First Church of Christ, Congregational, Glastonbury (1939)

First Church of Christ, Congregational, Glastonbury

The First Church of Christ, Congregational in Glastonbury has had five church buildings since it was established in the 1690s. As related in Vol. 2 of the Memorial History of Hartford County (1886), the first meeting house was erected on the Green in 1693:

It was enlarged in 1706, and stood until destroyed by fire on the night of Dec. 9, 1734. The second meeting-house, by compromise between the north and south, and by the decision of the General Court, was erected on the main street, about one fourth of a mile south of the Green, standing half in the street, just north of the old Moseley tavern. […] It was used as a church for more than a century, having been built in 1735. On the division of the society in 1836, by the establishment of the society at South Glastonbury, it was abandoned as a meeting-house, and during the year 1837 was demolished. […] By the division of the First Society in 1836, and the dilapidation of its ancient edifice, a new meeting-house became a necessity for the mother organization, and it was so voted in society’s meeting January 17, 1837. This was located farther to the north, on land which in 1640 was owned by the Rev. Henry Smith, the first settled minister of Wethersfield (from 1641 to 1648), and later (in 1684) by Samuel Hale, the ancestor of the Hale family. It was built in 1837, under the supervision of David Hubbard, Josiah B. Holmes, George Plummer, Benjamin Hale, and Ralph Carter, as a building committee. It was a very tasteful edifice, with tower, bell, and clock, especially attractive after its enlargement and thorough repair in 1858, which made it a most fitting and beautiful sanctuary. It was burned on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 23, 1866. The church which takes its place was erected in the year following, and with its graceful spire (rebuilt in 1880) forms a prominent object in the views of the valley.

This last church was destroyed in the hurricane of 1938, when the steeple crashed down into the sanctuary. The current church was built the following year on the same site.

Enfield Public Library, Pearl Street Branch (1914)

Carnegie Library, Enfield, Connecticut

Industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of thousands of libraries in North America, Europe and Oceania, including the one at 159 Pearl Street in Enfield. Carnegie provided $20,000 for the library, which covered the land, construction and furnishings. John Pickens, who successfully petitioned Carnegie for the funds in 1910, at first faced resistance from the town, which feared the library would be a burden. Pickens persevered and the library opened on May 5, 1914. The building later became a branch library after a new Enfield Center Library was built in 1967. Interestingly, there is also a Carnegie Library in the London Borough of Enfield.

Boston Street School (1906)

Boston Street School, Guilford

The former Boston Street School, at 103 Boston Street in Guilford was constructed in 1905-1906. It was designed by architect Charles A Willard. The builder was George W. Seward. The hip-roofed building’s trim and stickwork were originally painted a different color which made them stand out more. There was also a different gable-roofed front porch which has since been removed. By the 1940s the school had closed, although it reopened briefly when local schools became crowded after World War II. It was later the office of architect Victor Lundy and in 1984-1985 was converted into three condominiums.

Hartford Office Supply Company (1890)

Hartford Office Supply Company Building

One of several old factory buildings that survive on Capitol Avenue in Hartford is located at 376-400 Capitol Avenue, at the corner of Flower Street. The building was originally constructed around 1890 as part of the Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool Company, which already had factories across the Park River. The new building was part of the company’s Small Tool Division, which had its address at 285 Flower Street. The structure went through many alterations of the years and additions were made in 1899, 1902 (by Wilson & Bros. of Philadelphia) and 1916 (by Harris & Richards of Philadelphia). The building was later home to the Hartford Office Supply Company and is still known by that name. Plans in recent years to redevelop the vacant property for condominiums have not worked out and the building has been in foreclosure.

Catharine M. North House (1780)

901 Worthington Ridge, Berlin

The house at 901 Worthington Ridge in Berlin was built circa 1780. It was later the home of Catharine North (1840-1914), a local historian whose History of Berlin, Connecticut was published in 1916. She was the great granddaughter of Simeon North, an early American pistol manufacturer. According to an obituary, reprinted in the Forward to her posthumously published history of Berlin:

Catharine Melinda North, daughter of Deacon Alfred North and Mary Olive Wilcox, was born March 1, 1840, and, with the exception of one year in girlhood, spent her whole life in Berlin, Conn. She was educated in the Curtis School in Hartford, studied in the Boston Conservatory, and taught music for a long time in her home town. “Following the example of her father, whom she so greatly loved and reverenced, she lived his daily prayer, ‘filling up each day with duty and usefulness.'” She interested herself in every good cause, and especially in the work of the Second Congregational Church of Berlin of which she was a member. In the Sunday school, both as pupil and teacher; in the missionary work of the church; and more particularly in the church music, her cooperation was of the utmost importance. At one time she assisted the choir with her truly cultivated and musical contralto voice, and then for years, she led, as organist, the worship of the church. During the declining years of her father, Miss North assisted him in his duties as town clerk, and after his death she gave up her music and continued as agent for the fire insurance companies which he had represented. Her historical work falls in the last quarter of her life, and her notes seem to show that she was working on the history of East Berlin and Beckley Quarter, paying considerable attention to the Bowers family, when a stroke of apoplexy ended her work, July 8, 1914.

Miss North was a director in the Berlin Library Association and a member of the Emma Hart Willard chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. While organist of the Berlin church, she turned over the remuneration she received to the Library Association to be used as a fund. One of her former pupils characterized her as a “truly educated” woman, “fond of study,” and whose influence was to teach others. In her research work, she often sat up until the “dawn o’ day,” pondering on historical problems, and it is thought that this may have reduced her physical vitality enough to shorten her career. She possessed, also, a considerable knowledge of botany and had a “genuine love for a flower.” (more…)

Capitol Theater, Middletown (1926)

Former Capitol Theater

The Capitol Theater, at 350 (354) Main Street in Middletown, was opened in 1926 by two Italian-immigrant brothers, Alessandro and Salvatore Sareceno. The theater originally presented vaudeville and silent films, later becoming a movie theater. By the early 1930s, the theatre was being run by Salvatore Adorno, also an Italian immigrant, who had built the Grand Theater (later called the Palace Theater), located next door on Main Street, in 1915 and was leasing both the nearby Capitol and Middlesex theaters. The Capitol closed in 1975 and the lobby was converted to become a liquor store. The Palace Theater was demolished in 1980 to be replaced by the Middletown Transit Authority bus station. The 1892 Middlesex Theater was demolished in 1984, but the lobby was saved and is now home to the Tuscany Grill restaurant. Over the years the Capitol Theater became dilapidated. Its interior ornamentation had been removed and holes in the roof left the interior exposed to the elements. Trees were also growing on the roof! The building was declared unsafe by the city in 2009 and was finally demolished late in 2011. Today only the former lobby facing Main Street remains.