Connecticut Real Estate History

08/30/2026

Windham Town Hall, Windham, Connecticut:

At 979 Main Street in Willimantic stands the 1896 city hall and Windham County Courthouse. The mill village of Willimantic became a city in 1893 after a major textile boom, but it was still within the Town of Windham. Officials commissioned this hall to prove Thread City deserved a county seat. (It is not the 1833 Town House on the Village Green in Windham Center.)

The Windham Town Hall project totaled $73,000, about $2.5 million today. The walls were constructed of 1.25 million bricks trimmed in Philadelphia pressed brick. The first story is rusticated Portland brownstone. Munson granite paves the porch. Copper from Waterbury covers the vintage clock tower. Many interior spaces are finished in wood from cypress trees.

Warren Richard Briggs of Bridgeport served as architect. He trained in Paris and designed Fairfield County courthouses in Bridgeport and Danbury. Jeremiah O’Sullivan was the contractor. The brick structure is Romanesque Revival style, while the clock tower is late Victorian. Weather turned the copper green and the patina was never painted.

Daniel Chester French designed two bronze bullfrogs for the lawn and later sculpted Lincoln for the Memorial. The committee refused the frogs. James E. Hayden offered a Howard Clock Company clock with four illuminated dials if the town bought a 2,000 pound bell. Sarah Martin Hayden started the hands on June 22, 1896, the first public clock in the city. That night the dials were lit by electric light from six until midnight. The movement sat idle for years but was repaired in 2025.

President William Howard Taft first appeared in Willimantic on June 24, 1915, during Old Home and Old School Week. The Hartford Courant called it the biggest day the city and town had ever had. He spoke at Recreation Park on the education of the electorate. The parade passed the courthouse on Main Street.

When the city of Willimantic was dissolved on July 1, 1983, the courthouse became Windham Town Hall. Willimantic remains a census-designated place and a tax district. The building is a contributing property in the Main Street Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1982.

08/13/2026

07/29/2026

A fantastic in-depth lecture on one of Meriden's most important historical figures, Jedidiah Wilcox.

The Jedediah Wilcox Mansion . Brian Cofrancesco gives a one hour ta...

07/05/2026

The Connecticut General Assembly had adjourned for the summer on June 8, 1776, when Gov. Jonathan Trumbull called the members back for a special session.

Trumbull called the assembly back into session on June 14, 1776, with the intention of following the example of Richard Henry Lee, Virginia’s representative to the Second Continental Congress, who drafted and published a formal resolution declaring, “that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states.”

Trumbull and members of the assembly did just that, producing what the state library later called Connecticut’s “Proclamation on Independence,” three weeks before Thomas Jefferson’s now iconic declaration was adopted.

Read more: https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/connecticut-declaration-independence-jefferson-22326989.php

05/31/2026

David Deming House, Wethersfield, Connecticut:

This Early Colonial stands as one of the oldest surviving homes in Old Wethersfield. Built around 1740, the small cottage offers a rare glimpse into early Connecticut life in one of America’s oldest settlements.

David Deming served as a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War with Captain Chester Welles’ Company, Colonel Belden’s Regiment, Wolcott’s Brigade. He fought at Peekskill, New York, before later relocating to Standisfield, Massachusetts. His daughters Abigail and Mehitable married into prominent local families, Captain Elizur Goodrich and Captain Nathaniel Stillman, 2nd, further connecting the home to Wethersfield’s historic fabric.

Originally located on Garden Street (sometimes referenced as Hartford Avenue), the house was moved to its current site at 10 Main Street. Perhaps because of its modest size, the home is remarkably well-preserved. lasting features include a traditional beehive oven, two functioning fireplaces, and beautiful wide-board pine floors that speak to the craftsmanship of the era.

Today, the 738-square-foot home sits on a 0.36-acre lot with one bedroom and one bathroom. Located within Old Wethersfield Historic District, David Deming House is part of Connecticut’s largest collection of pre-1850 structures, making the area a living museum of New England heritage.

04/20/2026

The Arsenal, Clinton, Connecticut:

On picturesque Waterside Lane in Clinton Village Historic District is a tiny home called The Arsenal. It's one of Connecticut's rare surviving 17th century structures. Dated to circa 1675, the mini-Colonial and vernacular style house is located betwixt the confluence of Indian River and Long Island Sound.

Originally a harbor storehouse, the old arsenal housed and ammunition during the Revolutionary War. It was relocated a few hundred feet inland in 1798.

The practical storehouse includes a side-gabled roof, a central brick chimney, and 12-over-12 windows. A Greek Revival portico with Tuscan columns was likely added in the 1840s.

During the War of 1812, British naval forces harassed Clinton harbor with raids and blockades. Local militia repelled the Redcoats using cannons positioned at the foot of Waterside Lane on the green.

In 1989, one of the cannons was placed nearby to The Arsenal as a monument. The historic armament is traditionally cited as a prize captured by Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones. It was restored by Andrew J. Doucette, an Eagle Scout who preserved a symbol of Clinton’s resilience.

Today, The Arsenal stands as a link to Connecticut’s shoreline heritage, where American history, community pride, and coastal lifestyle converge.

04/10/2026

First Baptist Church, Bridgeport, Connecticut:

At 126 Washington Avenue is a striking example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. Designed by local architect Joseph W. Northrop, the red sandstone building was completed in 1894 as the third place of worship for a congregation originally founded in the 1835.

Early services were held in a building at the corner of State and Broad Streets, purchased from St. John’s Episcopal Church. A larger second structure later rose on the same site. When the congregation needed more space, that building was sold to P.T. Barnum, the famous showman and Bridgeport civic leader. The group then moved to a new site on what was then the edge of the city, at Washington and West Avenues.

The present location was dedicated on October 28, 1894. Rev. Dr. Samuel F. Smith, the Baptist minister and author of the patriotic hymn “America” (also known as “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”), took part in the ceremony. The church was formally incorporated in 1908 and later supported community missions and civic care.

In 1990, the church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance, with a period of importance from 1893 to 1930.
This landmark reflects Bridgeport’s late-19th-century growth and stands today as a distinctive piece of the city’s architectural heritage.

The original congregation held its final Service of Thanksgiving in 2025 upon the retirement of longtime pastor Rev. Hopeton A. Scott. The protected historic building remains an important landmark. First Baptist Church's Richardsonian Romanesque style was relatively uncommon in Bridgeport at the time.

Key features include red sandstone quarried in East Haven, Connecticut, giving the building its warm, textured appearance. It has an elongated octagonal plan with projecting sections and corner towers. A prominent 4 1/2-story octagonal tower rises at the main Washington Avenue entrance, above a square pavilion base. Shorter towers sit at other corners, along with a hipped roof with clerestory windows and rich, detailed stonework throughout.