Carlyle F. Barnes (1852-1926) was a businessman, musician and prominent citizen of Bristol. A chapel donated to his memory by his wife and two sons is located at 49 Pound Street (at West Cemetery) in Bristol. It was designed in the Norman style by Earle K. Bishop (of the firm of Perry and Bishop of New Britain) with stained-glass windows by by Calvert, Herrick & Riedinger. The Carlyle F. Barnes Memorial Chapel was dedicated on November 9, 1930 and is managed by the West Cemetery Association.
The grand High Victorian Gothic-style Humphreys Building is prominently situated at 131-139 Main Street in downtown Seymour. The building was erected in 1891 by Carlos French (1835-1903), a prominent businessman and industrialist in Seymour.
The building at 163-169 Main Street in Seymour was built in 1921 and was originally called the Donavan Building. Its front marquee was added c. 1941 when the Stand Theater opened. It later became a second-run theater and is one of Connecticut’s few remaining single-screen movie houses. Its Art Deco interior was restored in the 1990s. The building is owned by the Knights of Columbus.
Oliver Filley, Jr. was a farmer and tinsmith who served as a militia captain during the War of 1812, although his Connecticut militia unit did not see any combat. Capt. Filley built the house at 130 Mountain Avenue in Bloomfield for his son Jay in 1834. The floorplan of the house consists of two intersecting wings, with the living quarters primarily in the west wing. The house, which has walls constructed of rubblestone and multi-colored traprock, was the third stone house to be built in Bloomfield, following a house built two years earlier by David Grant and the Francis Gillette House. The Filley House and farm were sold out of the family in 1849 and five years later was acquired by Samuel Bushnell Pinney. In 1913 the farm was acquired by the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, a Catholic order which had a seminary in Hartford. They owned the property until 1987. It was acquired by the Town of Bloomfield in 1992. The Wintonbury Historical Society soon leased the house and began planning for its restoration. It will become a museum, cultural center, research library, and office for the Society.
The Southport Savings Bank was chartered in 1854. The bank’s building at 226 Main Street in Southport (in the town of Fairfield) was erected in 1863-1865 across from the Southport National Bank. The bank became a branch of People’s Savings Bank, Bridgeport (later People’s United Bank) in 1955. The bank branch closed on May 6, 2016.
The older section (which has a window in the gable-end) of the building at 104 Baileyville Road in Middlefield was built in 1876 by George W. Miller for his bone and phosphate mill. The building was later vacant for some years until it was acquired by the Lyman Gun Sight Corporation in 1921. The company remodeled the building in 1927 for the making of telescopic scopes for rifles. A dam was built which created a pond, called Scope Shop Pond, to power the factory (it’s now used by the town for fire protection). Additions to the building were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s. The picture above was taken in 2014, when the building was having work done. The current owner hopes to revitalize this and the former Lyman Gun Sight Factory on West Street. (more…)
The house at 23 Baileyville Road in Middlefield has a sign that reads “First Schoolhouse ~1800~.” Town assessor records give the house a date of 1830.
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