Circus fire show airs Friday

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the 1944 Hartford circus fire. If you want to learn about it, there’s no better place to start than the audio documentary aired a few years ago by WWUH-FM, radio station of the University of Hartford. The station will re-air the program the program tomorrow at 12:30, the approximate time the fire started. You can listen online or at 91.3 on the FM dial. There’s also an event page on Facebook.

Here’s our page on the fire.

Photo of tent burning at Hartford circus fire, 1944.

David Rosado: the latest in a long line of police chiefs

In light of David Rosado becoming Hartford’s new police chief, it seemed appropriate to track down and publish a list of previous chiefs. It wasn’t as easy as expected; the list below comes mostly from from an archived page of the Police Department’s old website.

As for Rosado, he’s new to the Department but hardly new to Hartford. He grew up in the old Charter Oak Terrace housing projects and graduated from Bulkeley High School, returning there last week for a swearing-in ceremony meant to send a message to city kids. “Bulkeley means something to me; that’s where I grew up,” Rosado told the Hartford Courant. “There’s significance to that; it sends a message to kids there that ‘You too can accomplish something if you set your mind to it.'”

Here’s video of the ceremony by NBC Connecticut (WVIT-TV).

After graduating from the University of Connecticut, where he also obtained a law degree, Rosado rose through the ranks of the Connecticut State Police, including stints leading Troop H in Hartford, Troop W in Windsor Locks, and the internal affairs unit. He was a a lieutenant colonel, with more than two decades of service, when he left the state police to take the Hartford post.

In a January 23 news release from City Hall, City Councilman Thomas “TJ” Clarke II referred to Rosado as the city’s first Latino police chief.

This list dates back to 1901, though the Police Department was formally created in 1860. Anyone with material on the Department’s history is welcome to send it to kevin@hartfordhistory.net or P.O. Box 370202, West Hartford, CT 06137-0208.

Hartford police chiefs

David Rosado: 2018-

James C. Rovella: 2012-2018

Daryl K. Roberts: 2006-2011

Patrick J. Harnett: 2004-2006

Mark R. Pawlina: 2003-2004 (acting chief)

Bruce Preston Marquis: 2000-2003

Joseph J. Croughwell: 1994-2000

Jesse Campbell: 1993-1994

Ronald J. Loranger: 1989-1993

Bernard R. Sullivan: 1982-1989

George W. Sicaras: 1980-1982

Hugo J. Masini: 1974-1980

Thomas J. Vaughn: 1968-1974

John Kerrigan: 1963-1968

Paul Beckwith: 1958-1963

Michael J. Godfrey: 1944-1958

Charles J. Hallissey: 1941-1944

John J. Butler: 1939-1941

Garret J. Farrell: 1913-1939

Cornelius Ryan: 1901-1904