people of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the House of Representatives, as well as the office of the Governor, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. All that remains in this area to document the Trinity College campus that had been there before is Trinity Street in front of the capitol and a  plaque  in the south portico of the capitol building commemorating the college.

In addition to the construction of a new capitol building at the former location of Trinity College, and the continued development and urbanization of downtown Hartford over time, the other significant change that occurred in the College Hill area was the "elimination" of the Park River in the first half of the 20th century. This is the river that can be seen on the 1869 Baker & Tilden map winding around the north side of Bushnell Park and it formed the western boundary of the original Trinity College campus.

The  Park River  flows from west to east and is a minor tributary of the Connecticut River. It has drainage basin of roughly 78 square miles, and is formed from the confluence of the North Branch and South Branch portions of the river, which are located in west and central Hartford.

In the 1600s, Dutch fur traders called the river the "Little" River, as compared to the "Great" River, which was the much larger Connecticut River to the east. As industrialization in the area increased over time, the river was also known as the "Hog" River or "Mill" River for the pastured animals and abundant mills and factories located along the river. The final name of Park River was established by city leaders in 1892 with the  founding of Bushnell Park  by Horace Bushnell.

Though the river was used for recreation by Trinity College students and the community, it was also contaminated with industrial and animal waste due to the waste disposal practices of the time. In addition, the lower reaches of the river where it emptied into the Connecticut River were prone to flooding. After devastating floods in  1936  and  1938 , the decision was made to contain the river underground to prevent damage to the area around the capitol and downtown Hartford.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started working on the  Hartford Local Protection Project  in December 1938, and the first phase of the project was completed in August 1944. The river was buried underground in several large conduits, some measuring 30 feet wide and 19 feet high. The photo gallery below shows photographs taken during the construction of the original conduits.

Even after this mitigation project, flood damage remained an issue, especially after a damaging flood in 1955, so additional construction was completed on the Park River during projects in 1956 - 1957 and 1976 - 1981. The underground conduits now total over 4.5 miles long, and are part of a larger flood control system for the entire area. Today, the only indication that a river used to flow around Bushnell Park is the pond within the park, and very few people know that a river is still flowing underneath their feet. However, over the years a few brave individuals have  traversed the Park River underground !

Use the map window below to view the changes over time in the College Hill neighborhood. There are three map layers available, though note that only the modern imagery covers the entire area:

1. 1869 Baker & Tilden atlas sheet
2. 1934 Black/white aerial photograph
3. Modern color imagery with labelled features

Use the list in the upper left to compare different layers by clicking the 'eye' button on and off. Click on the map to pan around different locations, and the zoom controls are in the lower right. You can also expand the map to a full screen by clicking on the button in the upper right.

Some features to note:

• A comparison between 1869 and 1934 shows the replacement of the Trinity College buildings by the Connecticut state capitol building.
• A comparison between 1934 and today shows the 'missing' Park River.
• Comparison from 1934 to today shows downtown development and urbanization, plus the addition of major freeways to the north and west of College Hill.

Trinity returned to having a downtown Hartford presence in January 2018 by the launching of the Liberal Arts Action Lab, located in  Constitution Plaza , just to the east of the Old State House. This was followed by the formation of the Trinity Innovation Center in 2020, also located in Constitution Plaza.

I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of College Hill and the original Trinity College campus. To learn more about the history of Trinity College over its 200-year history, check out our  bicentennial  celebrations and exhibits!