Major Edwin Eaton (died 1873) was involved in the lumber business and was a carpenter-builder in Chaplin. He constructed many homes there in the early nineteenth century, including his own residence, built around 1835. Located at 342 Phoenixville Road, the house was owned in 1855 by John William Griggs (1822-1897), who was a decon of the Congregational Church.
The Greek Revival house at 70 Hebron Road in Andover was built in 1841 by George Oliver Bingham (1810-1892). The land on which the house was built had been in the Bingham family since 1752, when it was acquired by Eleazer Bingham. It passed to Eleazer’s son, Stephen, and then to Stephen’s son, Harvey. In 1841, Harvey’s daughter, Sarah L. Bingham, sold one and a half acres to her brother, George, who built the house. Nearby, at 55 Hebron Road, is another Greek Revival house, built around the same time by George’s brother, John F. Bingham.
The Moses Latham House is an elaborately decorated residence at 59 Main Street in the village of Noank in Groton. It is transitional in style, being Greek Revival, but with elements of the Federal, like the gable fanlight window.
The Old Mystic National Bank began as the Mystic Bank in 1833. It was established in a newly-built granite building in the village of Old Mystic in Stonington, which was a commercial center at the time. By 1856, business had grown to an extent that a larger building was required. It was erected of brick in the center of the village of Old Mystic. The iron bars across the windows were added after a attempted burglary in 1884. The institution became a national bank in 1865 and continued in business until undergoing a voluntary liquidation in 1887. By that time the village of Mystic to the south had become the local business hub instead of Old Mystic. After the bank closed, the 1856 building was sold to the town of Stonington in 1889. It was used as a District Hall for voting until the 1960s. During World War II, the Reliance Fire Company of Old Mystic used the attached back shed as a Civil Defense headquarters. It was later used to store fire equipment. In 1965, the building was sold to the Indian and Colonial Research Center. The ICRC is a non-profit organization that preserves the preserves the papers and collections of Eva L. Butler (1887-1969), a noted anthropologist, archeologist, historian, and naturalist.
Now located at Mystic Seaport, the Mystic Bank was originally built in 1833 in Old Mystic, at the head of the Mystic River. The first president of the bank was Elias Brown and the first cashier was George W. Noyes, who later held the same position at the Mystic River Bank. The Mystic Bank moved its operations to a new brick building in 1856. The first floor of the old bank building then became the post office and the upper floor was used as a carpenter’s shop. The building would be used for different purposes over the years until 1948-1951, when it was moved to Mystic Seaport. The current front portico is a reproduction of the original. (more…)
The house at 4 Matthew Street in Prospect was built c. 1811 on a small piece of land that had originally been part of the farm of Ephraim Smith. The land had been sold out of the family in 1791 and passed through several owners until over the years. When Uriah Carrington bought the land in 1812, it included a recently built house. Carrington acquired additional property from Ira Smith, Ephraim’s son, to increase the size of the property to an acre. It had grown to two acres when it was acquired by Joel Matthews in 1833. The Greek Revival front entrance was probably added closer to that date.
The house at 274 Jackson Hill Road in Middlefield was built c. 1835 by William Hale. In 1838 he sold the house to Ichabod Miller. The house and extensive farmland remained in the Miller Family until 1886.
You must be logged in to post a comment.