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View
from the old water tower - 1940s
Photos taken and submitted by Stu Elder |
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Dear HHS Friends,
 Thought
you might be interested in how Hartford looked in 1940 as seen from the
Water Tower located on South Center Street as part of the Hartford Water Supply.
Clarence Pomeroy was Police Chief and custodian of the Pumping
Station.
The first
picture of Birdie (John
Boynton) was taken just after we came down from the water
tower where we took a lot pictures of Hartford. I'm sure that many of you
can remember what is shown in these pictures. You can see Birdie's arm with
his camera in one of the pictures and I'm sure that you can pick out the
high school.
Climbing the
tower to the walkway where we were is the easy part. Birdie and Johnny and
I did the complete job one time. By that, I mean that we stood on the ball
below the weather vane and touched the tip of the arrow. There is a
ladder going up to the roof of the tank to get to an access trap door for
getting inside the tank . Sure wouldn't want that job. Just above the
access door is a vertical ridge that we could place our feet against to
reach the ball at
the bottom of the weather vane and pull ourselves up. Birdie was taller than
Johnny and me so he went first and then extended a leg so that we could each
be pulled up to get ahold of the ball and pull ourselves the rest of the way
up. Getting down by doing everything in reverse was a little precarious.
I don't remember if my mother ever found out that we did that or not. I can
picture her saying, "John Stewart Elder you could have killed your self."
Looking back from today, it does look like a dumb thing to do. But when you
are a teenager, there is a lot of daring and double daring and it's hard to
refuse the challenge.
I know that
Jim Byers (HHS 1940) had also climbed up to the top. Perhaps many of you had done the
same thing. I remember that Dave Moore (HHS 1939), who had a pretty strong arm could
throw a snow ball up high enough to land on the top of the water tank.
Enjoy the pictures,
Stu Elder
HHS 1941
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Thanks to Stu
Elder for providing these beautiful photos from his archives of
Hartford 10-2006.
Name of streets were added
to the original photographs to aid viewer navigation.
N - S - E - W notations are not meant to be exact
references.
Click here to view a history of the old water tower, new water
tower in 1958 with restoration and new logo in 2006. |
Additional notes:
2nd photo above - the house by the
S at
the S East Street notation was where Grandpa Miller lived. I used to run
in frequently from school......why not. Don Cochrane lived next to the
South. That garage had 1908 Buick in the back until I was in High
School. Saw it being loaded onto a trailer. Grandpa's garage and
basement were his shatter-proof thermometer business. Also his wine
cellar! Memories...........
2-27-2007 Larry Blyly (HHS 1946) |
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