Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Willington

Federated Church of Willington (1829)

The Willington Baptist Church was organized on December 18, 1828 and the Baptist Meeting House was completed the following year. Albert Sharp, a local carpenter, was the builder. Members of an earlier Baptist church, established in the north part of town, joined the congregation of the new church. A conference room and Sunday school room were added to the building in 1842. Willington’s Baptist and Congregational Churches merged in 1911 to form the Federated Church of Willington. The federated congregation built the Clara Hall Elliott Memorial Church that same year and sold the old Congregational church building to the town in 1924. The Federated Church holds services in two buildings, from late September to Easter Sunday in the Hall Memorial Church and in the summer at the former Baptist Meeting House, now called the Hill Church.

Jonathan Weston House (1835)

The Jonathon Weston House, located at 5 Common Road in Willington, was built before 1835 as a story-and-a-half Cape Cod-type house attached to a to a single story earlier building. Between 1897 and 1955 the house was converted to two stories. The maple trees on the front lawn were planted by W.W. Curtiss in 1877.

Old Merrick House (1771)

The Old Merrick House, also known as the Rice-Merrick House, at 244 Tolland Turnpike in Willington is a Colonial Cape built before 1771 by John Rice. Gideon Merrick acquired the property in 1811. The Merrick family operated a store next door for a number of years.

Old Town Hall, Willington (1876)

Although it resembles a typical one-room school house, the building next to the Old Congregational Church on Willington Common was actually built as the Town of Willington’s first Town Hall. It and the church were erected the same year, 1876, symbolizing the role of town and Ecclesiastical Society for the community as represented by their two meeting spaces. The builder of the Town Hall was Lorenzo Ide. Eventually, in 1920s, the church itself came to be used as Willington’s second Town Hall.

Daniel Glazier House (1808)

The house at 277 Tolland Turnpike in Willington was built sometime before 1808 by Daniel Glazier, the property being separated from a larger tract on which the Daniel Glazier Tavern would be built c. 1815. The town pound, where stray cattle were kept, was nearby and a number of those who lived in the house, including Glazier, were pound keepers. Across the street is a historic barn associated with the house. The barn was built in the early to mid-nineteenth century. The house no longer has its original central chimney.

Hiram Rider House (1820)

The house at 238 Tolland Turnpike in Willington was built c. 1820 for Hiram Rider, who served as a judge, county sheriff, Town Selectman, State Representative and State Treasurer. The house passed to his son and grandson. A later occupant was Jennie Church, who wrote for various Connecticut newspapers, including a series of “Pen Pictures” of Willington for the Stafford Press in the 1930s.

Deacon Turner House (1849)

The main part of the house at 243 Tolland Turnpike in Willington, in the Willington Common Historic District, was designed by architect Augustus Treusdel of Coventry and erected by builder Emery Williams for Deacon John Turner. This 1849 Greek Revival section was added to an earlier single-story building. Deacon John Turner was a stockholder in the Willington Glass Company. George V. Smith, who owned the house in the early twentieth century, was a lawyer and editor of the Connecticut Farmer.