Park River (Connecticut)

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Coordinates: 41°45′36.1″N 72°39′52.7″W / 41.760028°N 72.664639°W / 41.760028; -72.664639

The original course of the Park River is visible in this 1824 survey map of Hartford

The Park River, sometimes called the Hog River, is a subterranean urban river that flows through and under the city of Hartford, Connecticut. The 2.3-mile (3.7 km)[1] river was buried by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1940. The stated reason was to prevent the spring floods caused by increased surface runoff from urban development.

History

The confluence of the Park River and the Connecticut River

Before European settlement, the Suckiaug people (their name derived from the word sucki-auke, meaning "black earth") lived on the fertile banks of the Connecticut and Park rivers.[2] In 1623, fur traders from the Dutch West India Company set up Fort Goede Hoop at the rivers' confluence. The Dutch, who called today's Connecticut River the "Great River", called the Park the "Little River".[3] The first English settlers arrived in 1635; the following year, the Reverend Thomas Hooker led 100 of his congregation to form a new settlement north of the Dutch fort; also, Hartford's first mill was built on the Little River by Matthew Allyn to grind local corn.[4] Later mills upon the banks of the Little River led it to be known as Mill River.

North Branch Park River watershed

The North Branch Park River watershed is a 28.6 square-mile basin within the Park watershed. Four major tributaries — Beamans Brook, Wash Brook, Filley Brook, and Tumbledown Brook — drain from Bloomfield and northern parts of West Hartford converging near the University of Hartford to form the North Branch of the Park River. Upstream drainage from the entire watershed flows between the West End, Blue Hills, and Asylum Hill neighborhoods of Hartford, Connecticut’s capital city, before pouring into an underground conduit north of Farmington Avenue, which carries the river — and, often, combined sewage overflows — into the Connecticut River.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed April 1, 2011
  2. ↑ Love, William DeLoss. The Colonial History of Hartford. Hartford. 1914. Page 82
  3. ↑ Alberta Eiseman, The Industrialization of the Great River, New England's Longest, August 30, 1998, New York Times
  4. ↑ Caruso, Nicholas. Timeline. [parkriver.org/History2.html] 2005

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