12 Chestnut Street, Bethel (1850)

Former Walker Ferry Shoe Store in Bethel

The building at 12 Chestnut Street in Bethel was once a commercial structure, with storefronts on the first floor and a two-level residence above. Walker Ferry (1822-1906), a shoemaker, had started business on the site in 1845. In about 1850, he tore down the earlier building and replaced it with the current one, which he occupied for many decades. At first he manufactured shoes on the first floor, employing a number of men, but later ceased shoemaking and switched to operating a retail shoe store, retiring shortly before his death in 1906. A c. 1890 image shows the shoe store on the right and McDowell’s Meat Market on the left.

Pledger-Miller-Dunklee House (1803)

Jacob Pledger (1762-1822) emigrated from England in 1795 with the family of his wife, Sarah Watkinson, and settled in Middletown, where he worked as an agent for the Middletown Brewery. In 1800 he acquired land from his father-in-law Samuel Watkinson, Sr. (1745-1816) and in 1803 erected at 717 Newfield Street what is now one of five surviving brick Federal-style houses in Middletown. Pledger farmed the surrounding land, which was evenly divided along both sides of Newfield Street. [His daughter Eliza would be a student at Sara Pierce‘s Litchfield Female Academy in 1814] Samuel Miller (1782-1856) purchased the house and farm in 1813. It was later owned by his son, Augustus Henry Miller (1816-1895), and then by Augusts’ daughter, Bernice M. Dunklee (1872-1965), whose husband, Henry F. Dunklee (1905-1961), managed the farm. Their son, Earle M. Dunklee (1898-1976) acquired the property in 1953 and sold it to the city in 1969. The house was purchased by Dr. Peter Nelson in 1975 in a sale that included architectural covenants to protect the integrity of the building‘s historic structure. Dr. Nelson adapted the building into professional offices (it is home to Dr. Nelson’s Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry).

Old Fire Department Headquarters, Danbury (1884)

The building at 5 Ives Street in Danbury was built in 1883-1884 and served as the city’s Fire Department Headquarters until 1969. Designed by architect Joel Foster, it had vehicle storage on the first floor and parlors (later converted into sleeping quarters) for volunteer fire companies on the second floor. Today the building is home to Two Steps Downtown Grill. Next door (pictured on the right in the image above) is the building at 1 Ives Street. Designed by William Webb Sunderland, it was built in 1893 as a meat warehouse and offices.

Old Lyme Historical Society (1910)

The building at 55 Lyme Street in Old Lyme originally stood on Maple Lane, near the Lieutenant River, where it was built for the Old Lyme Gun Club. It was erected sometime before 1910 (according to different sources in 1885 or 1906) when it was purchased by the Old Lyme Grange #162, which had been founded in 1905. Women had organized the Grange Aid Society to raise funds to buy the building, but because it was located on leased property they continued to save money while seeking land to purchase. In 1928, when the lot at 55 Lyme Street became available, the women of the Grange Aid Society bought it (against the advice of the men). The building was then moved by a team of oxen to its current location, where it was enlarged and refurbished. The new hall was dedicated in February 1929. For decades it hosted various events for the Grange and for the community. The Old Lyme Historical Society, formed in 2005, purchased the Grange building in 2014 as its headquarters, providing a space for the town’s archives, artifacts and historical exhibits.

Masonic Temple, Wethersfeld (1922)

When forming a Lodge in 1921, Masons in Wethersfield chose the name Hospitality Lodge in honor of a nickname of the Webb House, located at 211 Main Street. Built in 1752 for Joseph Webb, Sr., the house became known as “Hospitality Hall” in the years before the Revolutionary War for the lavish parties hosted by Joseph Webb, Jr. and his wife Abigail. The house hosted a famous Mason, George Washington, when he met the French General Rochambeau in Wethersfield in 1781. Hospitality Lodge No. 128 AF&AM was chartered March 5, 1921. The Masonic Temple at 245 Main Street was built the following year and remained in use until 1997, when the Lodge merged with Stepney Lodge No. 133 from Rocky Hill to form Silas Deane Lodge No. 147, which later moved from Wethersfield. More recently, Masons in town wanted to form a new Lodge and were granted the old Hospitality No. 128 charter. The Lodge now meets at the Solomon Welles House in Wethersfield. The old Masonic building has remained vacant, although the town planning and zoning commission approved its conversion into a two-family home in 2014.

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