Known locally as the ‘Ye Olde Manse‘, this stunning Georgian cape house is located at the eastern edge of the town green in Willington, Connecticut. Thought to be the oldest extant house in the small, rural community, the gambrel-roofed homestead was possibly built by John Watson of Hartford, who was thought to have been an original proprietor of Willington, but was instead an assignee of George Clark who was. In the 19th century, the homestead operated as the congregational church parsonage. Today, the Georgian cape house with gambrel and saltbox roof is a single family home and has been lovingly preserved by centuries of stewards of this old manse.
Located in northern Willington, CT, this farmhouse on a quiet, country road, dates to before the Revolutionary War! David Lillibridge (1744-1831) of Exeter, Rhode Island, served from 15 to 17 in the French and Indian War, and manned Fort Stanwix. In 1767, when he was a lieutenant in his local militia, he converted, and entered the Baptist ministry. In 1777, he purchased a farm from Moses Holmes, but it is unclear if this residence was existing or if he built this large farmhouse. In Willington, David Lillibridge became a farmer-preacher, establishing a Baptist ministry here. The home remained in the Lillibridge family at least until the 1870s, when it was owned by Burnham Lillibridge. The Georgian saltbox residence is set back from the street and sits upon the bucolic rolling fields of the property.
Located in South Willington, Connecticut, this Colonial Revival style school building was built to serve the mill village pupils, many of whom were first- and second-generation Americans who immigrated to the area to work at the local mill. In his will, William Henry Hall (1867-1922), the son of industrialist Gardiner Hall Jr., who established the business under his name, donated funds to the community to erect a new, suitable school building for the village. Beyond his work at his family’s business, William H. Hall served in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1893–1897 and again in 1905, 1909, and 1911, and he was generous with his money throughout his life and in his will. For the Hall Memorial School, his heirs selected architect, Harry L. Sprague of Springfield, Massachusetts, who designed the one-story school built of brick and limestone trim and a tall, pedimented portico at the entry supported by four tuscan columns. The school has seen additions, but it retains much of its architectural integrity in the over 100 years of use as a public school.
Located between his family factory and the memorial church built for his late sister, the William H. Hall House in South Willington, Connecticut, is among the community’s finest Victorian residences built for a wealthy industrialist. William Henry Hall (1867-1922) was the son of industrialist Gardiner Hall Jr., who established the business under his name, which manufactured thread and spools, hiring hundreds of employees. After the death of his father, William Hall became the head of the company, but clearly was successful long before this as he had this stately Queen Anne style mansion built in 1896. Beyond his work at his family’s business, William H. Hall served in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1893–1897 and again in 1905, 1909, and 1911, and he was generous with his money throughout his life and in his will. Hall served on the board of trustees of his alma mater, Wesleyan University, from 1912 until his death, with his estate donating $175,000 to Wesleyan to construct a chemical laboratory named in his honor. Closer to his home, his heirs partially funded the the Hall Memorial School in South Willington in his honor. The property remained in the family after his death, and in the 1980s, it became an assisted living facility, with large additions constructed, but the Hall House remains a great architectural landmark for the mill village.
This handsome stone church in South Willington, Connecticut, was commissioned in 1909 by Gardiner Hall Jr., a terminally ill industrialist, in memory of his late daughter Clara, who tragically died in 1899 at the age of 30. The church was used by area residents, many of which included mill workers hired to work at Mr. Hall’s factory nearby and lived in mill housing just behind this church. Following the construction of this Memorial Church in South Willington, Baptist and Congregational Churches of Willington merged to form the Federated Church of Willington, which has worshiped at this location ever since. Neo-Gothic Revival in style, the church is constructed of multicolored random ashlar sandstone with limestone trim and features a corner clock tower with belfry, buttresses, stained glass windows, and limestone tracery. The church was designed by Boston architect, Thomas Marriott James and was completed by 1911.
In 1860, Gardiner Hall Jr. (1839-1915) founded a spool cotton thread business called the Hall & Manning Company, and later renamed the Hall Thread Company. The new business failed in a year with the onset of the Civil War and the accompanying shortage of cotton. During the war, in 1861, Hall designed and patented a machine for finishing thread and moved to South Willington, Connecticut, founding the Gardiner Hall Jr. Company. He had a three-story mill building constructed around 1862 where his small operation took off. In the following decades, the factory complex expanded rapidly, and machine, blacksmith, and bleach and dye shops were built on the property to increase production. Coinciding with this growth, Gardiner Hall built tenements, a boarding house and a community building for his growing workforce in the 1870s nearby. Before his death in 1915, Hall donated funds to erect a memorial church in memory of his daughter, and donated generously to his workers. His son, William Henry took over operations and was succeeded by his sister, Rosa Hall, until the factory closed in 1954. The industrial buildings were used for decades from various manufacturing companies and today are occupied by retail stores, a tattoo parlor, and event space, perfect adaptive reuse!
The small town of Union, Connecticut was established in 1734 and as with many towns at the time, religion and community were some of the first things to be codified when settling in a new area. The town’s publicly supported religion, Congregationalism permeated everyday life in Union. Even after disestablishment in 1818, the Congregational church continued as Union’s predominant religious organization well into the twentieth century. By 1841, the members built this edifice, the congregations second, on a hill overlooking the town’s modest green. The vernacular church features a Gothic lancet window, classical belfry, and later pent roof porches over the entrances on the primary facade.
Union, Connecticut is the smallest (by population) town in the state and it was the last Connecticut town east of the Connecticut River to be settled, largely because of its rough terrain and poor soil. The small town of under 800 residents was incorporated in 1734 and named Union, likely named after the fact that the new town was formed of a “union” of different sections of land which were left over when the boundaries of surrounding towns, though it is still speculation. Union erected this Town Hall building in 1847 which was fitting for the town’s small (and then-declining) population at the time. The one-story clapboard building is vernacular and lacks much adornment of other town halls and institutional buildings of the time period in nearby towns. Eventually, the town built a new city offices building and the small town continues to maintain the former building to this day and it houses the Union Historical Society.
The Baptist Meetinghouse in Willington was built in 1829 by a local carpenter Albert Sharp, in a transitional Federal/Greek Revival style, common for the period. Its clapboarded facade has a projecting pavilion with two entrances flanking a two-story round-arched window. Four pilasters are surmounted by a wide entablature and the flushboarded pediment of the pavilion. Round-arched windows are repeated on the side elevations and the belfry, which is topped by an octagonal drum and a small dome. The Willington Baptist Church was organized in 1828, started by Rev. Hubbell Loomis, the fourth pastor of the Congregational Church across the common. Rev. Loomis was prominent both as a minister and an educator, and founder of Shurtleff College of Illinois. During his pastorate at the Willington Congregational Church, Mr. Loomis had strong tendencies toward Baptist sentiments. From this, membership of the congregational church split, some leaving for a new Baptist belief and others remained at the congregational church. The two congregations were split until 1911, when they again worshiped under the same roof, as the Federated Church of Willington, meeting in this building.
The Congregational or Town Church of Willington, Connecticut, has existed since the town’s incorporation in 1728, but originally met in a member’s small home on the Town Green. The Victorian Gothic style church we see today was built in 1876, after members gathered funds to construct the building. Land, materials, and labor were donated to offset costs for the small congregation. The church flourished until a split in the beliefs led to the formation of the Baptist Church of Willington. Eventually, the Congregational Church merged with the Willington Baptist Church in 1911 to form The Federated Church of Willington. The congregation then moved to the Baptist meeting house across the Green. In 1924, the Old Congregational meeting house, which was erected in 1877, was sold for $1 to the Town of Willington with certain restrictions, the most important of which was that, if it should cease to be used for public meetings under the control of the selectmen, possession would revert to the Congregational Ecclesiastical Society. From 1926-1974, the church was used as town hall (when the smaller building next door was outgrown. The church’s bell was removed during World War II to allow plane-spotters to use the tower. Instead of being placed back in the tower, it was mounted on a pedestal outside the building, where it remains today. The Willington Town Offices moved to a former industrial building a short distance away, but retain and maintain the building.
Buildings of New England 