The 693-acre Keney Park was built starting in 1896 and presented to the city by the Keney Park Trustees in 1924. The advent of the park prompted much real estate activity in the surrounding area. Ridgefield street was laid out by the Keney Part Trustees so the houses would face the park in a plan accepted by the city on April 27, 1908. When the street was actually improved to become a roadway capable of handling traffic is uncertain. The Trustees owned little land outside the park, with the exception of the parcel which became 75 Ridgefield Street. Before Keney Park and Ridgefield Street existed the land that was to be sub-divided to become the district was part of the expansive backyards of large houses facing Blue Hills Avenue. The real estate market has a role to play here instead of a single developer in control. The Street now stands out because of the initial professional standing of the residential, doctors, donors, attorneys, department store and insurance company executives, artisans, and business owners, along with good historic preservation of the architectural assets of the district, have been maintained. The integrity of the block and its good state of historic preservation were recognized by the City of Hartford in September 1993 by designation of the district as one of the seven Pride Blocks under the City's new program of Community Renewal, Rising Star Neighborhoods and Pride Blocks. [2]

The Ridgefield Street Historic District is significant historically because it is a well-defined residential block built over a short period of years to accompany and take advantage of the newly developed Keney Park. It is significant architecturally because the houses in the block are pre-dominantly well-designed single-family homes articulating in a professional manner the revival architectural styles in vogue when they were built. The district comprises a significant collection of residential work of Hartford's premier architects of the times, utilizing not only outstanding design but also high quality building materials. [2]

[1] District information retrieved from the town website http://www.hartford.gov/.
[2] Ridgefield Street Historic District, Report of the Historic District Study Committee, 2005, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[3] Assessors information and Parcel IDs retrieved from http://assessor1.hartford.gov/Default.asp?br=exp&vr=6.

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