Park History

Park History. Main St, also, Wyllys St. , Barnard Park, commonly known as South Green, dates back to the original 1630's Hartford street plan. A triangular 13.5-acre parcel of land, South Green was originally a New England common used informally for the grazing of cattle. In 1816, the Court of Common Council voted to establish the boundary lines so that fencing could be installed. Once fenced, neighboring property owners could graze their cattle and horses on the common. From the 1820's to the 1860's, a romanticized vision of the New England Village emerged and the once informal common was transformed into the formal village green. It is likely this vision of the New England Village Green, together with poor maintenance and over-grazing, motivated officials to improve the common. In 1868, the Council placed the common under the care of Superintendent of Parks, Jacob Weidenmann, the designer of Bushnell Park and Cedar Hill Cemetery. In his 1870 book, Beautifying Country Homes, Weidenmann presents his design for a Public Green in Hartford (South Green) that was approved for the Park Commission., In 1896, a plan for park upgrades was produced by the premier landscape architects of the day, Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot. In 1899, the park was renamed to honor Henry Barnard, the first U.S. Commissioner of Education, who lived adjacent to the green on Main Street. Today, the park commonly takes both names., In 1997, South Green was renovated through a plan produced by the joint efforts of landscape architects, To Design LLC and Ferrero Hixon LLC.