Eight images and documents: historic portraits, a property map, a federal listing record, a Hartford house photograph, and two licensed modern photographs of Portland buildings. Armsmear is in Hartford. The Hart–Jarvis House was Elizabeth’s childhood home; no evidence here establishes that she founded or operated Elmcrest. Pre-hospital photographs of the Portland grounds remain a gap.
The story in pictures
Hart–Jarvis House, October 2017
2017-10-15
Hart–Jarvis House, Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt’s childhood home, photographed on the former Elmcrest campus in October 2017. The building dates to 1829–30.
Charles Loring Elliott’s 1865 portrait of Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt with her son Caldwell. Elizabeth grew up in Portland’s Hart–Jarvis House; this painting belongs to her later family story.
Samuel Colt, Elizabeth’s husband, in an engraving by Henry Wright Smith after a Mathew Brady photograph dated 1857. This reproduction appeared in George L. Clark’s 1914 history of Connecticut.
c. 1907, Library of Congress created/published date
Armsmear, the Colt family residence in Hartford, in a Detroit Publishing Company view cataloged c. 1907. This is the separate Hartford property associated with Elizabeth’s married life.
An 1874 map records the Brainerd properties on the south side of Marlborough Street, decades before the hospital. The National Register nomination reproduces this map as Exhibit B.
The National Park Service accepted the Marlborough Street Historic District nomination on March 20, 2012. Its listed resources include the former campus’s Hart–Jarvis, Brainerd, and Sage houses.
Memorial font for three Colt children — Hartford context
Photographed 2025-01-20; sculpture 1869
Colt children's memorial font inside a Hartford church. This baptismal font at Hartford's Church of the Good Shepherd commemorates three children of Samuel and Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt. It adds family memorial history to the Portland house story.
Richard Hart built the Hart–Jarvis House in 1829–1830 for his daughter Elizabeth Hart and her husband, William Jarvis. Their daughter, Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt, grew up there. The family left in 1851, decades before the property became part of Elmcrest. [EC-009]
The later campus incorporated neighboring residences: Erastus Brainerd Jr.’s villa, dated about 1852, and John H. Sage’s house, built in 1884. The 1874 map helps locate the earlier properties. Modern photographs show surviving houses, not their appearance when first built. [EC-009]
Elizabeth married Samuel Colt in 1856. Armsmear, their Hartford home, belongs to the Colt family’s separate Hartford history. The Portland connection is her childhood house; the sources do not establish her as Elmcrest’s founder or benefactor. [EC-011]
The preservation nomination dates Elmcrest’s founding to 1938 and final closure to 2008. Other summaries use 1942 and circa 2006. Those differences remain visible here pending contemporary hospital records. A 2009 preservation campaign and the 2012 National Register acceptance document the houses’ later heritage status. [EC-009]
The Hart–Jarvis, Brainerd and Sage houses were homes before they became part of a hospital landscape. Their construction dates explain that earlier residential chapter, while photographs made during later preservation efforts document what survived. Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt’s childhood connection belongs to the family history of the Hart–Jarvis House; it does not establish that she created or financed Elmcrest. Separating these histories makes the campus more interesting, not less: it shows how older domestic spaces acquired new institutional uses. The competing hospital founding and closure dates remain attributed until contemporary records settle them. Preservation documents provide firm evidence of later recognition but cannot resolve every earlier operating milestone by themselves. [EC-009][EC-011]
Key dates
1829–1830 — Richard Hart bought land from the Hall family in 1829 and built the house for daughter Elizabeth Hart and her husband, Rev. William Jarvis. Their daughter was Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt. EC-009
1851 — The Jarvis family moved to Middletown; Erastus Brainerd Sr. acquired the house. EC-009
c. 1852 — Erastus Brainerd Jr.’s neighboring Italianate villa was built; the nomination attributes its design to Henry Austin and identifies builder Alfred H. Allen. EC-009
c. 1860 — Date assigned to the Brainerd carriage house and stable in the nomination inventory. EC-009
1856 / 1862 — Elizabeth married Samuel Colt in 1856; he died in 1862. Armsmear and the Colt industrial and philanthropic story belong to Hartford. EC-011
1884 — The John H. Sage House was built for the banker and ornithologist. EC-009
1938 / 1942 (conflict) — The official nomination says Elmcrest was founded in 1938. Common summaries give 1942. No hospital charter or contemporaneous opening notice was recovered to settle the difference. EC-009
2006 / 2008 (conflict) — Common summaries say circa 2006 closure; the nomination says the facility closed for good in 2008. Inpatient-service transfer and total campus closure should not be conflated. EC-009
2009 / 2012 — Portland Historical Society campaigned to retain the three houses in 2009. The district was accepted into the National Register on March 20, 2012. EC-010
A closer look at the surviving record
A childhood home within a later campus
The columns and front porch belong to the Hart–Jarvis House, photographed in 2017 by Marty Aligata. Its connection to Elizabeth Jarvis Colt comes from the family’s residence there. The hospital use began long after the Jarvis family departed.
The 1865 portrait presents Elizabeth with Caldwell. It is a painting, not a photograph of hospital life. Placing the portrait beside the house and property records helps connect a named family to a documented place without inventing an institutional role.
The 1874 map preserves property names and street relationships before Elmcrest. Use the map as a dated view of ownership and location; later boundaries and campus arrangements need their own records.
This historic view depicts Armsmear in Hartford. It extends the family story beyond Portland while preserving the distinction between two places. Its catalog date is about 1907; it should not be presented as the Elmcrest grounds.
Memorial font for three Colt children — Hartford context
Colt children's memorial font inside a Hartford church. This baptismal font at Hartford's Church of the Good Shepherd commemorates three children of Samuel and Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt. It adds family memorial history to the Portland house story.
Includes source text where acquired. Source websites require an internet connection. OCR may contain errors; verify names and dates against the scan.
15 catalog entries
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EC-001 · Photographs · 2017-10-15
Hart–Jarvis House, October 2017
Hart–Jarvis House, Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt’s childhood home, photographed on the former Elmcrest campus in October 2017. The building dates to 1829–30.
CC BY-SA 4.0. Credit Marty Aligata; link source and license; derivative image remains CC BY-SA 4.0. This is a 2017 photograph, not a nineteenth-century view. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: 2017-10-15. Published: 2017-12-24 Commons upload
Charles Loring Elliott’s 1865 portrait of Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt with her son Caldwell. Elizabeth grew up in Portland’s Hart–Jarvis House; this painting belongs to her later family story.
Public domain; faithful reproduction of public-domain painting. Wadsworth Atheneum, Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt Collection, accession 1905.9. Reproduction via Commons. Do not call this a photograph or identify its interior as Elmcrest. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: 1865. Published: Digital reproduction date unknown; Commons upload 2019-07-20
Samuel Colt, Elizabeth’s husband, in an engraving by Henry Wright Smith after a Mathew Brady photograph dated 1857. This reproduction appeared in George L. Clark’s 1914 history of Connecticut.
Public domain in United States; published before 1931. Original print source: A history of Connecticut: its people and institutions, George L. Clark, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1914; https://archive.org/details/historyofconnect03clar. Do not call supplied image a direct photographic print. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: 1857 source portrait date; engraving date not separately established. Published: 1914 reproduction
Credit: Henry Wright Smith, engraver, after Mathew Brady. Cite SGC SGC-EC-016, EC-003, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-08.
EC-004 · Photographs · c. 1907, Library of Congress created/published date
Armsmear in Hartford, c. 1907
Armsmear, the Colt family residence in Hartford, in a Detroit Publishing Company view cataloged c. 1907. This is the separate Hartford property associated with Elizabeth’s married life.
Public domain; copyright publication c. 1907. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-114500, digital ID cph.3c14500, LCCN 95509128. Include only in a clearly labeled linked Colt biography or property comparison, never in a Portland grounds gallery. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: Exact exposure date unknown. Published: c. 1907, Library of Congress created/published date
Credit: Detroit Publishing Company; photographer unidentified. Cite SGC SGC-EC-016, EC-004, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-08.
EC-005 · Photographs · 1903 per Commons source description
John Hall Sage, published 1903
John Hall Sage, the banker and ornithologist for whom the campus’s Queen Anne house was built in 1884. The portrait is reproduced from Bird-Lore.
Public domain in United States; published before 1931. Source plate visually verified: https://archive.org/details/audubonnati04nati/page/n325/mode/1up (Bird-Lore advisory councillors, fourth series). Bound item metadata says volumes 4–6 and start date 1899; 1903 is the Commons supplied publication year, not a verified exposure date. University of Connecticut holds Sage papers: https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/841. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: Unknown; no later than publication. Published: 1903 per Commons source description
EC-006 · Maps & plans · 1874 original; reproduced in June 2011 nomination
Portland property map, 1874
An 1874 map records the Brainerd properties on the south side of Marlborough Street, decades before the hospital. The National Register nomination reproduces this map as Exhibit B.
Public domain underlying 1874 map; faithful scan. National Register nomination, PDF page 15, Exhibit B; courtesy Portland Historical Society. Map supplies geographic context, not a photograph. Retains original exhibit label. Full map source attribution has not been checked against the original atlas title page. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: 1874. Published: 1874 original; reproduced in June 2011 nomination
Credit: J. H. Beers, as credited by the nomination. Cite SGC SGC-EC-016, EC-006, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-08.
EC-007 · Historical documents · 2012-03-20
National Register acceptance, March 20, 2012
The National Park Service accepted the Marlborough Street Historic District nomination on March 20, 2012. Its listed resources include the former campus’s Hart–Jarvis, Brainerd, and Sage houses.
Public domain U.S. federal government record. PDF page 16 is the federal Evaluation/Return Sheet. This rights conclusion applies to this federal page; privately supplied nomination narrative and photographs are not automatically public domain. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: 2012-03-20. Published: 2012
Credit: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Cite SGC SGC-EC-016, EC-007, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-08.
EC-008 · Photographs · 2018-09-17
Erastus Brainerd Jr. House, September 2018
The east wing and grounds of Erastus Brainerd Jr.’s c. 1852 villa, photographed on the former Elmcrest campus in September 2018.
CC BY-SA 4.0. Commons labels the district generally; building identity was checked against National Register photograph 6 (PDF page22), captioned Erastus Brainard Jr. House east wing. Matching wing, window alignment, eave brackets, cupola and split-rail fence. Modern2018 photograph, not a nineteenth-century view. Credit Magicpiano; derivative image remains CC BY-SA4.0. Proportional resize and JPEG optimization only. Created: 2018-09-17. Published: 2018-09-18 Commons upload
EC-009 · Sources & research leads · June 2011; accepted March 20, 2012
Marlborough Street Historic District National Register nomination
Link and cite. Modern photographs credited to Portland Historical Society, October 2009 and May 2011; no reusable license verified. Do not bulk publish this PDF or its modern photographs from the source folder.
Link and cite. Modern photographs credited to Portland Historical Society, October 2009 and May 2011; no reusable license verified. Do not bulk publish this PDF or its modern photographs from the source folder.
Credit: Phyllis, Bill and Claire Frisbie; historical houses appeal signed Claire Frisbie and Chris Sullivan. Cite SGC SGC-EC-016, EC-010, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-08.
EC-011 · Sources & research leads · Fall 2010
Portland Historical Society Fall 2010 Newsletter, page 3
Link and cite. Directly identifies Hart-Jarvis House as Colt childhood home and later Manor House at Elmcrest.
Link and cite. Directly identifies Hart-Jarvis House as Colt childhood home and later Manor House at Elmcrest.
Credit: University of Connecticut Archives and Special Collections. Cite SGC SGC-EC-016, EC-013, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-08.
ED-H2-HT-SP-010 · Photographs · 2022-09-05
Three historic houses at the former Elmcrest site
A view from the Connecticut River side records the three historic houses on the Elmcrest/Brainerd Place site in September 2022.
Available at the linked repository; image or full record is not included in this download. Do not repeat creator's unsupported claim that this view had not existed for 100 years. Reuse: CC0 1.0
Memorial font for three Colt children — Hartford context
Colt children's memorial font inside a Hartford church. This baptismal font at Hartford's Church of the Good Shepherd commemorates three children of Samuel and Elizabeth Hart Jarvis Colt. It adds family memorial history to the Portland house story.
Context image in Hartford, not on the Elmcrest campus. Corroboration: https://www.coltsville.org/church-of-the-good-shepherd identifies Hettie's gift and the 1899 fall through the floor. Photo of historical sculpture, not Elmcrest Hospital or its burial ground. Maintain Hartford context label. Display copy optimized for the web with proportional resizing and compression. The linked repository identifies the original image. Reuse: Photograph CC BY-SA 4.0. Sculpture public domain per Commons dating.
Credit: Marty Aligata. Cite SGC SGC-EC-016, EC-001, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-08.
