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.

Security Building (1904)

Photo: Mark Grindell, United Illuminating

The 8-story building at 1111-1127 Main Street in Bridgeport was erected in 1904 by the Security Building Company. The building features a central atrium from the second to the eighth floor, which provides natural light. The office building was remodeled in 1950, but fell out of use in the 1990s. In 2015, work began on a major project to redevelop the Security Building and two adjacent structures (the E. W. Harrall Building at 1103-1105 Main Street and the E. E. Wheeler Building at 1131-1137 Main Street) as apartments and retail apace. Known as Harral Security Wheeler, the development was completed in 2016 and features first-floor retail apace and 70 apartments.

A.C. Petersen Farms (1940)

A.C. Petersen Farms is a landmark restaurant and creamery at 240 Park Road in West Hartford. The company‘s origins go back to 1914, when Andrew C. Petersen, a Danish immigrant, purchased several milk delivery routes. He soon expanded his business, acquiring the property on Park Road, where he produced milk and ice cream. In 1939, Petersen moved two houses on the site to nearby Washington Circle to make way for the present ice cream parlor and restaurant. Over the years, A.C. Petersen’s would grow as a business to have thirteen locations in the greater Hartford area. These would eventually close, leaving only the original with the Petersen’s name. In 2000, Andrew C. Petersen’s grandson sold the restaurant part of the business to the Rhode Island-based restaurant chain, Newport Creamery, while a group of local businessmen acquired the ice cream plant and continue to produce Petersen’s ice cream. Two years later, the restaurant was acquired by Catherine Denton, who had been A.C. Petersen’s longtime accountant. In 2013, the company acquired a second location in Old Lyme. In 2016, MSN named Petersen’s milkshake the best in Connecticut.

Whaler’s Inn – Hoxie House (2002)

In 2002, the Whaler’s Inn in Mystic erected a building at the corner of East Main and Cottrell Streets, on the site of an earlier hotel, the Hoxie House, which opened in 1861. The Hoxie House, built by Benjamin F. Hoxie, had replaced an earlier commercial and lodging building, called the U. S. Hotel, erected by Nathaniel Clift in 1818. The U. S. Hotel building had burned down in 1858 and the old Hoxie House building burned down in 1975. The new Hoxie House reflects the Italianate style of the original Hoxie House, featuring a cupola and decorative brackets.

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.

Whistle Stop Restaurant (1935)

Universal Food Stores was an early grocery chain that had branches throughout southeastern Connecticut. Most of the stores had individual owners who joined a cooperative agreement to sell goods wholesaled by Yantic Grain and Products Co. of Norwich under the Universal banner. A surviving Universal Food Store in Noank closed in 2011. Another Universal Food Store, located at 15 Palmer Street in Pawcatuck, had closed many years before. It was housed in a 1935 building that still has its peaked gables, a feature used on many of the stores. The building is now the Whistle Stop Pizza Restaurant.

Oxford Hotel (1795)

Happy Independence Day! Pictured above is the former Oxford Hotel, at 441 Oxford Road in Oxford. It was built as an inn in 1795 by brothers Daniel and Job Candee, members of an influential Oxford family, to take advantage of the new Oxford Turnpike. Daniel Candee, Oxford’s first postmaster, operated the inn until about 1811, followed by his nephew, David Candee, who was innkeeper until his death in 1851. Frederick Candee then inherited the inn from his father and ran it for about twelve years, during which time he expanded the business to include a general store. In 1865 the business passed through inheritance to David R. Lum and it then had many owners over the years. In 1936 it moved back some thirty feet from the street when Oxford Road was paved with concrete. The hotel was converted into a private residence in 1941 by Eldridge Seeley. He removed the building’s front porches and added additional dormers and the two-story colonnade. In 1950, the building was reopened to the public by James and Dominica DeMaio as a restaurant known as the Oxford House. The restaurant closed in 2011, but the building was renovated in 2013. A new restaurant opened in 2014, but closed in 2016, followed later that year by the opening of the current restaurant.