In 1970, the Simsbury Historical Society acquired the town’s old Probate Court building and in 1998 moved it from 7 Wilcox Street to its current location on the Society’s campus. The building was erected in 1876 with support from Jeffrey O. Phelps II (1820-1899), a former probate judge and Simsbury postmaster. It cost $1,600.00 to build and $33.00 to furnish and was used to store probate and town records until 1939. Since 2009 it has been the headquarters for the Simsbury Land Trust.
(more…)
This video is about a long lost bank building and two stones lions that are now in front of the Arch Street entrance of the Municipal Building in Hartford, Connecticut. Between 1817 and 1964, there were four successive versions of the Phoenix National Bank building on main Street, across from the Old State House. The stone lions started out along the roof line of two wings that were added to the original Phoenix Bank in 1827. When the second Phoenix Bank was built in 1873, the lions were moved to the sidewalk in front of the building. There they remained until 1912, when the city ordered them removed for encroaching on the sidewalk and they were transferred to the Municipal Building. The second Phoenix Bank was remodeled with a totally new exterior and rear addition in 1905 and the final version of the bank was erected in 1924. It was torn down 40 years later.
I have written posts about the first three Phoenix National Bank buildings on this website:
Phoenix Bank (I), built 1817: https://historicbuildingsct.com/lost-hartford-phoenix-bank-i-1817/
Phoenix Bank (II), built 1873-1874: https://historicbuildingsct.com/lost-hartford-phoenix-bank-ii-1874/
Phoenix Bank (III), built 1905-1906: https://historicbuildingsct.com/phoenix-bank-iii-1906/
This video is about two churches that were moved from one street across town to another street in Hartford, CT. The Unitarian Church of the Savior (built in 1846) was moved in 1860 from Trumbull Street to Sigourney Street to become Trinity Episcopal Church. It was torn down in the 1890s. The Gleenwood Congregational Church (built in 1897) was moved in 1907 from Laurel Street to Park Street and Park Terrace, where it was renamed Pilgrim Congregational Church. In 1914 the congregation dissolved and the church became St. Paul’s English Lutheran Church, which later merged with Trinity Lutheran Church in 1943 to become Grace Lutheran Church. The former church building was then home to the French Social Club, which replaced it in the 1960s.
There’s a higher quality picture of the moving of the Glenwood Church in 1907 here: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/40002:18644
The church had to be moved over the Laurel Street Bridge which had undergone repairs earlier that same year: http://emuseum.chs.org/emuseum/object…
The site where the church was moved to is now a housing development: https://www.hubonpark.com/
In the video I use a section from the Hartford Atlases of 1880 and 1909. The 1880 Atlas can be found here: http://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas…
The 1909 Atlas can be found here: http://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas…
Grace Lutheran Church is here: https://www.graceistheplace.org/
The French Social Circle is here: https://www.facebook.com/FrenchSocial…
Last week the Hartford Courant published a story about Hartford Hospital‘s plan to demolish the century-old Hall-Wilson Laboratory to expand its electrical power plant, a move opposed by preservationists. I found two Hartford Courant articles about the building at the time of its construction and its dedication.
(more…)
My latest video is about a photograph of State Street in Hartford from c. 1900. I describe all of the buildings that lined the street and what became of them. This is an expansion of my previous post about this photo. If you enjoy the video, please remember to hit the “Like” button. Also, please consider subscribing to the channel!
Mystic Seaport recreates a drugstore of the period 1870-1885 in a building the museum erected in 1953. A small recreated doctor’s office adjoins the drugstore building. The store is named for the Binghurst family of pharmacists, which began with Joseph Bringhurst (1767-1834), who operated a drugstore in Wilmington, Delaware. The Bringhurst collection was given to Mystic Seaport by Smith, Kline & French Laboratories, which had acquired it after the store closed. The building also contains the Abram P. Karsh collection of pharmaceutical items from the Philadelphia area.
You must be logged in to post a comment.