Among the numerous brick houses built in Windsor in the early nineteenth century is the Quartus Bedortha House at 54 Poquonock Avenue. It was built by Quartus Bedortha in 1835. He was born in Agawam, Mass. on February 21 1808, married Ruth Loomis on February 28, 1832 (they had two children) and died on August 4, 1879.
Abra Alford was the partner and brother-in-law of the well-known chairmaker, Lambert Hitchcock. Alford’s house, at 8 Main Street, adjacent to the old Hitchcock factory in Riverton, was built in the Federal style in 1822, but underwent an extensive remodeling c. 1835-1840 in the Greek Revival style. The house’s ell dates to 1828. Hitchcock and his wife, Eunice, lived in half of the house for a time after their marriage in 1830. Abra and Eunice’s brother, Alfred, also lived nearby.
Among several brick houses in Riverton associated with the Moore family is one built c. 1825 on Main Street by mason George Deming for Charles Moore, the son of Apollos Moore. Deming was married to Charles’s sister, Belinda Moore. The Moores were large landowners in Riverton.
The building at 625-631 Main Street in Middletown is a Late Federal-style mansion (with early Greek Revival features), built in 1821 by Arthur Magill, Jr. With his father, Magill founded the Middletown Manufacturing Company, the first woolen mill to use steam power. Financial setbacks and a lost law suit in the Connecticut Supreme Court forced Magill to give up the property in 1832. From 1835 to 1870, the house was home to a boys preparatory school, run by Daniel Chase. D. Luther Briggs later lived in the house. He was Mayor of Middletown from 1890 to 1893. By that time, the building had been converted to commercial use, serving as a hotel/boarding house under various names until 1943. It now houses a Community Health Center.
The Federal-style house at 49 Main Street in Newtown was built around 1790. It originally stood on the other side of the street, but was moved by Henry Beers Glover to make way for his new house.
The Phelps-Tiffany Tavern, at 432 East River Road in Riverton, was built in 1813 as a private residence by Pelatiah Ransom, Jr. and later served as a tavern. The Tavern’s Federal-style fanlight over the front door was later covered.
A battle is currently being waged in Southington over the fate of a c.1800 brick Federal-style house at 116-118 North Main Street. The YMCA next door has plans to demolish this historic structure to make way for a parking lot!!!
The house was built by Samuel Andrews, Sr., a veteran of the Revolutionary War. It is commonly called the Olney House for a later owner, Jesse Olney, an educator and author of influential geography books and atlases that were second only to Noah Webster’s spelling book in textbook sales in the nineteenth century. Olney also served in the state legislature for ten terms and was state comptroller for two years. The house once had a front porch that was later removed.
During the summer, local preservationists were involved in negotiations with the YMCA in an attempt to save the house. When the YMCA halted the talks and withdrew an offer to sell the house, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation sought an injunction, which was issued by a New Britain Superior Court judge in August preventing the demolition of the Olney House until Jauary 20. The Y does have permission to proceed with the destruction of the later addition to the rear of the house, an Italianate ell.
It is important that this house be preserved architecturally because it is Southington’s only example of a brick Federal house and historically because of its association with an important Connecticut educator and author.
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