Guilford - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Benjamin Corbin House (1847)

Built circa 1847, the Greek Revival house at 19 Fair Street in Guilford was the home of Benjamin Corbin, Jr. (1819-1884). As described in the History and Genealogy of the Descendants of Clement Corbin of Muddy River (Brookline), Mass. and Woodstock, Conn. with Notices of Other Lines of Corbins (1905), compiled by Rev. Harvey M. Lawson:

Benjamin Corbin, Jr., was a well-to-do manufacturing druggist at Guilford, Conn., from which place he was elected to the state legislature in 1858 as an American Republican. He filled numerous political offices in the town of Guilford and also in East Haven and Fair Haven, to which place he removed in 1871. He was a leading member of the Congregational Church at Guilford. He d. Sept 4, 1884, at New Haven, and was buried in the Alderbrook Cemetery, Guilford, Conn., with the other members of his family.

94 Boston Street, Guilford (1850)

The house at 94 Boston Street in Guilford was built around 1850, after the earlier three-story house on the site, built by Samuel Hill, was torn down in 1849. Owner of a large estate, Samuel Hill was regularly elected each year to Connecticut assembly between 1732 and his death in 1752. His name is one of the possible sources for the euphemism “What in the Sam Hill….” The current house was built by Deacon Alfred G. Hull, who was the conservator to Hill’s great-grandchildren Anna and Samuel Hill.

Harmon B. Johnson House (1842)

The house at 335 Old Whitfield Street in Guilford has a sign that reads as follows:

1842

Harmon B. Johnson

Union Army Private
Died For One Flag

March 8, 1865
Kinston, NC

Harmon B. Johnson served in the 15th Connecticut Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. His name is inscribed on the Soldiers’ Monument in Guilford under the heading “Fredericksburg.” The 15th Connecticut fought at Fredericksburg but Johnson was killed at the Battle of Wyse Fork, fought March 7-10, 1865 near Kinston, North Carolina. The house is now a condominium unit.

Benton-Beecher House (1740)

The Benton-Beecher House in Guilford was originally located on Broad Street, where the the First Congregational Church now stands. It was built in 1740 and was the home of Lot Benton and his wife, Catherine Lyman. They had no children of their own but they adopted Mrs. Benton’s nephew, Lyman Beecher. He came to this house on his vacations as a student at Yale. Lyman Beecher eventually became a prominent Congregational minister. In Guilford he met Roxana foote, whom he married in 1799. Their children included Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher The Benton House was left by Lot Benton to Lyman Beecher, who sold the land to church in 1829 so that it could be removed to make way for the construction of the new meeting house. The house was moved by 35 yoke of oxen to its present location at 485 Whitfield Street.

Daniel Hubbard House (1717)

Daniel Hubbard (1697-1751) of Guilford married Thankful Stone in 1728. After her death he married his second wife, Diana Ward, in 1730. Their son, Bela Hubbard, graduated from Yale and became an Episcopalian minister, serving at Christ Church in Guilford and later at Trinity Church in New Haven. Their daughter, Diana Hubbard, married Andrew Ward. Their daughter, Roxana Ward, married Eli Foote. Their daughter, Roxana Foote, married Lyman Beecher and was the mother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. Daniel Hubbard‘s house, at 51-53 Broad Street in Guilford, was built in 1717. Unusually large for its time, the house has a large wing that was added in 1872.
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Edward S. Fowler House (1847)

The house at 72 Broad Street in Guilford was built c. 1847 for Edward Sherman Fowler, who was born in 1817 in the house at 66 Broad Street to Samuel and Sophie Fowler. He soon moved to New London where he worked as a railroad conductor. In 1855 the Guilford Institute acquired the house and sold it in 1868. A later owner was Alfred N. Wilcox, who served in the Civil War as a sergeant in Co. G, 14th Regt., Connecticut Volunteers. Yet another owner operated a blacksmith shop on the property until 1968. Around 1870, a French Second Empire Mansard roof was added to the house, which had previously had a flat Italianate-style roof. The current front porch was added in 2003.

Charles Caldwell House (1740)

In volume 58 of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1904), it is written that Charles Caldwell

Charles Caldwell and his brother John Caldwell came from Beith, in Scotland, to New England about the year 1718. It is said that they deserted from the army in the early part of the rebellion of 1715. They were aristocratic in their manners, and unaccustomed to the industrious habits of the early settlers of New England. John was married before he came to this country, but Charles was unmarried. Soon after their arrival, they bought a house, a shop or store, land, etc. They were traders. John remained in Hartford, but Charles removed to Guilford. . . [Charles] married, Nov. 3, 1724, Anna, daughter of Rev. Thomas Ruggles. She died May 19, 1760; and he died Feb. 12, 1765.

Charles Caldwell‘s house in Guilford, built circa 1740, is at 159 Boston Street. The house’s original central chimney was replaced by two smaller ones circa 1815 and the front porch was added around the same time.