Aldrich Free Public Library (1896)

David L. Aldrich and Edwin Milner operated woolen mills in the Plainfield village of Mossup. When Aldrich died in 1889, he left $3,000 towards the construction of a public library, with the condition that others raise a matching amount. His partner Milner pledged $2,000 and the rest was raised by the town residents. In 1893, the Aldrich Free Public Library Association was organized and the building was completed in 1895, with final construction costs paid by Milner so that the money raised by the town could be spent on books. The Aldrich Free Public Library opened on Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1896. The house-like Queen Anne-style building (pdf) was designed by Charles F. Wilcox of Providence, Rhode Island and was built by Willis Rouse, a local carpenter and a contractor and dealer in sash and architectural millwork in Central Village.

The Charles E. Puffer House (1904)

Built around 1904, the house at 176 Buckingham Street in Waterbury is notable for its stuccoed exterior. It was the home of Charles E. Puffer, an insurance agent. As described in the History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, vol 3 (1918):

In 1901 he came to Waterbury, where he entered the employ of George E. Judd, a well known and successful insurance underwriter. He bent his energies toward acquainting himself with every phase of the business and as the years passed his value to his employer so increased that on the 1st of January, 1911, he was admitted to a partnership under the firm style of Judd & Puffer, an association that has since been maintained. He has a high reputation in insurance circles and incidentally has negotiated many important realty transfers and his opinions concerning property are largely accepted as authority.

Frederick H. Cossitt Library (1891)

Frederick Henry Cossitt was born in Granby in 1811, but later settled for a time in Memphis, Tennessee, where he ran a wholesale dry goods business. In 1859, he moved to New York, where he was involved in real estate, insurance, and banking. Before he died in 1887, Cossitt had expressed a desire to build libraries in both Granby and Memphis and his heirs carried out his wishes. The Cossitt Library in Memphis was built in 1893. The other Cossitt Library, at 388 North Granby Road in Granby, was built in 1891, across the street from the house where Cossitt had been born eighty years before. The library has recently been renovated to reinforce the main floor and reconstruct the ground floor entrance. Cossitt’s daughter Helen married Augustus D. Juilliard and on their deaths, the couple left $12 million to found what would become the Julliard School.

Theophilus Hyde House (1893)

The Theophilus Hyde House, built on Pine Street in Waterbury in 1893, is good example of a Queen Anne house with Stick style details. According to The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, Vol. 2 (1896), edited by Joseph Anderson:

Theophilus Rogers Hyde, son of Theophilus Rogers and Fanny (Hazard) Hyde, was born in Stonington, December 18, 1855. He was educated at the high school in Westerly, R. I., and graduated from there in June, 1874. In September following he came to Waterbury to accept a position in the office of the Scovill Manufacturing company, and has continued there until the present time. On March 11, 1880, he married Jennie Pelton, daughter of William Burdon of Brooklyn, N. Y. They have five children, three sons and two daughters

Frederick Whittlesey House (1881)

Frederick Whittlesey, a dry goods merchant, built a house in 1881 at the corner of West Main Street and Grove Hill in New Britain. Whittlesey married Maria Carter Gilbert in 1861 and in 1881, the year the house was built, he married his second wife, Mary Wadsworth. The house was later home to his two unmarried daughters, Mary Swift Whittlesey (1865-1956) and Frances Whittlesey (1872-1970). Mary Swift Whittlesey was very active in historical and genealogical groups, like the D.A.R. In 1932, the sisters changed the entrance to the house from West Main Street to Grove Hill. After Frances Whittlesey’s death, the house was converted for use as offices.