The construction date of the house at 1047 Main Street in South Glastonbury is not known. An assessor gave it a date of c. 1800. It was much altered in the late nineteenth century, possibly during the period of time when it was owned by John Stevens, a carpenter who died c. 1910.
Begun as a mission in 1859, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Mystic was organized as a parish in 1865. That same year, the parish acquired land at what is now 15 Pearl Street for a church. The cornerstone was laid in 1866 and the first service was held on Christmas Morning, 1867. Once the church was free from its large construction debt of $9,000, the building was dedicated on St. Mark’s Day, April 25, 1873. An education wing was erected in 1962.
The factory building at 132 Main Street at Warehouse Point, East Windsor, was built in 1875 by the Leonard Silk Company. Founded by J. N. Leonard in Rockville, the company produced thread from raw Japanese Silk. The industrial history of the site the Leonard Silk mill goes back to 1804, when Brazail Sexton started a woolen mill. The East Windsor Woolen Mill later failed and the property was acquired by Jehiel Simonds in 1870. The Leonard Silk Company became a tenant of the five-story building, along with the Barber & Chapin Silk Company. Not long after moving in, the building burned down in a dramatic fire on the evening of December 16, 1874. The fire had threatened the neighboring gas works, which were saved, preventing a disastrous explosion. Leonard’s company soon rebuilt, as reported in the Hartford Courant (under “State Correspondence”) on January 26, 1875:
It was two weeks after the fire before they concluded on their present course; and in the short time which has elapsed they have accomplished an astonishing amount of work, in the way of erecting a dye-house and fitting up new quarters with power, machinery, &c., necessary to conduct their business.
To protect against fire, the new factory utilized a sprinkler system, supplied from a water tank in the bell tower. The tower also contained a 780-pound bell, cast in 1868 in Sheffield, England. Leonard soon expanded his business, partnering with Luther J. Warren to expand the Warner silk mill at Northampton, Mass. As described in Picturesque Hampshire (1890):
Mr. Leonard came here fresh from his well known triumphs at Warehouse Point, Conn., where, as is generally known, he had the name of making a full honest weight of silk to the spool, and the very best in the market at that. Mr. Leonard has brought to Northampton the same spirit of intense application and painstaking attention which distinguished him in Connecticut
An addition to the Warehouse Point mill was constructed in 1887 and two more in the early twentieth century. The silk mill closed in 1940 and the bell was sold in 1960. Various companies have since occupied the building, most recently Keystone Paper & Box Company, Inc.
The building at 512 Amity Road in Bethany was erected in 1914 (with a small addition built in 1952) to serve as the Town Hall. In 1977, part of an elementary school on Peck Road was renovated for use as a new Town Hall. The old building on Amity Road was renamed the Stanley Downs Memorial Building to commemorate former First Selectman Stanley H. Downs (1906-1963). The Bethany Episcopal Church purchased the building from the town in 1980. In 1994, the church gave it to the new Bethany Historical Society, which had just been formed the year before. The Historical Society restored the building in 1995-1996 to become a museum.
The house at 30 Plains Road, on the east side of the Moodus Green in East Haddam, was built c. 1890. It was the home of Frank C. Fowler. Born in 1859, Fowler served in the state General Assembly in 1897. According to his biography in Taylor’s Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut for 1897-1898, “Since 1882 he has been prosperously engaged in the manufacture of proprietary remedies, and is also proprietor of the well known Oak Grove Stock Farm.” He is further described as, “an ardent sportsman owning one of the largest game preserves in the country, and has given attention to the propagation and protection of our native game.” He also built a harness race track on the flats above the Green. Fowler’s 110′ yacht the Huntress was commissioned by the navy in 1898 for duty in the Spanish-American War.
At 3 Lester Avenue in Pawcatuck is a two-family Italianate-style house built in 1857. The nomination for the Mechanic Street Historic District lists the building as a Masonic Hall, so it may have been used at some point by Pawcatuck Lodge No. 90. Chartered in 1863, the Lodge met for a time in the Pawcatuck Hotel and later at other locations. For many years the Lodge shared space with Franklin Lodge No. 20 of Westerly, Rhode Island. More recently, the Pawcatuck Lodge merged with Asylum Lodge No. 57 of Stonington and Charity & Relief Lodge No. 72 of Mystic to form Costal Lodge No. 57.
At 7 Gravel Street in Mystic is a building erected in 1911-1912 as a Masonic Temple for Charity & Relief Lodge No. 72. The Lodge had its origins as Charity Lodge No. 68, formed in 1825, which first met in Gurton Bill’s Tavern in Groton. The Lodge was inactive from 1846 to 1850 due to its members unwillingness to move to Mystic. After this move took place, the Lodge met on the Stonington side and then on the Groton side of the Mystic River. A split led to the creation in 1869 of Relief Lodge No. 71 on the other side of the river. Charity Lodge lost its rooms in the Central Hall Building on West Main Street due to a fire in 1880 and were invited to used Relief Lodge’s rooms until new quarters were found. The two lodges reunited in 1891-1892 to form Charity and Relief Lodge #72. After almost of century on Gravel Street, the Lodge faced declining membership and the lack of parking. It merged with Asylum Lodge No. 57 and Pawcatuck Lodge No. 90 to form Costal Lodge No. 57, which meets on Pequot Trail in Stonington. In January 2008, the former Masonic Temple on Gravel Street was sold to developers, who converted the building into two condominium units by 2010.
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