© 2024 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY · WNPR
WPKT · WRLI-FM · WEDW-FM · Public Files Contact
ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
With our partner, The Connecticut Historical Society, WNPR News presents unique and eclectic view of life in Connecticut throughout its history. The Connecticut Historical Society is a partner in Connecticut History Online (CHO) — a digital collection of over 18,000 digital primary sources, together with associated interpretive and educational material. The CHO partner and contributing organizations represent three major communities — libraries, museums, and historical societies — who preserve and make accessible historical collections within the state of Connecticut.

Hartford's "Little Italy"

In the early 1900s, Hartford was a booming economic center. Italy, on the other hand, suffered both economically and socially. Hundreds of thousands of Italian men looked for unskilled work in other countries, with many eventually headed to the United States. Hartford’s potential job opportunities attracted Italians and soon the city’s number of immigrants increased dramatically. Many of the Italian men became construction laborers building factories, housing, and railroads. However, Italians were the poorest paid workers in Hartford, earning substantially less than their Irish and German immigrant counterparts. Yet, old world traditions also sparked the entrepreneurial spirit of some Italian immigrants, and businesses like shoe-repair, carpentry, selling fruit, and barbering thrived. Italian women also worked, but usually strictly in factories.

Second generation Italian immigrants found more success in securing skilled jobs—like bookkeeping, accounting, and clerking. Italian-Americans soon strived in the arts scene with Connecticut-born professional musicians and dancers filling the symphonies and ballet halls of the state. Connecticut Italian-Americans also entered the sporting circles, like Christopher “Bat” Battaglini, who became a world champion featherweight boxer.

By 1910, the population of Hartford was 14 percent Italian, and more than 60 percent lived in one small section of the city; the Front Street neighborhood. The neighborhood was built of three and four story brick tenements, with stores on the ground floors and businesses like groceries, bakeries, fruit stores, and saloons filled these spaces. Pushcarts with vendors selling fruits and vegetables, and stuffs from the homeland crowded the streets daily. Religious festivals and parades sponsored by Italian social clubs also frequently filled the neighborhood. And when the day ended, neighbors sat on the stoops of their buildings and interacted with one another.

However, major floods in the 1930s brought destruction to the neighborhood. Soon, city planners saw the Front Street neighborhood as prime real estate for urban renewal. Demolition for the Front Street neighborhood began in 1958 and was replaced with Constitution Plaza. Hartford’s “Little Italy” moved to the south end of the city near Franklin Avenue.

In 2005, The Connecticut Historical Society received a large bequest from Gennaro J. Capobianco, the grandson of emigrants from Campania, Italy, and the proprietor of a local funeral parlor. Capobianco had a life-long fascination with the Italian immigrant experience in Connecticut and left CHS a collection of photographs and artifacts documenting his own family history.

Stand up for civility

This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.

Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play.

Related Content