St. James Episcopal Church, Farmington (1898)

Episcopal services in the village of Farmington were first held in an old schoolhouse in 1873, when St. James’ Mission was established under the leadership of Rev. Edward R. Brown, Rector of Christ Church in Unionville, and Charles L. Whitman, a Farmington innkeeper. By late 1874, the mission had moved to the second floor of a grocery store and post office on Main Street near Mill Lane. Whitman died in 1886 and left money for the erection of a church. The mission raised additional funds and acquired land for the church on Mountain Road in 1897. The Arts & Crafts-style structure was designed and built by Henry Hall Mason, whose father, Charles S. Mason, was a strong supporter of the mission. Mason used local field stone in the construction and also made the church’s wooden altar and reading desk using wood from his own property. The first service in the new building was held in January 1899 and the church was consecrated five months later. The mission was formally recognized as St. James Parish in 1902. An addition to the rear was built in 1910 to provide a larger chancel and organ loft. Two further additions were a new parish house in 1938 and a parish hall, designed by Edgar T. Glass, in 1957. That same year, a belfry was also constructed.

Miss Porter’s School Studio (1885)

In 1885, alumnae of Miss Porter’s School in Farmington erected the building at 5 Mountain Road as a tribute to the school’s founder, Miss Sarah Porter. Called the Studio, the Richardsonian Romanesque and Shingle-style building originally contained rooms for drawing, painting and music (It has been used for other purposes over the years). The former students had raised $6,000 through subscription to fund the building, which was dedicated on May 29, 1885. Near the entrance is a dedication plaque with an inscription in Latin honoring Miss Sarah Porter.

Case-Cowles House (1771)

The house at 144 Main Street in Farmington was built sometime between 1771 and 1797. In the former year, the land was acquired by John Case, who died in 1791. Originally from Simsbury, Case made hats with his son Coral, for whom he may have bought the land. The house was built by either Coral, who died in 1800, or his father. In 1810 it was acquired by Richard Cowles (1786-1845), a prominent citizen who served as town treasurer (1832-1839) and state representative (1834).

Wadsworth-Dorman House (1826)

The house at 165 Main Street in Farmington was possibly built as early as 1826 by Sidney Wadsworth (1786-1846), whose family homestead is across the street. Rumah Dorman (1837-1916), wife of Civil War veteran Edward H. Dorman, bought the house in 1865. Erected as a one-and-a-half story tenement, the house was enlarged in the early twentieth century by Rumah Dorman’s son, Frank E. Dorman. He also added a wraparound front porch that has since been removed. Frank E. Dorman served as sheriff and for a time was a night watchman at the Hillstead estate where he sometimes made the night rounds with Theodate Pope Riddle, who had trouble sleeping. The house was sold out of the family in 1963. (more…)

Samuel North House (1707)

The house at 221 South Road in Farmington was built by Samuel North (1671-1707), a merchant, sometime after he acquired the lot in 1701 and before his death, in Boston, in 1707. The year before he had willed the house and farm to his then one-year-old nephew, Josiah North (1705-1777), who later sold it to his younger brother Samuel (1708-1796) in 1736/7. This younger Samuel‘s house eventually passed to his son, Samuel North, Jr. (1740-1806), and then to Samuel, Jr.’s son Linus North (1774-1828). The property was sold out of the North family in 1829 and has passed through various owners. Alterations were made to the house in the mid-nineteenth century. The farm continued in operation until 1947. Much of the surrounding land has since been altered by the construction of Interstate 84 and residential development, but the house still has a prominent location on an elevated site with views of the Hartford skyline.

John E. Cowles House (1844)

John Edward Cowles (1818-1898), prosperous farmer and a director of the Hartford bank, built the house at 47 Main Street in Farmington in 1844. When it was erected, the house was in the Italianate style. It was inherited by Cowles’ son, Henry Martyn Cowles (1845-1926), who was the New England agent for the M.H. Birge & Sons, manufacturers of fine wallpapers. The house was inherited by H. M. Cowles’ two unmarried nieces who sold the property to Rose Anne Hardy Day Keep in 1927. She and her husband, Robert Porter Keep, headmaster of Miss Porter’s School, extensively remodeled the house in 1927 in the Neoclassical Revival style, adding two-story porticoes with Corninthian columns on either end of the building’s street-facing elevation. Since 1968 the house has been a dormitory of Miss Porter’s School called Porter-Keep House.

Roger Hooker House (1769)

The Georgian Colonial house at 24 Main Street in Farmington dates to c. 1769, but it may incorporate the earlier home of John Hooker (1665-1745), son of Rev. Samuel Hooker, built around 1688. The house eventually passed to John Hooker‘s grandson, Roger Hooker, Jr. (1751-1830), who later sold it to Col. Isaac Cowles. It then passed to the Colonel’s son Maj. Timothy Cowles (1784-1858), who sold it in 1834 to store-owner William Gay.