The Henry Barnard House was built on Main Street in Hartford in 1807. Henry Barnard, who became the first United States Commissioner of Education in 1867, was born in the house in 1811 and died in 1900. He added the Greek Revival-style portico in 1843. The house also once had four brick chimneys, which were later removed. Overlooking Barnard Park, in the South Green neighborhood of Hartford, the house now serves as transitional housing.
Built in 1818 on Main Street in Wethersfield for Capt. Jesse Goodrich, a ship owner and merchant. Each gable-end of the house features an oval window, with a chimney right behind it. The rear addition to this Federal style house dates to the 1870s.
Built in 1803, possibly by James Francis, on Main Street in Wethersfield, for Capt. Daniel Francis. This Federal style house was later updated to the Second Empire style in the 1870s with the addition of a Mansard roof.
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Designed by master builder Captain James Francis, the 1800 Richard Bunce House, at the corner of Main and Garden Streets in Wehersfield, displays some of the same Federal features, like semi-circular windows, as in Francis’ earlier Robert Robbins House. The Bunce House was also a tavern, the entrance being on the west, or Main Street side.
Built in 1810 on Main Street in Middletown for the merchant Samuel Mather, the Federal-style General Mansfield House was later home to Mather’s daughter Louisa and her husband, General Joseph K. F. Mansfield. At the start of the Civil War, Mansfield was in charge of the defense of Washington, D.C. On September 17, 1862, he was killed at the Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) in Maryland, haven just taken command two days before of the XII Corps of the Army of the Potomac. A monument and a mortuary cannon are dedicated to him on the battlefield of Antietam. There is also a monument in Middletown’s Indian Hill Cemetery, where he is buried. His house was later occupied by his descendants. Slated for demolition in the 1950s, it was saved by the Middlesex County Historical Society and now serves as the Society’s headquarters and museum.
The Old State House in Hartford was designed by Charles Bulfinch, who sent the plans from Boston. Bulfinch was perhaps influenced by the design of the Town Hall of Liverpool, England. The original design was much simpler than what is seen today. Many important features were added later, including the balustrade along the roof-line, added to protect firefighters, and the cupola, with a figure of Justice, completed in 1827. It was designed by John Stanwood and modeled on the cupola of City Hall in New York. The entrance to the Old State House faces the Connecticut River, emphasizing the importance of the river to the city at that time. The Connecticut General Assembly, which alternated sessions between Hartford and New Haven until 1875, held its Hartford sessions in the building from 1796 until 1878, when the new State Capitol Building was opened. The Connecticut Supreme Court also met in the Old State House until 1878. Famous events to take place in the building include the infamous Hartford Convention of 1815 and the first Amistad Trial in 1839.
The Old State House building next served as Hartford’s City Hall from 1878 to 1915, when the new Municipal Building was constructed. For many decades, a large Second Empire style Post Office building occupied the front lawn of the Old State House until it was torn down in 1934 and the open area in front was restored. In the twentieth century, the building was either neglected or in danger of being torn down on several occasions, but citizens groups stepped in to save it. It has also undergone several restorations and been open as a museum operated by several different organizations over the years, most recently the Connecticut Historical Society since 2003. The Old State House was in the news earlier this year due to a funding crisis. This prompted a variety of responses and ideas about the future of this historic building.
The Old Academy, on Main Street in Wethersfield, was built in 1801-1804 in the Federal style by the town’s First School Society. In 1824, the Rev. Joseph Emerson moved his female seminary, which had previously operated in Massachusetts in Byfield and Saugus, to the Old Academy, where it remained until his death in 1833. The building was also used as Wethersfield’s Town Hall and Library and now houses offices and the Research Collections of the Wethersfield Historical Society.
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