Campaign plans to save Isle of Safety

  • 2018-12-10
A movement to save and restore the ‘Isle of Safety’, once a landmark in downtown Hartford, was announced recently.

Supporters want to rebuild the structure at the Connecticut Trolley Museum, according to an article in the Hartford Courant.

The Isle of Safety was a trolley stop, as well as a place for people to meet, for over 60 years. It stood at Main and State streets from 1913 until 1976. However, restoration supporters are not suggesting that the structure be placed on its original site, but refurbished in East Windsor at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. The structure has been sitting there since late in the 1970s.

Michael P. Speciale is the trolley museum's development committee chair, and the leader of the preservation project. He notes that renovating the stop preserves both a part of the city's history, and the history of the state as a hub of regional transportation. He also explained that the Isle of Safety served “tens of thousands of passengers” for decades, until buses replaced the trolleys.

The isle has a distinctive roof of red tile, and was almost lost when State House Square was paved in 1976. The Knox Foundation saved it and moved it to the museum, where it is now in disrepair. Organizers of campaigns like this could use brochure printing, which can include illustrations, to describe the project in detail.