A rare example in Connecticut of an eighteenth century stone house is located at 30 Lawton Road in Canton. The gambrel-roofed house, initially used as a tavern, was erected in 1786 by Dan Case (1761-1815). He was the son of Lt. Dudley Case, who the first proprietor of what would become known as the Hosford Tavern. Dan Case later moved to Ohio. The house has an arched third-floor hall. From 1797 to 1799, Masonic meetings were held there by Village Lodge No. 29.
The house at 35 Main Street in Essex was originally built in the late eighteenth century with a gambrel roof. It was enlarged before 1810 by builder Thomas Millard, likely for the newlyweds, Nathaniel Wilson and Temperance Lay.
On Sherman Street in Hartford are a pair of French Second Empire-style houses with mansard roofs and corner towers. They were erected by John R. Hills, a stonemason and builder (who also worked with contractor John B. Garvie to build the Mark Twain House), and William Blevins, a stone dealer. One of the houses, built in 1877, is at 21 Sherman Street. The other, pictured above, is at 25 Sherman Street. It was built in 1878 and its first resident was Nathan A. Bosworth, a plumber and steamfitter who was a partner in the company Embler and Bosworth and had served in the Civil War.
The former Torrington Fire Department Headquarters building is a two-story brick structure with a corner bell tower. Located at 117 Water Street, the building was designed by Charles S. Palmer in the Romanesque Revival style and was erected by Hotchkiss Brothers & Company. It was completed in February 1901, with a one-story rear addition, providing work areas for mechanics, constructed about 1905. The building replaced an earlier wood frame firehouse on the site that was moved back to make way for the new structure (it was later removed from the property entirely). Wired for electricity, the building had a number of innovative features, including an alarm system that automatically released the horses from their stalls and lowered a harness suspended from the ceiling. The 1901 building served as a firehouse until 1980. The current Fire Department Headquarters is located just next door, at 111 Water Street.
The village of Yantic developed as an industrial area in Norwich in the first half of the nineteenth century. Textile manufacturing began in 1818 with the construction of cotton mills. These were acquired in 1824 by sea captain Ersastus Williams, who installed machinery to produce woolens. In 1865, his son, E. Winslow Williams, took charge of the mills, which would become known as the Yantic Woolen Company. That same year, a fire destroyed the original mills and Williams replaced them with the present stone mill building. The company was placed in receivership in 1913 and the mill would continue to operate under a number of successive owners until 1988. The building is often called the Hale Mill because the last company to use it was the Hale Manufacturing Company, which produced yarn for automobile upholstery fabric. Since 1995, plans to convert the former mill into a hotel were long delayed by financial difficulties and foreclosure. Last year, the building was acquired by a new developer, who received permission to proceed with the project from the Historic District Commission.
At 48 Main Street in Middletown, just south of the Inn at Middletown, is a center-chimney colonial house built in 1753. In that year, Constant Kirtland sold the property with a partially erected house to Charles Boardman, who completed and first occupied the structure. It was next acquired by Charles Chadwick in 1758. Chadwick erected the barn that still stands behind the house. Deacon Joseph Clark bought the property in 1762 and operated an apothecary in the building. The building continued to be used for mixed commercial/residential purposes for over a century. In the late 1970s the house was restored and adapted for new commercial use as part of a redevelopment planned by preservationist John F. Reynolds III (which included the relocation and restoration of the houses now at 49, 61 and 73 Main Street).
A.C. Petersen Farms is a landmark restaurant and creamery at 240 Park Road in West Hartford. The company‘s origins go back to 1914, when Andrew C. Petersen, a Danish immigrant, purchased several milk delivery routes. He soon expanded his business, acquiring the property on Park Road, where he produced milk and ice cream. In 1939, Petersen moved two houses on the site to nearby Washington Circle to make way for the present ice cream parlor and restaurant. Over the years, A.C. Petersen’s would grow as a business to have thirteen locations in the greater Hartford area. These would eventually close, leaving only the original with the Petersen’s name. In 2000, Andrew C. Petersen’s grandson sold the restaurant part of the business to the Rhode Island-based restaurant chain, Newport Creamery, while a group of local businessmen acquired the ice cream plant and continue to produce Petersen’s ice cream. Two years later, the restaurant was acquired by Catherine Denton, who had been A.C. Petersen’s longtime accountant. In 2013, the company acquired a second location in Old Lyme. In 2016, MSN named Petersen’s milkshake the best in Connecticut.
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