Haskell-Topliff House (1852)

In 1851 John Haskell acquired property from the Bulkeley family on Main Street in Cromwell. He took down the Bulkeley Homestead, built in the mid-eighteenth century by Jonathan Stow, and in 1852 erected an Italianate house on the site (current address: 358 Main Street). Haskell was a joiner and a partner in the lumber firm of Willard and Haskell. It is uncertain that Haskell and his wife, Maria Wilcox Haskell, ever lived in the house. In 1861 he sold it to Rev. Stephen Topliff, a retired Congregational minister who, from 1829-1838, was pastor of the Third Congregational Church, located in the Westfield section of Middletown. The house remained in the Topliff family until 1905.