asked by several individuals to give more information relative to State House Square, which will always be the central point in our beautiful city.

In deference to these wishes I will give a short history of this historic spot. For much of the information here given

It is nearly 214 years (in 1685) since the Colony of Connecticut conveyed to the town of Hartford all right and title to State House Square, which had been deeded in 1636 by Sequassen, Sachem of the Suckiaug Indians, to Samuel Stone and others in behalf of the inhabitants of Hart

ford, as a portion of the first purchase made by the English within the present limits of Connecticut. This plot of land was bounded originally by Main street on the west, the present Kinsley street on the north, Market street on the east, and Grove street on the south, it being the public training or parade ground of the Colony, and ten or fifteen feet higher than at present.

The first meeting house and burial ground was on the northeast corner, west of Market and south of the present Kinsley street. The old meeting house which was occupied by the First Church of Hartford-familiarly known as the Center Congregational Church-remained until 1649, when it was removed to School (now Arch) street, and presented to the wife of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, and with additions and alterations, used and occupied by him as a dwelling and study.

The Square was gradually contracted to its present size, licenses having been granted by the town to various persons to build shops and other buildings.

The General Assembly, consisting of twelve members from Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield, convened in the meeting house June 14, 1639, and annually thereafter until a new building was erected in 1649, which was more commodious and convenient. It was in this building, when the General Assembly was in session, that Sir Edmund Andros attempted to gain possession of the Charter, when the memorable scene was enacted in which the Charter was seized by Capt. Wadsworth and secreted in the famous old oak which stood on Wyllys Hill, afterwards known as the Charter Oak. Here it remained concealed from October 31, 1687, to May 9, 1689. During a severe storm on the night of August 21, 1856 the old tree was blown down, the story being familiar to all.

For many years there has been nothing to mark the site of the old tree-but a small marble slab set in a retaining wall on private property-a discredit to the citizens of Hartford; but in May, 1896, James J. Goodwin, Esq. of this city, presented to the Connecticut Society of Sons of Colonial Wars a narrow strip of land, about a hundred feet long, the point of which intersects Charter Oak Avenue and Charter Oak Place, upon which it is proposed to erect a suitable monument, which will undoubtedly be a credit to the city.

On June 8, 1881, a reunion of the Army of the Potomac was held in this city, at which there were many distinguished officers present: General W. T. Sherman and Secretary of War Robert T. Lincoln among them. Upon the following day a special train was run on the Connecticut Western Railroad, conveying the above, and others, to the Hudson River, on their way to West Point, quite a party of Hartford gentlemen accompanying them, by invitation of the railway officials.

One of the guests took with him two handsome pieces of Charter Oak, and on the journey one was presented to Secretary Lincoln by Ex-Governor Marshall Jewell, the other to General Sherman by Mark Twain, when the famous humorist informed the General that the wood was becoming very scarce for the reason that most of it had been used in repairing the old wooden bridge across the Connecticut river, over which the original settlers had marched. Now that the bridge has been destroyed by fire the wood of the old oak, must be scarcer than ever.

The present City Hall building was completed in May, 1796, and used as the State House until transferred by the State of Connecticut to the City of Hartford March 13, 1879, and formally dedicated as the City Hall, October 22, 1879.

in the state fought their legal battles. January 4th, in this present year, 1899, Hon. George E. Lounsbury of Ridgefield, was inaugurated Governor of Connecticut, not with the great military display customary when the legislature convened in May, but exceedingly interesting, with the escort of the four companies of Governor's Guards from Hartford and New Haven, from his hotel to the State Capitol.

"The color of the clothes of the troop was blue, the clothing of the Foot Guards was scarlet with white waistcoats and pantaloons, and their appearance and demeanor were military." According to this account the Governor was received the evening previous to Election Day, at the west bank of the Connecticut River, by the 1st Co. Governor's Horse Guards, and escorted to his lodgings.