Andrews-Olney House (1800)

A battle is currently being waged in Southington over the fate of a c.1800 brick Federal-style house at 116-118 North Main Street. The YMCA next door has plans to demolish this historic structure to make way for a parking lot!!!

The house was built by Samuel Andrews, Sr., a veteran of the Revolutionary War. It is commonly called the Olney House for a later owner, Jesse Olney, an educator and author of influential geography books and atlases that were second only to Noah Webster’s spelling book in textbook sales in the nineteenth century. Olney also served in the state legislature for ten terms and was state comptroller for two years. The house once had a front porch that was later removed.

During the summer, local preservationists were involved in negotiations with the YMCA in an attempt to save the house. When the YMCA halted the talks and withdrew an offer to sell the house, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation sought an injunction, which was issued by a New Britain Superior Court judge in August preventing the demolition of the Olney House until Jauary 20. The Y does have permission to proceed with the destruction of the later addition to the rear of the house, an Italianate ell.

It is important that this house be preserved architecturally because it is Southington’s only example of a brick Federal house and historically because of its association with an important Connecticut educator and author.

Timothy Higgins House (1828)

Timothy Higgins House

(Update: above is a new picture of the house taken on July 10, 2014). The Timothy Higgins House in Plantsville in Southington is a Greek Revival residence built in 1828. Deacon Timothy Higgins (1800-1887) was born in Wolcott. He came to Southington and started a tannery on Prospect Street, on Eight Mile River. According to Chapter Sketches: Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution; Patriots’ Daughters (1904):

Jennette Carter was born in Southington September 5, 1803, the third child in a family of five. She was married to Timothy Higgins November 4, 1824, and became the mother of eleven children, only three of whom are now living. Nearly ten years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Higgins became members of the Congregational Church in Southington. Forty years later their church membership in Southington was transferred to the church in Plantsville.

Edward Twichell, the father of Rev. Joseph Twichell, the friend of Mark Twain, was Higgins’ apprentice and later business partner. (more…)

Levi B. Frost House (1836)

According to tradition, Asa Barnes established a tavern in his home in the Marion area of Southington in 1765, the same year he married Phebe Adkins. In 1781, when French troops under the comte de Rochambeau were marching through Connecticut on their way south, the eighth campsite of their march was established nearby on French Hill. During the four nights of the encampment, Rochambeau and his officers were entertained by Barnes in the tavern. They would stop there again during their return march, on October 27, 1782. Barnes continued to live in his tavern/house until his death in 1819. His son, Philo Barnes, leased the home to Micah Rugg and Levi B. Frost, pioneers in Southington’s bolt manufacturing industry. Frost, a blacksmith, purchased the property in 1820. The original building burned in a fire in 1836 and Frost rebuilt his house in the Greek Revival style. While the Frost House, which is located at 1089 Marion Avenue, features the classic hallmarks of that style of architecture, it is unusually long at 50 feet. This may be due to the house being constructed on the foundations (and perhaps even incorporating the original framework) of the original eighteenth-century tavern.