The First Church of Christ of Plainfield was established in 1705. The Town of Quinebaug, now Plainfield, had already been incorporated in 1699, although it did not yet have an established church or meeting house. The first meeting house was begun in 1702 on Black Hill and took seven years to be finished. In 1720, the church was moved to a more central position on the turnpike and that structure lasted sixty years. In 1784, a new church, half a mile to the south, was completed, but was blown down in the September gale of 1815. A new and sturdier church, constructed of stone, was completed on the same spot in 1819 and continues today as the First Congregational Church of Plainfield.
The oldest house in Chester is the Thomas Dunk House, at 16 North Main Street, now home to the Thomas Dunk House Gallery. The exact date of the house’s construction is not known, but it was built sometime between 1672, when the land was deeded to Thomas Dunk, and 1711, when his son, Jonathan Dunk, was born in the house.
This past winter, Connecticut Explored magazine featured an article about the state’s rural synagogues. One of these is Agudas Achim (United Brethren) Synagogue, at 10 Church Street in Hebron, a brick Art Deco building. The congregation had been meeting in private homes for many years, but began planning to build a synagogue in the late 1930s. A leading member of Hebron’s Jewish community, Ira Charles Turshen, offered to design and build the new synagogue. In 1924, Turshen, who was born in the province of Minsk in Russia, had bought a grain business and store in Amston, a village in Hebron. When his grain mill burned down in 1927, he rebuilt it himself using brick. The new building featured his signature trademark, a circular window. In building Agudas Achim, Turshen wanted to construct a building which would last for generations. He was willing to make up the difference for cost overruns and used recycled bricks on the synagogue’s rear and side walls. Turshen made the Star of David stained glass window on the front facade himself. The synagogue was completed in 1940 and officially dedicated in the following year.
The Torrington Library was founded on October 22, 1864, by a group of what were then Wolcottville residents, each supplying a quantity of books. It was known as the Wolcottville Library Association. Early in 1865 the library and reading room were opened to the public. During its first fifteen years it occupied rooms in the Granite Block. In 1880 it was removed to larger quarters, in the Wetmore Building, on the corner of Church and Prospect streets, subsequently called the Library Building. In 1881 it became known as the Torrington Library Association, and in 1899 it was officially incorporated as the “Torrington Library.”
The library owes its present equipment to two Torrington benefactors, Lauren Wetmore and Elisha Turner. The former, who died in 1890, gave to the public for “the establishment of a free public library and reading room,” the income from the Wetmore Building and personal property to the value of $20,000. Elisha Turner, in 1899, gave the site and present magnificent library structure to Torrington. Mr. Turner died in 1900 and willed a total, including his previous gift, of $100,000 to the association.
The dedication took place in 1901. The building is of white marble in a simple treatment of the Neo-Greek style of architecture.
Addendum: On April 13, 2012, I added the following update: The Historic Fletcher-Terry House is in danger of being demolished! I featured the house on this blog a year ago, but now its days are numbered.
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