Ponemah Mills Commercial Block (1871)

The community of Taftville in Norwich grew in the nineteenth century as a mill village next to Ponemah Mills, which was once the largest textile mill in the world under one roof. At the corner of North Second Avenue and Providence Street in Taftville is a commercial building erected by the company. It was probably built about the same time as Ponemah Mill #1 (1871), as it shares that structure’s French Second Empire style architecture. It features a Mansard roof with dormer windows. The building once housed the Ponemah Mills offices, which later moved to another building, erected in 1929. The building also had a post office, a fire station and a general store, operated by the company. On the second floor was a community hall.

Danbury News Building (1893)

The building at 288 Main Street in Danbury, facing Wooster Square, was once the home of the Danbury News and its famed publisher and editor, James Montgomery Bailey. Known as the “Danbury News Man,” Bailey gained national renown as a humorist and chronicler of local life. He was the author of such books as Life in Danbury: Being a Brief But Comprehensive Record of the Doings of a Remarkable People, Under More Remarkable Circumstances, and Chronicled in a Most Remarkable Manner (1873), The Danbury News Man’s Almanac, and Other Tales (1874), They All Do it: Or, Mr. Miggs of Danbury and His Neighbors (1877), The Danbury Boom!: With a Full Account of Mrs. Cobleigh’s Action Therein! Together with Many Other Interesting Phases in the Social and Domestic History of that Remarkable Village (1880), and the posthumously published History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 (1896), compiled with additions by Susan Benedict Hill.

The building was originally a two-story Italianate Block, erected in 1873. Baily had it remodeled and enlarged in 1893, the year displayed on the structure‘s front facade. As redesigned by architect Philip Sunderland with a new front facade, third floor and tower, the Danbury News Building became a prominent landmark, widely identified with the city. It was once featured on the cover of the New Yorker. The Danbury News merged with the Danbury Times in 1933 and to form The News-Times.

Marshall Building (1890)

At 111 Main Street in Danbury is a commercial and apartment building erected in 1890-1891. The upper stories of the front facade feature different window designs on each floor. A stone set in the middle of the facade on the fourth story is inscribed: “Marshall, 1890.” The building’s original cast iron storefront was covered when the storefront was later extended. Painted advertising, much faded over the years, on the exposed north wall, reveals a former owner whose business occupied the building: “Cornelius Delohery Undertakers and Home Furnishings.”

Samuel Coe Store (1846)

The building at 686 Main Street in Winsted was built in 1846 as a country store by Samuel Coe. At the time, the Beardsley House, a hotel and commercial block that burned down in 1939, was located just across the turnpike. Coe had previously been in partnership with Luman Hubbell, who is described in the History of the Hubbell Family (1881), by Walter Hubbell:

LUMAN HUBBELL, of Winsted (in Winchester), Litchfield County, Connecticut, son of Silliman Hubbell and Hannah Taylor, was born in Danbury, Connecticut, August 28th, 1797.

His parents moved to Winchester in 1800, and at the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to Earl P. Pease, a woollen manufacturer of Norfolk, Connecticut, and took up the branch of “blue dyeing,” in which he became so proficient that he received one thousand dollars per year for his services, “a large salary in those days.”

He resided in Massachusetts for several years, and returned to Winsted in 1828, where he became a permanent resident.

In 1831 he formed a partnership with Mr. Coe, under the firm name of Coe & Hubbell. A large business was established by this house, and in 1846 they erected a new-store, and were preparing to move into it when Mr. Hubbell was attacked by a sudden illness, from which he died October 8th, 1846.

The Coe Store remained in the family for several decades, being operated for a time by James W. Coe. The building was vacant in 1887. Around that time, the originally Greek Revival structure was altered, the roofline being lowered to its present shallower pitch. Since then it has housed a variety of businesses. The current storefronts date to the twentieth century.

Holmes Block (1800)

The building at 2 Wyassup Road in North Stonington was erected c. 1800-1820 as the village store, although it may date to the eighteenth century, when Williams and Rogers had a store here. It was later used by Augustus L. Babcock, a coffin maker. It became known as the Holmes Block in the 1840s. At that time, Wheeler H. Holmes had a confectionery and bakery in the south section (possibly added around that time and later demolished—see below), while his father, David Holmes, had his furniture and undertaking business in the center and north end. Various grocery and general stores have occupied the building over the years and the center and north section were used as a post office from 1893 to 1897, when J.E. Bennett was postmaster. In more recent years, the north section has been the Village Hardware Store. In 1999, the Watermark Cafe opened in the south section. The building is located right next to the Shunock River and severe flooding in March 2010 damaged the south section and the adjacent stone double arch bridge, the latter dating to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The part of the building housing the Watermark was torn down on April 13, 2010. [Compare before and after images] The bridge was rebuilt and in 2016 a new Village General Store, Hardware and Cafe reopened in the surviving section of the Holmes Block.

Odd Fellows Hall, East Hartford (1922)

The building at 989-993 Main Street in East Hartford was built c. 1850. It was known as the Garvan Block or the Odd Fellows Building/Odd Fellows Hall, because it was later owned by Crescent Lodge No. 25, International Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekah Lodge (the Daughters of Rebekah began as the female auxiliary of the IOOF). There was also a post office located in the building. The structure was damaged by a fire on May 28, 1922. As reported in the Hartford Courant on July 21, 1922:

The Odd Fellows and Rebekah Building Association have completed plans for the renovation of the Gravan block on Main street, which was gutted by fire last May. The two upper stories of the building will be rebuilt entirely, and the whole frame will be stuccoed. There will be a Spanish tile roof [. . .]. The first floor will be used by various stores now occupying it. The second floor will consist of a lodge room, ante rooms, and a banquet room. The third floor will be used for billiard rooms and robing rooms. [. . .] It is expected that the remodeling will cost about $50,000. George Zunner of Hartford is the architect.

John Dodd Hat Shop (1790)

The museum building known as the John Dodd Hat Shop is located on the grounds of the Danbury Historical Society. It was not actually a hat shop, but was built in 1790 by lawyer John Dodd as his law office. The Historical Society acquired the building in 1957 and moved it from its original location on lower Main Street to its current address to house its hat shop exhibit. A variety of hats are on display, as well as hatting machines and other historical artifacts relating to the hatting industry in Danbury, which was known as the “Hat City of the World.”