The Henry Barnard House is a historic house and

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

at 118 Main Street in

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was the lifelong home of educator

Henry Barnard Henry Barnard (January 24, 1811 – July 5, 1900) was an American educationalist and reformer. Biography He was born in Hartford, Connecticut on January 24, 1811 and attended Wilbraham & Monson Academy. He graduated from Yale University in 1 ...

(1811–1900), an education reformer who was instrumental (along with

Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts St ...

) in the development of the American public school system. Barnard established the statewide education systems of both Connecticut and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, which served as models for the development of such infrastructure in other states. The house is now owned by a religious charity, which operates a homeless shelter on the premises.

Description and history

The Barnard House is a three-story brick structure, five bays wide and three deep, with a side gable roof. The entrance is centered on the front facade, and is sheltered by a portico supported by paired fluted Ionic columns. The entrance is flanked by sidelight windows and pilasters, and topped by a semi-circular four leaf transom window and an entablature. The only other significant exterior styling is the modillioned cornice below the roof line. The interior of the house has been somewhat altered due to its later institutional use, but has retained a basic center hall plan with parlors on either side. The most significant alteration has been the addition of two large sections to the back of the house, which nearly triple its size. These are used to provide shelter space for the local homeless population. The house was built in 1807, and it was four years later that

was born here. At the time it was located in a fashionable neighborhood of the city, and originally included more land than it presently does. The house remained in the Barnard family until his death in 1900, when it was acquired by the Sisters of Mercy, who operate services for the homeless. It was declared a

in 1965. Henry Barnard was educated at

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, trained as a lawyer, and entered politics, winning election to the Connecticut state legislature in 1837. Barnard had studied education systems in Europe during travels there, and promoted legislation for statewide supervision of public education. He was thereafter appointed the state's first secretary of education. Forced out of that post by political opponents, he was given a similar post in neighboring

, where he promoted legislation creating the nation's first

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

(teacher's college), passed in 1845. He then returned to Connecticut, where he became superintendent of schools, and oversaw establishment of its normal school. He later served in education-related posts in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and was the first United States Commissioner of Education, appointed in 1867. He died in this house in 1900.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut Houses completed in 1807

Barnard Barnard is a version of the surname Bernard, which is a French and West Germanic masculine given name and surname. The surname means as tough as a bear, Bar(Bear)+nard/hard(hardy/tough) __NOTOC__ People Some of the people bearing the surname Ba ...

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Hartford, Connecticut Historic district contributing properties in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References