1684 King Street, Enfield (1820)

The house at 1684 King Street in Enfield was built c. 1820. It is an excellent example of a brick Federal style house with four chimneys and an entryway featuring sidelights and a fan window. Starting in 1953, the house was home to Crands Candy Castle for almost fifty years. John Crand and his family lived on the second floor of the house and manufactured and sold candy on the first floor. After he retired in 1963, he was followed by his sons, Tom and Robert. Tom retired in 1990 and Robert continued on until the business closed in 2001. The house is now a private residence.

Old Axminster Building, Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Company (1902)

Old Axminster Building

Thompsonville in Enfield was once home to a substantial carpet manufacturing industry. In 1901, the Hartford Carpet Company of Enfield merged with the E.S Higgens & Company of New York to form the Hartford Carpet Corporation. Expansion followed and in c. 1902-1905 the company built a large mill building for the production of Axminster, a type of tufted-pile carpet. Located at the southern end of the factory complex, the Axminster Building is a four-story structure with a strong structural system to contain the many massive broadlooms required for production of Axminster. The building’s east end was once a common wall shared with the Color House, which has since been demolished. A new Axminster building was constructed in 1923. By that time the Hartford Carpet Corporation had merged with the Bigelow Carpet Company of Clinton, Massachusetts to form the Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Company (1914). Today the former carpet mill complex has been converted into the Bigelow Commons apartments. (more…)