Capt. Jeremiah Goodrich House (1740)

589 Main Street in Portland was the site of the c. 1720 house of Thomas White. It seems to have been replaced c. 1740 by a house constructed for Jeremiah Goodrich (1709-1793), who was part of Portland’s shipbuilding industry and active in town affairs. The house was originally a single-chimney residence that was later enlarged to have two chimneys. It was later owned by his son Hezekiah Goodrich (1745-1817). Hezekiah was a Jeffersonian Republican who was one of five men removed from office as Justice of the Peace in by the Federalist state government due to his attendance at an August 29, 1804 general meeting of Republican delegates from 97 Connecticut towns held in New Haven. At the time Connecticut was still operating under the 1662 Royal Charter, but the delegates favored the drafting of a constitution, declaring it “the unanimous opinion of this meeting that the people of this state are at present without a constitution of civil government.” Federalists were outraged at what they considered a radical and dangerous position, and they succeeded in revoking Goodrich’s commission, as described in Historical Notes on the Constitutions of Connecticut, 1639-1818 (1901) by J. Hammond Trumbull:

The result of the October election in an increased federal majority showed that the popular mind was not yet prepared for a radical change. When the General Assembly met, the leaders of the dominant party, elated by success, resolved to administer a signal rebuke to the revolutionary designs of the minority. Five justices of the peace, who had attended the republican meeting at New Haven and taken part in its proceedings, were cited to appear before the Assembly, “to shew reasons why their commissions should not be revoked,” since “it is improper,” as the preamble of the resolution sets forth, “to entrust the administration of the laws to persons who hold and teach that the government is an usurpation.”

Connecticut would finally hold a constitutional convention in 1818.

Fine Arts Theater (1916)

The Fine Arts Theater in Westport was built in 1916 by business partners Morris Epstein and Robert Joselovsky (Joseloff) next to the old Town Hall on the site where Petrie’s Ice Cream Parlor had stood until 1910. It began as a single screen movie theater, with a second screen being added later. Known as Fine Arts 1 & 2, they were later joined by Fine Arts 3 (located to the rear) and Fine Arts 4 (located down the road). The building‘s Colonial Revival facade was added during a renovation in 1940. The theater closed in 1999 and the building was remodeled as a retail space, first a branch of Restoration Hardware and now a Barnes & Noble.

Broad Brook Hotel (1840)

The three-story gambrel-roofed building at 98 Main Street in the village of Broad Brook in East Windsor was built in 1840. Its gable-end faces the street and has a two-level front porch with columns. When it was erected, the building was known as Hubbard’s Hotel. It was later called the Broad Brook Hotel and was owned by the Broad Brook Company. The upper floors contained guest rooms and dining facilities, with an auditorium on the third floor. The ground floor housed businesses, such as a harness shop and possibly a tin store. Other tenants over the years included the Broad Brook Library and a U. S. Post Office. In 1956 the building became the Masonic Hall of Oriental Lodge No. 111. Their previous lodge at E. W. Pigeon’s store had been wrecked in the Flood of 1955. The Lodge later moved to South Windsor.

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Broad Brook Opera House (1892)

The neighborhood of Broad Brook in the town of East Windsor was once a mill village for the Broad Brook Company, which manufactured textiles from 1849 to 1854. In 1892 the company erected the building at the corner of Main and Depot Streets, next to the Broad Brook Dam. The building had a company salesroom and shipping department on the first floor and a public hall, called the opera house, on the top floor which was used for community events. After the company moved its departments out in 1920 the first floor was used for retail stores. The Opera House on the second floor continues to host live shows today.