William C. Cogswell House (1823)

William C. Cogswell House

The house at 6 Green Circle in Woodbury was built around 1823 for William Camp Cogswell (1796-1874). A merchant, Cogswell was twice married, first in 1821 to Frances Pomeroy Whittlesey (1801-1837); second in 1838 to Catharine A. Sherman. Cogswell ran a shop south of the house under the name Cogswell and Sherman. As described by W. A. Strong in a letter printed in The Town and People: A Chronological Compilation of Contributed Writings from Present and Past Residents of the Town of Woodbury, Connecticut (1901):

The pleasant days when I attended school in the old brown school house come back with greater force when the changes since that time are considered. Then the country store kept by Mr. Cogswell was where the people from far and near brought their butter and eggs to exchange for sugar, molasses, dry goods and Yankee notions. “Doc” was the presiding genius behind the counter, and we small boys looked with wonder and envy on the treasures he controlled. His fiddle was our delight and nothing could excel the music from his magical bow.

Dr. William M. Curtis House (1905)

Dr. William M. Curtis House, Bristol

Starting as a general practitioner in the 1890s in an office on Main Street in Bristol, Dr. William M. Curtis’s successful practice allowed him to build an impressive Queen Anne house at 23-25 High Street in 1905. His residence also served as his office, which accounts for the house having two entrances, one for the family and one for his patients. Dr. Curtis married Genevieve Bierce in 1896 and the couple had a daughter. After Dr. Curtis died in 1914, his family sold the house to another physician, Alburton A. Dewey (1874-1935). Like his predecessor, Dr. Dewey both lived and practiced medicine in the house until his death. The house was then converted into a multi-family dwelling. The house has been documented as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford (1909)

St John's Church

St. John’s Episcopal Church, located at 679 Farmington Avenue in West Hartford, was preceded by the parish’s original church, located on Main Street in downtown Hartford. Designed by noted New Haven architect Henry Austin during the period he had an office in Hartford, the first St. John’s Church was consecrated on April 30, 1842. The main body of the church and the lower section of its tower were constructed of Portland brownstone. The upper tower and spire were made of wood and had to be removed in 1875 due to structural decay. In 1905, the parish decided to sell its land on Main Street to the trustees of the Wadsworth Atheneum. The church was taken down in 1907 and the Atheneum’s Morgan Memorial Building was erected in its place. (You can read more about the original St. John’s Church on Main Street in my book Vanished Downtown Hartford, pp. 128-131).

Downtown Hartford had been developing rapidly as a business and commercial center at the time and many churches there were relocating to more residential areas to the west. The new St. John’s Church was built in 1907-1909 on Farmington Avenue, just across the Hartford line in West Hartford. The new church, designed by noted architect Bertram G. Goodhue, was consecrated on June 9, 1909. Due to budgetary limitations, Goodhue’s plans for an adjoining parish house were not completed until 1914-1915. The cornerstone for a new and larger parish house was laid in 1927 and at the same time the church built a cloister and outdoor pulpit. In 1928 the nave was lengthened to the north, toward Farmington Avenue, and a new entrance was built on that side (the previous entrance had faced west towards Highland Avenue). The church was extensively restored and altered inside after a fire in 1992.

St. John's Episcopal Church

Masonic Temple, Monroe (1904)

Washington Lodge No. 19, the first Masonic Lodge in the country named for George Washington, formed in 1791 in Monroe. By 1800 the Lodge completed what was the first Temple in Connecticut erected solely for Masonic use. This building was later moved to Hurd Street and became the Town of Monroe’s first Town Hall. A new Masonic Temple was erected in 1904 at 1 Fan Hill Road. It is a Georgian Revival structure modeled on the central section of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Judge Elisha Stearns House (1800)

26 Tolland Green

The house at 26 Tolland Green in Tolland was probably built sometime in the eighteenth century and was certainly standing by c. 1800. Recent research suggests it may be much older than the traditionally ascribed date of 1800. As explained in a post by the Tolland Historical Society, the land where the house stands was part of a 10-acre parcel acquired by Josiah Goodrich, Sr. in 1725. He had a trading shop on the property, which may have been located in the north wing of the present house. In 1750 Josiah Goodrich, Jr. sold the property to John Huntington, Jr.

The house is traditionally named for Judge Elisha Stearns, who was the first president of the Tolland County Bank, incorporated in 1828. The bank operated briefly inside the house until a bank building was erected in 1829. Frank T. Newcomb, Treasurer of the Savings Bank of Tolland and Tolland County Treasurer, served as postmaster and had a post office in the ell of the house from 1888 to 1893. In the nineteenth century the house was extensively remodeled in the Victorian style. It was later altered again in the Colonial Revival style.