Methodist Episcopal Church of Thompsonville (1884)

Former Methodist Church

The former Methodist Episcopal Church of Thompsonville, in Enfield, is located at 25 High Street. As related in the second volume of the Memorial History of Hartford County (1886), “In 1840, chiefly through the labors of the Rev. John Howson, who had come from England for employment in the carpet-works, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Thompsonville was formed.” The church was officially organized in 1841 and a church edifice was later erected on High Street, east of Pearl Street. The building pictured above was built in 1884, west of Pearl Street. The church, later known as the Enfield United Methodist Church, moved to a modern building on Brainard Road in 1964. The old church was sold to Amvets. It is currently vacant and up for sale.

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Thompsonville (1859)

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Enfield

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, at 28 Prospect Street in Thompsonville, Enfield, was built in 1859. According to the Memorial History of Hartford County, Vol. II (1886): “The Episcopal Church of Thompsonville was organized as a mission in 1851, and as St. Andrew’s Parish in 1855, and is gathering to itself an increasing number of adherents.” St. Andrew’s Church merged with two other Episcopal parishes in 2007. The former St. Andrew’s Church is now Amazing Grace Church.

Hazardville United Methodist Church (1872)

Hazardville United Methodist Church

Happy Easter! Built in 1872 with funds provided by Col. Augustus Hazard (whose powder mill was 100 yards away), the Hazardville United Methodist Church is located at 330 Hazard Avenue in Enfield. The church‘s earlier building, constructed in 1835, still survives further west on Hazard Avenue. In 1923, a three story addition was built in the rear of the 1872 church that provided space for a Ladies Parlor, classrooms, kitchen and a heating plant.

Enfield Shaker Village: South Family Residence (1852)

South Family Residence

The Shaker community in Enfield (not to be confused with the Shakers of Enfield, New Hampshire) was established in 1792 and survived until 1917. 100 buildings were once a part of the Enfield Shaker Village, of which only 15 survive today. Living communally, the Shakers in Enfield grew to include five family complexes. The residence building of the South Family, on Cybulski Road, survives today. It is a three and a half story brick building with a wooden belfry. It has been converted into a private residence. There are other adjacent surviving Shaker buildings. (more…)

Henry G. Thompson House (1850)

Henry G. Thompson House, Enfield

The borough of Thompsonville in Enfield grew up around the carpet mill established by Orrin Thompson in 1829. His son Henry Graham Thompson later opened a stockingnet factory and lived in a Greek Revival house (now much altered) at 22 Prospect Street in Thompsonville. Around 1850, he built a new house at 34 Prospect Street. A Gothic cottage, it was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1848. In 2002, residents responded to alterations that removed the house’s decorative features and installed vinyl siding. The siding was soon removed and the building restored with its “gingerbread trim” intact. Henry G. Thompson later built a large estate off Long Island Sound in Milford that he called Morningside.