In 1838, members of the Plymouth Congregational Church who wanted to have a church that was closer to the industrial area of Terryville formed the new Terryville Congregational Church. Clock maker Eli Terry, Sr. was a member and he donated the clock which he manufactured for the front facade of the church. The church was destroyed by fire in 1967 and the current Terryville Congregational Church, rebuilt on the same location (233 Main Street), was dedicated on October 18, 1970. (more…)
In 1846, Amos Gridley built a brick store (22 Deforest Street) next to the Congregational Church in Watertown. Gridley also built his Italianate house next door. He was accused of dubious business practices and eventually went bankrupt. Unusually for a store, the building has a colonnaded Greek portico. It was later used as a town hall and firehouse and is home to the Watertown Historical Society.
At 73 Main Street in Middletown is a house (pdf) that originally stood on William Street. It was built in 1747 for William Southmayd, who died before it was completed. His widow, Mehitable, was the house’s first occupant. It remained a residence until 1975 and was then slated for demolition. The house was saved in 1977, when it was moved to its current address and converted to serve as offices.
David Nelson Camp (1820-1916) was an educator and author who served as mayor of New Britain for two years and wrote a History of New Britain, published in 1889. He lived at 9 Camp Street, on land that had formerly been part of the Camp Farm (no known relation). In 1869 Camp constructed a building across the street, at 10 Camp Street, to serve as the New Britain Seminary (pdf). As he describes it in his history of the city:
In 1869, in response to a written request signed by a number of leading citizens, including several members of the Board of School Visitors, steps were taken for the establishment of the New Britain Seminary. A building was erected at the north end of Camp Street, designed primarily as a school for young ladies. Before it was opened, however, the applications from the parents of boys were so numerous that arrangements were also made for a boys’ department. The school was opened in April, 1870, under the charge of David N. Camp, principal, and Ellen R. Camp and Anna I. Smith, assistants. A primary department was added in the autumn, and for many years the school, kept as a boarding and day school, was full, having pupils from surrounding towns and from other States and countries, as well as from New Britain. Mr. Camp retired from the school in the autumn of 1881, and was succeeded by Lincoln A. Rogers, A.M. The seminary was continued under the charge of Mr. Rogers until the close of the summer term in 1885. In the autumn the building was occupied by departments of the model and practice schools connected with the State Normal School, and these schools have been continued in it.
Camp also mentions the Seminary in his memoir, David Nelson Camp: Recollections of a Long and Active Life (1917):
A written request signed by a number of the leading citizens of New Britain and followed by oral communications induced me to found the New Britain Seminary. Here my daughter Ellen and I taught for several years, but my health failing, I was eventually obliged to relinquish teaching. The school was continued for some years by Mr. Lincoln A. Rogers and my daughter. The plan at first contemplated only a school for young ladies, but the urgent request of parents and citizens led to modification of the arrangement of the building, and a department was opened for boys. The school was continued with marked success for several years, but the development of the model classes connected with the Normal School made it less important that this school should be continued, and it was closed. The rooms were used by the State for classes of the Model School until the annex built for them was completed and ready for occupancy.
Frank T. Simpson helped lead Connecticut’s first civil rights organization. Born in Alabama in 1907, he moved to Hartford in 1929. Active in social work, in 1944 he became the first employee of the Connecticut Inter-Racial Commission, now the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Simpson eventually became executive secretary and worked to end discrimination. In 1952, Dr. Simpson purchased a 1912-13 Tudor Revival house at 27 Keney Terrace in Hartford. He lived there until his death in 1974. The Waverly School, at 55 Waverly Street in Hartford, was renamed the Dr. Frank T. Simpson-Waverly School in his honor.
The house (pdf) at 304 Main Street in Farmington was built in 1710 and was originally the home of Simon Newell and his wife Mehitabel Bird Newell. In later years the house served as a home to farmers, a shoemaker and a wheelwright and, in the mid-twentieth century, as an antiques store. Today it is Keiler & Company, an advertizing agency. The house has been much added to over the years.
The Guilford Free Library, at 67 Park Street in Guilford, was built in 1933 on land donated by Frederick Spencer (he had originally bought the land, which was near his home, in order to move a feed, grain and coal store from the property because the noise was bothering his wife!). Architect Archer Quick designed the Colonial Revival building to fit in with the historic architecture of the neighborhood. Many residents objected to a plan to replace it with a modern building in the 1970s. An addition was later built, designed by Gilbert Switzer and John Matthew of New Haven. The entrance to the library was moved to the addition and the front stairs and door of the original building were replaced with a large window and balcony.
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