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.

Dr. Jeduthan Eaton House (1790)

The house at 85 Tolland Green in Tolland was built circa 1790. From 1839 to 1878 it was the home of Dr. Jeduthan Eaton, whose medicine shop was located in an attached ell that has since been removed. Between 1850 and 1853, Dr. Eaton was mining for gold in California. His letters home to his family have been published by the Tolland Historical Society. In the early twentieth century, the property was a boarding house known as Squirrel Lodge. In 1964 the house became the rectory of St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church.

St. John Roman Catholic Mission, Bozrah (1894)

The parishes of the Catholic Diocese of Norwich were once (before 1953) part of the Diocese of Hartford. This included St. Andrew’s Parish in Colchester. According to The History of the Diocese of Hartford, written by Rev. James H. O’Donnell and published in 1900, St. Andrew’s Parish then had “three out-missions,” one of which,

St. John’s church, Fitchville [a section of the town of Bozrah], was built by Rev. John Cooney in 1894, and is ten miles from the parochial residence. The population here also is chiefly Irish, and numbers 300 souls. They also receive every Sunday the benefits of the Holy Sacrifice. At the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of St. John’s, the Rev. Michael Sullivan preached the sermon. The church was dedicated by Bishop Tierney, the Rev. John Winters preaching the discourse.

Today, St. John’s is a mission of Sacred Heart Parish in Norwichtown. St. John Roman Catholic Mission is located at 190 Fitchville Road.

Milo Burr House (1827)

The house at 41 Burr Mountain Road in Torrington has a sign indicating it was built by Milo Burr in 1827. Milo Burr (1797-1872), is described in the The Torrington Register Souvenir Edition: An Illustrated and Descriptive Exposition of Torrington, Connecticut (1897):

Milo Burr, a native of Torrington and an energetic, hardworking and enterprising man, did a great deal at the time of the building of the Naugatuck Railroad. He also purchased timber lands where Burrville now stands, engaged in the lumber business, cutting pine timber in the vicinity and reducing it to lumber, used two or three sawmills in this business and owned several hundred acres of land. He erected many buildings and built a dam, making a reservoir on the mountain west of Burrville at an elevation of 250 to 300 feet above the residence, and also had large farming interests.

John M. Burr resides in the house his father erected in 1827, and maintains the old family homestead. He has erected and operates a grist mill, and has continued to make improvements in harmony with his father’s spirit and work.

The house, grounds, stables and everything about the place indicate thrift and good keeping, and the recent donation by Mr. Burr of a site for the power and car house of the electric railway, practically making the place a center, shows the public spirit of the man and must lead to an appreciation of property in the vicinity as well as add new life to the place.

Starr Cottage (1885)

The house at 144 South Street in Litchfield was built in 1885 by Almon B. Fuller, a furniture dealer and real estate speculator, who immediately sold the house to F. Ratchford Starr, who also owned the William F. Baldwin House immediately to the south. The two houses were known as the Starr Cottages. An insurance salesman and seasonal resident from Philadelphia, Starr had begun a highly successful dairy farm in Litchfield called Echo Farm in the 1870s. Starr also wrote several books, including Farm Echoes (1886) and The Lamb of God (1888). He sold the business in 1887 and died in 1889, his daughter inheriting the two houses. She willed the houses to Florence Frost, who resided in the Baldwin House until her death in 1923. In 1914, Frost sold the house at 144 South Street to Kate J. Thomas of New York City, who lived in it until her death in 1928. The house was acquired by Melvin Diems in 1949.

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.”