Van Crashes Into Old State House Square

[skytrekker]

HARTFORD -- A van crashed into the Old State House Square on Main Street this morning, sending a female pedestrian to the hospital with serious injuries, police said.

Police are trying to determine the cause of the crash. Results of the investigation will determine whether charges will be filed against the driver, who was also taken to the hospital.

Candy Valente, the owner of AJ's at the corner of Main and Asylum streets, said a customer entered her convenience store about 6:45 a.m. and asked that she call 911.

The customer told her the "car hit a woman and then hit the building," Valente said.

[RVer]

Asylum street ? ! ? ! ?

Either the woman is from the insane asylum or she just hates government slouching freeloaders as much as the best of us and wanted to do something about it.

[skytrekker]

Actually 'Asylum' Street is named after the renowned 'Institute of Living' famous for nearly 200 years as being preeminent in the treatment of Mental Health.

The Institute of Living is a mental health center in Hartford, Connecticut affiliated with Hartford Hospital. The hospital was built in 1823, and was opened to admissions in 1824.[1] Eli Todd was its first director.[2] The hospital cost $12,000 to build and could serve up to 40 patients at a time. It was the first hospital of any kind established in Connecticut and the third psychiatric hospital in the United States. The hospital's 35 acres (14 ha) campus was landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1860s.

The hospital was originally called the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane. Its name changed several times, but it was often referred to as the Hartford Retreat.[1]

During its 175th anniversary, the Institute of Living opened an exhibition titled "Myths, Minds and Medicine" on the history of the Institute and psychiatric treatment in general.

It has shared the "retreat" moniker with the Brattleboro Retreat and the York Retreat, which was the naming inspiration for both institutions.