Yost Block (1893)

Yost Block

At 53-55 West Main Street in Meriden is a five-story brick building constructed in 1893 (also variously dated 1889, 1890 and 1896). It was built by August Yost (1844-1915), who came to america when he was 11 years old. Yost worked for 17 years in the woolen mills of Rockville. He then became a baker in New Britain, forming the company of Lang & Yost with William Lang. In 1872, Yost moved to Meiden, where he formed a new partnership with William Albrecht. Yost soon took on the entire business and opened a store on West Main Street in 1875. He retired in 1895, two years after building the Yost Block. His son took over the business and August Yost turned to politics, serving on the Board of Assessors from 1899 until his death in 1915, the last four years as chairman.

Cronin Building (1892)

Cronin Building

The Cronin Building, at 80-88 State Street in New London, was built by Jeremiah D. Cronin, a plumbing contractor and a promoter of the Post Hill Improvement Company. It was built on the site of the City Hotel, where Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln once stayed. The hotel burned down in 1891. The Cronin Building was designed by George Warren Cole, an architect from the firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge (H.H. Richardson‘s successors) who came to New London to supervise the construction of three buildings: the Public Library, the Williams Memorial Institute and the Nathan Hale School. The vacant Cronin Building is in need of restoration.

191-195 Main Street, Middletown (1835)

191-195 Main Street, Middletown

The present style of the front facade of the building at 191 to 195 Main Street in Middletown dates to c. 1891, when the original two-and-one-half story structure with a gable roof was raised to a full three stories. The north section of this commercial building was built in 1835 by Joshua Stow, a former county judge and Middletown post master (also a politician and ardent Jeffersonian Republican) who operated a store. In 1845 the building passed to William Trench, who rented it out to various commercial tenants. From 1882 to 1887 it was rented by the Middletown Police, who used it as the town’s first police station. The matching south section of the building was in place by 1856 (and may have been built at the same time as the north half (1835), with the brick fire wall down the center of the building being shared by the owners of the two separate halves).