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

United Methodist Church, Watertown (1898)

The first Methodist sermon in Watertown was preached in 1794 and the town’s first Methodist Class was formed in 1800. As described in the History of Ancient Westbury and Present Watertown from its Settlement to 1907 (1907):

On February 21, 1853, a meeting was held in the office of Dr. Catlin to discuss the feasibility of establishing Methodist worship at Watertown Centre, and it was voted desirable to have preaching here the following conference year. Much difficulty was experienced in securing a suitable place for these meetings, and the committee accepted the invitation of General Merritt Heminway to use the ball-room in his hotel during the summer. Rev. Larmon Abbot preached the first sermon here May 29, 1853. There being no facilities for heating the ball-room, during the winter the Congregational chapel was rented for the use of the Society. In October, 1854, the basement of the new Church was ready for use, and the edifice was dedicated December 13, 1854.

. . . In 1897, the membership of the Church having greatly increased, it became necessary to build a larger edifice. $9,500 was subscribed, largely through the influence and generosity of Augustus N. Woolson. He also purchased the old Church for $1,000 and removed it. A call for more money for carpets, organ, etc., was met by the same generous giver. And not only in his Church was Mr. Woolson’s influence felt. He represented the town in Legislature, and was sent by the unanimous vote of his townsmen as delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Many homes in the town were made happier by his benevolence. It has been said that for a quarter of a century before his death there was no movement looking toward the improvement of Watertown in which he had not a prominent, if not a leading part. He was an honest and successful business man, a model citizen, a philanthropist and a sincere Christian.

Completed in 1898, the church (305 Main Street) was designed by George W. Kramer, whose book The What, How and Why of Church Building was published in 1897. Kramer also designed the Methodist Church in Derby, the Asbury United Methodist Church in Bristol (1900) and St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Hartford (1900).

John Newberry King House (1873)

Built circa 1873, the John Newberry King House is a French Second Empire-style residence located at 793 Main Street in South Windsor. It was built for John Newberry King (1822-1895). According to the second volume of the Commemorative Biographical Record of Hartford County (1901):

Hon. John Newberry King, son of Roderick King, and the father of Isaac White King, was born March 24. 1822. He married, Dec. 25, 1848, Julia Ann, daughter of Isaac and Adocia (White) Keeney, and a direct descendant of Perigrene White, who, it is said, was the first white child born after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. Mr. King was one of the first to introduce tobacco growing in the town of South Windsor; was among the first to build tobacco sheds, and to engage extensively in the cultivation of that plant. He was one of the substantial men of his period, a man of good ability, excellent judgment and an all-round good and useful citizen. He was a farmer all through his active, busy life, which was lived in a manner worthy of his New England ancestry, and which is to the credit of his posterity. For many years he was active and prominent in the councils of the Democratic party of his section. He served that party on its central committee and in 1879 represented his town in the General Assembly of the State. He was prominently identified with the Masonic Fraternity, and was the principal mover in organizing Evergreen Lodge, No. 114, F. & A. M., of which he was a charter member, and for a number of years its worshipful master. He was successful in the management of his business interests, and accumulated a competence, holding considerable property mostly in his town, also in East Hartford. Mr. King died in 1895, aged seventy-three years.

John Palmer House (1790)

At 291 North Burnham Highway (Route 169) in Lisbon is a colonial “Cape Cod”-type house built in 1790. It was the home of John Palmer, who was a revivalist preacher during the period of the Great Awakening. A Separatist, or “Strict Congregationalist,” leader from 1746 until his death in 1807, Palmer was a dissident from the established Congregational church. In 1749, he became the pastor of the Separatist Brunswick Church, which was located in what is now the town of Scotland. While most Separatist churches of the time lasted only a few years, the Brunswick Church was not formally disbanded until 1813. The exterior of the Palmer House was significantly remodeled (removing some later alterations) during a restoration that followed a fire in 1968. Today the house is part of Heritage Trail Vineyards.

Sparrow-Baker-Bunyan House (1839)

At 196 South Main Street in Colchester is a house with distinctive Stick style ornamentation. The land was originally sold to Bradford Sparrow by Dennison Smith in 1839. In 1875, a residence here was being rented out to Dr. M. W. Robinson. Alden A. Baker, owned the property from 1877 to 1925, when it was given to his daughter, Lillian Baker Bunyan. She lived in the house with her husband, Edward T. Bunyan, until his death in 1952. It is not certain if Sparrow or Baker is responsible for construction of the house in its present form.

L.D. Brown & Son (1871)

Located on Cooley Avenue between Main Street Extension and East Main Street in Middletown is a former factory building, erected between 1871 and 1874 by L.D. Brown & Son. As related in The Silk Industry in America (1876), by L.P. Brockett,

L. D. Brown started in the manufacture of skein silk at Gurleyville, Conn., in 1850, in partnership with James Royce, and occupying the mill built by the latter in 1848, which has been referred to. In 1853 Mr. Brown bought the mill then occupied by the Conant Brothers, (already mentioned,) in the same locality, and continued the manufacture of skein silk there until 1865, when he took his son into partnership, sold the mill at Gurleyville to William E. Williams, and bought the William Atwood Mill at Atwoodville. In 1871, L. D. Brown & Son erected a new mill for themselves at Middletown, Conn., and sold the Atwoodville Mill to Macfarlane Brothers. They now manufacture principally machine twist and skein and spool sewing-silk. Their silk has an excellent reputation for strength and purity of dye. In February, 1875, they opened a New York house. Their brands are ” L. D. Brown & Son,” “Middletown Mills,” “Paragon,” and ” Connecticut Valley.” The junior partner, H. L. Brown, has made some inventions of considerable value to the silk industry, including an improvement in winding soft silk, which has been introduced into a number of silk mills, and a new method of silk spooling and weighing.

The Middletown factory was constructed in the city’s South Farms area, which was undergoing considerable industrial development after the Civil War. The original building was expanded later in the nineteenth century and again in the twentieth century. L.D. Brown & Son went into receivership to wind up the company’s affairs in 1903. Several other manufacturers have occupied the building over the years and it is now home to Estate Treasures. Part of the structure was demolished in 2011, with the rest perhaps to follow at some point in the future.

Missionaries of Our Lady of LaSalette (1894)

The former seminary of the Missionaries of Our Lady of LaSalette is located at 85 New Park Avenue in Hartford, next to Our Lady of Sorrows Church. Founded in France in 1852, the Missionaries of Our Lady of LaSalette established their first North American chapter in Hartford in 1892. The seminary was built in 1894-1895 and, due to the increasing number of students, two wings were added in 1906-1907. A chapel was dedicated in 1908. In 1961, the last class graduated from the seminary in Hartford and a new seminary opened in Cheshire. The former seminary building in Hartford is now used as a retirement house for LaSalette Missionaries.

Noah Benedict House (1795)

Now converted to commercial use, the pyramidal-roofed house at 270 Main Street South in Woodbury has a sign that indicates it was built before 1795 by Rev. Noah Benedict, who was pastor of Woodbury’s Congregational Church. It was actually built by Rev. Benedict for his son, Noah Bennit Benedict. In 1830 it was willed to become a parsonage for the First Congregational Church. The house at 270 Main St S has been home to B. Bourgeois Historic Lighting since 1999.