Barnes-Frost House (1795)

Built in 1795, probably by Pitt Cowles, the house at 1177 Marion Avenue in Southington, known as the Barnes-Frost House, was purchased in 1810 by Philo Barnes, a large landowner. His son, Seth E. Barnes, traveled to the California gold fields in the 1840s. In 1863, during the Civil War, Seth E. Barnes died in Charleston, South Carolina as a prisoner of war. His widow Lucinda, brought up her grandson, Edwin Seth Todd, who became General Manager of Clark Brothers Bolt Company. Levi D. Frost, of the Marion bolt manufacturing company, bought the house in 1883 and it remained in his family until 1916. The house features a repeating diamond and ellipse pattern running above the windows, doors and roof, an example of Federal-style detailing that may have been added later.

Dr. J. Porter House (1754)

This is the start of Southington Week!!! The Dr. J. Porter House is a colonial residence at 391 Belleview Avenue in Southington. It may have been built as early as 1728 and was probably already standing in 1754, when Dr. Joshua Porter brought his new wife home to the house. According to Heman Timlow’s Ecclesiastical and Other Sketches of Southington, Conn. (1875), Dr. Porter

was the third resident physician [in Southington], although some of his descendants dispute that he ever practiced at all. But he came of a medical family, his father and grandfather both belonging to the profession. He probably practiced at first, but, like Dr. Skilton, he gave his attention more to business, and finally became the largest landholder in the town. Mr. Curtiss, in recording his marriage, gives him the title of doctor, so that he had it as early as 1754, the date of his marriage. He lived on the place now occupied by Joseph P. Piatt. It is said that he was the largest slaveholder that ever lived in town. He died February 20, 1803, aged eighty-five.

The same source notes that he was married twice: “Mercy, his wife, died March 14, 1796, in her 76th year, when he married (2) June 12, 1797, Mabel Pardee, as some suppose a sister or cousin of his first wife.” He also had a daughter named Mercy who married Samuel Pardee in 1777. Timlow notes that Pardee “removed to the old homestead of his father-in-law, Dr. Joshua Porter, where Joseph P. Piatt now lives. This place his wife inherited in part, and he appears to have bought the remainder.” There are four barns behind the house on this historic farm property.

Luman Andrews House (1745)

The Luman Andrews House at 469 Andrews Street in Southington is one of the earliest in the town, having been constructed in 1745 with a fifth bay being added to the north side in 1795. The house was built by Nathaniel Messenger, who sold it to Dan Bradley in 1779. In 1782, it was acquired by Eunice Judd Root, wife of Jonathan Root, Jr., who she later divorced. In 1806, she deeded the house to her son, Capt. Nathaniel Judd Root upon his marriage to Sarah Dunham. In 1818, Root sold the house to Luman Andrews (1776-1839). In 1825, Andrews and his neighbors, Anson Merriman and Sheldon Moore, discovered an outcrop of blue limestone on the property and confirmed with Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale that it was the blue limestone needed to make Portland Cement. The farm then became a quarry, with kilns and mills to process the cement. The quarry was active until around the time Bennet Andrews, Luman’s son, died in 1860. Charles Moore, grandson of Sheldon Moore, bought the house in 1873 and his family owned it until 1980.

Marcellus B. Willcox House (1865)

The house at 133 Main Street in Southington was built in 1865 for Julius N. Savage, who was in the carriage bolt manufacturing business. It was later owned by James F. Pratt, a merchant who organized the Southington National Bank. The house is named for Marcellus B. Willcox, (1844-1918), president of the Southington National Bank and of Peck, Stowe & Wilcox, a hardware manufacturing company based in Southington. The Willcox House is an excellent example of the Stick style, displaying “stickwork” (decorative half-timbering on the exterior walls), decorative brackets and trussing on the gables.

Jonathan Root House (1720)

The oldest house in Southington is the Jonathan Root House at 140-142 N Main Street. It was built in 1720 and Jonathan Root later kept a tavern in the house. When Southington became a town in 1779, Root was chosen as one of the First Selectmen. He was also a member of the Committee of Correspondence during the Revolutionary War. According to local tradition, George Washington stopped at the tavern in 1780. Extensive additions were later made to the house and the rear roof slope was raised in 1942, but these changes have now all been removed. The house, which today is used as lawyers’ offices, no longer has its original central chimney.

Cyrus C. Chamberlain House (1823)

The Cyrus C. Chamberlain House, at 114 Main Street in Southington, was built in 1823 in the Federal style. Cyrus C. Chamberlain was a leading citizen of Southington in the early twentieth century, involved in such companies as the Southington Hardware Company and the Hartford Automotive Parts Company. The house has been altered over the years and is now home to the Southington Elks Lodge No. 1669.