Coltsville National Historical Park

The Making of Coltsville National Historical Park

There were many people involved in bringing Coltsville National Historical Park to reality. However, there are two people who deserve special recognition for spearheading the formation of Coltsville and the concept of a national park: Congressman John Larson and Elliot Ginsberg (1947-2020).

As early as the late 1990s, ideas were forming around the importance of Hartford’s Colt history. Congressman Larson formed an ad-hoc committee to discuss the importance of the Colt era and the importance of Colt’s contributions to modernizing the industrial world.

Elliot Ginsberg served as Congressman Larson’s Chief of Staff when the working group was formed. Elliot spent countless hours pulling together all the people and resources to make the idea a reality. After leaving the Congressman’s office, Elliot formed our group, Coltsville Heritage Partnership, Inc.. He served as President and led the Board until his death in 2020. Our organization will forever be grateful for their dedication and foresight in the making of Coltsville National Historical Park.

Two other people deserve notice for their work in the formation of Coltsville Heritage Partnership Barbara McGrath and Carol Coburn.

Barbara McGrath with the Connecticut Urban Legal Initiative (CULI) and University of Connecticut Law School, has worked as CHP’s lawyer since its inception. She worked tirelessly to produce all legal documents and filings needed to create our formal organization. She has since spent countless hours assisting CHP members with all legal filings needed to maintain our organization.

Carol Coburn has been deeply involved since the early days when a working committee was formed. Carol', spearheaded our work with CULI to establish the organization and then subsequently served as our (unpaid) Executive Director for 5 years. During this time Carol put in countless hours leading the organization’s projects and volunteers for the newly formed organization.

A very special thank you to each of them.

In 2003, public Law 108-94 authorized the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to conduct a Special Resource Study regarding the national significance, suitability, and feasibility of the Coltsville Historic District. Wisely, Congressman Larson gathered a myriad of people with connections to Colt, representatives from government, nonprofit, and private sectors worked for several years to develop support for a unit of the national park system at Coltsville. This committee’s recommendations materialized into a working committee formed to spearhead necessary requirements. In addition, a group of volunteers formed a non-profit (Coltsville Heritage Partnership, Inc.) to coordinate and assist the National Park Service in moving forward with education, planning, and community involvement. Several steps had already been taken to ease this process:

Screen Shot 2021-07-28 at 7.27.04 PM.png

In 1966, Armsmear was listed as a National Historic Landmark.

The James B. Colt house at 154 Wethersfield Avenue is listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places, as is the Church of the Good Shepherd and Caldwell Colt Memorial Parish House at 155 Wyllys Street.
In 1976 the Colt factory buildings, Colt Park, the worker housing, and the previously individually listed components were listed on the National Register as the Colt Industrial District.
The two brick Queen Anne-style houses, at 180 and 184 Wethersfield Avenue, built by Mrs. Colt to house senior managers of the company, were listed on the National Register as part of the Parkside Historic District in 1984.

The passage of the Coltsville National Historical Park legislation (in November 2014) capped an almost 15-year process to create a national park site based on the Colt Armory and associated Coltsville community built by Sam and Elizabeth Colt in Hartford, Connecticut. The legislation that Congress passed and the President signed only “authorized” Coltsville National Historical Park. The authorizing legislation identified “Conditions for Establishment” necessary for park establishment. Several tasks had to be accomplished prior to establishment, including:

An agreement had to be signed with the City of Hartford ensuring that public property, primarily Colt Park, would be managed consistently with its new status as a national park. In addition, the agreement cemented that Hartford historic preservation regulations would work to protect historic resources associated with Coltsville..
An agreement was signed with Colt Gateway LLC (owners of the historic Colt Armory) to secure the donation of at least 10,00 square feet of space for a visitor center.
Transfer of property to the National Park Service for the visitor center and associated parking is in process.