Samuel J. Miller, who had been a clerk at Willimantic Linen, moved to a house built in 1896 at 315 Prospect Street after he became clerk and treasurer for the City of Willimantic. He appears to have served in the Civil War and was a captain in the militia.
Having already resided in the house at 122 Windham Street in Willimantic, Wilton E. Little (1859-1903) and his wife Edith Clark Little (1862-1935), sold the house and moved to a new home they built in 1896 at 333 Prospect Street. Little had risen up through the ranks at the W.G. & A.R. Morrison Company.
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Willimantic began in 1916. A two-story at 226 Valley St was converted to a house of worship and rectory for its first pastor, Rev Joseph Kurila. Fr Joseph lived on the top floor with his family while the bottom floor was converted into a chapel. On November 3, 1948, the Holy Trinity Community purchased a parcel of land on the corner of Valley Street and Mansfield Avenue on which to build a permanent church. The foundation was poured in 1950, but due to financial limitations the church was not completed and consecrated until 1958. Church membership experienced a decline in the 1980s and 1990s, but has grown again since 2000 with the active support of the UConn Orthodox Christian Fellowship.
The house at 183 Prospect Street in Willimantic was built around 1887 to be the home of Arthur I. Bill, editor and publisher of the Willimantic Journal. He also had a printing plant on lower Church Street in Willimantic, having started the Hall & Bill Printing Company in 1884.
The James Reid House, at 88 Windham Road in Willimantic, was built in 1879-1880 by the Willimantic Linen Company for its chemist and dye master, James M. Reid. It stands next to the home of Eugene S. Boss, the company’s manager. After 1960, the Reid house was home to the Hallahan and Cardinal funeral home (pdf).
Dwight E. Potter (1840-1911) was a carpenter and builder based in Willimantic. As head carpenter for the Willimantic Linen Company, he designed and constructed mill buildings, an office building and worker housing and was superintendent of all outside work. He also helped to build the Loomer Opera House on Main Street and ran a woodworking shop that produced interior and exterior architectural millwork for Willimantic’s Victorian-era houses. Potter was chief of Willimantic’s fire department from 1873 to 1880. In 1881, Potter and his first wife, Mary Ann Hazen, moved into a house he had designed and erected at 76 Windham Road. The house is now home to the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The house at 290 Prospect Street in Willimantic was built in 1888 for Samuel E. Amidon, a successful grocery store owner. After Amidon’s death, the house had other owners. In 1984 it was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich. Called Newman Hall, it is now the Catholic Office of Campus Ministry for members of the Eastern Connecticut State University community. According to the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties (1903):
Samuel E. Amidon was born July 24, 1844, at Sturbridge, Mass., and was but a child when his parents removed to Ashford, Conn., and located on the old Amidon homestead. (more…)
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