Trinity Lutheran Church, Centerbrook (1977)

The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church, in the village of Centerbrook in Essex, was founded in 1898. The congregation erected their original church building, next to the Falls River millpond on Main Street, in 1907-1908. Services continued to be held in Swedish until the late 1940s. The church was destroyed by fire in the early hours of March 21, 1975. A new Trinity Lutheran Church was soon rebuilt on the same site, 109 Main Street. After the fire, the congregation had investigated the old building’s cornerstone to see if something had been sealed inside by the Swedish immigrant founders of the church. Nothing was found there, but then the great-grandson of the man who had laid the original foundation shared the story, handed down to him, that there had been indeed been a box of artifacts placed in the foundation. A new search in the wall behind the cornerstone revealed a copper box, containing a historical account of the church’s founding in Swedish, coins, a 1907 Swedish almanac and other documents. The box was resealed with other items added by the congregation in a new container and placed in the new church’s cornerstone (see Emily Sigler, “Artifacts Going Back Into Church Walls,” Hartford Courant, May 25, 1976). In 2005, the church completed a renovation and expansion project that almost completely rebuilt the structure and added 1,600 square feet on its east side. A new altar was built as an extension with windows providing views of the neighboring pond and river.

John Ingraham House (1734)

The main block of the house at 91 North Cove Road in Old Saybrook is thought to have been built in 1734 by John Ingraham (1679-1750). The house has later additions at its western end. The house passed through a number of different owners until it was purchased by Paul R. and Anna Opp of Irvington, New York in 1928. They built a sea wall and boat house. They used the home on weekends until 1937, then as a summer home until they made it their year-round residence in 1942. Mrs. Opp resided in the house alone after the death of her husband in 1944 She sold it in 1950.

Jonathan Pasco House (1794)

Built in 1784, the house at 31 South Main Street in East Windsor was later converted to use as a restaurant. For 26 years it was Jonathan Pasco’s Restaurant, named for the man who built the house. A captain in the Revolutionary War, Jonathan Pasco (1760-1844) was at the Battle of Trenton and at one point was held captive by Native Americans. By 1869 the house was owned by E. F. Thompson. Jonathan Pasco’s Restaurant closed in 2015. The house is now the location of Roberto’s Real American Tavern.

Eli Haskell House (1812)

At one end of old Main Street in the East Windsor Hill section of South Windsor are a pair of brick Federal-style houses with identical facades. The first, located at 1909 Main Street, was built by Eli Bissell Hakell, a merchant, in 1812. The second (featured in a post from the earliest days of this website) was built a year later by his father-in-law, Aaron Bissell. Eli Haskell (1778-1861) married two Bissell sisters: first Sophia (1785-1816) in 1810 and then Susan (1790-1871) in 1818. Eli and Susan Haskell later moved to Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York. Eli’s son, Frederick Haskell (1810-1890), was one of the founders of the Haskell and Barker Car Company.

Josiah Robbins House (1800)

The house at 401 Wolcott Hill Road in Wethersfield is thought to have been built about 1800 by Josiah Robbins. It originally stood to the south and was later moved to its current location. During the Revolutionary War, Josiah Robbins (1724-1794) served in Capt. Hart’s company in Col. Samuel Blatchley Webb‘s regiment from 1777 to 1781. He was then transferred to the Sappers and Miners and served under Capt. David Bushnell at the Battle of Yorktown.

Dr. Orin Witter House (1820)

Dr. Orin Witter of Chaplin built the brick house, with distinctive monitor roof, at 73 Chaplin Street c. 1820, when he was first setting up his practice. He also served as the first Town Clerk of Chaplin. The house remained in the Witter family until 1960, being the home of Dr. Orin Witter II and Orin Witter III. As related in the Commemorative Biographical Rrecord of Tolland and Windham Counties (1903), the first Dr. Witter

became a noted physician and one of the town’s most prominent citizens. He studied medicine with Dr. Hutchins, of Brooklyn, and later with Dr. Thomas Hubbard, of Pomfret, completing his studies at Yale Medical College in 1820. During the same year he established himself as a physician, in Chaplin, Conn., and soon gained the confidence and approbation of the people. Two years later, when the town was incorporated, he was chosen the first town clerk, and was later a member of the board of education, and was also made judge of probate in his district. The latter office he held for many years, until age excluded him from service.

For nearly fifty years Dr. Witter continued in practice, retiring about two years previous to his death, which took place Feb. 2, 1869. Dr. Orrin Witter was married to Florinda Preston and two daughters and one son were born to them, one daughter dying in infancy, and the other, Cornelia, marrying Dr. E. C. Holt, of Bennington, N. Y. The son, Dr. Orrin Witter, was born in Chaplin, Conn., April 25, 1835, and married Helen A. Utley, a third of the name, their son, also being a physician. Dr. Witter (2) attended Yale Medical College, and also the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, graduating from the latter institution in 1859. He succeeded to the practice of his father and has since conducted the same with remarkable success, in spite of the fact that he has been blind for several years.

As noted in A Modern History of Windham County, Connecticut, Vol. I (1920):

The first Dr. Orrin Witter located in Chaplin in 1820, his son, Orrin Witter, Jr., began practice in 1860. The elder died in 1869, and the junior in 1907. Dr. Orrin Witter III retains the old homestead as a summer residence, but is a practitioner in Hartford.

In 1960 the house was purchased by another doctor, Brae Rafferty, M.D., who restored it with his wife, Ann Postemsky Rafferty. (more…)