Hezekiah Goodrich (1771-1854) grew up in Portland. His uncle, David Goodrich, was killed in the Revolutionary War and his widow, Penelope Holcombe Goodrich, and two sons lived with Hezekiah’s family during the war. Hezekiah later married Penelope’s niece, Millicent Holcombe, and in 1800, he moved to Granby, building his house and setting up a tanning shop on on what is now North Granby Road. Goodrich employed two men and a woman and produced 1,000 pairs of shoes and boots a year.
The John Barker House, at 899 [or 900] Clintonville Road in Wallingford, is possibly the oldest brick house in Connecticut. The gambrel-roofed structure was built by John Barker, a wealthy farmer and slave-owner. The Barker House shares similarities of construction with Connecticut Hall at Yale University, an even earlier brick building. The house has a wood-frame rear ell, built around 1814.
The East Windsor Historical Society is headquartered in the brick East Windsor Academy, also known as the Scantic Academy (pdf), which was built in 1817 by the Academy Company, a group of stockholders. It originally had a cupola containing a school bell. The first floor served as a school until 1938, except for an period between 1871 and 1896, when it was owned by the First Congregational Church and used for various meetings. It was then used as a dwelling for a number of years and was converted into two apartments for teachers in the area in 1946 by L. Ellsworth Stoughton. He later donated, first, the upper floor for a museum in 1968 and then the entire building in his will to the Society.
The Congregational Church in Avon began in 1751 as the Church of Christ in Northington (as Avon was then called). A split in the church occurred in 1817, after the old Northington meeting house was destroyed in a fire. The majority of the congregation decided to build a new church in the geographic center of town. Completed in 1818, the church is still in use today as the West Avon Congregational Church. In 1819, the remainder of the congregation built what is now the Avon Congregational Church to the east, in the community’s commercial center. Avon was incorporated as a town in 1830 and, until a town hall was built in 1891, town meetings were held alternately in the two churches. In 1969, the West Avon Congregational Church was moved from Burnham Road to its current location on Country Club Road.
In downtown Bristol there are two buildings which once housed the Bristol National Bank (established in 1875). The first building is at 245 Main Street and was succeeded by the second building, at 200 Main Street. Built in 1920-1923, the second building later became the Bristol Bank and Trust Company, and still bears that name. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White, although McKim and White had died by that time. The building was probably the work of Stanford White‘s son, Lawrence White.
Rose Haven is a Colonial Revival house at 31 North Street in Litchfield. Built by Charles Beldon, it was converted into a home for the aged in 1946. Note: This post was written on 09/02/2011 and backdated so that there would be a regular post for 04/01/2011 as well as an April Fool’s Post.
Memorial Hall in Windsor Locks was dedicated in 1890 in honor of the town’s Civil War veterans. Funds for the building‘s construction were provided by Charles E. Chaffee, a textile manufacturer. Soldiers Memorial Hall originally housed the J.H. Converse Post, No. 67, Grand Army of the Republic. The Post, formed in 1884, was named for Major Joseph H. Converse, who was killed in action at the Battle of Cold Harbor, on June 4, 1864. Memorial Hall was designed by Frederick S. Newman in the Richardsonian Romanesque style (Newman also designed the Linden apartments in Hartford and the Chicopee Bank in Springfield) The museum inside the Hall now honors Windsor Locks veterans of all wars and the building hosts the town’s American Legion post. Memorial Hall is open to visitors by guided tour. (more…)
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