106 CONNECTICUT RIVER
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ents in the city, is 8,698 feet long, from 40 to 50 wide at thetop, and cost about $80,000. This dyke encloses 123 acres ofsome of the most valuable land in the city. The Hartford and Wethersfield Horse Railroad extends fromSpring Grove Cemetery through Main, State and Asylum streetsto Wethersfield, running cars past a given point every sevenminutes. Hartford has a complete system of water works. Amongthe many public institutions in Hartford, may be mentioned theHartford Hospital, built of Portland stone, which, exclusive ofrecent additions, cost about $50,000. Also the Connecticut Re-treat for the Insane, situated on an elevation commanding a viewof the city and meadow. The American Asylum for the Deaf andDumb, was incorporated in the year 1816, and is the oldest insti-tution of its kind in the country. The Wadsworth Atheneum isa granite building, 100 feet in length, 80 feet in depth. Thisbuilding is occupied by the Young Men’s Institute, WatkinsonLibrary and Connecticut Historical Society. The growth ofHartford has been very rapid, as shown by census taken at differ-. ent times. In the year 1800 the whole number of inhabitantswas only about 5,000. At the present time the population is es-timated at 45,000.
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