CNG Gas Service Returns to Mark Twain’s Hartford Home
HARTFORD, CT — Oct. 20, 2016 — When Mark Twain built a home for his growing family in Hartford in 1874, he filled it with the latest modern conveniences: central heating, a burglar alarm and one of the first telephones installed in a private residence.
For lighting, Twain chose gas, becoming one of the first residential customers of the Hartford Gas Company, a Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) predecessor.
Nearly a century and a half later, the environmentally friendly fuel is again flowing to the celebrated author’s former home on Farmington Avenue. The Mark Twain House & Museum recently signed a contract with CNG to provide natural gas to heat the home and the carriage house on the same property. Service was switched on earlier this month.
“Mark Twain and his family chose the convenience of gas at their home, and 143 years later it’s still a convenient and cost-effective choice for Connecticut families,” said Terri Eller, director of commercial and industrial sales for CNG, a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR). “We’re delighted that CNG is able to help The Mark Twain House & Museum preserve this colorful piece of Hartford’s history.”
Twain, a Missouri native whose real name was Samuel Clemens, built the sprawling American High Gothic style mansion as his literary star was on the rise, and the house reflected that. He equipped the 25-room house with the latest innovations and conveniences — including gas utility service.
“Mark Twain loved technology, so the house was very modern and ahead of its time,” said Cindy Lovell, Ph.D., executive director of The Mark Twain House & Museum. “Since he built the house brand new, he was able to look at a lot of features that were just then becoming available, including gas lighting.”
Electric lighting was not yet an option when the house was constructed — Thomas Edison didn’t patent his famous bulb until 1880. Gas provided a convenient way to light a large home with relatively little maintenance. Twain praised gas as “the most convenient fire in the world” and “plenty cheap enough.” He even rigged up a gas “extension cord” from the main system to supply a reading lamp at his desk, according to Lovell.
However, he and his wife, Olivia Clemens, shared concerns about whether gas would generate enough heat to keep the house warm during the cold Connecticut winters. They continued to rely on a coal furnace and wood-burning fireplaces as the home’s primary sources of heat until they moved out in 1891.
At the time, the company provided a lower-quality, manufactured gas that didn’t always reliably sustain a flame. Twain periodically wrote letters to the Hartford Gas Company to fulminate about the reliability of the gas service. With wry understatement, he opened one letter, “Dear Sirs: Someday, you will move me almost to the verge of irritation …”
According to Lovell, The Mark Twain House & Museum’s administration and Board of Trustees decided a few years ago to re-establish gas service at the house, due to the anticipated lower cost and superior service reliability. It’s a preference the Museum shares with 170,000 other CNG customers in the Hartford area and Greenwich, Connecticut, who have discovered the convenience and reliability of environmentally-friendly natural gas.
“As a not-for-profit organization, it’s important that we make prudent choices about how we budget our energy dollars so that we can focus on our mission of educating the public and preserving Mark Twain’s legacy,” Lovell said. “Natural gas is attractively priced, and rates are stable and consistent. It also makes sense from a historical perspective. It’s a good fit.”
To learn more about natural gas, visit cngcorp.com and click “Convert to Natural Gas.”
The Mark Twain House & Museum is located at 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford. For more information, including tours and visiting hours, go to marktwainhouse.org.
The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford.
The CNG natural gas service line entering the Mark Twain House in Hartford.