Q: The Festival of Lights has been a holiday tradition in Hartford since the completion of Constitution Plaza. What year was that?

A: 1964. (Source: "Structures and Styles: Guided Tours of Hartford Architecture," by Gregory E. Andrews and David F. Ransom.)

Q: Hartford voted this month to return to a "strong mayor" form of government. Who was the city's last strong mayor before adoption of the council-manager model in the late 1940s? (Hint: He also served as president of a prominent Hartford department store.)

A: Edward N. "Ned" Allen, president of the Sage-Allen department store. He served as mayor of Hartford from 1946 to 1948 and as lieutenant governor from 1951 to 1955. His wife, Mildred, served as secretary of the state from 1955 to 1959. (Source: "The City of Hartford 1784-1984," by Ellsworth Strong Grant and Marion Hepburn Grant.)

Q: Jennings Road, in the city's north meadows, is home to Hartford police headquarters. For whom is the road named?

A: Officer Henry Jennings. Appointed a patrolman February 29, 1960, he was killed on May 25, 1964, while trying to apprehend a suspect. To see photos of Jennings and all other city officers killed in the line of duty, visit the Heroes page of the Hartford Police Department's Web site:

http://www.hartford.gov/police/HPD_Heroes.htm

Q: What great American rode through Hartford in October 1789?

A: George Washington. As Ellsworth S. Grant wrote in "The Miracle of Connecticut," Washington rode through Hartford and Windsor on Oct. 21, 1789, during a "triumphant tour of New England." He had just been elected president. In Windsor, he went to the home of Oliver Ellsworth, an old friend from Revolutionary War days. According to Grant, "Washington spent part of his visit rocking the infant Ellsworth twins in their cradle and singing to them a popular song of the time, the 'Darby Ram.'"

Q: What massive Hartford landmark stood on the spot now occupied by the parking lot adjacent to the YMCA on Jewell Street?

A: The original YMCA building. Constructed in the early 1890s, it had a High Victorian architecture that featured ornate arches and towers, in complement to the nearby Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch. For a great photograph of the "Y" as viewed through the Soldiers and Sailors arch, see page 118 of Wilson H. Faude's "Images of America: Hartford."

Despite protests, the old "Y" was destroyed in 1974, in the name of redevelopment. (For photographs of protesters and the demolition, see page 94 of the third volume in Faude's "Hartford" series.) The loss of the "Y" and other significant downtown buildings led to the formation of the Hartford Architecture Conservancy.

Q: Where was Oriental Alley, also known as Cat Alley?

A: According to History of Hartford Streets, by F. Perry Close, it ran with a uniform width of 5 feet from Ann Street to High Street, "to be used for the purpose of a public passway; evidently existed as an unnamed public way thereafter." The name Oriental Alley first appeared in the city directory in 1875. The city cared for it "in certain ways" for many years, but it was discontinued in 1930.