Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Andover

George O. Bingham House (1841)

The Greek Revival house at 70 Hebron Road in Andover was built in 1841 by George Oliver Bingham (1810-1892). The land on which the house was built had been in the Bingham family since 1752, when it was acquired by Eleazer Bingham. It passed to Eleazer’s son, Stephen, and then to Stephen’s son, Harvey. In 1841, Harvey’s daughter, Sarah L. Bingham, sold one and a half acres to her brother, George, who built the house. Nearby, at 55 Hebron Road, is another Greek Revival house, built around the same time by George’s brother, John F. Bingham.

Ensworth House (1805)

In the late eighteenth century, John Ensworth built a house at what is now 249 Route 6 in Andover. The current house at that address is nearly identical to the nearby Isaiah Daggett House, built in 1805, so it is likely they were both built around the same time. The property had remained in the Ensworth family: Jedidiah Ensworth was living in the house in 1860. There is also a historic barn on the property.

Andover Public Library (1927)

A library association was first organized in Andover in 1885. In 1896 the public library was housed in the Congregational Church Conference House. A dedicated library building, called the Burnap Skinner Memorial Library, was opened at 355 Route 6 in 1927. It is now called the Andover Public Library.

Second Ransford Button House (1841)

By 1841, Ransford Button, a merchant originally from New York State, owned two houses on Hebron Road in Andover, built in 1823 and 1841 respectively. In the 1850 census he listed himself as a merchant with $1000 in real estate. He also served as village postmaster. At the time, he was living with a wife, three children, and his mother-in-law in his second house, located at 27 Hebron Road, which he built in the Greek Revival style in 1841. He may have used the earlier house as his store. By the 1860 census he had become depot master.

First Ransford Button House (1823)

Ransord Button, a merchant, came from New York State and settled in Andover in 1822-1823, where he built the Federal-style cottage at 25 Hebron Road. In 1841 he built the house next door at 27 Hebron Road. There is some indirect evidence that Button then used his earlier cottage as a store and post office, at least until he became the depot master about 1860.

Rev. Samuel Lockwood House (1749)

The house at 349 Jonathan Trumbull Highway (Route 6) in Andover was built in 1749 to be the residence (Parsonage) of Rev. Samuel Lockwood (1721-1791), the first minister of Andover’s First Congregational Church. The house originally stood just to the east of its current location. It was moved in 1927 to make way for the construction of the Andover Public Library. At that time the house was most likely turned as well, so that its gable-end now faces the road.

Rev. Samuel Lockwood is described in Vol. I of William B. Sprague’s Annals of the American Pulpit, reprinted in Descendants of Robert Lockwood: Colonial and Revolutionary History of the Lockwood Family in America, from A.D. 1630 (1889):

Samuel Lockwood was descended from a highly respectable family, and was born at Norwalk, Conn., November 30th, 1721. He was the son of James and Lydia (Smith) Lockwood. He was graduated at Yale College in 1745. He pursued his theological studies under the direction of his brother, the Rev. James Lockwood, who had at that time been settled for several years as pastor of the church in Wethersfield.

An ecclesiastical society in Andover, Conn., having been formed in 1747 from the three towns of Coventry, Lebanon and Hebron, Mr. Lockwood, shortly after he was licensed to preach, was employed by that society as a candidate for settlement. He commenced his labors there about the beginning of 1748, when the parish voted “to hire him to preach as a probationer,” they passed this additional, and, as it would seem at this day, superfluous vote, that ” Mr. Lockwood may change with any orthodox minister to preach to us when he shall see cause.” Having after the manner of those days undergone a long probation among them as a candidate, he was ordained as pastor February 25th, 1749, O. S., the church having been constituted on the preceding day. The ordination sermon was preached by his brother the minister of Wethersfield. He continued in the faithful discharge of the duties of his office upwards of forty years.

[. . .] In 1774 he was appointed to preach the annual sermon before the Legislature of the State, and though there is nothing in it to indicate remarkable powers of mind, it is, nevertheless, a judicious, patriotic and well-adapted discourse. It is the only acknowledged production of his that was ever printed.

In 1791 an enfeebled state of health obliged him to desist from his labors, and by medical advice he visited the mineral springs at New Lebanon in the hope that the waters might prove beneficial to him. But in this both himself and his friends were disappointed; for after he had been there a short time his disease assumed an aggravated form, and very soon the afflicting tidings came back to his people that he was no longer among the living. He died on Saturday the 18th of June, in the 70th year of his age, and the 43d of his ministry.

Fitch-Sackett House & Store (1860)

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.

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