On the other side of Starr Street in New London from the row of houses built in 1839 by John Bishop is another Greek Revival house built the same year at 28 Starr Street. Unlike the the Bishop houses, it does not have its gable end to the street, although it similarly displays a later Italianate alteration in its door hood. It was the second house on Starr Street built by Nehemiah Payne.
Starr Street in New London is a narrow street lined with houses built for middle class families during the city’s whaling heyday. Primarily in the Greek Revival style, many of them were built by the same carpenter, John Bishop. Charles Culver had a rope walk on the site which burned in 1834. He then sold the land as a real estate development. The new street was named for the C. Starr and Company Soap and Candle Factory, which was at one end. Most of the houses were constructed in the 1830s and 1840s on narrow building lots. They were erected right on the street line with not much space between them. The early residents included many whose occupations supported the whaling industry. There were grocers, ship carpenters, blacksmiths, teachers, ship captains, a whaling agent, a tavern keeper, a doctor, a plumber and later in the century, a railroad clerk and an engineer. Some were used as boarding houses run by a single woman or a widow. More houses were built on the site of the factory after it closed. Later houses include examples of the Queen Anne style. Many of the original Greek Revival houses were later updated in the Italianate style (note the Italianate hoods over the doors of the houses pictured below).
In the 1970s the houses on Starr Street were slated for demolition, but in 1977 most of them were bought by the Savings Bank of New London, which restored them and sold them to private owners. In 1981 Starr Street became the city’s first historic district and the Starr Street Association was formed to maintain the historic integrity of the properties.
Five of the houses built on Starr Street in 1839 were erected by John Bishop (the row shown in the photo at the top of this post, from left to right: Nos. 25, 23, 19, 17 & 15; the house on the far right, #11, dates to 1836). (more…)
The Middletown Bank opened in 1801 in the home of Nehemiah Hubbard. As described in the History of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1884):
The Middletown National Bank, formerly the Middletown Bank, was chartered October 29th 1795. The organization was not completed, however, until May 1st 1801. The stockholders met at that time at Mrs. Sarah Goodwin’s Tavern and elected the following directors: Elijah Hubbard, Chauncey Whittlesey, Nehemiah Hubbard jr., Samuel Watkinson, Benjamin Williams, Ebenezer Sage, George Hallam, Joseph Hart, and Elias Shipman.
The first meeting of the directors was held May 13th 1801. Elijah Hubbard was chosen president, and Timothy Southmayd, cashier.
The bank constructed a building on Main Street in 1813, replacing it with a brownstone structure in 1855-1856, which was enlarged in 1893. This building was then replaced in 1917 by the bank’s third building on the site (267 Main Street). The Middletown National Bank was bought by the Connecticut Bank and Trust Co. in 1957. The building is now a branch of Bank of America. (more…)
Since 1942, the house at 24 Lincoln Avenue in the Forestville section of Bristol has been the O’Brian Funeral Home, which had been founded in downtown Bristol in 1909. According to the Funeral Home’s website, the house was built in 1890 as a wedding gift from Elias N. Welch to his daughter H. Drusilla Mitchell, but H. Drusilla Mitchell was married to George H. Mitchell in 1857 and her father was Elisha N. Welch, who died in 1887. The website also states that the house’s facade facing East Main Street was designed to resemble a riverboat with its rounded stern and double deck.
The Ecclesiastical Society for the North section of Stonington first met in 1721. The Society soon built a meeting house at “Meeting House Corner,” at the intersection of Wyassup and Reutemann Roads. The building, which became known as “the old black meeting house” because of the weathered condition of its unpainted wood, was taken down in 1817 and its wood was used to build a new meeting house at what is now 89 Main Street in North Stonington. Earlier, in 1746, the congregation had been divided. Influenced by the preaching of James Davenport of Long Island, a “New Light” preacher, many left the church to join a new Separate Church, called the Strict Congregational Church. They built their own meeting house over a mile west of North Stonington (Milltown) village. By 1817 the two churches had grown closer and both needed a new meeting house. They shared the newly erected building, officially reuniting as one church in 1827. The current meeting house was built in 1848 on the site of the 1817 edifice. In 1886, funds donated by Dudley R. Wheeler provided the church with stained glass windows and cherry wood pews, pulpit and wainscoting. The church was rededicated in April, 1887.
The building at 100 Town Street in Norwich was built on the site of an historic tavern, as described in A Modern History of New London County, Vol. 1 (1922):
Built in 1737 by Nathaniel Lathrop, its prosperity was maintained by his son, Azariah. From here was started the first stage coach to Providence in 1768. In 1829 the property was sold to the Union Hotel Company, who erected the present building, which was later used for a boarding school.
According to Mary Elizabeth Perkins in her book Old Houses of the Antient Town of Norwich (1895):
Azariah died in 1810, aged 82, leaving the house to his widow, and son, Augustus [. . .]. Augustus Lathrop died in 1819, and in 1821, the administrator of the estate sells the tavern to Bela Peck. It was shortly after partly destroyed by fire. In 1829, the land was sold to the Union Hotel Company, who erected the large brick house now standing, which was used for some years as a hotel, but when the courts were moved to the Landing, lost its popularity, was later occupied as a boarding school, and was finally sold to John Sterry, who now occupies it as a summer residence.
In the early twentieth century, the building became The Johnson Home, a home for aged and needy Protestant woman (now accepting all denominations) incorporated in 1907 by the Connecticut branch of the King’s Daughters, a Christian philanthropic organization. A description of “The Johnson Home for Old Ladies” is given in the Report of the State Board of Charities to the Governor for the Twenty-one Months Ended June 30, 1920 (1921):
The Johnson Home is one of the more recently established places of this character and is situated near the Green in the Norwich Town district, about two miles north from the center of the city. Electric cars pass near the house.
The building occupied is a large brick structure, three stories high, which, some years ago, was an old-time inn. There are accommodations for eleven residents, and all of the rooms give an impression of home-like comfort. The management of the Home is liberal and few restrictions are imposed in the life of the occupants. An entrance fee of $500 is required for each person accepted as a resident in the Home.
The house at 127 Mansion House Road in Southbury may have been built around 1790 by Simeon Mitchell (d. 1826), whose son would build the nearby Mitchell Mansion House in 1829. Simeon’s daughter Anna sold the house in 1837 and it was then owned by the Curtiss and Monson families. In the 1880s the house was owned by William C. Beecher, who altered it by removing its original central-chimney and replacing it with the present two chimneys. He also added the bay window on the south side. William C. Beecher is described in the History of New Haven County, Vol. II (1892), edited by J. L. Rockey:
William C. Beecher, born in Southbury May 28th, 1828, is a son of Nathaniel and Hannah (Peck) Beecher, and grandson of Nathaniel. [. . .] William C. married Mary E. Strong, of Woodbury, April 4th, 1855. They have six children [. . .] Mr. Beecher enlisted in 1862, in Company B, 13th Connecticut Regiment, as second lieutenant, helping to recruit this company, he being the only commissioned officer from Southbury. He served under General Butler, participating in the taking of New Orleans, and afterward under General Banks. He was discharged on account of ill health February 5th, 1863, and returned to Southbury. After regaining his health, he was engaged in superintending railroad construction, his first work being on the Hartford, Providence & Fishkill road. Twelve years later he assisted in the completion of the same line under the name of the New York & New England railroad. He also assisted in building the Connecticut Valley, Providence & Springfield and the D. L. & W. railroads.
Alfred and Mary Platt owned the house from 1900 to 1935. Alfred Platt was Woodbury’s first rural delivery mail carrier.
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