Union Society of Phoenixville House (1806)

Phoenixville is a village in the town of Eastford. At the junction of Routes 44 and 198 (4 Hartford Turnpike) is a former residence that would become the Union Society of Phoenixville House. It was built in 1806 as the home of Smith Snow (1784-1842), a mill-owner. In 1858, Snow’s heirs conveyed the house to Lydia Clark, the wife of his nephew, Albert B. Clark (1825-1903), a shoemaker. Around the turn of the century, the house was already being used as a nondenominational Sunday School, which officially incorporated in 1907 as the Union Society of Phoenixville and purchased the building. It also served as a meeting place for the local community and by the 1940s was commonly known as the Community House. The building was moved a short distance west of its original location circa 1930 to accommodate highway improvements. The building was in use until 2000, but already before that time fewer events were being held and maintenance issues had made preserving the building difficult (by the 1960s the upper floor had become unsafe). The Union Society sold the building to the Town of Eastford in 2002 and it has since been the object of preservation efforts (the roof was replaced in 2009).

Dr. William L. Foot House (1780)

The house at 29 Wallingford Road in Cheshire was built by Stephen Jarvis circa 1780-1800. It was soon purchased by Dr. William L. Foot (1778-1849), probably around the time of his marriage to Mary Scovill in 1801. Dr. Foot was the son of Reverend John Foote (1742-1813), the second pastor of the Cheshire Congregational Church. Near their home, Dr. Foot operated a pharmacy with his son, John L. Foot.

As related in Old Historic Homes of Cheshire, Connecticut (1895), complied by Edwin R. Brown:

Dr. Foote was an excellent physician of the old-school type. Horace G. Hitchcock stated in his “Recollections of Cheshire” that it was owing to the skill of Dr. Foote that the Cheshire cemetery was not ornamented by a small tombstone sacred to his memory, aged twelve years.

At this home, in the year 1837, Edward Doolittle, the son-in-law of Dr. Foote, died of small-pox, and for a time the house was quarantined.

Dr. Foote was not only prominent as a physician, but also as a leading town official. He was town clerk several years, and was the first judge of probate elected from this district and from this town. His daughters, Abigail and Mary, were prominent singers in the Congregational Church choir, where their voices could be distinctly heard above all others. Dr. Wm. Foote was a son of the Rev. John Foote, whose descendants were once numerous and influential in this town.

The house is now home to Norm’s Barber Shop.

Memorial Town Hall, Madison (1897)

Memorial Town Hall in Madison was built in 1897 to honor the town’s Civil War veterans. Vincent Meigs Wilcox, a wealthy merchant, was donor to both the hall and another, more traditional Civil War monument, the Wilcox Soldiers’ Monument. The building originally served as a community center, becoming Madison’s Town Hall in 1938. A new town hall was built in 1995, but the old hall continues to house some municipal offices, meeting rooms, and the Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives.

William Tomlinson House (1836)

The house at 467 Quaker Farms Road in Oxford was built in 1836 by William Tomlinson. It was next owned by Stephen S. Mallett, who sold it in 1899 to Charles Davis, a prominent farmer who was active at Christ Church, located directly across the street. After his death, the house was owned by his step-daughter, J. Mabel Lum (1880-1964), an influential citizen of Oxford who was also active at Christ Church. For a time the property was the Quaker Farms Nursery.

Dr. Gilbert Preston House (1790)

The house at 714 Tolland Stage Road in Tolland was built circa 1790 as a saltbox. After a fire in 1868, the house was rebuilt in the Italianate style by Dr. Gilbert Preston, who owned it from 1845 until his death in 1883. Many of Dr. Preston’s medical instruments and other items are on display at the Old Jail Museum in Tolland. The house was later the residence of Dr. Preston’s daughter Sarah (1854-1939). As related in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties (1903):

[Henry Young] was married second, April 21, 1896, to Sarah C. (Preston) Lathrop, of Tolland, a daughter of Dr. Gilbert H. and Sarah (Cogswell) Preston, the former of whom was for many years the leading physician of Tolland, where his personal standing was also very high.

The house was next owned by Sarah’s granddaughter, Florence Edith Meacham Anderson (1900-1966). In 1997 the then owner replaced the original wraparound porch with the current entry portico and added a sunroom on the south side.