The house at 27 Main Street in Bethel was built circa 1840 by Isaac H. Seeley (1793-1880), the son and partner of hatter Nathan Seeley. He later operated his own company, I. M. Seeley & Son. His brother, the merchant Seth Seeley, lived in the house that is now the Bethel Public Library. The eastern section of Isaac’s house (on the left in the image above) is much older than the main block, perhaps dating to as early as 1795.
The building at 248 Main Street in Danbury was erected in 1887 as the home of the Danbury National Bank. It was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by Bridgeport architect Warren Briggs. It served the bank until 1924. In 1940 the building became the home of the Settle Agency, an insurance Agency run by Thomas Settle. The building now bears his name. A fire in 1873 destroyed the building’s original third-story steep gables and roof. The third floor was then rebuilt. As related in The Bankers Magazine (Vol. XLIII, No. 5, November 1888):
(more…)The Danbury National Bank has taken possession of its new building which is spacious, well arranged, well lighted, and is a model of its kind. The front is occupied by the president and cashier, each having separate offices. The remainder is divided into compartments for tellers and clerks Each of these are divided by open metal work giving one a view of the entire room from any point. Outside is an abundance of room for patrons of the bank and desks are conveniently arranged for their use. The furniture of this room is of cherry. The ceiling is sixteen feet high. This institution has an excellent history. In 1824 the Fairfield County Bank, located at Norwalk, was chartered by the legislature, with the provision that it should have a branch at Danbury At the meeting of the directors held August 24, 1824, Zalmon Wildman (the father of Frederick S Wildman, president of the Savings Bank of Danbury) was elected president of said branch bank, and David Foot was appointed a committee to contract with Dr Comstock for the use of a room in his house, and to fit it up for the use of the bank. On the 20th of September, 1824, Curtis Clark was elected cashier of the branch bank, and the bank commenced business. On the 29th day of August, 1825, it was “voted that in the opinion of this board it is expedient to build a banking house for the accommodation of the institution as soon as may be convenient,” and a building was erected and occupied for a period of twenty nine years as the Fairfield County Branch Bank, until July 1844, when the Danbury Bank was chartered, and took the place of the Fairfield County Branch Bank. with same board of president and directors. The Danbury Bank occupied that building until April 14th, 1855. Then another building was projected but for various reasons was not built until the present time.
It looks like I posted this building too late. It was demolished a few years ago! A new building was completed on the site in 2022.
Later home to a business and much altered, the building at 595 Greenhaven Road in Pawcatuck was once a restaurant called the Greenhaven Inn. I’m not sure when the house was built (if it’s Colonial or Colonial-Revival). The real estate websites give a date of 1901 but that may not be very precise.
The Colonial center-chimney house at 353 Newfield Street in Middletown was built sometime between 1705/6, when Lt. Nathaniel Bacon (1674-1759) inherited the land from his father Nathaniel (an early settler of Middletown in 1653 who was born in England in 1630 and came to America in 1649), and 1759, when the property was mentioned in the younger Nathaniel‘s will.
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The earliest Episcopal/Anglican worship in western Connecticut began in the town of Kent in 1763, served by itinerant missionary priests ordained in England. They worshipped in a now lost St. Thomas’s Church built on Kent Plain sometime between 1768 and 1772. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Parish was first organized as St John’s Parish in 1806. In 1819, Reverend George B. Andrews took charge of the Episcopal congregations in both Kent and nearby Marbledale (in New Preston). He was soon serving congregations in Caanan and Salisbury as well. His wealthy wife contributed greatly to funding the erection of churches in these parishes. The current church building in Kent, located at the corner of modern Routes 7 and 341, was constructed in 1826 of fieldstone in the Gothic Revival style. In gratitude to Rev. and Mrs. Andrews, the parish was renamed from St. John’s to St. Andrew’s.
In the 1870s the chancel and sacristy were added to the west side of the building and the bell tower’s original crenelated top was replaced with a pointed steeple. The church underwent major renovations in 2014.
Thomas Eldredge, and his brothers George and Elam, purchased land on Gravel Street in Mystic from their father in 1842. Thomas erected the house at 31 Gravel Street soon after. The three brothers were all shipmasters and mariners. Thomas was a captain for over 45 years and was known as “the Commodore of the Mallory line.” He sold the house when he retired. He moved to New York and maintained a summer home in Mystic on Prospect Hill. After a fire in 1879 the house’s original roof was replaced with a Mansard roof.
My latest video is a walking tour of Old Wethersfield with historical information given in the captions.
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