The Village (Hartford, Connecticut) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Children's Village of the Hartford Orphan Asylum
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Location | 1680 Albany Ave., Hartford, Connecticut |
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Area | 32.3 acres (13.1 ha) |
Built | 1923 |
Architect | Atterbury, Grosvenor |
NRHP reference No. | 82004404 |
Added to NRHP | June 28, 1982 |
The Village is a special organization in Hartford, Connecticut. It helps families and children who need support. This group has been around since the early 1800s, making it one of the oldest places like it in Connecticut!
The buildings where The Village is located are very old and special. They are even listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means they are important historical places in the United States.
Contents
What The Village Does: Helping Kids and Families
The Village offers many different ways to help children and their families. They work to make sure kids have a safe and happy place to grow up.
Support for Families
Sometimes families need extra help. The Village provides services to support families who are going through tough times. This can include helping them find resources or giving them advice.
Care for Children
The Village also helps children who need special care. This includes kids who might be dealing with difficult feelings or mental health challenges. They offer different programs to help these children feel better and learn new ways to cope.
Finding Forever Homes
Another important service is helping children find new families through adoption. The Village helps connect kids who need a loving home with families who want to adopt.
The Village Campus: A Special Place
The main buildings of The Village are in northwestern Hartford. They are located where Albany Avenue and Bloomfield Avenue meet.
Campus Design and Style
The campus looks like a charming English country village. It was designed by a famous architect named Grosvenor Atterbury in the 1920s. Instead of one big building, it has many smaller ones. This "cottage plan" was a popular idea back then. It made the homes feel more comfortable and less like a large institution.
Unique Buildings
Even though all the buildings share a similar style, each one is a little different. This was done on purpose to make each "cottage" feel more like a real home for the children living there.
The Village's Long History: From Orphans to Families
The Village has a very long and interesting history. It started with a few different groups that wanted to help people in the early 1800s.
Early Beginnings
One of the first groups was the Female Beneficent Society, started in 1809. They helped girls who needed support. Then, in 1833, the Hartford Orphan Asylum was created to help children who had lost their parents.
Merging and Growing
These two groups joined together in 1865 and kept the name "Hartford Orphan Asylum." They built a large dormitory-style building in 1879. But as ideas changed, they decided to build the current campus in the 1920s. The land for this new campus was kindly given by Reverend Francis Goodwin.
Changing Focus
Over the years, The Village's mission grew. It started by caring for children who were orphans. But as time went on, it began to help whole families. Today, The Village works to solve problems caused by poverty and family difficulties, helping everyone in the family.