Coe Memorial Park
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Coe Memorial Park is located in Torrington, Connecticut.
Torrington’s original town common was in what is now a rural area off University Drive; no evidence of it remains. Today, Coe Memorial Park, located just south of the Naugatuck River, functions as the town green. It was given to the Town of Torrington on November 6, 1906, by Adelaide E. Coe Godfrey, Edward Turner Coe, and Ella Seymour Coe, as a memorial to their parents, Lyman Wetmore Coe, President of Coe Brass Company, and his wife, Eliza Seymour Coe, whose home had been on the property. The donation was made with several stipulations including that (1) a street, known as Elm Street, near the rear of the property be removed and abandoned, (2) the Coe’s home and outbuildings be removed; (3) Mrs. Coe’s large, Victorian greenhouse be removed, and (4) a monument be erected acknowledging the gift and its benefactors. These were unfortunate losses, but it gave the town a green or park at the fringe of the center. Additional parcels were later added to the Park and today, it covers about five acres.
Designer
Coe Memorial Park was designed by James W. Scott in 1907 or 1908. Scott is also responsible for Keney Park in Hartford. Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted Brothers firm in Boston had been retained by the town selectmen to prepare drawings for the Park in 1907. These drawings were completed, but not executed even though a number of later town records credit Mr. Gallagher with the design. Shortly after, the Park was completed according to Mr. Scott’s plan.
A great drama was made of the selection of a boulder upon which to place the memorial plaque for the Coes. The selected boulder weighed 15 tons and was moved through the center of town to the Park on the logging wagon pulled by twenty horses. The Civil War monument was originally erected in front of Town Hall in 1879 and was moved to Coe Memorial Park in 1936.