History of Swift
The Swift Factory began it's life as a Gold Leafing manufacturing company, and started in a small farm house (The White House) that remains on site today, dating back to 1887, and eventually growing into the roughly 70,000 square foot campus we see today. At it's height, Swift & Sons was the largest gold leafing manufacturer in the country, and experienced the industrial decline that much of New England's factories experienced in the 2nd half of the 20th century, eventually closing it's doors in 2005.
How Redevelopment Started
Donated in 2010 to national non-profit Community Solutions, the Swift Factory is an adaptive reuse project in one of Hartford’s poorest neighborhoods. The re-use of the building was determined through a 500 home neighborhood survey asking residents what they felt was most needed in order to help the neighborhood thrive; the responses clustered around, jobs, economic development, youth engagement, and safety, and hence, there is no residential component to the project.
With a strong community-engagement process, the project’s goals include job growth, economic development, community health, and community revitalization. This project will preserve a neighborhood anchor, while opening opportunities for a vibrant local economy and increase community resiliency.
