Windham & Smithville Company Store (1850)

In 1822, Deacon Charles Lee acquired the rights to erect a cotton mill on the east side of what is now Bridge Street in Willimantic. The mill was acquired in 1845 by two men from Rhode Island, Amos and James Smith, who renamed it the Smithville Manufacturing Company. In 1828, three men from Rhode Island, Mathew Watson, and Nathan and Arunah Tingley, erected another cotton mill, called the Windham Manufacturing Company, on the west side of Bridge Street. The Smithville and Windham mills, on either side of Bridge Street, would merge in 1907. The company would later be named the Quidnik-Windham Manufacturing Company. The stone mill buildings do not survive today, but some of the worker housing and a former company store, remain standing. An assessor’s record dates the store to c. 1850, although it may have been constructed in the 1820s by Deacon Lee himself. It may also have been the Windham Manufacturing Company store that was owned by George M. Harrington from 1874 to 1883. Located at 24 Bridge Street, the store is built of ashlar granite, with alternating courses of wide and narrow stone. The south gable-end of the building has large loading bay windows facing the adjacent railroad tracks.

George Clemons House (1887)

In 1887, H. S. Patterson of Torrington erected the two-family residence at 1092 Bantam Road, in the Bantam section of Litchfield, for George Clemons. The latter, who owned the house for many years, but only lived in it himself for two years, later served as Litchfield selectman. The house originally had a front porch, with decorative detailing, that extended across the entire front facade.

Carson’s Store (1900)

The building at 43 Main Street in Noank was built before 1900 as a summer kitchen. In 1918, it was acquired by Jane Carson, who moved it to its current location on Main Street to use as her general store. Carson’s Store, which she first opened in 1907, had two earlier locations before it settled at 43 Main Street: the first was at the foot of Main Street and the second, which had burned down, was at the opposite end of Main Street next to the railroad tracks. Her son, Bernard Carson, later ran the store. He installed a lunch counter and bar stools in 1954. David Blacker acquired the store and restaurant in 1979. The structure had been sitting on the ground, but he added a foundation underneath. There were news stories at the start of 2014 that Carson’s Store had closed, but it is now open again, operated by David Blacker’s son, Andrew Blacker.

Colegrove Building, Mystic Seaport (1952)

Andrew C. Colegrove, who operated an electrical appliance business in Mystic, was killed in a plane crash in California on August 24, 1951. The Colegrove Building at Mystic Seaport was built in 1952 as a memorial in his memory. Since 1962, the half of the building that faces the Mystic River has housed a printing exhibit, called the Mystic Press Printing Office. The original Mystic Press newspaper, started in 1873, had an office at West Main and Pearl Streets. The other half of the Colegrove Building contains a Ship Carver exhibit.