The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-04-17
Connecticut Artists and
Others Trying to Have
Property Condemned
PRESENT OWNERS
WOULD PROFITEER
Ask 100000 for It, But Paid About
5,000-Artists Want State to Take
1t for Historic Purposes-Tom Saw
yer Written There.

HARTFORD, Conn, April 1.-THE |
on Pennington avenue from being torn
down and replaced by or changed into an
apartment property, and the beautifully |
wooded acres which surround it from be
coming a district of apartments and ten
ements, has taken ON definite form, with
some promise of success. A Joint com
mlttee of the Hartford Artists Club and
the Society of Connecticut Artists has
undertaken to solve the problem, and.
backed by public sentiment, voiced gen
orally in the state, and, to some degree
beyond the limits of the state, has deter
mined to do what 1T can to prevent the
destruction of this historic place.
As result of the failure by certain in
terests to secure possession of this prop
erty when it could have been had for
nominal price-and its traditions perpetu-
| ated just as effectually as at the present
valuatlon-the crisis of the movement to
save the place has come at just the mo-
ment when real estate values are highly
inflated, and when a large and centrally
|
without any great financial risk, can be
covered with houses that viii meet needs
of hundreds of families That is, the
would-be money-maker's side Of the prob
lem-the commercial viewpoint be-
come potent, and few persons question
bnt that he is tolerably capable of figuring
C,It III dollars and cents Just how much
Inc place is worth TO him, or may become
IL IL,
has secured possession of the property
bought it, according to its representatives
tlurely for financial investment Hence
when it asks cool 100000 for what it is
said to have paid only about $4,000, il
gives some idea to the public how goot
an investment it believes the Twain prop
erty to be and how expensive it may be
TO sage it as a memorial to this great \
melcan author
To raise 100000 and buy the property
is not the immediate purpose of the per
sons who have undertaken the task "
saving the Mark Twain home. The fac
that It's present owners have said the,
/ would not take less than 100000 and tina
] 5000, 999 30 would not buy it, has not, how
/ ever, discouraged the artists in their eli
n fort. They believe they have discovered
!. dL lcdSI temporary dlu III Il law WiiCl
5 gives the state the power to take, b.
G condemnation proceedings, if necessary
any property it may deem necessary, 70
l. park, historic or other purposes; an,
l. armed with this law, the Joint commit
= tee OF Hartford and Connecticut artist
Y went before the State Park Comrissio
is this week and pleaded its case for tn
preservation of the Twain home
lie Hartford would like particularly to hay
IS the place kept much as it is 1t has ne
Y, only become a landmark, but it has lon
il been one Of the most attractive properti,
h in one of the best residential sections
t. the city To thousands Of sightseers al
&c nually it is pointed TO as being the forme
al home of Mark Twain-and Thousand
st doubtless have admired the place wi
al knew something Of Twain but nothur
r of his other self. Clemens. 1t was thel
he wrote tom. Sawyer and "Huckl
n berry Finn and did considerable Won
Sc on some of his other hooks, but he
IS known to have said that the old hon
ed was ''too ALFRED popular to be a real
first class place in which ia write, to :,
,e nod ny of thinking Naabg were Il
re- hcmes Of Harriet Beecher Stowe al
ny Charles Dudley Warner, aud well Ho
he pats from the east entrance Of L
he Twain home told better than anyth
ps- about dropping in of an evening or a
or other time.