At 116 Main Street in Ivoryton is the first of a number of company houses built by Comstock, Cheney & Company, manufacturers of combs and other ivory products. The company sold the house to a private owner, Giles Augustus Bull (1851-1930), in 1900. Bull was a foreman at the company who married Anna Comstock, grandniece of company founder Samuel M. Comstock.
Built circa 1858, the house at 39 Church Street in Noank was originally the home of William Gadson Rathbun (1831-1913), known as Captain Bill Gad Rathbun. He went to sea as a boy, but in 1849 headed to California for the Gold Rush. Returning after three years he resumed a life at sea, being master of several sailing vessels during his career. In the 1890s Rathbun served as postmaster during the second administration of President Grover Cleveland.
The house at 665 Tolland Stage Road in Tolland was built circa 1755 and may have been two houses that were later joined together. The property included an adjoining tannery, built in 1816 by George Hyde. In 1836, Moses Underwood bought the house and tannery and began to manufacture leather belting with his sons at the latter. The former Underwood Belting Company factory building was later deliberately burned by the Fire Department because it was deemed unsafe.
Much altered over the years, the Classical Revival building at 1110-1112 Main Street in East Hartford was erected in 1832-1833. It was known as the Academy and housed the East Hartford Select School, also known as the Classical and English School. The school eventually closed and the building was acquired by Jonathan Tremaine Wells in 1858. It became part of the larger Wells estate to the east, which included the famous Wells Tavern. Upon his death in 1881, Wells willed the Academy to the town for use as a public building to be called Wells Hall. In 1885 it became East Hartford’s town hall and a new front entry tower was added to the structure. In addition to town offices, Wells Hall also housed a library and the police department, including jail cells. On the second floor was a large public hall, used as a ballroom and as a meeting place for the Grange and the Grand Army of the Republic. When the current Town Hall building was erected in 1937, ownership of Wells Hall reverted to the heirs of Jonathan Wells, as per his will. For many years the building was the Old Town Hall Inn and Restaurant. In the 1930s to 1950s, the Inn had a dinner theater that hosted famous performers. In more recent years the building has been restored and expanded and a 1924 addition on the front of the building, which for many years blocked the 1885 entrance, was removed. Wells Hall now houses the offices of the East Hartford Board of Education.
Starting in 1890, John J. Ferry was a liverymen in Meriden. With his two sons, Thomas L. Ferry, Sr. and William A. Ferry, he formed the undertaking firm of John J. Ferry & Sons. John J. Ferry died in 1918, leaving the business to his sons. In 1937 they erected the building at 88 East Main Street in Meriden where the fourth generation continues the funeral home business.
The church at 22 Crown Street in Meriden was built in 1868 as the West Meriden Baptist Church, later renamed the Main Street Baptist Church. Established in 1860, the church had an earlier chapel on the same site. The present church building’s tower was removed in 1946 and in the 1950s the Connecticut Bank & Trust Company built a branch right in front of the building. In 1997 the Baptist Church closed and sold the building to Faith Center Church of God in Christ.
The house at 60 Chaplin Street in Chaplin was built in 1840. It was once the parsonage of the Chaplin Congregational Church, before the current parsonage at 47 Chaplin Street was used. There is also a historic barn on the property.
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