Sadosa Barber House (1840)

172 Barbourtown Road, Canton

The oldest section of the house at 172 Barbourtown Road in Canton is the ell, which was part of a house built in 1803 by Reuben Barber (1751-1825) for his son Sadosa Barber (1781-1860). That house stood south of the current house, which according to assessor’s records was built in 1840. Sadosa attached the ell to the current house in 1856. His son Henry M. Barber (1832-1929) also lived in the house, which remained in the family for many years.

Loin Humphrey House (1797)

The house at 124 West Road in Canton was built in 1797 by Loin Humphrey (1777-1854). Loin was remembered by Sylvester Barbour in his Reminiscences (1908) as “a man of keen mind and an interesting talker. I remember him well; he was a noticeable figure on the street, with his long homemade, straight walking cane, extending above his hand several inches. His sons were men of great intelligence and prominence.” The house has an 80-foot rear ell, the roof which partly covers what was once a separate and perhaps older house. Many of the rooms in the house retain evidence of wall stenciling that was done in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. It is said that the man who did the stenciling boarded at the house.

Titus Case House (1840)

In 1840, Capt. Titus Case (1769-1845) erected the house at 144 Cherry Brook Road in Canton. This had previously been the location of the home of Sgt. Daniel Case II, who’d arrived in the 1740s and built the first gristmill in town. Calvin Case also operated a mill, located west of the house, that had a 50-foot water wheel. His descendants used the house as a summer home. A historical case in the Canton Center Congregational Church was given in memory of his daughter, Kate Minerva Marsh (1836-1888). A later owner was Jeremiah Crowley, who made butter in the nearby creamery. The house’s cupola was added after the Civil War.

James Humphrey House (1790)

The house at 285 Cherry Brook Road in Canton was built by James Humphrey, Sr between 1790 and 1800. The house has two ells that were added later: one in the rear and a large one on the south side that at various times has housed a second family. The Richardson family occupied the house for several generations. Teachers often boarded in the house during the years that the Center District School was located across the meadow road.

Creamery Gallery (1893)

The original Canton Creamery, which is not related to the modern Canton Creamery at 465 Albany Turnpike, was a cooperative association, started in 1879, that sold milk and butter from local farms to retail dairies in Hartford and New Haven. Between 1893 and 1896, the operation was moved from its original location on West Road to the building at 150 Cherry Brook Road in Canton. The building‘s heavy concrete foundation was designed to support butter making equipment. The Canton Creamery Association came under new management in 1918 and dissolved in 1947/1982. More recently, the building has been the home of Canton Clay Works and the Creamery Gallery.

Benjamin Case House (1884)

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The large Victorian-era house at 270 Cherry Brook Road in Canton was built c. 1884-1888 for Benjamin Case, a banker who in 1872 was one of the founders of the Canton Trust Company in Collinsville. The company, which closed its doors in 1916, had a building in Collinsville, built in 1904 and torn down in the 1960s. Many members of the Case family built homes and had farms in the Canton Center Area. Benjamin Case owned Maplewood Farm and was an incorporator of the Canton Creamery. Case was also a founder of Canton’s first telephone company. The house’s chestnut paneled study was used as the switchboard room. The house, with its eighteen rooms, was remodeled by Case’s daughter Ruby into three apartments in 1945.