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Colonel Albert Pope and his first Columbia Factory - Today's Big Adventure!

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Jim Barnard

Wore out three sets of tires already!
So Today I set out to try to locate the factory that made the first 50 Columbia Bicycles in 1865. The Weed Sewing Machine Company was housed in the Old Sharps Rifle Plant on College Street (soon to be called Capitol Ave). When the Sewing Machine Company had saturated the market, the actual factory was only 1/3 active. Pope came down from Boston and bought a share of the Sewing Machine business and put the rest factory to work after he sold out the initial 50 bicycle order. By 1880 he produced 12,000 bikes and had a 2,500 bike back order.
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The factory is shown here on the Park River with train track access in 1864. The river powered the machines.

Below is a 1890 Census Map pointing out the Factory. Note the rows of employee housing that were erected in the good years.
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Many of the Pope employee housing still survives.

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Pope also donated some of the adjacent land he owned to the City. His workers had a place to relax when not at work. Being a self promoter, he named the parkland after himself.

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My eyes popped out of my head when I saw the playground. Someone is paying attention!

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...and even a small "Pope Hartford" automobile!

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The actual Factory did not fair as well as Samuel Colts Building a mile or so to the East on the Connecticut River nor as well as Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) or Harriet Beecher Stowe estates just to the West on the same Park River as the Columbia Plant.

Clemens took a class on bicycle technique from Columbia and wrote about his first lesson: "We got up a handsome speed and presently traversed a brick and I went over the top of the tiller and landed head down on the instructors back, and saw the machine fluttering in the air between me and the sun. It was well that it came down on us as that broke the fall and it was not injured"

The site:

It is unlikely that this converted factory was any part of the Columbia Factory. The street has not changed (although paved) and the factory was set back a bit from the road on the river and next to a bridge to the north side tracks.

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This picture was taken directly in the middle of the Factory based on the streets and train tracks. The river, unbelievably, was buried in huge pipes in 1940.

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Here I stand over the buried Park River looking west towards Mark Twain's Riverboat house a mile away.

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The tracks are still here, although the river is 30' below the ground. I84 to New York is elevated 50' above the tracks.


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When I was a young man, I and a few cousins took 2 kayaks and a bag of glow sticks through the gates at the river tunnel entrance upstream and boated in the creepy green glow the 3-4 miles to the Connecticut River. I never saw any high wheeler or sewing machine or even rifle carcasses but we did see schools of pure white albino catfish. They were spooky and about 3' long.

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This fountain was relocated from the factory site and moved up into the bluff at Pope Park. This rendition of the Colonel is a much older version than the regal bushy haired photo we are used to seeing.

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My thanks to the Connecticut Historical Society for letting me in without charge to take a few pics of the Pope displays.

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Another thanks to AAA or Hartford, for not freaking out as I stalked this car and these bikes from every angle.


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Thanks

Jim
 
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Pics that I could not fit into the story:

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Pope noted that the City had industry and the trained workforce to support Colt Fire Arms, Torrington Industries, Prat and Whitney Aircraft, Stanley Tool, Thermos, Otis Elevator, Underwood Typewriters, Austin Organs, Eli Terry Clocks, Corbin Russwin Locks, etc...

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Mid-Factory looking East

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There must be 100's of these still around here. The scrap drives could not have taken them all...


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High above the Park River looking East about 1/2 mile from the Factory site.

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What a wonderful historical adventure.
Thanks for vicariously taking us along.
Our late good friend Filmonger started a thread about Col. Albert Pope that had some interesting historical information.
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Unfortunately, I don't know how to tag something like that, so here's the header page from that thread.
Use the search magnifying glass and look it up.
You might find some of the content interesting, and I'm sure that Will, aka @filmonger would've enjoyed the addition of any of your findings, you care to post to enrich his thread about the life and times of Colonel Albert Pope.

Thank you!
 
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