The Cornerstone Christian School (1958)

Cornerstone Christian School

The John Wesley Pentecostal Church was founded in Manchester in 1897. In the fall of 1907 (“Holiness Meeting in Manchester; In Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene,” Hartford Courant, April 10, 1908) the church became part of the Church of the Nazarene, a national evangelical denomination that formed in 1907-1908 through a series of mergers between various holiness churches and denominations, with the western-based Church of the Nazarene merging with the eastern-based Association of Pentecostal Churches of America. In 1958, the Manchester Church of the Nazarene moved from their original 1898 church at 466 Main Street to a new church at 236 Main Street. It was the culmination of a five-year building plan that included construction of a youth center (1954) and a parsonage (1957). The church’s pastor, Clarence E. Winslow, designed the buildings and prepared landscaping plans, personally clearing the land with the help of volunteers. Groundbreaking for the church occurred in the summer of 1957 and the following April (“Steeplejack Chore Planned by Pastor,” Hartford Courant, April 21, 1958) Rev. Winslow was lifted 90 feet by a giant crane to place a cross on the newly raised steeple. Rev. Winslow later moved to Florida where, in the 1970s, he led supporters of Creationism against the teaching of Evolution in Florida schools.

The Church of the Nazarene opened the Cornerstone Christian School in 1981. A new church building was erected at 218 Main Street in 1989, with Rev. Phillip Chatto this time attaching the cross at the top of the steeple (“Crowning touch installed at Manchester church,” by Randy Burgess, Hartford Courant, March 29, 1989). The previous church, now called the McLain Building, became part of the Cornerstone Christian School, housing the junior and senior high schools, and the former sanctuary was converted into a fellowship hall and gymnasium.

Fitch-Sackett House & Store (1860)

15 Center St

The building at 15 Center Street in Andover, built c. 1860, was originally the house and store of Jasper A. Fitch. Fitch’s father was a shoemaker, so he may have apprenticed to his uncle, William (or was it Henry?), a merchant in Hebron. Frederick A. Sackett, who came to Andover from Rhode Island, was a later storekeeper. F. A. Sackett also served as town clerk, treasurer and judge of the Andover Probate District. In 1938 the Andover Volunteer Fire Department was formed and the town acquired the Sackett store, which was remodeled to become a fire house. A third bay for vehicles was added to the existing two in 1955. Another bay was added in 1982. The Fire Department later moved to Andover’s new Public Safety Complex.

Hurd-Osborn-Oatman House (1806)

George Thompson House (1806)

Located at 1531 Southford Road in the village of Southford in Southbury, the Hurd-Osborn-Oatman House was built in 1806 by George Thompson as a hotel. As explained by John L. Rockey in the second volume of his History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892):

In the period of time when the turnpike was the great thoroughfare between New Haven and Litchfield, Southford being 20 miles from the former place and 25 miles from the latter, hotels were here kept and were well patronized. [. . . ] The hotel known as the Oatman House for 35 years, was built by George Thompson in 1806, and first kept by him and then by his brother-in-law, Benjamin S. Hurd, followed by John Peck. Enos Foot was the landlord in 1845.

George Thompson and Benjamin Smith Hurd married two sisters, Clarissa and Esther, daughters of Adin Wheeler, who helped to fund construction of the hotel. The hotel had many owners over the years. Benjamin Blagg Osborn, son of merchant and Revolutionary War patriot Shadrach Osborn, was tavern-keeper in the 1820s. Charles R. Oatman (1827-1904), under whose name the hotel was long known, acquired the property in 1870. Oatman married Orinda T. Hurd, daughter of Benjamin R. Hurd, in 1850. The Oatman family owned the hotel until 1899 and even under later owners it was still known for many years as the C. R. Oatman Hotel. It later became the Fennbrock Dairy.

Glenbrook (1696)

Glenbrook

The oldest section of the house at 429 Quaker Farms Road in Oxford dates to 1696. It was built by William Tomlinson, whose son Isaac inherited it in 1719. The house was substantially enlarged and given a Federal-style facade by Charles Meigs around 1814. The house was enlarged again by Mr. and Mrs. Courtney in the twentieth century. Mr. Courtney was a New York Circuit Court Judge who also had connections with the theater world. Actors like Basil Rathbone were frequent guests. The house remained vacant from 1927 until 1944, when it acquired new owners. It has been known as “Glenbrook” for many years.

Beecher-Chatfield House (1769)

Beecher-Chatfield House

Note: The Beecher-Chatfield House is featured on this website solely because I read, at second-hand, that it is an early house with an interesting history. The information I provide about the house below is based on a brief entry in the 1976 book Early Houses of Oxford, supplemented by what I could discover about the house by means of an internet search at the time I originally wrote this post in 2016. The information presented below is not based on a professional evaluation of the property or formal research into its historic character. I have no knowledge of the physical condition of the house, the extent to which it has been altered over the years, or how much of its earliest construction remains. The house is not listed in the National Register of Historic Places, either individually or as part of a larger historic district, and to my knowledge it is not under the authority of a local historic district commission.  This website was started as a hobby and I do not represent an agency or organization with authority to make an official judgement about the historic character or status of any property, including the Beecher-Chatfield House. 

The house at 136 Chestnut Tree Hill Road Extension in Oxford was built in 1768-1769 by Isaac Beecher (1748-1789). It remained in his family until 1811. John Riggs, Beecher’s son-in-law, next owned the house until the title was transferred to Abijah Chatfield in 1816. The house was owned by members of the Chatfield family until 1908. The house has since had many occupants. In the 1940s it was the home of photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston (1885-1971), who set up his studio in the barn. Johnston was a glamour photographer famed for his portraits of Ziegfeld Follies showgirls.