The name William Wallace conjures up images of the movie Braveheart. Wallingford also had a William Wallace, and a building downtown is named for him. Not the Scottish patriot who fought Edward I of England, Wallingford’s Wallace was a real estate developer, possibly related to the Wallcaces who started the Wallace Silver Company. In the second half of the nineteenth century, North Main Street north of Center Street was being developed as a commercial center. The William Wallace Block, at 33 North Main Street, was one of the first of the new commercial buildings to be constructed there in 1857. The Italianate structure is impressively large for its early date. It has high stoops and a high first floor allowing basement shop windows, a feature typically found in more urban areas at the time. It remains the largest commercial structure in the Wallingford Center Historic District today.
William Wallace, one of 10 children of James Wallace Jr. of Prospect, CT., was the brother of Robert Wallace of R. Wallace Sterling Co.