Amos Strong House (1805)

Possible dates for the construction of the house at 17 Church Street in Hebron include 1797, 1805, 1811 and 1815. The house is listed on the website of the Hebron Historic Properties Commission with the latter date and John Graves as the builder. The website also indicates that the owner of the house dated it to 1805 and attributed the building to Amos Strong, who owned a brick kiln. Strong sold the house in 1818 and it passed through many different owners during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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Benanuel Bonfoey House (1808)

According to Portrait of a River Town: The History and Architecture of Haddam, Connecticut (2nd edition, 2001), by Janice P. Cunningham and Elizabeth A. Warner (p.194), the family of Benanuel Bonfoey (1755-1825) is thought to have come to Haddam after the expulsion of the Acadians from the Maritime Provinces of Canada by the British in 1755. Alternatively, one genealogical website indicates that Bonefoy’s father, Benanuel Bonfoey I, was born in Massachusetts in 1731 (or 1720) and served in the French and Indian War. His son, Benanuel Bonfoey II, was born in Haddam in 1755 and married Concurrence Smith (1759-1849) in 1779. Bonfoey was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, serving during the battles in New York state. As related in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Middlesex County, Connecticut (1903):

Benanuel Bonfoey often referred to the of the soldiers at Valley Forge so remarkable in the annals of that great war. He referred with pride to the fact of Gen. Washington’s concern for and care of his men and that he was like a father to the soldiers, cheering or inspiring them with hope as best could

After the war, Bonfoey built the house at 15 Jacoby Road in Haddam. Further west on the road are houses built by his wife’s relatives, members of the Smith family. After his death in 1825, the house was inherited by his son, Benanuel Bonfoey (1802-1894). The Commemorative Biographical Record of Middlesex County describes the construction of the house:

He built the house on Candlewood Hill in which his son, Benanuel, spent his long and useful life, dying at the age of ninety-two; this house is still standing and in use, serving to illustrate the stability with which the old time houses were constructed. When this Bonfoey homestead was built, the solid chimney was first erected, and then after the chimney was completed the house was built around it. The chimney was erected in 1804 and the house in 1808.

Sarah E. Conklin House (1890)

At 7 Walnut Street in Ivoryton is a large Victorian house situated on a hill adjacent to the Falls River. It was erected in 1890 for Sarah E. Conklin. In 1898 it was purchased by Fred J. A. Miller, an overseer at Comstock, Cheney & Co. He also served as a deputy sheriff. His son, Fred W. A. Miller, attended Brown University. After graduation, he served in the Army in World War One and died of pneumonia in France in 1918. The house was inherited in 1919 by the elder Miller’s widow, Edith, and daughter, Pearl Shupp and remained in the Miller family until 1961. To read more about the house, see Houses of Essex Volume II, by Donald Malcarne (p. 159).

Tryon House (1800)

The house at 78 Ferry Lane in Glastonbury, near the Connecticut River, was built c. 1800 (with a much later rear addition). It is traditionally thought to have been a home of the Tryon family and it has been speculated that it might have been the home of Thomas Tryon, a ship’s carpenter, who is known to have lived in the neighborhood. He was master carpenter for the sloop Mary, built at a nearby shipyard in 1808.

Sadosa Barber House (1840)

172 Barbourtown Road, Canton

The oldest section of the house at 172 Barbourtown Road in Canton is the ell, which was part of a house built in 1803 by Reuben Barber (1751-1825) for his son Sadosa Barber (1781-1860). That house stood south of the current house, which according to assessor’s records was built in 1840. Sadosa attached the ell to the current house in 1856. His son Henry M. Barber (1832-1929) also lived in the house, which remained in the family for many years.

Hartford Hospital: Brownstone Building (1923)

One of the older buildings on the campus of Hartford Hospital is the Brownstone Building, located at 79 Retreat Avenue. It opened in November, 1923 as the hospital’s Women’s Building, with a focus on maternity care. It was designed by Carl J. Malmfeldt of Hartford and was the subject of an article, “The Women’s Building of the Hartford Hospital, Hartford Conn.” by L. A. Sexton, MD, that appeared in Modern Hospital, Vol. XXII, No. 5 (May, 1924). The builders were the R. F. Jones Company and its construction was the last time that stone was used from the famed brownstone quarries in Portland. Along the sidewalk next to the building is a fence with a cast iron gate that features the symbol of the Caduceus and the letters “HH.” The building has housed various departments of the hospital over the years, currently being home to the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic and the Department of Dentistry. Long known as the Brownstone Ambulatory Care Services Building, it formerly housed the outpatient Brownstone Clinic, which recently moved to a new space on Jefferson Avenue and is now called Hartford Hospital Community Health.

Milo Hunt House (1790)

Today is the thirteenth anniversary of this website!

And this is the site’s 4,300th post of a Connecticut building!

Pictured above is the house at 782 Bantam Road (Route 202) in the Bantam section of Litchfield. It dates to 1790, with later additions. A sign on the side of the house attributes it to Milo Hunt (perhaps the Milo Hunt born in 1765?). In the Historical and Architectural Resources Survey for the Bantam/Milton area, done in 1987, the building is listed as the Benjamin Johnson House because Johnson (possibly the Benjamin Johnson who lived from 1763 to 1829?) owned the property from 1786 to 1790. The next owners were the Hunt family, followed by the Catlin, Munger, Wilmot and Stone families. In 1877 it was acquired by Edith Flynn, wife of Charles Flynn, a carriage-maker who was in a partnership with William Doyle. As related in The History of the Town of Litchfield, Connecticut, 1720-1920 (1920), by Alain C. White:

In 1876, C. F. Flynn and William Doyle formed the firm of Flynn and Doyle, took over the business of the earlier Litchfield Carriage Company, and, until 1911, carried on an extensive manufacture of carriages, wagons and sleighs, reaching in some years an output of $40,000. Their products were of a high standard and their market extended far beyond the state. In 1911, the Company was merged into the Flynn and Doyle Co., which was continued until the death of Mr. Flynn. Mr. Doyle carried on the business for another year, until 1918, when it was discontinued. In April, 1919, the factory was taken over by the Bantam Auto Repair Station.

Doyle bought the house from the Flynns in 1920 and it remained in his family until 1987. The house is now occupied by a law firm.