White Flight in Hartford County, CT: 1950—2010

Projec on: NAD 1983

State Plane for CT

Suzanne Lis / Intro to GIS / Fall 2012/ Data Sources: Na onal

Historical GIS, CT’s State Data Center, UCONN Map and Geo‐

graphic Informa on Center, Social Explorer

Fig.3: Map

of 1970

racial data

and major

highways.

0 3 6 9 121.5Miles

0 3 6 9 121.5Miles

0 3 6 9 121.5Miles

0 3 6 9 121.5Miles

¯

Fig.2: 1950

map show‐

ing the final

configura‐

on of I‐84

and I‐91.

Fig.1: 1990

map of

schools in

the town of

Har ord. WHAT IS WHITE FLIGHT?

“White flight” is a term that has arisen to encompass the move-ment of white residents away from metropolitan centers to sur-rounding suburban areas. The motivations for this movement can range from increased mobility via highways, dispersion of jobs, or racial tension, Inversely, minorities are often unable to leave unsatisfactory inner city conditions due to racial re-strictions, economic restraints, or the constraints that “inelastic cities” pose (Sacks). The effects of white flight, among others, are lower rates of job creation, lower average income, lower population growth, higher poverty levels, and higher income gaps (Frey).

BACKGROUND

Hartford is a perfect case-study of white flight and its effects on the economic health and racial integration of a city. Hartford’s population has been steadily shrinking since its peak popula-tion of 177,400 people in 1950 (Sacks). In the 1950s and 1960s, the population swelled due to immigrants arriving to pursue opportunities in labor and factories. Up until the 1960s, racial restrictions on mortgages were also permitted by the Federal Housing Administration (Sacks). This further narrowed the options for minorities to live in the suburbs of the city.

Hartford quickly became heavily segregated, with the black population occupying most of the North End, while the white population shifted west toward the affluent suburbs of West Hartford and Avon. In the 1960s, many new construction pro-jects were undertaken. One of the largest projects of the 1960s was the Constitution Plaza; constructed between 1962 and 1964, it catered primarily to the interests of the business com-munity and created no residential spaces (Sacks). In fact, it destroyed a working-class, older neighborhood that was prone to flooding known as “Front Street”.

Hartford was also experiencing severe racial segregation in its schools. Even as late as 1989, the case of Sheff vs. O’Neill was presented by 19 Hartford students who argued they were not receiving the same level of education as their peers in other school districts (Superior Court). As seen in Fig. 1, schools often had almost exclusively minority or white stu-dent populations. To this day, the city of Hartford continues to struggle with effectively desegregating its school system.

Racial segregation became racial tension, and racial ten-sion became violence in the Hartford riots of July 1967. When a local black man was arrested, he was allegedly treated roughly by the police, and many began to protest at the police station in response. Riots broke out in the black-dominated North End at the corner of Main St. and Pavilion St., and many white-owned businesses and restaurants were destroyed. Many consider the riots a turning point in the racial divisions of the city (Sacks).

The construction of highways was also a notable factor in

facilitating white flight from the city of Hartford to the outer sub-urbs (see Fig. 3). CT was especially affected by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. Although parts of I-91 were built in 1945, the entire highway route was completed by 1965. Certain parts of I-91 also cut directly through predominantly minority neighborhoods (see Fig. 2) I-84 opened in 1967. These high-ways allowed more people to commute into the city for work and live in the suburbs. In 1960 Hartford employed 116 thou-sand people; about half lived in the city. By 1980 the number of jobs had grown to 143 thousand, but less than a quarter of the employees were city residents (Strong and Grant).

The causes of white flight are many, but the effects are sin-gle-handedly detrimental to a city’s racial integration, economic health, and to the people who occupy it.

REFERENCES Frey, William H. "Central City White Flight: Racial and Non-

racial Causes." American Sociological Review. 44. (1979): 425-448. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2094885.pdf?acceptTC=true>.

Grant, Ellsworth Strong and Marion Hepburn Grant. 1986.

The City of Hartford 1784-1984: An Illustrated History. The Connecticut Historical Society.

"Sheff vs. O'Neill: Memorandum of Decision." State of CT

Judicial Branch. Superior Court, 03 1999. Web. 11 Dec 2012. <http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/news/sheff.htm>.

Sacks, Michael. "Suburbanization and the Racial/Ethnic Di-

vide in the Hartford Metropolitan Area." Hartford Collections 8.1 (2003): 1-41. Trinity College Digital Repository. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=hartford_papers>.