St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Southington (1892)

Episcopal services began to be held in private homes in Southington in the 1780s. The first church building was begun in 1791, but was not finished for many years. Many early members of the church were not dedicated Anglicans, but were Universalists who joined because of doctrinal disputes with the town’s Congregational church. As described by Heman R. Timlow in Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn. (1875):

It was a difficult work to build the house of worship, but it was more difficult to sustain service after it was built. It was a very plain building, and had Gothic windows to distinguish it from the “meeting house.” It stood where David P. Woodruff’s market now is. The original “proprietors” held possession of it, and for many years there were legal questions as to its rightful ownership. It was finally sold and converted into a store. In 1860 it was burned. […]

In 1828 the parish was united with that of St. Andrews, Meriden, then under the rectorship of Rev. James Keeler. Under the labors of this rector the parish gave signs of new life, it having thrown off entirely the Universalist element and established itself upon the doctrines of the Prayer Book. In 1829 the building was consecrated by Bishop Brownell. For a year or two there followed prosperity and harmony, but another secession took place in 1831 during the revivals that visited the town that year, and several of the leading members of the congregation became members of the Congregational and Baptist churches. Services were occasionally held by Rectors of adjacent parishes, and in this way a nominal existence was preserved. In 1840 the Unitarian movement absorbed most of the parish so that scarcely a remnant remained. […]

In 1862 an attempt was made to reorganize the church under the name of The Church of the Redeemer. The Rev. B. F. Cooley officiated for a year, and he was followed by Charles Allen, of Trinity College, as Lay Reader, who labored zealously for a year. The enterprise however did not succeed, and it was abandoned in 1864. Occasional services have since been held in the town by the Rev. Dr. Horton of Cheshire, and others.

In later years, the Episcopal church was again revived in Southington and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, at 145 Main Street, was built in 1892 in the Shingle style. A parish hall was added in 1899. It was considered a mission church, until becoming a “self-sustaining parish” by 1919. The church added a new parish house and classrooms in 1957.

Horace Webster House (1837)

The Horace Webster Farmhouse (pdf), at 577 South End Road in Southington, is a Greek Revival house built in 1837. It was constructed on land that Webster had purchased in 1835. He moved an earlier house on the site to the rear to become a barn. Thought to have been one of the oldest houses in Southington, it burned down in 1975. Webster, who was a descendent of seventeenth-century governor John Webster, moved to Fair Haven in New Haven in about 1863. His sons continued to operate the property as a cattle farm until 1917. In the 1920s, the farm property became a golf course, now the Southington Country Club.

Urbana Woodruff House (1784)

The Urbana Woodruff House is at 1096 East Street in Southington. As recorded in Timlow’s Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn. (1875):

(247) Urbane Woodruff, son of Isaac (149), b. Aug. 26, 1799; m. Eliza Bartholomew, of Northford; d. Dec. 7, 1873. He lived on the place owned by his father and grandfather, on East street. A farmer by occupation, he was President of the Southington Savings Bank, and held a high place in the confidence of the public.

His father was Isaac Woodruff. Again quoting Timlow:

(149) Isaac Woodruff, son of Isaac (97), b. 1773; To. Nov. 29, 1798, Abigail, daughter of Enos and Elizabeth (Parker) Clark. He occupied the house where his grandson [sic, actually son], the late Urbane Woodruff, lived, and here died Aug. 27, 1807.

The house was built by Isaac’s father and Urbane’s grandfather, Isaac Woodruff. Again Timlow:

(97) Isaac Woodbdff, son of Samuel (24), bap. Oct. 16, 1737; m. Feb. 11, 1762, Mary Bristol, of Cheshire; d. Dec. 13, 1813. She died March 17, 1818, aged 76. He lived on East street, in the house lately occupied by his grandson, Urbane Woodruff, deceased.

Isaac Woodruff (97) also had a son named Urbana Woodruff. As recorded in Timlow’s Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn. (1875):

(146) Urbana Woodruff, son of Isaac (97), b. 1776; m. Silence, daughter of Capt. Daniel and Rachel (Langdon) Sloper. He lived on East street, on the corner lately owned by George B. Woodruff, where he died Nov. 11, 1798.

The house was later owned (c. 1901) by John Jamieson, Southington’s ice man. From 1905 to the 1930s, he harvested ice at nearby Sloper Pond (pdf). In 1918, Jamieson married Minnie Moore and moved to her home at 469 Andrews Street.