Like Meeker’s Hardware in Danbury, which I featured on this site a few days ago, W. H. Morrison in Torrington was another hardware store that closed in the early twenty-first century after being in business for over a century. The Italianate commercial building at 63 Water Street was erected in 1896 by William H. Morrison to house his plumbing and hardware business. The store finally closed in 2010 after 114 years. The Southern New England Telephone Company rented offices on the second floor until 1930.
The oldest part of the house at 21 Marjorie Circle in Hebron was erected about 1760 (the date displayed on the house) and was a two-room hotel kept by Mary Fuller, wife of Ebenezer Fuller. The house was enlarged in 1770 by Roger Fuller (whose name is displayed on the house). The front entrance design dates to the early nineteenth century.
The Town of Westport was incorporated in 1835, separating from the Town of Fairfield and taking land from the neighboring towns of Weston and Norwalk. The new town included the village of Saugatuck, which had developed as a prosperous shipping port. The Congregational Church in Saugatuck was erected in 1832 on a commanding site on the south side of the Post Road. The church was enlarged in 1857 to accommodate a growing congregation. Substantial growth in the early twentieth century led to the decision to move the church building to the other side of the Post Road, to a property of eight acres that Morris K. Jesup had donated in 1884. The move took place in 1950 and brought the building to its current location at 245 Post Road East. A new addition to house church school classrooms, offices, and other additional space, was erected in 1954-1956. On the night of Sunday, November 21, 2011, a devastating fireguttedmuch of the building, but the sanctuary was spared the most severe damage and the steeple remained standing. An intensive 2½ year effort of rebuilding and restoration resulted in the rededication of the church on March 8, 2015.
Meeker’s Hardware was a Danbury institution for 125 years. In 1883, feed and grain dealers Hendrick Barnum and Oscar Meeker began a partnership that Meeker, who came from Bridgeport, would continue alone after Barnum’s death in 1886. In 1885 Meeker opened his tool and feed store at 86-90 White Street in Danbury. The building, also known as the Red Block, was designed by architect Charles Crossley of Danbury and was erected over a period from 1883 to 1889. The upper floors were destroyed by a fire that swept lower White Street in 1896, but Meeker soon rebuilt. The tall rear section originally housed the company’s feed and grain warehouse and there was a steam-operated grindstone in the basement that was in operation until about 1912. Starting in 1983 (the same year the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places), the store became known for selling Coca-Cola for 5 cents, as advertised by a sign painted on the side of the building. This was switched to Pepsi in 2006, after a Coca-Cola sales representative wanted Mr. Meeker to install newer and more expensive soda fountain equipment. The store was renovated in 2009. After Meeker’s Hardware closed in 2013, it remained vacant until Vazquez Soccerchamp Sportsopenedin 2016. Vintage fixtures from the old store, including cabinets, counters and other artifacts were removed in 2018 to be sold by Provenance, a Phildelphia salvage company.
Henry Bennett Graves (1823-1891) was a lawyer in Litchfield who served several terms in the state General Assembly. He was also executive secretary to Governor Henry Dutton and he married the governor’s daughter, Mary Dutton. His second wife was Sarah Smith of Morris. In 1858 Graves built a Greek Revival house at 153 South Street in Litchfield. The house was sold to Cornelius M. Ray of Morris in 1865. After his death, the house passed to his daughter, Clara Belle Ray. The Ray family made alterations to the house, including the addition of the mansard roof and the south bay. Elizabeth Shields Hamlin bought the property in 1910. In the collection of the Litchfield Historical Society are blueprints for the building of a garage, an extension of the dining room, and other alterations to the house, made by Ross & McNeil, architects of New York. They were hired by Elizabeth’s husband, Elbert B. Hamlin in 1915. After her husband’s death in 1936, Elizabeth Hamlin sold the house in 1937.
Instead of im”peach”ment, today’s building relates to the “peach king” of Glastonbury, J. H. Hale. I’ve mentioned him before in two posts. One was about the home of his grandfather, Ebenezer Hale, at 1378 Main Street and the other was about the home that J. H. Hale built at 1420 Main Street in 1911. At the Hale farm, John Howard Hale (1853-1917) and his brother George started a peach orchard where John H. developed a hardy type of peach that could endure the New England climate. The business soon grew to a national scale, with orchards in Glastonbury and Georgia. As described inMen of Mark in Connecticut (1906):
He was the first American orchardist to sort, grade, and pack fruit, and label and guarantee it according to its grade. He was the first in America to use trolley transportation in the fruit business, and is one of the very few Americans who ship peaches to Europe. He is fittingly called the “Father of Peach Culture in New England.”
Adjacent to Hale’s mansion is the colonial revival-style building at 1404 Main Street, which served as the farm’s office. As it is not indicated on a 1909 map of the Hale Farm, it was most likely built c. 1910, around the same time as the mansion. By 1920, a roadside stand in front of the building sold J. H. Hale peaches. The office later became a private residence. Among its first occupants were J. H. Hale’s grandson, John Hale, and his wife Alice.
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