Old Lyme Historical Society (1910)

The building at 55 Lyme Street in Old Lyme originally stood on Maple Lane, near the Lieutenant River, where it was built for the Old Lyme Gun Club. It was erected sometime before 1910 (according to different sources in 1885 or 1906) when it was purchased by the Old Lyme Grange #162, which had been founded in 1905. Women had organized the Grange Aid Society to raise funds to buy the building, but because it was located on leased property they continued to save money while seeking land to purchase. In 1928, when the lot at 55 Lyme Street became available, the women of the Grange Aid Society bought it (against the advice of the men). The building was then moved by a team of oxen to its current location, where it was enlarged and refurbished. The new hall was dedicated in February 1929. For decades it hosted various events for the Grange and for the community. The Old Lyme Historical Society, formed in 2005, purchased the Grange building in 2014 as its headquarters, providing a space for the town’s archives, artifacts and historical exhibits.

Masonic Temple, Wethersfeld (1922)

When forming a Lodge in 1921, Masons in Wethersfield chose the name Hospitality Lodge in honor of a nickname of the Webb House, located at 211 Main Street. Built in 1752 for Joseph Webb, Sr., the house became known as “Hospitality Hall” in the years before the Revolutionary War for the lavish parties hosted by Joseph Webb, Jr. and his wife Abigail. The house hosted a famous Mason, George Washington, when he met the French General Rochambeau in Wethersfield in 1781. Hospitality Lodge No. 128 AF&AM was chartered March 5, 1921. The Masonic Temple at 245 Main Street was built the following year and remained in use until 1997, when the Lodge merged with Stepney Lodge No. 133 from Rocky Hill to form Silas Deane Lodge No. 147, which later moved from Wethersfield. More recently, Masons in town wanted to form a new Lodge and were granted the old Hospitality No. 128 charter. The Lodge now meets at the Solomon Welles House in Wethersfield. The old Masonic building has remained vacant, although the town planning and zoning commission approved its conversion into a two-family home in 2014.

(more…)

Bragg-Holland House (1890)

As featured yesterday, J. Merrick Bragg, a prominent East Hartford builder, and Horatio Hardendorf, a Hartford resident, developed four adjacent lots on Olmstead Street in East Hartford, each quit-claiming two of the four properties to the other in 1890. Hardendorf took the two central houses, while Bragg took the two outer ones, 85 Olmstead Street and 95 Olmstead Street (pictured above). He sold No. 85 immediately and No. 95 a year later in 1891 to Charles T. Holland of Boston, who briefly lived in East Hartford.

Hardendorf-Bragg-Wickham House (1890)

The house at 91 Olmstead Street in East Hartford was on one of four lots developed by J. Merrick Bragg, a prominent builder in town, and Horatio Hardendorf, a Hartford resident. In 1890 Bragg and Hardendorf split the properties, with Hardendorf taking 91 Olmstead Street and its neighbor to the west and Bragg taking the other two (85 and 95 Olmstead Street), flanking Hardendorf’s houses. Bragg quickly sold his houses, but Hardendorf held on to his for a while as properties to rent out. In 1895 he sold 91 Olmstead Street to William H. Wickham, a clerk.

Cornwell-Daniels House (1780)

Elisha Cornwell (1721-1781) one of the original settlers of East Hampton, erected the house at 64 South Main Street (facing Daniels Street) in 1780 on land he had purchased the year before. He quickly sold the house to his daughter and died the following year. Amasa Daniels, Jr. purchased the property in 1803. His granddaughter, Caroline Brown Buell (1842-1927) grew up in the house. Her father, Rev. Thomas Gibson Brown, an itinerant Methodist and chaplain during the Civil War, had married Amasa’s daughter, Caroline. Caroline B. Brown, whose husband, Lt. Frederick W. H. Buell, died of malaria in the Civil War, would become a leader of the temperance movement, writing and lecturing extensively and serving as corresponding secretary of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. She retired to East Hampton where she died in 1927.