Take a Good Long Look Into a Connecticut Underground River

Hartford's Bushnell Park was established in 1854 and created around the city's Hog River which is named because of the foul smells caused by factories dumping industrial waste. Eventually, the Hog River became known as the Park River, which ran through the city.

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But during Hartford's early industrial growth, the river brought disease when its waters were low and devastation when they were high. So it was dangerous, and changing its name and putting it in a park did not lessen its potential to cause destruction.

The floods of 1936 and 1938 caused massive destruction to the city of Hartford because of the tremendous overflow of water from the Connecticut River and the Park River, which flowed through the town.

As a result, Hartford's Flood Control Commission decided to build dikes along the Connecticut River. But first, something had to be done to stop the flooding of the Park River, which flowed freely through the city. The following photo gallery explains the Park River solution.