Winchester - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Winchester Center Congregational Church (1842)

The First Ecclesiastical Society of Winchester was established on May 4, 1768 and the first meeting house was erected the following year. On October 11, 1785, Dr. Josiah Everitt deeded land for a new meeting house and a green. After a dispute between residents of the center and northwest sections of the town over where to erect the new meeting house, it was eventually built on the Winchester Center Green in 1786. In 1840 the Society decided to erect a new meeting house, which was dedicated June of 1842. The First Ecclesiastical Society of Winchester was consolidated to form the Winchester Center Congregational Church on October 9, 1954. Two years later, the church was moved 40 feet to a new foundation. A Pastor’s Study was added in 1962. To celebrate the building’s 150th anniversary, the church was rededicated on June 28, 1992.

Samuel Coe Store (1846)

The building at 686 Main Street in Winsted was built in 1846 as a country store by Samuel Coe. At the time, the Beardsley House, a hotel and commercial block that burned down in 1939, was located just across the turnpike. Coe had previously been in partnership with Luman Hubbell, who is described in the History of the Hubbell Family (1881), by Walter Hubbell:

LUMAN HUBBELL, of Winsted (in Winchester), Litchfield County, Connecticut, son of Silliman Hubbell and Hannah Taylor, was born in Danbury, Connecticut, August 28th, 1797.

His parents moved to Winchester in 1800, and at the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to Earl P. Pease, a woollen manufacturer of Norfolk, Connecticut, and took up the branch of “blue dyeing,” in which he became so proficient that he received one thousand dollars per year for his services, “a large salary in those days.”

He resided in Massachusetts for several years, and returned to Winsted in 1828, where he became a permanent resident.

In 1831 he formed a partnership with Mr. Coe, under the firm name of Coe & Hubbell. A large business was established by this house, and in 1846 they erected a new-store, and were preparing to move into it when Mr. Hubbell was attacked by a sudden illness, from which he died October 8th, 1846.

The Coe Store remained in the family for several decades, being operated for a time by James W. Coe. The building was vacant in 1887. Around that time, the originally Greek Revival structure was altered, the roofline being lowered to its present shallower pitch. Since then it has housed a variety of businesses. The current storefronts date to the twentieth century.

St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, Winsted (1916)

The early history of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Winsted is related in The History of the Diocese of Hartford (1900), by Rev. James H. O’Donnell:

The first Mass said in Winsted, or, as it was then called, Clifton, was offered by the Rev. James Lynch, of Birmingham, in the west district school-house, in 1851, in the presence of about forty persons. An old resident, however, is authority for the statement that the first Mass was said in 1850 by a Father Tucker. One who was present at Father Lynch’s Mass, Mrs. Gabriel Grinnan, is still living, and has vivid recollections of the same. Mr. Peter Dardis came to Winsted in 1849. At that time, he says, there were about twelve Catholic families here. In 1851 land was purchased for a church. In 1852 the Rev. Thomas Quinn entered upon his duties as the first resident pastor of Winsted. Soon after his arrival he began the erection of the church, the corner-stone of which was laid in 1853. Until the church was ready for occupancy, divine services were held in Camp’s Hall. In 1853 Father Quinn was succeeded by the Rev. Philip Gillick, who came from the diocese of New York. He completed the church, in the basement of which he took up his residence.

Two later pastors served as chaplains in the Civil War:

Daniel Mullen was appointed pastor in 1860, but at the outbreak of the Civil War he resigned to accept the office of chaplain of the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers. “Father Mullen was a man of literary culture,” says the Annals of Winchester, “and earnest patriotism, who served at Baton Rouge and Chackaloo Station, La., and Deep Bottom, Va. He was compelled by ill health to resign on the 26th of August, 1862.” Father Mullen’s successor was the Rev. Philip Sheridan, who a few years later was followed by Rev. Father Leo da Saracena, O.S.F., who had taken Father Mullen’s place as chaplain of the Ninth Regiment.

Since that time, the parish has continued in the care of the Franciscan Friars of the Province of the Immaculate Conception, which began with a band of four friars from Italy who arrived in New York City in 1855. A monastery for the friars in Winsted was constructed in 1866. The cornerstone of the current St. Joseph Church was blessed on August 30, 1914 and the completed building, located at 31 Oak Street in Winsted, was dedicated on July 16, 1916. The 1853 church building was converted into a parish hall.

Munsill-Bronson House (1857)

A sign next to the Italianate house at 147 Chapel Road in Winchester Center indicates that it was built in 1857 by Miles Samuel Munsill, who later sold it to his cousin, Wilbur Bronson, Winchester Postmaster. Munsill’s aunt Maria married Theron Bronson. Their son was Wilbur Munsill Bronson (1848-1903), who ran the Bronson Supply Company on the village green and a lumber company in Winsted. He was postmaster from 1885 until his death in 1903.

Adams and Stone’s Blocks (1894)

Adams and Stone's Blocks, Main Street, Winsted

The two adjacent commercial buildings at 418-420 and 424-426 Main Street in Winsted were both built around 1894. The building on the right in the image above (No. 418, Winsted News Co.) was built by Horace O. Adams, who had his construction firm offices on an upper floor and ran a shoe store on the first floor. The building on the left (No. 424, Winsted Pawn & Jewlery) was built by Charles and Lester Stone, house painters, who had their offices in the building. Both buildings also contained residences as well as businesses.

Regina M. Duffy Administration Building (1850)

Built in the mid-nineteenth century, the Italianate house at 20 Park Place North in Winsted has interesting columns on its front entrance and side porch. I think they resemble Egyptian Revival columns. The nomination for the Winsted Green Historic District describes them as resembling elongated vase-shaped legs of furniture. The house is now owned by Northwest Community College. Used for offices it is known as the Regina M. Duffy Administration Building, named for Dr. Regina M. Duffy (died 2007) who was president of the College for seventeen years and was the first woman in the state to head a Community College.

Wetmore West Block (1878)

The commercial block at 410-416 Main Street in Winsted was erected in 1878 by John G. Wetmore, founder of the New England Pin Company. Wetmore had earlier built two attached buildings, the Winsted Opera House and the Wetmore East Block, the latter of which later became a post office. Neither of these two buildings survives today (the Opera House was gutted by a fire in 1901).