Portersville Academy (1839)

Portersville Academy

Portersville Academy in Mystic was built in 1839 by the Town of Groton as its Fifth District School. Mystic was then called Portersville. It was constructed by Amos Clift (1808-1878), a local builder who also built many homes in Mystic Bridge. Originally located north of the Union Baptist Church on High Street, the building was moved in 1887 to its current address at 76 High Street, where it served as Mystic’s First Voting Hall until 1958. Portersville Academy was acquired and restored by the Mystic River Historical Society in 1975-1978. It is now open to the public as a museum.

First United Methodist Church of Thomaston (1866)

First United Methodist Church of Thomaston

Methodism in Thomaston goes back to 1818, with the first congregation being formed in 1820. The first Methodist church building was a former Episcopal church, built in 1790. After the Civil War, with the aid of Aaron Thomas, president of the Seth Thomas Clock Company, and of his mother, Mrs. Seth Thomas, the current First United Methodist Church was constructed on land donated by Aaron Thomas. The cornerstone of the church was laid on June 11, 1866.

Stoughton Building (1840)

Stoughton Building

Facing Plymouth Green and adjacent to the Plymouth Congregational Church is the Stoughton Building. I don’t know what its original purpose was, but it was built circa 1840 and once stood on the east side of North Street, about where St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (now the First Baptist Church) was later built. It is said that the building was moved to its current location in the 1890s under cover of darkness to avoid trouble with those who had opposed moving it. The Stoughton building’s bell tower, gable fanlight, and south wing are later additions. The building is used as an annex to the Plymouth Congregational Church.

Pump House (1947)

Pump House, Hartford

At 60 Elm Street in Hartford, adjoining Bushnell Park, is a building known as the Pump House. A pumping station, it is part of the Connecticut River Flood Control Project, which helps the now underground Park River‘s waters reach the Connecticut River. The Pump House was constructed in 1947 by the Army Corps of Engineers using stones salvaged from bridges that once crossed the Park River. Today the Pump House also contains a public art gallery.

H.D. Smith and Company Office (1882)

H. D. Smith & Co.

H.D. Smith & Company, manufacturer of drop forged tools in Southington, began in the 1850’s as a supplier to New Haven area carriage makers. Originally based in Meriden, H.D. Smith soon constructed a factory on West Street in the Southington village of Plantsville. It was one of several factories there that were powered by the Eight Mile River. The company was famous for its “Perfect Handle” tools. Production later shifted to bicycle parts and then to tool kits for automobiles. The original wooden factory buildings were destroyed by fire in 1910 and replaced in 1911 with a new structure of steel and brick, designed by Charles H. Palmer of Meriden. Adjacent to the factory, at 24 West Street, is the company’s former office building, constructed in 1882.

Abraham Coan House (1808)

Abraham Coen House

Abraham Coan, a Guilford builder-architect, built his house at 29 Broad Street on the foundation of the earlier Chittenden House. Its design was influenced by the work of builder-architect Peter Banner, who was designing the house of Yale’s president and other buildings on the Yale campus at the time. Banner later designed the Park Street Church in Boston. Coan had a joiner’s shop near his home. The house was purchased by Simon Chittenden in 1857 and named “Mapleside.” The entrance was then moved from the front to the west side of the house.