The Most Important Threatened Historic Places – Updates Coltsville, Hartford (2001).

The redevelopment of Samuel Colt’s industrial village is seeing two big changes in the new year.

On December 17, a feasibility study for the proposal to create a National Park at Coltsville was sent to the National Park Service. The study’s conclusion: “Coltsville could be as significant a New England destination as the Lowell National Historical Park and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, both of which have hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and have contributed significantly to the revitalization of their communities.”

Crucially, it also finds that partner groups, ranging from the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Colt Trust, to the Connecticut Historical Society, Riverfront Recapture, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Commission on Culture and Tourism, the Connecticut Trust, and the Connecticut Humanities Council, can contribute much to Coltsville—in fact, are crucial to its success—but none has both the history-based mission and the capacity to develop and manage the site.

For that, the National Park Service’s expertise and resources are necessary. Commissioned by the Connecticut Trust, on behalf of Coltsville Ad Hoc Committee with funding from the Commission on Culture and Tourism, the study looks as three different scenarios: a small visitor center estimated to attract approximately 25,000 visitors per year; a larger setup with more extensive exhibits in the East Armory, drawing approximately 60,000 visitors per year; a full-site scenario reaching out into the landscape from the riverbank to worker housing to the Church of the Good Shepherd complex, Colt Park, and the Colt houses on Wethersfield Avenue. The Park Service has four months to finalize the study and will then present it to Congress for action.

Representative John Larson, whose district includes Hartford, has strongly supported the national park effort. He told the Hartford Courant that the study has an excellent chance of passage. At the same time that the completed study was unveiled, a new developer was negotiating to take over Coltsville from its current owner, Homes for America Holdings, which struggled to find financing, even before the current economic downturn.

Lance Robbins, of Urban Smart Growth, a California firm, has particular interest in revitalizing historic buildings and urban neighborhoods, transforming neglected buildings into living, retail and commercial spaces “that appeal to the creative class.” The company has projects across the country, in California, Oregon, North Carolina, Ohio, and New Jersey, as well as four sites recently completed or currently under construction in Rhode Island.

Robbins purportedly has financial backing from Chevron Oil and is committed to maintaining and enhancing the Colt site’s historic character, calling it historical “hallowed ground.” But will he be a white knight? For more information… Coltsville: Coltsville National Park Study: www.coltsvillestudy.org Urban Smart Growth: www.urbansmartgrowth.net