Willimantic Linen Company, Mill No. 2 (1864)

The second major building constructed by the Willimantic Linen Company was Mill No. 2, completed in 1864. The company, founded by Austin Dunham (1805-1877) and Lawson Ives (1804-1867) in 1854, had erected its first mill building in 1857. Like that earlier structure, Mill No. 2 was constructed of gneiss by builder Nathaniel Olin. He had already built a dam for the new mill the previous year. Anticipating the effects of the coming Civil War, Dunham and Ives had started stockpiling raw cotton in the 1850s and were later able to use the proceeds from the sale of cotton thread during the war to erect Mill No. 2, as well as worker housing. In 1872, dormer windows were added to the mill to urn the attic into a usable workspace. These windows were removed after they were damaged in the Hurricane of 1938. More buildings would be added to the mill complex over the years, with several structures being connected to Mill No. 2: the Dye House on the west and the Wheel House and Machine Shop on the south were built in 1864. The Store House & Inspection Building was built on the east side in 1872. The Bleachery (later also called the Dye House) was attached on the west side of the 1864 Dye House in 1883. The result was an extended façade of connected mill buildings that extends over 700 feet. In 1898 the mills were taken over by the American Thread Company. Mill operations ceased in 1895. The complex, located at 322 Main Street in Willimantic, has been redeveloped as the Windham Mills Business Center.

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Willimantic Linen Company, Mill No. 1 (1857)

The Willimantic Linen Company was founded in 1854 by Austin Dunham (1805-1877) and Lawson Ives (1804-1867). The company acquired the old Jillson cotton mill in Willimantic with the intention of producing linen, but soon switched exclusively to cotton manufacturing. In 1857, the company erected its first mill building north of the Willimantic River, at the current address of 480 Main Street. Later known as Mill No. 1, it was constructed of locally quarried gneiss by builder was Nathaniel Olin. That same year the company erected an accompanying dam and a stone arch bridge, known as the Windham Road Bridge, on the east side of the mill. Built by Lyman Jordan and Nathaniel Olin, the bridge is now Windham Garden on the Bridge, part of Windham Mills State Heritage Park. The mill building was expanded with an addition on the west side in 1878. The company would expand over the years into a mill complex of many buildings, which were eventually taken under over by the American Thread Company in 1898. Textile production came to an end in 1985. The former Mill No. 1 was converted c. 2003 to become ArtSpace, a housing facility with a community art gallery. The building’s dormer windows were removed at that time.

Venetian Restaurant (1898)

The Venetian Restaurant has been a landmark at 52 East Main Street in Torrington for nearly a century. The rear wood-frame section of the building dates to 1844 and was erected as a store and residence. The front portion, with its Neoclassical façade, was built in 1898 by two German immigrants, William Witzke and Oscar Stoeckert, who opened a saloon in the building. An Italian restaurant opened in 1921 named Charles and Antoinette for its owners, Charles and Antoinette Finello Giampaolo. In 1925 they renamed it The Venetian. In 1931, the building was remodeled with the addition of a neon sign, art deco glass block windows and interior murals of Venice. In 1970, the Giampaolo family sold the restaurant to Michael and Fiorita DiLullo, who are only the second owners in The Venetian’s ninety-eight-year history.

Leonard Kenney House (1829)

In 1829 Leonard Kenney purchased a parcel of the 1728/29 grant to the heirs of John Stoddard, one of the original proprietors of Litchfield. Soon thereafter he erected the house with the current address of 1083 Bantam Road (Route 202) in Litchfield. Leonard Kenney may be the same Leonard Kenney/Kinney who was postmaster for Bantam Falls. The house remained in the Kenney Family until 1881. It was later the home of Merritt Clarke, who sold dry goods and expanded the rear of the house for his business. Begun in 1923, Merritt Clarke’s Store is still in operation today in the house next door, at 1101 Bantam Road.

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Tibbals Brothers Store (1871)

At the corner of Depot Hill Road and Old Middletown Road in the village of Cobalt in East Hampton is a building erected as a store about 1871. The Mansard-roofed structure was built by three brothers, Russell E., James N. and Rufus D. Tibbals, whose family had owned a store in the area since the late 1840s. The new store, which also contained the Cobalt Post Office, may have been built to take advantage of the opening in 1873 of “The Air Line” railroad, which had a station in Cobalt. The Tibbals also owned factories that manufactured oakum (used for caulking wooden ships), a businesses started by their father, Thaddeus, in 1828. The brothers initially leased the store building to Charles A. Bailey and Francis Kinner, who sold groceries and dry goods. In the early twentieth century, the store was owned and operated by Arthur S. Bailey. After 1940, the building was converted from commercial use into a private residence.

Savings Bank of Danbury (1908)

The Beaux Arts building at 220 Main Street in Danbury, one of a row of three bank buildings, was erected in 1908-1909 as the headquarters of the Savings Bank of Danbury. It was designed by Danbury architect Philip Sunderland. The origin of the bank, which was founded by George White Ives, the grandfather of composer Charles Ives, is described in James Montgomery Bailey’s History of Danbury (1896):

Nearly a half century ago, when Danbury had no electric lights, no pavements, no street railway, but was a pretty town with grand old trees and beautiful gardens, one of her venerated citizens, Horace Bull, suggested to George W. Ives that a savings bank would be a blessing to many of the town people. To one so keenly alive to the interests of Danbury and of his fellow-citizens the suggestion had but to be made to be acted upon, and the Savings Bank of Danbury, chartered in 1849, commenced business on June 29th of that year [. . . .]

Notice was duly given that deposits would be received at the house of the Treasurer from 2 P.m. to 5 P.m. on Saturday of each week.

The old Ives homestead, so well known and so full of pleasant memories, thus became the cradle of the first savings bank. A desk in the dining-room was the safe, and in the absence of the Treasurer Mrs. Ives received deposits and attended to the business of the bank. After a time it seemed necessary to have a building and a safe, and Mr. Ives built at his own expense the little building, still standing in the corner of the dooryard of his old homestead, and the savings bank had a “habitation” as well as a “name.” From this small beginning the assets of the bank have increased to the sum of $2,869,922 on March 30th, 1895.

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