Frank E. Smith House (1876)

3-7 Flying Point Road, Stony Creek

At 3-7 Flying Point Road in Stony Creek in Branford is a Victorian-era house built for Frank E. Smith in 1874. Frank E. Smith was a member of the state legislature and his brief biography in Taylor’s Connecticut Legislative History and Souvenir (Vol. V, 1905-1906) is as follows:

Frank E. Smith, of Branford, is the son of Giles Griswold and Emily (Potter) Smith, and was born in New Haven, July 31, 1854. At the early age of sixteen, he became associated with the Stony Creek Oyster Company and for many years has been the largest owner in the company. On November 11, 1876, he married Helen E. Bishop. Two children have blessed the union: Gertrude A., and Maude H. E. Mr. Smith is a member of the Congregational Church, I.O.O.F., A.O.U.W., and N.E.O.P. He is an enthusiastic Republican and has been a valuable member of the School Board. He was a popular member of the Committee on Fisheries and Game.

Stony Creek was famous for its oysters, as described in A Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County, Vol. 1 (1918), by Everett Gleason Hill:

Long ago the oyster industry ceased to be a simple matter of raking up oysters from the sea bed, culling them and placing them on the market. But that Stony Creek has kept up with the times and the science of growing oysters the reputation of the bivalves bearing the name of the village proves. They go all over the country, and command the high prices of the product that has fame. The largest grower and dealer is the Stony Creek Oyster Company, with a capital of $42,000, of which Henry I. Lewis is president, Maud H. Smith secretary and Frank E. Smith treasurer. Charles E. Smith, of Flying Point, is another large grower and dealer.

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Wyllys Russell House (1820)

Wyllys Russell House

Wyllys Russell (1791-1877) and his wife Laura Baldwin Russell (married 1811) built the house at 162 Main Street in the Canoe Brook section of Branford in 1820. A late example of a center-chimney house, the width of its overhang indicates that the original roof was later replaced. The house was erected on land that the couple had received from Laura Russell’s mother, Martha Harrison Baldwin, in 1816. Wyllys Russell had a fishing business at the nearby harbor. Jay Edward Russell, Wyllys’ nephew, later owned the Russell House. He had a coal and lumber business and served as town clerk (1861-1866) and Judge of Probate (1862-1869) in Branford. In the 1870s, he departed for California, where he died in 1909. According to the Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University (1910):

In 1883 he patented the Hydraulic Giant, and since January 1, 1900, had been engaged at East Auburn, Cal., upon the project of providing from the American River a supply of mountain water and electricity for the cities of San Francisco, Berkeley, and Alameda. He was sole owner of the plant and machinery, with a thousand acres of land.

Frederick S. Jordon bought the Russell House in 1875, and his daughter, Caroline, occupied it until her death in 1989 at the age of 102. In 2003, the house was endangered by a plan to build condominium units on the site, but after a hearing before the Connecticut Historic Preservation Council in Hartford, the developer agreed to modify his plans to keep the Russell House standing in its original location. The house has since been renovated for office use. The property also has a historic barn, built around 1870. (more…)