The Greek Revival house at 55 Hayward Avenue in Colchester was built in the 1840s (perhaps 1842, the same year as the adjacent house at 63 Hayward Ave). Both houses were later owned by he Hayward family. The earliest listed owner of the house was B. Brown in 1854. The house has a twentieth-century rear addition.
As related in A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut, Volume 1 (1922), during the pastorate of Rev. Malcolm McGregor Dana at the Second Congregational Church of Norwich:
The feeling that its helpfulness to the community would be increased by removal to the suburban district near the Academy led to marked differences of opinion with the majority of his parishioners, and in 1874 Dr. Dana resigned and, with one hundred and five of his old members, formed the Park Congregational Church.
The church, built in 1874, was designed by Stephen C. Earle of Worcester in the Romanesque Revival style.
Built around 1865, the house at 33 Grove Street in Rockville in Vernon is good example of a Gothic Revival cottage. An early resident was Thomas Burt, a millwright. By the turn of the century it was the home of the widow of Patrick H. Kernan, who had operated a meat market. The house’s current front porch is a twentieth century addition.
In 1742, Jonathan Huested purchased a newly built house, on what is now Park Street in New Canaan, from Henry Inman. The house was next owned by Lt. David St. John. It was later home to the Lieutenant’s granddaughter, Hannah, who married the Congregational minister, Rev. Theophilus Smith in 1831. Her brother, Dr. Samuel St. John, was born in the house in 1813. A notable scientist, he was a professor at the Western Reserve College in Ohio and later the Cleveland Medical College. He later returned to New Canaan, serving for twenty years as Professor of Chemistry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, and lived in a house across from the old St. John House. A few months before his death, he gave a Historical Address in the Congregational Church on the Centennial, July 4, 1876. The old house remained in St. John family until it was sold to Helen M. Ashwell in 1919. The entrance was originally on the north side, but the current front door faces Park Street.
On page 44 of Bristol, Connecticut (“In the Olden Time New Cambridge”) Which Includes Forestville (1907) is a picture of the house at 523 West Street in Bristol. The description reads:
The Daniel Roberts House, on West Street. This is the Oldest House on the street, being built in 1783. Since remodelled (sic) and now known as the Seth Barnes Place.
The following page has an image of the house in 1907, showing how much the house had been altered. Today, it looks much the same and serves as the parsonage of the Bristol Calvary Church.
The house at 313 Main Street in Norwich, next to the Buckingham House, is a well-preserved example of the French Second Empire style. It was built for William H. Cardwell, a grocer, in 1880, a date that can be ascertained from the following sentence in Biographical Review Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of New London County Connecticut (1898), “The family live in the large brick residence, 313 Main Street, which was built by Mr. Cardwell eighteen years ago. As described in The Leading Business Men of Norwich and Vicinity, Embracing Greeneville and Preston (1890):
Were we asked to name half a dozen of the most prominent grocery houses in this section of the State, one of the first enterprises we would mention would be that conducted by Mr. W. H. Cardwell, for this was inaugurated fully thirty years ago and has long been looked upon as a representative undertaking of its kind, both as regards the methods employed in its management and its exceptional popularity throughout the community. The proprietor is a native of Montville, Conn., and has been identified with his present business since 1859, originally as a member of the firm of Cardwell & Tracy, later as Cardwell & Wait, and since 1883 as sole owner. He certainly needs no introduction to our Norwich readers, and his enterprising business methods have made him known by reputation at least, throughout this vicinity. The premises utilized are located at Nos. 3 to 9 Market street, and are so spacious as to admit of the carrying of an immense stock, composed of fancy and staple groceries in almost endless variety. This stock is as exceptional in quality as it is in magnitude, and it is generally conceded among consumers that goods obtained at this establishment are sure to prove entirely satisfactory. Mr. Cardwell does both a wholesale and retail business and is prepared to fill the most extensive orders without delay and at positively the lowest market rates. He employs four experienced and efficient assistants and every facility is at hand to ensure the prompt handling of goods.
His store was located in the Rockwell Building in downtown Norwich (featured in yesterday’s post). The Cardwell family owned the house into the twentieth century. Today, it is a halfway house for men run by the Southeastern Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.
The Rockwell Building is a distinctive flatiron-type structure at 97 Main Street, with storefronts facing Main and Market streets in downtown Norwich. Associated with John A. Rockwell, a lawyer who lived with his family in the Wauregan Hotel, the Rockwell Building was built around 1860 in the Romanesque Revival style. It has an impressive cast iron addition, designed by C. H. Preston in 1895. In 1890, when the building was home to the Snell Business College, it was described in The Leading Business Men of Norwich and Vicinity, Embracing Greeneville and Preston as follows: “This is a handsome building, made of Philadelphia pressed brick, with white granite casings, situated in the very heart of the city, commanding a perfect view of the harbor and the city’s principal thoroughfare.” (more…)
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