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

Springville Mill, Rockville (1886)

In a 1821 a two-story wood framed mill building was constructed on the future site of the Springville Mill, 155 West Main Street in Rockville, Vernon. As related in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties (1903):

A mill-wheel was at once erected, and from the beginning the plant was devoted to the manufacture of satinets. In 1826 it had become the property of Augustus Grant and Warren McKinney, the former (Grant) having a two-thirds, the latter, a one-third interest, the firm style being Grant & McKinney. On Aug. 21, 1826, Warren McKinney bought one-third of his partner’s interest, and on Aug. 3, 1827, the remainder of that interest, becoming sole proprietor. On March 20, 1832. he sold the property to David McKinney and Rufus S. Abbev. On July 4th, following, they sold to Alonzo Bailey, Chauncey Winchell, Christopher Burdick and Isaac L. Sanford.

These partners organized the Springville Manufacturing Company in 1833. Chauncey Winchell served as president of the company for 52 years. In 1886 the company was purchased by George Maxwell and George Sykes, who replaced the old wooden mill with a four-story brick building devoted to the manufacture of fine worsted wool. The new mill, which had large windows, gas and electric lighting and automatic sprinklers, was considered to be a model manufacturing building for its time. The Springville Manufacturing Company later merged with three other mills to form the Hockanum Company Mills Company, which constructed an addition to the Springville Mill offices in 1909. As related in “Centennial of Vernon,” by Harry Conklin Smith, which appeared in The Connecticut Magazine, Vol. XII, No. 2, (1908):

To show the great reputation of the goods produced in the factories of the Hockanum Mills Company, it may be said that they have made suits to be worn at the inauguration by three different presidents of the United States The Springville Company, having made the suit worn by President Harrison, the Hockanum, President McKinley’s, and the Springville Company, President Roosevelt’s.

In 1934, the Hockanum Mills Company’s holdings were sold to M.T. Stevens and Sons of North Andover, Massachusetts. The Springville Mill ceased its manufacturing operations in 1951 and the building has since been converted into apartments.

Jewett City Baptist Church (1841)

The earliest Baptist Church in what would become Jewett City was established in 1786. It met in the house of Amos Read in Lisbon and was known as the Preston and Canterbury Baptist Church. As related in the History of New London County (1882), compiled by D. Hamilton Hurd,

They united with the school district in building a school-house sufficiently large for meeting purposes. This house stood on the site of the old “Fenner store.” In 1813 they united with the Episcopalians in building a regular house of worship. They now numbered 162, and had as a pastor Rev. Caleb Read, a son of their former pastor. A majority of the stock in this house was bought up by a single individual and the house closed against them.

As explained in the Jewett City Souvenir (1896)

The church building was allowed to pass into other hands, and the Baptists were compelled to betake themselves to the school-house which they had previously occupied and which they had helped to build. Soon they lost this place of worship and then followed their extinction.

Again as related in the History of New London County (1882):

In the spring of 1840, Rev. Benajah Cook came among them to labor. He found the church disorganized and dispirited. However, he succeeded in gathering a band of thirty-seven, who on Sept. 13, 1840, were organized into what is still known as the Jewett City Baptist Church. They elected Reuben Barber and Rufus Williams to be deacons. They built and dedicated a house of worship Nov. 30, 1841. This same house, twice enlarged and remodeled, is still used. Its estimated value, with its surroundings, is eleven thousand dollars.

The church appears to have since lost the upper section of its steeple.

Pinney Tavern (1826)

The Pinney Tavern, located at 7 Robertsville Road in Riverton, Barkhamsted, is a Federal-style residence, which served for a time as a tavern and inn. Built in 1828, it was originally the home of D.C.Y. Moore (Marquis De Casso Y Rujo Moore), a physician and son of Apollos Moore. One of several brick houses built in Riverton for members of the Moore family, the house was later given by Apollos Moore to his daughter Nancy (1798-1889), who married Rueben Pinney (for whom the tavern was named). Their daughter, Jeanette, married Charles Miller Coe and the house was later home to their son, Leon Apollos Coe, a mechanic who resided in Riverton after 1890.

Zaccharias Walker House (1691)

A sign on the house at 337 Main Street South in Woodbury reads “Built by Zaccharias Walker 1691.” Also known as Zechariah or Zachary Walker, Rev. Zaccharias Walker led a group of religious dissidents from the church in Statford to found the town of Woodbury in 1673. He became the new town’s first Congregational minister. The house was probably built for Rev. Walker’s son, also named Zaccharias (Deacon Zachariah Walker). Born in Statford in 1670, he married Elizabeth Miner around 1689/1690, about a year before the house was built.

Stephen Spencer House (1754)

Built in 1754, the house at 43 Park Street in Guilford was originally home to Stephen Spencer, a blacksmith who had his forge on the south side of the house. In the 1840s and 1850s an upstairs room was rented for use as a schoolroom. In the 1870s, the south wing of the house was added by owner Daniel Auger. Elias Bates bought the house in 1894 and it remained in the Bates-Burton family for over a century.

Rev. Andrew Storrs House (1766)

Rev. Andrew Storrs was the second minister of the Plymouth Congregational Church. He built a house on the Green (4 Park Street), c. 1764-1766, where he lived during his pastorate of twenty years (he died in 1785). In front of the house, which once had a center chimney, is a sycamore tree that was planted by Rev. Storrs. The property also includes a large nineteenth-century barn. In 1853, Rev. Isaac Warren founded the Hart Female Seminary, which was located in the Storrs House and remained in operation until 1857. A wing, which Rev. Warren had added for the school, was later detached from the house to become a private residence (2 Park Street), serving as the Congregational parsonage after 1865. (more…)

Henry K. Terry House (1850)

The Henry K. Terry House, at 14 North Street in Plymouth, is a Greek Revival house with a particularly broad entablature. Henry K. Terry was a grandson of clockmaker Eli Terry. Later owned by the Taylor family, the house was a station on the Underground Railroad and had tunnel leading from the cellar to an outbuilding. The house has a later Colonial Revival front porch.