February 4 1864: the Colt Arms Factory Is Destroyed

On June 5, 1856, Samuel Colt married Elizabeth Hart Jarvis, the daughter of Reverend William Jarvis and Elizabeth Hart of Middletown. An immense crowd of spectators had gathered. Samuel Colt gave his bride a necklace and matching earrings created by friend Charles Tiffany of Tiffany & Company as a wedding gift. The 38.84-carat-weight necklace consisted of blue enamel links set with 20 mine-cut diamonds interspersed with smaller diamonds.

February 4 1864: In the Midst of Civil War, the Colt Arms Factory Is Destroyed By Suspicious Fire: In the Midst of Civil War, the Colt Arms Factory Is Destroyed By Suspicious Fire

Just after 8 a.m. on the morning of February 4, 1864, as the Civil War was nearing the end of the third year of the nation’s most violent and divisive conflict, the loud, sharp, incessant tones of a steam whistle pierced the air in Hartford, alerting city residents to danger. As men and women rushed toward the source of the noise in the city’s south end, they were shocked to find the massive East Armory building of the Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company completely engulfed in flames.

Although Samuel Colt had never insured his factory buildings during his lifetime, after his death in 1862, his widow, Elizabeth, had immediately taken out an insurance policy for the company — a policy that allowed her to rebuild the East Armory in three years. During that time, the company utilized the other, undamaged buildings on its sprawling Hartford campus to continue manufacturing firearms. One of Hartford’s most famous companies burned to ashes and pledged to resurrect itself, today in Connecticut history.

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This is the building at 138-140 Washington St. Middletown where Samuel and Elizabeth were married: