Lilley Block #3 (1896)

In 1894 a fire destroyed the factory buildings of the Turner and Seymour Manufacturing Company in Torrington. George Lilley, a Waterbury developer who later became governor of Connecticut (serving for a less than four months in office before his death in 1909), bought the company’s land between Water Street and the Naugatuck River. Between 1896 and 1912, he erected several commercial buildings along Main and Water Streets, one of which is the building at 29-57 Water Street, built in 1896. Designed by Theodore S. Peck, the structure consists of five connected Romanesque blocks, each block being slightly taller than its neighbor as the street ascends a hill. The ground floors contain commercial storefronts, which the upper stories are apartments.

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J. H. Sessions Clock Company Office (1918)

Yesterday I featured the factory of the J. H. Sessions Clock Company, which is located at 61 East Main Street in the Forestville section of Bristol. Part of the factory complex is the company’s former main office building, a Jacobethan Revival-style structure erected c. 1918. It was designed by Bristol architect Harold A. Hayden, who also drew the plans for the Soldiers’ Memorial Monument of Bristol after serving in World War One.

James Driggs Shipsmith Shop (1885)

Located at Mystic Seaport, the James Driggs Shipsmith Shop originally stood at the head of Merrill’s (now Homer’s) Wharf in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was erected in 1885 by James D. Driggs, who had previously operated the most productive blacksmithing business in New Bedford with his partner, Joseph Dean. In 1846 Dean & Driggs had established their shop near Merrill’s Wharf, at what would become known as Driggs Lane, where they produced harpoons and other equipment for whaling ships. Among the journeymen they employed was Lewis Temple, Jr., the son of the man who invented the toggle iron harpoon in the 1840s. In 1885, with the whaling industry waning, Driggs moved to the smaller shop, pictured above, which he built with the help of his grandson.

In 1902, Driggs sold the shop to Ambrose J. Peters, who pursued both whalecraft manufacture and general blacksmithing. After his death in 1918, his brother, Charles E. Peters, continued the business until 1924, selling the building the following year. It was then placed on display at Col. E. H. R. Green‘s estate at Round Hill in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where the Charles W. Morgan, the last ship of America’s whaling fleet and now based at Mystic Seaport, was also exhibited. The Driggs shop was also moved to Mystic Seaport in 1944.

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W.H. Morrison Building (1896)

Like Meeker’s Hardware in Danbury, which I featured on this site a few days ago, W. H. Morrison in Torrington was another hardware store that closed in the early twenty-first century after being in business for over a century. The Italianate commercial building at 63 Water Street was erected in 1896 by William H. Morrison to house his plumbing and hardware business. The store finally closed in 2010 after 114 years. The Southern New England Telephone Company rented offices on the second floor until 1930.

Meeker’s Hardware (1883)

Meeker’s Hardware was a Danbury institution for 125 years. In 1883, feed and grain dealers Hendrick Barnum and Oscar Meeker began a partnership that Meeker, who came from Bridgeport, would continue alone after Barnum’s death in 1886. In 1885 Meeker opened his tool and feed store at 86-90 White Street in Danbury. The building, also known as the Red Block, was designed by architect Charles Crossley of Danbury and was erected over a period from 1883 to 1889. The upper floors were destroyed by a fire that swept lower White Street in 1896, but Meeker soon rebuilt. The tall rear section originally housed the company’s feed and grain warehouse and there was a steam-operated grindstone in the basement that was in operation until about 1912. Starting in 1983 (the same year the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places), the store became known for selling Coca-Cola for 5 cents, as advertised by a sign painted on the side of the building. This was switched to Pepsi in 2006, after a Coca-Cola sales representative wanted Mr. Meeker to install newer and more expensive soda fountain equipment. The store was renovated in 2009. After Meeker’s Hardware closed in 2013, it remained vacant until Vazquez  Soccerchamp Sports opened in 2016. Vintage fixtures from the old store, including cabinets, counters and other artifacts were removed in 2018 to be sold by Provenance, a Phildelphia salvage company.

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J. H. Hale Office (1910)

Instead of im”peach”ment, today’s building relates to the “peach king” of Glastonbury, J. H. Hale. I’ve mentioned him before in two posts. One was about the home of his grandfather, Ebenezer Hale, at 1378 Main Street and the other was about the home that J. H. Hale built at 1420 Main Street in 1911. At the Hale farm, John Howard Hale (1853-1917) and his brother George started a peach orchard where John H. developed a hardy type of peach that could endure the New England climate. The business soon grew to a national scale, with orchards in Glastonbury and Georgia. As described in Men of Mark in Connecticut (1906):

He was the first American orchardist to sort, grade, and pack fruit, and label and guarantee it according to its grade. He was the first in America to use trolley transportation in the fruit business, and is one of the very few Americans who ship peaches to Europe. He is fittingly called the “Father of Peach Culture in New England.”

Adjacent to Hale’s mansion is the colonial revival-style building at 1404 Main Street, which served as the farm’s office. As it is not indicated on a 1909 map of the Hale Farm, it was most likely built c. 1910, around the same time as the mansion. By 1920, a roadside stand in front of the building sold J. H. Hale peaches. The office later became a private residence. Among its first occupants were J. H. Hale’s grandson, John Hale, and his wife Alice.