Historic Buildings of Connecticut - Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Henry Sturges House (1834)

The house at 608 Harbor Road in Southport was built in the early nineteenth century (perhaps c. 1834) for Capt. Jeremiah Sturges, a shipbuilder. As related in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1899), Sturges

also carried on a drug store and a coal yard. He owned some oceangoing ships, having nine vessels in the Mediterranean trade, besides several in the coastwise trade and in the West Indies trade. He was one of the most public spirited men of his times, and a great benefactor to humanity. He was largely instrumental in securing the building of the breakwater, himself being the contractor. Jeremiah Sturges married Maria Shelton. daughter of Philo Shelton, of Bridgeport, and by her had children as follows: Henry, and Henryetta, who married Henry Perry, a brother of Francis and Charles Perry. Jeremiah Sturges was prominent in political affairs, and he was president of the bank for many years. He taught navigation to all the sea captains of the State, keeping what was substantially a school of navigation. He died in the year 1845, his wife in 1861.

Jeremiah Sturges was also in charge of the Mill River Fencibles, a militia unit of the War of 1812. His son, Henry Sturges, succeeded to his father’s business. As further related in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1899):

Though he followed shipbuilding only for a time, yet he retained his interest in the marine business for some years, retiring altogether early in life. Some time previous to the breaking out of the Civil war he purchased a farm in Plymouth, Litchfield county, on which he lived for some ten or twelve years, and then he purchased a plantation in southwest Georgia, which he kept seven years. This he exchanged for various properties, inclnding a farm on the Raritan river, and engaged in dairying on a large scale. After six or seven years thus spent. he retired from farming and dairying and returned to Southport, where he lived the remainder of his days. Though he was a graduate of Trinity College and a licensed lawyer, yet he never practiced law. Politically, he was a Republican, and had much to do in the way of administrator of estates, holding also several minor offices.

Mr. Sturges married Henryetta Baldwin, daughter of Abram Dudley Baldwin, of Greenfield Hill. He and his wife had six children, viz.: Jeremiah; Henry, living in Montreal, Canada; Henryetta Maria, married to Dr. William L. Wells; Dr. Abram Baldwin Sturges, of Southport; Anna B., married to John A. Gorham, of Southport: and William Shelton Sturges. Henry Sturges died in 1885

In 1906 the house was the residence of Dr. Abram B. Sturges.

Jedediah Elderkin House (1710)

Born in Norwich in 1717, Jedediah Elderkin graduated from Yale and studied law. He settled with his family in Windham in 1745. Elderkin and his next door neighbor and friend, Eliphalet Dyer, were the leading lawyers at the time in eastern Connecticut. Elderkin served many terms in the General Assembly and as Justice of the Peace. He was also a large landowner and manufacturer, notable as a pioneer of silk production in Connecticut. With the coming of the Revolutionary War, Elderkin became a member of the Governor’s Council of Safety and was commissioned as Colonel of the Fifth Regiment of the Connecticut Militia. A close associate of Governor John Trumbull, he undertook many difficult missions, including the conversion of a foundry in Salisbury into a cannon works and the building of a gunowder mill at Willimantic. Elderkin‘s last public service, before his death in 1793, was to attend the state convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. His house in Windham, at 11 North Road, was built circa 1710. It has several eighteenth and nineteenth century additions.

Trinity Episcopal Church, Southport (1862)

Episcopal services in Fairfield were first held by visiting ministers starting in 1705. Trinity Parish was established in 1725 and its first church was built on Mill Plain in Fairfield. A new and larger church was built in 1737 in the center of Fairfield. During the Revolutionary War, the church was burned during the British raid on Fairfield in 1779. Trinity’s third church building was erected after the war on Mill Plain Road in 1790. In the early nineteenth century, the Borough of Southport in Fairfield was flourishing. The first Episcopal services in Southport were held in 1828 in the house at 95 Main Street. As attendance grew, services were held at the Old Academy. Eventually Trinity constructed its next building, affectionately called “The Old Church on the Hill,” in 1829 on Rose Hill Drive in Southport to serve the growing community. The first Southport church burned down in 1854, so it was replaced by a new church on Pequot Road in 1856. That same year, parishioners in the center of Fairfield, who felt that the Southport church was too far away, established St. Paul’s Parish. Trinity’s fifth building survived until it was destroyed in 1862 when a tornado caused the steeple to crash down through the roof. The current Trinity Episcopal Church was quickly built on the foundations of its predecessor and dedicated on December 11 of that same year.

Giraud-Bulkeley Cottage (1881)

In 1881 a summer cottage in the Borough of Fenwick in Old Saybrook was built by Hariette Fenwick Jackson Giraud (1830-1923) of Middletown. In 1899, the cottage was moved back from Long Island Sound to Pettipaug Avenue by Morgan G. Bulkeley to make way for his new and impressive cottage. The former Giraud Cottage was moved again, this time one lot west, in 1913 to make way for the Davis Cottage. Bulkeley gave the Giraud Cottage, now 12 Pettipaug Avenue, to his son, Morgan Jr. (1885-1926), in 1919 and it was then passed to his widow, Ruth Collins Bulkeley (1887-1973). You can read more about the cottage in Marion Hepburn Grant’s The Fenwick Story (Connecticut Historical Society, 1974), pages 155-156.

Lyric Hall, New London (1898)

At 243 State Street in New London is Lyric Hall, a commercial building with an auditorium on the second floor. Originally a theater, by the mid-twentieth century the auditorium space was being used for dance classes. The Classical Revival building was designed by architect James Sweeney of New London. The building has had various owners and been used for different purposes over the years. It has recently undergone restoration work and has very recent new owners.

Dan Storrs House (1786)

In 1786, Dan Storrs built the house at 521 Storrs Road in Mansfield on land he had acquired from his brother-in-law, Shubael Conant, Jr. Dan Storrs ran a general store that once stood north of his house. The house was owned by his family until 1903. As related in Vol. III of New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial (1913), Dan Storrs

was born February 7, 1748, at Mansfield. He was a soldier in the revolution, one of the Lexington alarm men, a quartermaster of a Connecticut regiment and was at White Pains. He was an active and enterprising citizen, assisting the government materially by the manufacture of salt-peter, and by his ardent patriotism. He earnestly supported Washington and opposed the policies of Jefferson. He was for many years a merchant at Mansfield, both wholesale and retail, and for twenty-five years conducted a hotel there, known far and wide as the Dan Storrs Tavern, which is still standing. He was also a prosperous farmer and owned much land. He left a large estate in Mansfield, Ashford, Willington and Tolland. He was for many years banker for this section. His store was on the corner of Main street, Mansfield, and the road to Ashford. In physique he was tall, large and robust, and in manner courteous and obliging. After the fashion of his day he wore a queue. He died January 3. 1831. His gravestone is at Mansfield. He married. January 5, 1775, Ruth, daughter of Colonel Shubael Conant, of Mansfield, granddaughter of Rev. Eleazer Williams. His wife died April 18, 1792 (gravestone record) and he married (second) October 28. 1793, Mary, daughter of Constant Southworth of Mansfield.

His son, Zalmon Storrs (1779-1867), is described in volume V of Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College (1911):

Zalmon Storrs, the second son of Dan Storrs, of Mansfield, Connecticut, and grandson of Thomas and Eunice (Paddock) Storrs, of Mansfield, was born in Mansfield, on December 18, 1779. His mother was Ruth, second daughter of the Hon. Shubael Conant (Yale 1732) and Ruth (Conant) Conant. In 1802 he began the study of law with Thomas S. Williams (Yale 1794), then of Mansfield, but after the death of his elder brother, in April, 1803, he felt obliged to take his place in the management of the large country-store which their father had long conducted, and he continued in that occupation for many years. He was also a pioneer in that part of the State in the manufacture of silk thread, having established a factory in 1835 [in Mansfield Hollow in partnership with his son, Dan P. Storrs].

He was a Justice of the Peace from the spring of 1813 until disqualified by age (in 1849). In May, 1813, he was first sent as a Representative of the town to the General Assembly, and was re-elected for five more sessions,—-the last in 1841. He was the first Postmaster at Mansfield Centre (in 1825), and retained the office for upwards of twenty years. For 1834-35, and again for a period of six years (1843-49) he was Judge of Probate for the district of Mansfield. In 1834 he was the candidate of the Anti-Masonic party for Governor of the State.

He united with the Congregational Church in Mansfield in July, 1823, and was highly esteemed as a pillar of that body. He died in Mansfield on February 17, 1867, in his 88th year, being the last survivor of his College Class [1801].

Charles Brockett House (1830)

The brick Federal-style house at 3711 Whitney Avenue in Hamden was built around 1830 by Charles Brockett (1803-1884). He manufactured carriage springs (pdf), was part owner in a sawmill and served as town selectman in 1859, 1860 and 1861 (and served in place of Henry Munson in 1862). The house has been much altered and added to over the years. It is now part of the multi-unit condominium complex called Tuttlewyck. (more…)