Historic Buildings of Connecticut - Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Southington Historical Center (1902)

In 1900, a small library opened in the Southington Town Hall, but money was soon raised to construct a library building on Main Street. Completed in 1902, this original library building is a neoclassical structure built of of glazed terra cotta brick and granite. In 1917, Emma Bradley Yeomans Newell, a wealthy philanthropist, donated money for the addition of a “historical wing” to the library. The wing, not actually built until 1930, was named the Sylvia Bradley Memorial, in honor of the wife of Amon Bradley and grandmother of the notable Southington citizen, Bradley Barnes. The Southington Historical Society, founded in the 1960s, housed its collections and met in the wing. A new library was constructed in 1974 and the old building then became a museum called the Southington Historical Center. It recently received a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain to complete renovations on the building.

200 Beacon Street, Hartford (1875)

The house at 200 Beacon Street in Hartford was built around 1875, when the earliest homes in that section of the West End of Hartford were being constructed. Two developers, Burdett Loomis and Joseph Woodruff, opened Beacon Street, between Farmington Ave and Warrenton Ave, in 1872 and the Gothic Revival-style home at no. 200 was built soon after. Bad economic conditions soon followed, so that additional houses were not built in the area until the 1890s and after. Another house, built around the same time, is the Kenyon House on nearby Kenyon Street.

Samuel Huntington House (1785)

Samuel Huntington, born in Scotland, CT, had a notable career during the Revolutionary War and after. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, he also served as the last President of the Continental Congress (1779-1781) and the first “President of the United States of America in Congress Assembled” under the Articles of Confederation in 1781. He was later the Chief Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court (1784-1785) and Governor of Connecticut (1786-1796). Buried in the Old Norwichtown Cemetery, located behind his Norwich home, Huntington was re-interred in the Samuel Huntington Tomb in 2003. There has been an effort in Norwich to create a Huntington Presidential Library. Huntington’s house, on East Town Street, was built in 1783-1785 and has been extensively modified over the years, with later Greek Revival style additions.

Columbia Congregational Church (1832)

In 1715, settlers in what is now the Town of Columbia successfully petitioned to become a second ecclesiastical society of the Town of Lebanon. Columbia became a town in 1804 and the current Columbia Congregational Church building was erected in 1832.

Wellington Macdonough House (1937)

The Wellington MacDonough House, which faces Broad Street Green in Wethersfield, is a Colonial Revival home inspired by the many Colonial structures in Wethersfield’s Historic District. It was built in 1937 on a site once occupied by the house of John Chester, which stood until 1869. The property had also been owned by Franklin Comstock, of Comstock, Ferre & Co.

Elijah Lewis House (1790)

The Elijah Lewis House was built around 1780 or 1790 by Farmington‘s master builder, Judah Woodruff. Lewis was a farmer and served as a quartermaster in the Revolutionary War. Both he and his son, Elijah Lewis, Jr., were abolitionists and the house was a station on the Underground Railroad (it is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail). In 1977, to improve the flow of traffic on Farmington Avenue, the house was moved back from the road and rotated 90 degrees, with a new address on Mountain Spring Road. The house, which is currently for sale, was also occupied by the artist, Robert B. Brandegee, who left paintings on some of the interior door panels.

North Canton Schoolhouse (1872)

The North Canton School building was built in 1872, near the North Canton Methodist Episcopal Church. It was used as a school from 1872 to 1942. Because its original location was right at a fork along Cherry Brook Road, the schoolhouse was moved in 1927 when the road was widened. It is now located on the church’s property.