The Oliver Mather House (1777)

Colonel Oliver Mather was born in 1749 and married Jemima Elsworth, the sister of Oliver Ellsworth, in 1778. Their eldest son, also named Oliver, graduated from Yale in 1799. The Mather House, on Broad Street in Windsor, was built the year before the colonel’s marriage. Mather died in 1829 and around 1840 the house was remodeled, adding a heavy balustrade along the roof and above a square hip-roofed entry porch. In 1901, the building became the home of the Windsor Public Library (founded in 1895). Early on, the librarian lived in the house and the library was in a one-story addition to the house. Further additions have since been made and the front facade has been restored to a colonial appearance.