Mather Homestead (1840)

The Mather Homestead is a former Greek Revival farmhouse in Hartford’s North End, built sometime between 1835 and 1843. Changes to the house over the years illustrate the many demographic changes that have occurred in the surrounding neighborhood. The house was constructed by William Mather, a prosperous Yankee farmer, and continued as a residence until 1926. The house faces Mahl Avenue (the address is 2 Mahl Avenue), but originally had a Main Street address, because Mahl Avenue was not opened until 1893. At that time, developer Frederick Mahl bought the Mather farm and subdivided it. Starting in 1887, the Mather house was rented by Charles Skinner, an insurance clerk, who bought the house in 1898. In 1916, the Skinner family sold the house to a Jewish family.

Significant structural changes began for the Mather Homestead in 1926, when it was converted for use as a synagogue. The alterations were undertaken by two Orthodox congregations, Teferes Israel and Chevre Kadishe, which had merged in 1926. Both congregations had been founded by Russian immigrants: members of Teferes Israel came from Ludmir (now in Ukraine) and members of Chevre Kadishe from Wolkowysk (now in Belarus). Among other changes, a rounded projection on the east (Main Street) side of the building was added for an ark to hold Torah scrolls. The Mahl Street side of the building originally had a Greek Revival columned porch on the first floor and a second porch was added above it on the second floor in 1926. Known as the Mahl Avenue Shul, Teferes Israel later moved to Bloomfield and, in 1993, merged with Beth David in West Hartford.

In 1954, the building was acquired by an African American Masonic Temple, Excelsior Lodge No. 16. Founded in 1856 by a group of Prince Hall Masons, Excelsior Lodge has included among its members many leaders of Hartford’s black community. For many decades, the exterior was left unaltered, but the columned porches have since been removed and replaced by an enclosed entry addition on the fist-floor.

Emanuel Lutheran Church, Hartford (1924)

And yet another church in Hartford founded by Scandinavian immigrants is Emanuel Lutheran Church, founded in Frog Hollow in 1889 as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Emanuel Church (Svenska Evangelisk Lutherska Emanuelförsamlingen). The church’s first building, built in 1892 at the corner of Babcock and Russ Streets, is now the George J. Rau-Arthur F. Locke Post 8 of the American Legion. In 1913, the basement of a new church on Capitol Avenue was finished and the first services in the completed structure were held in 1924.

Our Saviour’s Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church (1891)

Another Scandinavian church in Frog Hollow in Hartford was built in 1891 at the corner of Russ Street and Babcock Street. Our Saviour’s Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1883, making it the oldest Lutheran Church in continuous existence in the Hartford area. It was located in Frog Hollow until the 1950s, when the congregation moved to West Hartford Road in Newington. In 1967, the church merged with Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which had been founded by Swedish immigrants in 1945. The church, unified under the name Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, is located at 1655 Main Street in Newington. The old church building in Hartford is now home to Iglesia Adventista Del 7mo Dia.

Swedish Zion Congregational Church (1892)

Over a century ago, Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood was home to a significant Scandinavian immigrant community. A number of churches were established at the time. I’ve previously featured the Swedish Bethel Baptist Church on this site (it’s also mentioned in Tour 9 in my new book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut). Nearby, at 87 Russ Street, at the corner of Hungerford Street, is another church built by a group of Swedes. In 1883, Rev. C. J. Erixon, a home missionary for the Congregational Church, began preaching to Swedish immigrants in Hartford. The group became known as the Swedish Evangelical Free Church. In 1889, L. W. A. Bjorkman became the first permanent pastor and the congregation took a new name, the Swedish Evangelical Zion Church (Svenska Evangeliska Zion-kongregationalförsamlingen i Hartford), also known as the Swedish Zion Congregational Church. In 1890, the church became part of the local branch of the Evangelical Covenant Church, which was largely a Swedish denomination at the time. From 1892 to 1960, the church was located at the building in Frog Hollow. In 1938, the church changed its name to the Covenant Congregational Church and in 1960 the church moved to West Hartford, where most of its membership resided. The Hartford church building was sold to the Hartford Full Gospel Church (the address is now 77 Hungerford Street).

Linus B. Plimpton House (1884)

Designed by architect John C. Mead and built in 1884, the Romanesque-style Linus B. Plimpton House is located at 847 Asylum Street in the Asylum Hill neighborhood of Hartford. In 1865, Linus B. Plimpton (who was originally from Southridge, MA) established a business in Hartford manufacturing envelopes. The Plimpton Manufacturing Company won an important contract in 1874 to produce stamped envelops for the U.S. government. The prize was awarded by Postmaster General Marshall Jewell, a Hartford resident and former governor of Connecticut. The modern descendant of the old manufacturing firm continues to exist as Plimpton’s, a stationery retail store in West Hartford Center. The old Plimpton House on Asylum Avenue is now used for elderly housing. For further reading on the Plimpton Manufacturing Company, see the following pdf files: The History of Envelopes and “A Specialized Study of the Plimpton Manufacturing Co., Hartford, Connecticut High Value U.S. Postal Stationer.”

Boce W. Barlow Jr. House (1926)

At 31 Canterbury Street in Hartford is a house featured in Tour 8 of my new book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut. Built in 1926, it was later the home of Boce W. Barlow, Jr. (1915-2005), the first African-American in the Connecticut judiciary, being appointed judge of Hartford’s municipal court in 1957 and, later, a hearing examiner for Connecticut’s Civil Rights Commission. He also became Connecticut’s first African American state senator when he was elected in 1966. When Barlow and his wife, Catherine Swanson Barlow, first moved to the house in 1958, they were Canterbury Street’s first black family. Born in Americus, Georgia, in 1915, Boce W. Barlow, Jr. moved to Connecticut with his family the following year. He graduated from Hartford Public High School in 1933 and went on to attend Howard University and Harvard Law School. Boce Barlow Way, a street in Hartford, was named in his honor in 1987.

31-33 Lewis Street, Hartford (1928)

At 31-33 Lewis Street in Hartford is a Georgian Revival office building built in 1928 and designed by William F. Brooks. It matches well stylistically with the neighboring early nineteenth-century residences on Lewis Street. Recently rehabilitated, the building is back-to-back with the Trumbull on the Park apartment complex. To learn more about Lewis Street and other sites in Hartford, buy my new book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut.