Roswell Moore II House (1787)

Roswell Moore II House

Built around 1787, the house at 1166 Andrews Street in Southington was originally the home of Roswell Moore II (1761-1847). Known as Squire Moore, he married Lovina Phillips (1769-1843) in 1787 and they had twelve children. Roswell Moore, Esq. was a manufacturer of water-cement for more than 30 years, and of linseed oil and was also a large landowner. He served as Justice of the Peace and was a member of the state legislature for fourteen years. An interesting item appears in Resolves and Private Laws of the State of Connecticut from the Year 1789 to the Year 1836, Vol. III (1836). It reads:

RESOLVE ANNEXING ROSWELL MOORE AND HIS FARM TO THE TOWN OF SOUTHINGTON PASSED, MAY 1797.

Upon the petition of Roswell Moore, shewing that the dividing line between the towns of Southington and Berlin passes through his house and farm.

Resolved by this Assembly, That the said farm described in said petition as lying in the town of Berlin, be, and the same is hereby annexed to the town of Southington,” and that the petitioner be considered hereafter an inhabitant of said town of Southington, and as such entitled to all the privileges of an inhabitant thereof and liable to pay taxes therein.

After Rosewell Moore’s death, his son, Eli Moore (1801-1870), a farmer and cement manufacturer, lived in the house. Eli Moore was also a captain in the Southington Light Infantry Company. An article by Eli Moore, entitled “The Black Birch vs. the Tulip Tree,” appeared in The Horticulturalist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste, Vol. III, in 1853. The house was later sold to Dwight Smith (1847-1926).

Mount St. John School (1908)

Mt St John

St. John’s Industrial School, a Catholic residential school for boys in need of care, was established in Hartford in 1904. An impressive new building for the school, overlooking the Connecticut River, was built in Deep River in 1907-1908. The school was staffed by the Xaverian Brothers, a worldwide teaching congregation, until 1919. An orphanage for boys in Hartford, run Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery, moved to the site in Deep River and the Sisters of St. Joseph administered the home and school until 1958. Over the years, many additions were made to the facility, which evolved into a Home and School for Boys. The residential program closed in June 2013 and in September The Academy at Mount Saint John (135 Kirtland Street, Deep River) reopened as a Clinical Day School.

Music Vale Seminary Barn (1849)

Music Vale Seminary Barn

In the nineteenth century, Salem was home to what is considered to be the first music conservatory (the first degree-granting school of music, or at least music teaching certificate-granting school) in the United States. Founded around 1835 by Orramel Whittlesey, son of the local Methodist minister Rev. John Whittlesey, the school was first called Mr. Whittlesey’s School, later the Salem Normal Academy of Music, and eventually the Music Vale Seminary. Young women from all over the country came to attend the school. After its original rambling classroom building burned down in 1868, it was replaced by an elaborate Italianate structure. The school closed soon after Whittlesey’s death in 1876 and the main building was destroyed by fire in 1897. The school’s large barn, built c. 1849, does survive. It is typical of an “English barn,” a type also called a side-entry or eave entry barn, a “thirty by forty” (based on its dimensions), a “Yankee barn” or a “Connecticut Barn.” The school‘s farm played an important role for the institution, supplying animals and crops. The Bodman family later owned the Music Vale property and donated much of it to the Salem Land Trust. The barn is now part of what is known as Music Vale Farm. (more…)