Mansfield Christian Fellowship (1909)

Mansfield Christian Fellowship

The first house of worship to be constructed in the Mansfield Depot section of Mansfield was a small meeting room built in the late nineteenth century by the Union Chapel Society. In 1907 the Second Baptist Church of Mansfield was established. As described in the Hartford Courant on December 18, 1908:

At last the hopes of the small settlement of Baptists at Mansfield Depot are to be realized. Rev. Leonard Smith of Mansfield, pastor of the Spring Hill Baptist Church acting as trustee of the Eber Dunham fund, has bought the chapel and land at Mansfield Depot of the Union Chapel Society. The chapel will be remodeled and converted into a meeting house to be known as the Eber Dunham Memorial Church. The purchase has been made possible by a fund left by the late Eber Dunham, who was a religious man living at Mansfield Depot several miles from any church from the pulpit of which were expounded the doctrines that conformed with his religious belief. All during his life he had to drive to church and was regular in attendance, both winter and summer. When he died he made provision whereby a certain number of citizens of his religious belief could band themselves together and form a church and society and this fund could be secured for a meeting house. If not after a certain period the money would be turned over to the state Baptist society. Several times during the past few years has it looked as though the state society would get the fund, but a short time ago the number of Baptists at Mansfield Depot became sufficient to organize a society of their own and now will be effected the complete realization of their cherished hopes in having a place of worship of their own.

At the end of 1908 (as reported by the Courant on January 1, 1909), Rev. Smith called for bids to build an addition to the Union Chapel. The addition would become the main part of the new Eber Dunham Memorial Church, with the older section being used as a conference room. The church would also have a belfrey. Work on the church was scheduled to begin that spring.

In 1973 the church, located at 105 Depot Road, became the Mansfield Christian Fellowship.

Hawley Armory (1915)

Hawley Armory

Hawley Armory on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs was built in 1914-1915 for the school’s military department, but its gymnasium and drill hall also served as the location for numerous athletic and social activities over the years. The Armory was named for Willis N. Hawley, a student at what was then called the Storrs Agricultural College. A first lieutenant of the cadet company on campus, he joined the army after graduating in 1898, but before he could fight in the Spanish-American War, he died of typhoid fever at the Red Cross Hospital in Philadelphia. As noted by President George W. Flint in the Annual Report of the Trustees of the Storrs Agricultural College (1899):

When the war with Spain was imminent, and the President of the United States issued his call for volunteers, five students of Storrs Agricultural College responded to the call, and were found to be well qualified for official positions. Of these, First Sergeant Willis N. Hawley was taken sick at Camp Meade, and died in the hospital at Philadelphia, November 19, 1898. When the State shall erect its library building at Storrs Agricultural College, we trust that some memorial will find a place in that structure to show the State’s appreciation of those who are willing to die for her honor, and for the freedom of an oppressed people.

Mention of the Armory and athletics at the College in general is made by Charles A. Wheeler in the Biennial Report (1917):

As chairman of the Athletic Advisory Board from its inception and now of the Athletic Council, which continues the work of the former organization, I think it fitting to mention our greatly increased facilities for athletic work, and the marked improvement in our standing among colleges. The Hawley Armory gives facilities for every student to exercise, and provision for athletic teams in the way of shower baths and dressing room with lockers. Our quartermile track has been re-surfaced with rock screenings and the opportunities for track-work increased. Our main interest in athletics has centered about football, basketball, and baseball. The support of athletics rests upon the student body, the faculty, and such alumni and others as attend the games. Football costs about $800. a year, basketball $300. and baseball $600. The past two years have been a transition period for us in athletics from the high and preparatory school group to the college group. We are now playing college and university teams, and, though victories for us are scarce, we have as a rule made a creditable showing in each game and have the respect of our adversaries. It seems to me that the past two years have shown 100% improvement in athletics. Looking back over a period of thirty years as student and teacher in college, I believe the interest of students in athletics has been a helpful influence in college life, and that our armory and gymnasium, is our most useful college building.

Renovated in the 1990s, the Hawley Armory now serves as a health and fitness training facility for the University community. (more…)

Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Chapel (1995)

Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Chapel

Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Chapel opened in 1995 at 28 Dog Lane in Storrs. Erected in an authentic Byzantine style, the Chapel’s interior has icons and frescoes painted by artists from Greece. The Chapel is part of the Center for Hellenic Studies Paideia at the University of Connecticut. The Center also includes the adjacent Makedonia building, built in 1997, where courses are offered on Greek and Byzantine language, history and culture. These are the first and only Greek Orthodox Church and Center for Hellenic Studies in an American State University.

Cordial Storrs House (1757)

Cordial Storrs House

At 1332 Storrs Road, on the campus of the University of Connecticut, is a colonial house that has served as student housing and is now UCONN’s Veterans House. The house was built c. 1757 and was the home of Cordial Storrs. This is most likely the Cordial Storrs (1692-1782) described in The Storrs Family (1886), by Charles Storrs:

Cordial Storrs of Mansfield, Conn., third son and ninth child of Samuel Storrs of Sutton-cum-Lound, Nottinghamshire, England, Barnstable, Mass., and Mansfield, Conn., was born in Barnstable, Mass., Oct. 14, 1692, and came with his father to Mansfield, Conn., in or about 1698. He married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Wood of Rowley, Mass. [They had four children]

Mrs. Hannah Wood Storrs died March 18, 1764. There is a tradition that she joined the Separatists and was disciplined by the church, but there is nothing in regard to this on the church records. The Separatist movement followed the great revivals which prevailed in Windham County in 1740-41. Itinerant preachers went about producing violent excitement among the people, decrying the old religious worship, and organizing new churches.

Cordial Storrs married, Oct. 10, 1765, Mrs. Catharine Bicknell, widow of (Capt.) Zachr. Bicknell of Ashford, Conn. He was sixty-seven [actually closer to 73] years of age at the time of this second marriage, and he seems to have contracted it with great care as to financial matters.

The farm and home of Cordial Storrs were in the North Parish. At the first church meeting of the Congregational church in that Parish, he was chosen deacon “by a very unanimous vote;” an office which he held until his death at the advanced age of ninety years, Oct. 1782.

His son Cordial [born 1728] died, unmarried, in 1755, at the age of twenty-seven, and with him the male line of this branch of the family became extinct. [Their son Jabez died in 1826]

Another Cordial Storrs lived from c. 1758 to 1790 and married Lettice Cummings.

Gulley Hall, UCONN (1908)

Gulley Hall

Albert Gurdon Gulley Hall at the University of Connecticut was built in 1908 as the Horticulture Building (aka Horticultural Hall) at a time when the school was called the Connecticut Agricultural College. It was the second masonry building to be erected on the campus. The first floor once contained a classroom, a laboratory and offices. The second floor had a lab and a large room for the Museum of Natural History. The basement contained spray apparatus for plant cultivation. Next to the building there was also once a greenhouse. The Horticultre Building was later named for Albert Gurdon Gulley (1848-1917), who was a professor of horticulture at the college from 1894 until his death. Since the 1960s, the building has housed University administrative offices, including those of the President and the Provost.

Shubael Conant, Jr. House (1765)

Shubael Conant, Jr. House

The house at 552 Storrs Road in Mansfield Center was built around 1765 by Shubael Conant, Jr. (1739-1794). His father, Judge Shubael Conant (1711-1775) was a leading citizen of Mansfield and served as Speaker of the Connecticut General Assembly. As described in the second volume of Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College (1896), by Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Shubael Conant, Jr.:

was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, on the 10th of August, 1739, being the eldest son of Judge Shubael Conant (Y. C. 1732) by his second marriage with Ruth Conant. Two brothers were graduated here in 1765 and 1776.

He was a farmer in his native town, serving also in various town offices, and especially as Clerk of the Probate Court, of which his father was for some years Judge.

He died in Mansfield in June, 1794, in his 55th year. His estate was bequeathed to his widow, and to his brother and nephews and nieces.

He married Anna, third daughter of Peter and Rebecca (Storrs) Aspenwall, of Woodstock and Windham, Connecticut, who was born on October 26, 1748, and died in the early part of the year 1807.

In 1813, the house was acquired by Isaac Arnold, a carpenter.

Amariah Storrs House (1760)

Amariah Storrs House

Amariah Storrs (1728-1806), a tavern-keeper, built the house at 526 Storrs Road in Mansfield around 1760. In 1761 there were several meetings “of the proprietors of the new incorporated Township of Lebanon in the Province of Newhampshire legally warned and Convened at the house of Amariah Storrs inholder in Mansfield.” [see the History of Lebanon, N.H., by Rev. Charles A. Downs (1908) and “Early History of Lebanon” (The Granite Monthly, Vol. II/XII, Nos. 3,4, March, April 1889).] Amariah Storrs sold the house to Rev. John Sherman, who only owned for six months, in 1798-1799. The house was later owned by two carpenters: Joseph Sollace bought it in 1815 and exchanged houses with Charles Arnold in 1845. The house has been much altered over the years.