It’s sacred ground, what is today a level field behind an elementary school in the North End of Hartford.
What happened there still echoes from the past.
As a mournful train whistle sounded in the distance, members of the Hartford Circus Fire Memorial Foundation held a dedication ceremony for survivors and those who perished in the Hartford Circus Fire that happened July 6, 1944.
Since that day in 2004, the memorial is complete and outlines the circus tent where 168 died and thousands were injured at the matinee performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
What should’ve been a festive outing on a sultry July day turned deadly when a fire blossomed in the tent (reports differ as to where and why) and quickly fanned out to engulf the entire tent – with some 8,700 people inside. What ensued changed history. The lessons in public safety should never be forgotten.
“To Remember”
A heartfelt ceremony atop the circus fire site included speeches from survivors, along with Hartford Fire Department Chief Charles Teale and Kathy Spada-Basto, co-chairs of the memorial committee.
TO Design, LLC and DuBose Associates worked with a committee of volunteers to create a landscaped design appropriate to the site. A metal circle marks where the center ring once stood and is engraved with the names of those who died cast into a bronze plaque. Visitors may walk paths to see bricks carrying messages of victims’ families, survivors and other contributors.
The Hartford Circus Fire Memorial Foundation Inc. is the group that has raised the funds to build the tribute to the victims and witnesses of the fire.
“It is intended . . . [as] a tribute to the spirit both of the people who endured the tragedy and the community that came together on that terrible day in response,” so wrote Kathleen Palm, Hartford’s treasurer, capital campaign chairwoman of the foundation.
The memorial is located behind Wish Elementary School at 350 Barbour St., Hartford, in the North End. Unless you are familiar with the area, consult a map as it is easy to get lost in the inner-city neighborhood.
Two Books That Are Must Reads About the Fire and the City:
The Circus Fire, by Stewart O’Nan, is a gripping account of the fire and ensuing events (the people, their firsthand accounts and the aftermath will bring the time alive). O’Nan is a novelist and short story writer and writes that he “never intended to write the book.”
However, soon after he moved to Connecticut, he went looking for a book about the fire – and was stunned to find there wasn’t one. He began researching, thinking he’d turn his notes over to another writer, even asked newspaper reporter Lynne Tuohy, who had written an exhaustive feature for the Hartford Courant, about the project. She declined; O’Nan then crafted his book. “I started asking people around town what they knew about it. Everyone had a friend or neighbor who had been there that day, a grandmother or a cousin. Everyone had a story.”
Also see author’s Web site: www.stewart-onan.com
A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire and the Mystery of Little Miss 1565 is by Don Massey and Rick Davey. Massey is a member of the foundation that is responsible for the memorial. This book is a more personal account of the event, more of a calling to find the identity of “Little Miss 1565” and the origins of the fire. Both Massey and Davey are members of the Hartford Circus Fire Memorial committee.
Other books about the fire include The Great Hartford Circus Fire: Creative Settlement of Mass Disasters by Henry S. Cohn and David Bollier, published by Yale University Press, New Haven. (This is a more scholarly reference book. Also, Masters of Illusion is a novel based on the circus fire by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith.
A film called The Wrath of God: Fire Under the Big Top can be seen on the History Channel; visit www.HistoryChannel.com to purchase the video or find local listings.
The Hartford Circus Fire of 1944 is a production of Connecticut Public Television that combines interviews with the people who were present that day with vintage film footage and photographs. To find local listings, visit www.cptv.org or call the station at (860) 278-5310.