Margaret Hills House (1871)

The house at 59 Burnside Avenue has been much altered over the years since it was first erected in about 1871. In its early years the house was successively owned by three women. It was built by Margaret Stanley Hills (1828-1892), who had acquired the land in 1865. She later sold the house to Martha W. Olmsted, but it eventually was passed to Margaret and her husband Edwin Hills’ daughter, Eliza Stanley Hills Kilbourne, who lived in South Windsor. She sold the property to Dr. Thomas O’Connell in 1898. He was a prominent physician and an elementary school in East Hartford is named for him.

Carroll-Burney House (1890)

The house at 90 Central Avenue in East Hartford was built c. 1890. Patrick Garvan had acquired the land in 1871 from Edward Hayden. (It was one of four lots Garvan purchased at the time–the house at 86 Central Avenue would be built c. 1899 on another of the four lots). Joseph E. Carroll, a carpenter and builder, acquired the land and built the house, most likely as a speculation. About 1894, the house was acquired by the Burney sisters, who became its first residents. The house has an L-shaped plan with a tower nestled between the two wings.

Caleb Phelps House (1700)

Although vastly altered from its original appearance, the house at 32 Phelps Street in East Hartford is a survivor from c. 1700 and would have once looked like the Buttolph-Williams House in Wethersfield with a large center chimney. It now has a brick foundation, which indicates it was moved to its current location in the nineteenth century. The house’s history is described in Joseph O. Goodwin’s East Hartford: Its History and Traditions (1879):

The house once occupied by Capt. Joseph Goodwin, and now standing on the lane east of the post-office, is one of the oldest remaining in town. It once stood south of Mr. A. A. Waterhouse’s, and was occupied by Caleb Goodwin [(1713-1769)], who was a hypochondriacal bachelor, and died in 1769. It was moved to the site of the present house of Mr. S. O. Goodwin about the year 1800, and repaired. Afterwards it was moved to its present site. Joseph Goodwin, Sr., lived in the old brown house, which, in 1876, gave place to the house of the writer.

Goodwin’s store on Main street, for many years our post-office [no longer extant], dates from the time of the Revolution or thereabout. Its rear door came from the old Caleb Goodwin house.

Andrew Roberts House (1870)

The house at 54 Burnside Avenue in East Hartford was built c. 1870 by Andrew Roberts. A carriage maker, Roberts bought the tract of land in March, 1869 and soon took out a $3,000 mortgage, probably to build the house. The property was foreclosed in 1887 and three years later it was purchased by a farmer named George Bissell (died 1903). The house has been much altered through the construction of a modern store addition, currently home to Custodio Grocery, connected to the front facade.