Considering Coltsville: A Revolving Story
Public Plenary // Friday, March 29, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
(Center Church, 60 Gold St.)
FREE and open to the public
Sponsored by Connecticut Humanities.
In 2014, Congress authorized the creation of Coltsville National Historical Park just blocks away from downtown Hartford as a public private partnership in the model of Lowell National Historical Park. Coltsville, comprising the Colt Armory as well as the “city within a city” where employees at the factory lived and worked, exists at a confluence of past and present—in the process of becoming a fully realized National Park Service historic site, but still very much a part of the surrounding community. The Church of the Good Shepherd on the Coltsville campus serves an active congregation today. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, the nation’s most prominent gun safety legislator, has relocated his office to the partially-renovated factory complex.
Coltsville recalls a time when manufacturing provided employment for many Hartford residents, but its long existence as a firearms manufacturing center complicates this story. Located in a city with a long history of gun violence and just an hour’s drive from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the park faces challenges in its interpretation of firearms, gun violence, and other critical public issues.
This is a rare opportunity for an exploratory public conversation about how to approach extremely sensitive and politically-charged topics through public history. Coltsville will tell the story of gun manufacturing, but can the park also tell stories about the impact of this industry on Hartford (and the nation) today? How might Coltsville provide safe spaces for productive dialogue? What roles might the park play in supporting local efforts to address the very different legacies of manufacturing loss and gun violence? NCPH and its local partners invite all community stakeholders and the general public to learn about Coltsville and to share local stories, hopes, and concerns for what the park can mean for Hartford.
Rebecca Stanfield McCown will represent NPS at large.
She formerly worked on the NPS Urban Agenda. See: https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1412/news.ht
Community Panelists:
Thea Montanez, City of Hartford: http://www.hartford.gov/government/council/115-office-of-the-mayor/963-chief-of-staff;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoTu7n4jEo0, https://mayorschallenge.bloomberg.org/ideas/hartford/
Warren Hardy, Compass Peacebuilders/ CT Center for Non-Violence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2GfImpdz4w; https://ctnonviolence.org
Iran Nazario, Peace Center of Connecticut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS6FhlOBByQ; http://www.peacecenterofct.org/new-page/
Rev Henry Brown, Founder of Mothers United Against Violence (MUAV). The group comforts families, holds vigils, and keeps up publicity around violence in Hartford: http://gunvictimsaction.org/the-board/reverend-henry-brown/
(NCPH Photo)