(152)—"The Churchill Place." Site of a 2-story, 5-bay center chimney colonial house probably built in the late 1700's, stuccoed since the early 20th century, and demolished in the 1980's to make room for the Dunkin' Donuts. (Included in WPA research.) A map from one of the quarry companies, dated 1860, shows the lower end of Main Street, including a house marked "Henry Churchill" on a small square lot on the southwest corner of Main and Silver streets (176), and a larger square which encompasses Henry’s houselot and includes the "Churchill Place" further south. Comparison with the 1874 map shows that 176 does indeed occupy the small square in the upper right corner of a larger square, which encompasses 152. [Title search work 12/29/00 reveals that David Churchill bought this property from Jonathan Bush Jr. in the late 1700s. That works well, because David was Henry’s father. Now to find out where Bush got it from!]

(156)—a gable-to-street commercial building occupied this location on the 1907 Sanborn Insurance map. Many people may remember it as Sphinx’s Diner.

158--John Allen’s Meat Market, ca. 1893. Although a meat market had been on this property at least since 1874, John and his wife, Mary Emma Allen mortgaged the property in 1893 in a suggestion that they had built a new market. The architectural style of this building is more reminiscent of the 1890s than the 1870s or earlier; 184 Main Street, the John Curran house and store, is very similar and was constructed in 1890. From at least 1943 to at least 1975 (based on City Directory listings), this building was Cannata’s Tavern, Restaurant, and finally, Café.

160--A.R. Dutting, formerly Portland Garage. 1936--The previous building, also a garage, was destroyed in a fire in 1936. The earlier garage building does not appear on the 1907 Sanborn Insurance Map.

162--New England Stamp Company; 1936--The previous building, Emmons Funeral Parlor, was destroyed in the same fire.

164—Cranmer Building, built ca. 1871. Café 66, long known as Mendello's Restaurant, and before that, Hulf's Tavern, this building was probably built in the early 1870's by barber Christopher Cranmer, whose name later records changed to Cramer. The 1874 map shows "Cranmer Store" in this location, and leases for the building filed in the early 1900s identify it as the "Cramer Building." The parallel between the building’s name change and Cranmer/Cramer’s strongly suggests that he built the building. This building survived the 1936 fire only because it was stuccoed.

(166)--Abe Curkin Grocery, then Dry Goods, then Shoe Store, the latter carried on by his widow. This building was built ca. 1857 according to the 1927 assessor’s records. It was demolished in the earlier 20th century.

(170)--William Robinson's Meat Market, later Portland Meat Market, ca. 1867. Demolished in the earlier 20th century.

(176 or -8)—Henry and Emily Churchill house. According to the 1927 assessor’s card, this was a 29' by 29' two-story house, 100 years old in 1927, being used as a tenement until it was demolished in the mid-twentieth century. This house, a three-bay, side-hall Federal style pictured in the ca. 1938 WPA survey, was probably the ca. 1810 home of Henry and Emily (Hall) Churchill. Emily Churchill was the daughter of quarry owner Joel Hall. Her sisters and brothers lived in several houses, most no longer standing, in this neighborhood. In her widowhood, she moved to the brand-new, elegant Second Empire house at 315 Main Street, built for her by her son-in-law, Alfred H. Allen. (He built himself one also, at 332 Main Street.) (Included in WPA research, described as "opposite 187.")

182--Merit Gasoline Station, 1970.

184--John Curran, merchant, 1890. This building spent much of its life as a grocery store, becoming a Cumberland Farms in the 1970's. The 1907 Sanborn Insurance map shows this building as a long gable-to-street rectangle, and, across the street, the Federal style house at 176 still stands, outlined in its distinctive proportions; the rear addition to this building has not happened yet, leaving one to wonder if perhaps the Churchill house was moved to the rear of this building, which is strongly similar to a Federal-style house, and used as an addition. Further research, comparing the dimensions of the Churchill house and the addition to the Curran store, needs to be done.

188--Laverty's Saloon, 1884; James Laverty had run a general store and liquor dealership on this site for twenty years when a fire destroyed it in June of 1884. By the end of that week, he was doing business from a hastily-constructed wooden building on the property, and he had this brick building constructed and open for business by November.

200 rear--James and Mary Eliza (Laverty) Maxson, 1884. Mary Eliza was the daughter of James Laverty, mentioned above. This Queen Anne style house was originally located in the front part of this lot, where the gas station stands.

(200)--gas station, ca. 1928; Mobil station, 1962.

204--Charles H. Sage, 1847. Built in the Greek Revival style. Sage married one of quarry owner Joel Hall's granddaughters, later moving to her late father's house on the southeast corner of the intersection of Main and Marlborough streets. (It was his son, John H. Sage, who built the large Queen Anne-style house--facing Marlborough Street--on the back of that property.) An Englishman named John Rostron seems to have lived here at 204 Main and run a fish market in the 1870's. This building has housed the Coffee Pot since at least 1958; Tierney Brothers Package Store occupies a later addition.

(208-210)--Site of the Edwards, later Palmer, Block. The post office occupied part of this now-gone building in the middle- to later 19th century.

216--Attorney Dennis McQuillin, 1879. Built on the Henry Lot, long the property of the Hall family.

218--(Reputed to be a one-story bungalow whose second story was added in the early to mid-twentieth century.) This house has the proportions of a late 17th or early 18th century building. Research to date has not yielded a definitive answer, but research which goes back 300 years, particularly through the tangled and far-reaching ownerships of shifting quarry companies, takes time to unravel. A structural inspection would also tend to confirm or refute this hypothesis.

220--New Bridge Dairy, 1942. The Young Emeralds Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society sold this property to Parchalia and Andrew Peterson in 1941, with permission to move their building off the property before the Petersons built. There had been a fire here in the late 1920's or early -30's.

222--William J. Murphy Plumbing, 1922

224--Hannah (Hall) Payne house, three-bay side entry Federal style, ca. 1810. Joel Hall's daughter Hannah married John Payne who was a druggist in partnership with Franklin Goodspeed, who lived at 350 Main Street and was the son-in-law of another quarry owner, Robert Patten. The property seems to have stayed in the Hall family, passing through Hannah's children to Alfred Hall and the Shaler and Hall Quarry Company. The Post Office occupied part of this building around 1851, according to the Richard Clark Wall Map.

226--Ella and Margaret Churchill house, ca. 1877. Ella and Margaret Churchill were the granddaughters of John and Hannah (Hall) Payne, who lived in 224 until the mid 1800's.

228/30--Shaler and Hall tenement, 1880. Nicola Natale ran a grocery store from this building in the 1920's.

234--Tenement and store, 1880. This building was the Ahlberg Grocery from 1923 into the 1950's or -60's. Before that, F.W. Nelson, who later built 252-54 Main Street for his men's furnishings shop used this building for a store.

236--Jeremiah Leahy's Confectionary, early 1900's. Jerry Leahy gave the age of this building as "125 years old" when he was queried by the tax assessor in 1927. However, a bucolic photograph of 242 Main Street taken around 1865 and printed in William Van Beynum's 125th anniversary book of Portland, shows no such little shop. There is nothing in the construction of the building to suggest that it was actually an 1802 building dragged to this location from another spot, either. Jerry may still be having his little joke with anyone who chances to read the 1927 assessor's cards. The 1907 Sanborn Map shows this building as a drug store. The tin ceiling in this building was probably made at Eastern Tinware at the east end of Freestone Avenue around the turn of the century.

238--Office built for Tax Collector Perry Hale in 1924.

240/42--Nathan Gillum, quarry owner, 1795. Although this style of house, the twin-chimney Georgian, is not particularly common in this area in Connecticut; there was a similar one up the street in the location of the Portland Country Market until the 1930's. (Included in WPA research as "238," also in Colonial Dames research.)

246--Joel Hall, Jr., quarry owner, 1804. Joel Jr., son of the man who opened Shaler and Hall Quarries in 1788, apparently gave this house to his son, Nathaniel Brown Hall about 1841, when Nathaniel married Cynthia Southmayd. Joel Hall Jr. then built himself another house at 258 Main Street, which burned in 1876.

248--Economy Grocer, 1922. Charles Bell operated a grocery story on this site in 1914; however the 1927 assessor's card gives the age of this building as "5 years," so probably an earlier building was replaced by this one. During the 1940's, -50's, -60's, and -70's, this building housed Ben's Package Store.

(250)--Strong's, then Whitby's, Meat Market. Built perhaps in the 1860's, this small gable-to-street shop was demolished in the early 1980's.

(252)-- Site of Firehouse #1 from 1885 to 1923. It was a small, gable-to-street building much like the 1889 Firehouse #2 at 601 Main Street in Gildersleeve.

(254) site of a small cobbler's shop just south of #258.

252-54--F.W. Nelson's Mens Furnishings, 1922. Nelson seems to have begun his men's furnishings business at 234 Main a few years earlier.

258--Young Emerald's Hall, by 1896; used as the Post Office, 1898-1942xx. Built on the site of the Joel Hall Sr. house, destroyed by fire in 1876.

260--Blodgett's Drug Store, 1879; Blodgett, like Laverty above, lost his drug store in a fire in 1876 and rebuilt soon after. Blodgett lived across the street in a gable-to-street Greek Revival style house at 267 Main Street that was demolished in the 1980's to create more parking for Town Hall.

264--Attorney J. Allen Butler, commercial building constructed around 1897 on Middlesex Quarry Company land. The Quarry Company included a clause in their lease to Butler prohibiting the sale of wine, hard cider, beer or spirituous liquors from this property, but that needn't have concerned Butler, because he was also the owner of the Union House, a tavern at 5 Indian Hill Avenue, where he could freely dispense intoxicants with no thought to the Quarry Company's restrictions. In 1907 this building housed a plumber, a hardware and crockery store, the Portland Water Company office on the north side, and a dentist in the back. The 1914 City Directory shows Butler running a real estate office from this building. The name "Nolan Building" comes from the married name of the daughter of the next owner, Thomas Bride. Frances Bride married Thomas Nolan. Her family had owned this house since 1919.

(266)--Fire company #1's second firehouse, a small, white-clapboarded, gambrel-roofed building with its gable end toward the street. It was built in 1923, replacing the little building at 252 Main, and was torn down in 1959 when the brick fire station on Middlesex Avenue was opened.

272--First National Stores, also including xx Drug, and Wannerstrom's, 1931. Until that time a large twin-chimney Georgian house much like #242 Main stood on this spot. It probably belonged to Daniel Russell, another one of the quarry owners. In the 1927 Assessor's records it was identified as the Portland House, implying that it was a hotel, tavern or boarding house of some sort.

276--(1944)

278--(1972) Ernest Peterson Oil Company building. This building is such a careful copy of a Federal-style building, that it was slated to be researched and plaqued in the Bicentennial effort to put signs on historic buildings.

280--(1954)

314--Portland High School, 1932. This building was built on a piece of property referred to as the "Cattle Lot." Long-time local residents remember it as the lot where the quarry oxen grazed.

318--Portland Post Office, 1940; site of a former school building. The building which stood on this property in 1907 was being used as the Swedish Lutheran Church. (First Portland Post Office: 77 Main, 1827. 1851map: 224 Main; 1859 map: ? ; 1874 map: in Waverly Hall, NE corner Main and Waverly [275 Main]. Beers History chronology: "First in the building now [1884] occupied by Bransfield [77 Main]; then brick store now C. Bell’s [249 Main]; then cor. Main and Waverly [275]; present: Edwards Block [208 Main]." Beers omits 224, seen on the 1851 map. Then, from 1898 to 1942, "Portland Club Hall" [258 Main] in the Centennial booklet. SO--77, 224, 249, 275, 208, 258, 318?

322--Rodney P. Freeman, merchant, 1854. Freeman married the granddaughter of Wells Diggins of 311 Main Street.

324--Capt. George Hilliard, sea captain, 1850. This house remained in the same family until 1980.

(326)--Alfred Allen house, built ca. 1850, demolished ca. 1970. (Perhaps a gable-to-street house similar to #322 and #328.) On the 1927 tax card. it was owned by Timothy J.McDonald. Its age was stated to be 75 years old, i.e. built in 1852.

328--Enoch Jackman, school teacher, 1843 The 1927 tax card gives the owner's name as Emanuel Ostergren; the house was 80 years old, i.e. built around 1847.

332--Alfred Allen, builder, 1871. Allen built 315 Main Street for his mother-in-law, Emily (Hall) Churchill at the same time he built himself this house. The 1927 owners were Samuel W. and Annie E. Tuttle; the house was 60 years old, built in 1867, by their calculations.

336--Haynes Ransom, 1853. In 1927 this house was owned by Julia M., Margaret J., and Helen V. Bransfield; its age was 75 years, i.e., built in 1852.

340--The 1991 tax card claims a construction date of 1865+/-. The 1927 tax card claimed the house was 42 years old, or built in 1885. The owners at that time were Hattie L. Brainerd, then John L. and Charles Fisk. The Firemen's history of Portland states that this house suffered a fire in 19xx. It implies that the house was a complete loss, but this building appears to date from the late 1800s. A picture sent by Ann Sloan shows this house with a south wing and an intersecting gable roof around 1906.

344--Dr. George O. Jarvis, 1841. The 1927 owners, Ida G. Brainerd, then Frank and George Brainerd, gave the age of this house as 85 years, built in 1842.

350--Franklin and Julia (Patten) Goodspeed; Goodspeed was a druggist. Italianate style, built in 1837. The 1927 owner, Annie S. Stancliff, gave an age of 87 (1840) for this house.

356--Robert Patten, quarry owner, 1827. According to the 1927 tax card, this house was then the Trinity Church Rectory, and believed to be 150 years old, or built in 1777. The title search does not confirm this date. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.)

364--Reuben Loveland, 1826. The 1927 owners of this house, D.W. and Bertha Sears Robinson, thought that their house was 50 years old, or built in 1877. Again, the title search does not confirm this; the house is a half century older.

368--George E. McKernan, 1939? Mid-twentieth century Cape COd style. City Directory: George E. McKernan & Portland Water Company, 1939-1942; Herbert D. Morrison & Portland Water Company, 1943-1944: G. H. Rittenhouse, 1945-1954; E. M. Johnson, 1955-1960; (vacant, 1961); John Dutting, 1962-at least 1978/79.

370--George and Mary (Russell) Bidwell, 1805. In 1927, Charles Edwards owned 2/3 of this house, and Elizabeth Pickering, 1/3; it was also listed as the estate of Harriet Pitt. The 1939 purchasers were Kenneth and Celia Dunham. In 1927, the house was thought to be 100 years old, or built in 1827. The 1805 construction date is not firm; the land was in the Russell/Bidwell family for many years before the house was mentioned, and the construction date given above is only surmised because George Bidwell and Mary Russell married that year. Perhaps the 1927 owners remembered a different story, or perhaps they simply rounded off the age and said, "A hundred years."

374--Eber S. Cornwall, 1922. The 1927 owner of this property was Eber S. Cornwall, a descendant of the Cornwall family which came to Portland in the late 17th century. He told the assessor that year that his house was five years old, i.e., built in 1922. The 1991 tax card listed the owners at that time, Cyril and Miriam Cornwall Simpson, as stating that the house was built in 1921. In 1936, the house was bought by George and N. Marion Brede.

376--Jabez Jones, 1848. Jones was a son-in-law of George Bidwell who lived at 370 Main. The 1927 owner was Earle W. Prout, who gave the age of the house as 100 years, or 1827. Again, this date appears to be a rounding off of the date of an old house. The modified Italianate style would not have been constructed before the middle 1800s.

380--Clifford Daniels, 1848. Daniels was another of George Bidwell's sons-in-law. The 1927 owner was Walter H. Penfield; he gave the age as 50 years, or 1877, and remodeled in 1924. Obviously it could not be 1877 while the identical one next door was 1827. The house was then purchased by Richard P. Penfield and Marion P. Herdel.

384--Capt. Wellington Coe, 1849. In 1927, the owner of this house, C. Irving Hale, gave its age as 95 years, remodeled in 1925. That would make it built in 1832. The title search indicates otherwise. The 1938 City Directory shows C. I. Hale Gasoline at this address.

392--The 1927 owner of this house was A. Burton Crampton. The assessor recorded the age of the house that year as fifty years, i.e. built in 1877.

394--Elisha Covell, 1848. Covell lived in a large, elegant house at 405 Main; he may have built or had built this house as an investment. The 1927 owner was Gideon S. Wilbur, who said that the house was 100 years old (built in 1827). It is very similar to 376 and 380, both built in 1848.

398--William Gleason, 1864. Ella R. Davis, the 1927 owner, gave the age of this house as 40 years; that would put its construction at 1887.

[400--According to the 1927 tax card, this property was owned by Ella Murdock, who gave its age as 8 years, built in 1919.

or 402?--(1923 CD:Jacob Bazildo) (1927: Arthur R. Dutting; ae. 3;1924] ???

414--The Schuyler and Florence Taylor house, 1927.

420--This Colonial Revival style house was being built even as the 1927 assessor's cards were being created. The 1927 card seems to indicate ownership by Alice or Olive and Whitney Todd; the 1928 City Directory shows John H. Dickerman as the resident; further research is necessary.

422--Charles Jarvis, 1887. This Queen Anne style house was owned by Louisa R. Jarvis and Charles Jarvis's heirs, according to the 1927 tax card: they gave the age as 40 years, which they probably remembered from having seen Charles involved with the construction.

430--Perry T.W.Hale; Queen Anne; 1887. The 1927 residents were doctors William E. and Jessie W. Fisher. In an era when few women had careers, she was a pathologist.

(432-34--The William H. Edwards house, built in 1890 (1927 owner Mary E.Edwards stated that it was 37 years old) and destroyed by fire in 1947; it was a similar Queen Anne to numbers 422 and 430; together they would have created an elegant streetscape. William Edwards made a list of the houses and information about them on the west side of Main Street in the 1930s; it is filed in the historical files in the Portland Library, with the Colonial Dames research.)

434--Duplex, 197xx.

436--Carriage House for 432-34, the William Edwards house, presumably also built in 1890.

438-40--The 1927 tax card lists Maria J. Neff as the owner of the property at that time. She gave its age as 47 years old, or built in 1880. It then passed to Ernest J. Gillis, then in 1928, to Reed and Harriet Bartman.

448--Reuben Wilcox, 1790. Reuben Wilcox went west in 18xx, and this house passed to Kellogg Strong, along with much land in this area. Strong's Avenue takes its name from him.

452--(ranch), 1959.

454--Louis B. Silver house, 1927 (Cape with two dormers)

460--(Neat white brick ranch) 1945 (1982 tax card)

464--John and Aleta Lindmuth, Federal Revivial, 1926.

470--Otto E. Hultgren, Federal Revival, 1926

478--Deacon Samuel Hall, 1708 (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.)

484--McClure Ellsworth, 1948. This house stands on the site of an earlier house, visible on the 1874 Beers Atlas map as being owned by R. A. Mitchell, a local butcher.

488--Richard P. Penfield, brick Federal Revival, 1932.

492--Capt. Nathaniel White, before 1714. This house was probably a classic saltbox when it was built. White was living in Portland (then East Middletown) by 1714, when he signed the petition for separate parish privileges on the east side of the river. The house passed to his son, Noadiah, then to Noadiah's daughter Mehitable's husband, General Seth Overton, then to Seth and Mehitable's son, Augustin, then to his children, and finally out of the family five generations later, in the early 20th century. The owners in the 1920s and 30s renovated the house with a Colonial Revival flair, and their daughter, Ruth Ryan Callander and her husband, John, lived here until their deaths, he in 19xx, and she in 1996. Having no direct descendants of her own, she willed the house to the Portland Historical Society. Captain Nathaniel White would surely approve. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.)

496--Augustin Overton, 1811. This house began life as a simple Federal-style, gable-to-street building, deeper than it was wide. It was probably built for Augustin and his young family with the help of his father, who built himself a house, now demolished, on the site of 506 Main at this time. Two of Augustin's elderly aunts lived in the house at 492, which he had acquired from his father, and he may have wanted a house of his own. The younger Overtons had seven (?) children, but no grandchildren. The Goodriches bought it in the early 20th century. They sold it soon after, and it wound up in the hands of xxxxxx Smith. He commissioned the extensive remodeling, which the 1927 tax card indicates were done in 1919. At that time the basic two-story gable-to-street plan was supplemented with spacious, vaguely shingle-style wings to the north and south. (Included in WPA research.)

506--Frederick W. Goodrich, Queen Anne style, built 1907.

(old 506)--The three-bay, two-story General Seth Overton house stood on this spot, somewhat nearer the street, from 1810 till 1906. A picture belonging to Robert Bruce Goodrich, who spent his childhood in the house at 496 Main, shows the house, looking like either a modest colonial style, or perhaps a ridge-to-street early Federal style. It is hard to tell the proportions exactly from the angle of the photograph. When the 1906 Goodrich house was built, the General Seth Overton house was pulled down and most or all of it burned. There are certain decorative elements---the cove-ceiling porch and an elegant corner cupboard---in the Nathaniel White house which appear to come from somewhere else, and a neighboring Federal period house with family associations would be a likely source for such large artifacts.

510--??? Is there one?

512--Charles E. Davis (?), 1915. The 1927 assessor's card lists Arthur M. and Gertrude M. Coughlin as owners of this house; they gave its age at the time as 12 years old. [Col.Rev., white stucco with robin's egg shingles]

516--Alvah E. Payne, 1914. Adie V. Payne told the assessor in 1927 that this four-square style house was 13 years.

518--Frederick and Florence W. Goodrich gave the age of this cross-gabled house in 1927 as 31 years, or built in 1896. Stylistically, this makes sense, and the Goodriches, whose roots went back to the 1740s in Portland, probably remembered well when the house was begun.

524--Herbert W. Goodrich, the owner in 1927, stated that this house was 40 years old. If he wasn't rounding the age off, that would mean it was built in 1887. [intersecting gable, asbestos siding, full-width veranda[

528--(Intersecting gable cottage in the hollow) (Not there in the 1927 cards) (1982 card gives age as 1900 +/-) (1914 CD--William B. Synnott)

532--Joseph Sage, 1804. Sage had this house built for himself when he sold his long-time home at 643 Main Street to his son.

536--Donald and Barbara Goodrich, 1986.

540--The William H. Beebe house, ca.1880. Beebe was listed on his death certificate as a quarryman; however, shortly before his death, he purchased a considerable amount of newspaper printing machinery. In the early 20th century, this property served as a gas station. The City Directory lists first Frederick Haines in the teens and twenties, then George Bot in the 1930s, as running the garage. The old grease pit can be seen in the south front yard as two concrete tire tracks, with dirt filled in between.

544--F. Hale is the owner of this house on the 1874 Beers Atlas map; the 1927 owners, Jennie and Ray S. Whittles, gave its age as 70, or built in 1857, which is plausible for this style. The 1982 tax card offers 1864 as the construction date, however.

548--Harlan H. Caswell, joiner, 1847. The 1927 owners of this house, James W. and Emma C. Booth, gave its age as 75 years old (1852), which is a good estimation. The property was acquired soon after by Effie Hobbs Whitney.

554--First Congregational Church, 1848

564-- Harold G. Roman house, 1936-37. The 1927 tax card lists this house as 3/4 complete in 1936, and completed in 1937.

568--George Pettis, shoemaker, 1845. The 1927 owner, Gothard A. Olson, gave the age of this house as "old," adding that it had been remodeled in 1926. The property passed to Aline E. Roman, who sold Harold Roman the 70 feet on which he built #564 in 1936.

572--Rev.Hervey Talcott, ca.1820. Talcott was the extremely popular minister of the Congregational Church in the early to mid-nineteenth century.

576--Dr. Charles H. Gilbert, 1856. Gilbert married one of Rev. Talcott's daughters.

580--Chester K. Hale? 1949. (from the 1982 tax card.) [Myra and Dave Finkelstein]

582--Ebenezer White, farmer and local politician, 1755. The construction date of no other house in this list is quite so certain as Ebenezer White's: he noted the date of its finishing in the diary he kept for most of his life. He was born in 1721, and died in 1811; he wrote terse entries in the diaries from 1744 until 1807. The volumes from 1755 to 1807 are preserved in the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford; the 1744-54 volume or volumes were in existence in the late 1800s, when the Portland section of the Beers History of Middlesex County was written--they have since disappeared. White's diaries are handsown booklets, the covers of reused paper, approximately 6" by 7" when closed. He wrote a phrase or two nearly every day, rarely more, but they form the basis for Portland history, and by extension, East Hampton, as well. (Both were "Chatham" in White's time.) At some time probably in the early 20th century, this house was extended upwards and back to allow more room. Ebenezer White's old wood shingle roof remains intact under the present back roof. In 1927, Chester K. Hale owned this house, but it was referred to on the assessor's card as the "Kilby h[ou]s[e]." It is not clear who Kilby was. Hale considered the house to be about 200 years old (1727), which was a fair guess. (Included in Colonial Dames research.)

584--David White, farmer, 1774. David White's house construction date is just as solid as his father's: the elder White's diary notes the different steps involved in building David's house through the year until it was at last ready for him and his December, 1774, bride. In 1927, Chester K. Hale also owned this house and also gave its age as 200 years, not realizing that it was a generation younger than its neighbor. And again, he referred to it by another person's name, the "Stewart Hall H[ou]s[e]." J. Stewart Hall was apparently the tenant there at that time; he was a bookkeeper for the Portland Brown Stone Quarry Company. Chester Hale added further that the house had been remodeled "1915-1927." (Included in Colonial Dames research.)

594--Firehouse #2, 199x.

596--Mrs. Edna F. Bengston, 1942. Mrs. Bengston was the widow of Harry B. Bengston.

598--Luther Savage, ship carpenter, 1846. The 1927 owners of this house were Harriet J. Savage, J.B. Savage, and Ruby Savage Thompson, heirs of Luther Savage who built the house, so their statement that the age of the house was 81 years, may be regarded as true.

604--John Ilsley, 1869. Ilsley built this Italianate style house on the site of a 1725 house, whose foundation is still evident under this house, built by John Savage. It is not clear whether Ilsley tore down the older house, or it burned or was somehow destroyed when he acquired the property. The 1927 owner was Edwin A. Taylor, then Anna B. Taylor. The assessor noted three met[al] ceilings. Edwin Taylor guessed the age to be about 50 years (1877)

608--Capt.Evelyn White, sea captain, 1840's William Gildersleeve, Emily Gildersleeve English, Sarah Gildersleeve Fife, and H. Elizabeth N. Gildersleeve owned this house in 1927; they gave its age as "old".

610--Arabella (White) Willcox, 18xx, daughter of Capt. Evelyn White, wife of Joseph O. Willcox. She died a couple years after this house was built for her. Anna De Peyster Gildersleeve owned this house in 1927 and guessed its age to be 40 years (1887).

618--Jeremiah Gildersleeve, ship carpenter and navigator, 1800. While the 1927 owner, John H. Fay; guessed this house to be 150 years old (1777), the Gildersleeve genealogy clearly states that it was built in 1800, four years before Jeremiah Gildersleeve married. (Included in WPA research.)

620--Andrew Nelson Shepherd, tobacco grower, 1902. Shepard was killed in an automobile accident in the early 20th century. His widow, Hattie Stockwell Shepard, told the assessor in 1927 that the house was 25 years old. (1902)

624--Henry Gildersleeve, Jr., lawyer, 1888. In 1927, the Portland Trust Company owned this house, but it was referred to as the Walter Gildersleeve House, 39 years old. (1886)

628--George Lewis, Jr., shipbuilder, 1778 The 1927 owner of this house was Elizabeth H. Gildersleeve, Lewis's granddaughter. She offered no guess as to the house's age. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.)

632--Isaac Day?, 18xx Fannie L. Day owned this house in 1927, giving its age as 55 years (1872). It was then acquired by Dorothy Carlson.

634--Engine Company #2, 1933

638--Samuel Buckingham, merchant, ca. 1855. According to the 1927 tax card, August Kearns, then Catherine O'Brien, owned this house. Kearns gave the age as "old." However, the 1982 tax card gives a construction date of 1859.

642--Buckingham Store, 1859 The 1927 owner, Gothard Olson, said that this house was 75 years old (1852). The 1982 tax card however gives a construction date of 1879.

646--Gildersleeve Store, 1855. The 1927 owner was Claire Gildersleeve.

660--William Peters, 1886

668--Lucius Alger, 1875

670--(1936--"Tesslo's Restaurant") (1927: is this Meadow Road, Leo Santangelo, ae. 50? [1877])

xxx--Portland Marina, 198xx.

(141)--G.Pike, ca. 1850. This gable-to-street, 2-story Greek Revival style house had a triangular fanlight in gable. It was demolished ca.1980. (WPA research lists a 129 Main Street.)

147--Henry Cooper, Italianate-style house, ca. 1860.

(159)--S.B. Cooper in 1874...This was an older single-family house remodeled in 1926 for the family of Arthur Emmons, who ran the undertaker's shop across the street.

(165)--Mrs. F.H. Wetmore in 1874...a single-family house said to be over 100 years old.

(181)— The Almyra Hall Edwards house, c.1827-c.1940. The WPA photograph shows this house to be a three-bay, two-story ridge-to-street Federal style with a cove ceiling porch over the entry door at the north side of the façade. The WPA form states that it had 12/12 sash with some 6/9 in the attic and the ell; a fanlight was in the peak, probably the south peak, since the north peak shows a rectangular window. Almyra may well have acquired this land from her father and uncles, Joel, Samuel (her father), Jesse, and Joseph Hall. She married Timothy Edwards in the 1820s. The couple had a son, Samuel Hall Edwards, in 1827, and a daughter, Fannie Hall Edwards, in 1832. Fannie Hall Edwards married George W. Wetmore in 1873, and appears as the owner of record on the 1874 Beers map. She lived here until 1914, when the house passed from her estate to undertaker Arthur J. Emmons. Emmons sold the property to Thomas and Almira Ferguson in 1920; they held it into the 1940s.

(187)—The Charles Williams house, built ca.1828 and lived in by his extended family until 1927. Williams’ daughter Betsey married Parker Pelton Norton in 1844 in this house, but she apparently died shortly after, because Norton married her sister, Julia, in 1847. Williams himself died in 1848. Julia and Parker had several children among whom was Betsey W., who married George W. McLean in 1864. Julia Norton was the resident on the 1874 Beers atlas map, but by 1914, her son-in-law, George McLean, was listed as the resident. By 1918, Julia McLean, probably George and Julia’s daughter, was the resident. She, her sister Bessie McLean Mitchell, and her brother, Norton W. McLean sold the house to Abe Curkin and Meyer Eisenstein in 1927. They sold the house to Guiseppe Griffo two days later. This house was included in the WPA research; it is pictured as a three-bay, two-story ridge-to-street Federal style with a cove ceiling porch over the entry door, which appears to be on the south side of the façade. The form states that it had 12/12 sash, a 7-window gable, and a large ell the peak of which was visible over the roof of the main structure. Research for 176 Main, located on the southwest corner of Main and Silver streets, states that that house was opposite this one.(197)—The Jesse Hall house, ca. 1927-1938. According to the write-up on the WPA form, this house was a 3-bay, ridge-to-street Federal style, two stories tall, with 6/6 sash and a fanlight in the gable end. Jesse Hall owned this house lot when he sold the lot next south to Charles Williams in 1828. Jesse Hall died in 1836, leaving six children ages 16 to 27 from his first marriage, and three, ages 11 to one month old, from his second. It appears that his son Joel, called Joel 2^nd after his grandfather Joel, Portland’s brownstone quarry tycoon, lived here for several years. Joel had married Eliza Stocking around the time of his father’s death; he died in 1850, also leaving several small children. After that, the property appears to have been the home of Jesse’s daughter Eliza (the 11-year-old when he had died) who married Charles H. Sage. The Sages’ son John H. Sage inherited the property, building himself a handsome Queen Anne style house at 17 Marlborough Street in 1889, and sold this house to Ella Potter, wife of Dr. Frank Potter, in 1905. The Potters lived here for 19 years, selling the house to Marion Woodbridge in 1927. She sold it to Salvatore and Anna Bartolotta, and they sold it to the State of Connecticut in 1937. It was torn down to allow widening of the road in 1938

(213)--Wiltsie car dealership, around 1930. Site of the Joseph Hall house, late 1700's-1930's. This 2-story, 28 x 38 foot center chimney Colonial house was demolished to make room for a car dealership whose building still occupies this corner. Though Hall's occupation is given as "farmer" on his death certificate, he was related to the quarrying Halls and held considerable quarry stock, being worth over $70,000 at the time of his death in 1868. To put that figure in perspective, his large house was valued at about $3200 at that time. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.) (Abandoned car dealership building was razed in 1998 to build a Brooks Pharmacy.)

229--dragged from 77 Main Street when the new bridge was begun, ca. 1936.

231--Frederic Hall, son of Joseph Hall, above. His house was built in 1845. He predeceased his father. This property has been used as a funeral home for several decades, initially by Arthur Emmons after his establishment at 161 Main Street burned down in 1936, then by John Reynolds.

233 rear--Mary and Emily Sellew house, 1912. Bungalow style. They were nieces of Joseph Hall Jr. who lived at 213 Main.

235--Sunshine Dairy, 197x.

245-Alfred Hall, lawyer and quarry executive. Built in the Greek Revival style in 1839, this house was designed by architect A. J. Davis. Hall was a grandson of quarry founder, Joel Hall. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford (back when it was called Washington College) and studied law. He then returned to Portland to work with the family quarry and discharge a variety of civic and family responsibilities. He served as a Representative to the General Assembly for four terms, and State Senator for two.

249--Samuel Hall's brick store, built after 1811. Samuel Hall was one of the sons of quarry founder Joel Hall. He left Portland for upper New York state in the early 1800's, but came back after a few years to live out his life in Portland. In 1880 the store was bought by Charles and Edwin Bell, who added the third story in materials similar to Charles's house at 259 Main. This storefront was also used as the post office in the mid-19th century, the library before Buck Library was constructed in 1896, and a house of worship for the local turn-of-the-century Jewish community. Harry Shapiro, founder of the family that ran Shapiro's Department Store in Middletown for many years, supposedly had his Bar Mitzvah here.

251--George and Prudence Bush house, built in 1788 on the site of a house then considered "old." George Bush and his father ran a shipyard off Commerce Street. The house was sold to Samuel Hall not long after he came back from living in upstate New York around the turn of the 19th century.

255--Dr. John Burnham house, 1915

259--Charles Bell, merchant, 1883. This house is built in the stick style with Queen Anne elements. Note the similar decorative elements on this building and the third story of 249, which was purchased by Bell in 1880.

261/65--Jonathan Fuller, quarry owner, 1852; probably initially Italianate style. Fuller died in 1876 leaving the house to his only child, Jane Fuller. By 1890, Portland was looking for another building for a town hall. The 1790 former Episcopal church building at the corner of Bartlet and High streets had served as town hall for some fifty years, and was considered outmoded and unsafe since it was constructed of wood. Also, the town's "center" seems to have shifted from the shipbuilding Gildersleeve section down to the quarrying lower Main Street area. Town officials considered various sites until 1894, when Jane Fuller died and her solid brownstone house came up for sale. The Penny Press from May 30, 1894 remarked, "Anyone disposed to bid on the Fuller house as a matter of speculation should bear in mind that the town of Portland wants the property bad, and that they ought to have it." The house was bought and modified in the Romanesque Revival, or Richardsonian, style in 1895, with a north wing added in the same style in 1941. David Russell Brown out of New Haven was the 1895 architect. Buck Library was added to the south side of the building in 1896, funded by a bequest from Horace Buck. Buck's three children had died in a scarlet fever epidemic in the 1860's, and he wanted something to carry on his name. (Included in Colonial Dames research.)

(267)--Charles S. Blodgett, 1840's. This house was a 2-story, gable-to-street, Greek Revival structure, demolished in the 1980's to provide more parking space for Town Hall. Blodgett ran the drug store which once occupied 260 Main.

269--Portland Trust Company, 1925. The Freestone Savings Bank and the First National Bank occupied the square stone building which stood on this site from 1865 until it was replaced by this building.

275--Portland Electric, 1946. Site of a fancy Victorian building called Waverly Hall. Built in 1868, it burned in January of 1918. Caught in the strong anti-German feelings of World War I, people feared that the fire had been set by German spies.

277-79--William Reid house and tailor shop, 1870. This gabled Victorian tenement house barely survived the fire which claimed Waverly Hall in 1918.

281--(Image Cleaners)

283--Bordonaro Drug, 1983.

285--Edward E. Ellsworth house, colonial revival style, 1889. Site of the Stone School, built in 1845 and destroyed by fire in 1889.

309--Dr. Charles Chedel, 1911. Dr. Chedel fought in World War I then came back to Portland and practiced for several more years before moving to Middletown. He died not long after, from overwork according to information in the Episcopal Church history. This house beckons to members of the medical profession; after Chedel's occupancy, it was the location of Dr. Philp Schwartz, Dr. Philip Gray, Dr. Joseph Epstein, and, most recently, the Portland Visiting Nurses.

311--Samuel Warner, 1712; major modifications by Wells Diggins, in the later 1700's. The south front room may be part (or all) of the 1712 house. Its ceiling is quite low, and the summer beam is about a foot across, characteristics of an earlier house. However a current Portland resident, descended from the Diggins family, has a letter from Wells Diggins' niece (?) stating that Wells, who inherited the house from his father Capt. John Diggins, was responsible for building it. John Diggins came from Windsor and moved to Portland in the 1750's. He had a degree from Yale, and it is curious that he did not go into the ministry like most Yale graduates of the period. One wonders what drew him to Portland, or East Middletown at that time. Most likely he captained some of the ships built in town, but he might have also had connections with early quarrying, located "downstreet" such as he was. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.)

315--Emily Churchill, Second Empire style, built in 1871. Mrs. Churchill was a daughter of Joel Hall Jr. Her son-in-law Alfred H. Allen built this house for her, and a similar one for himself at 332 Street. One of Emily Churchill's descendants visited Portland in the summer of 1995 and sent to this writer photocopies of various ancestors' photographs and oil portraits. Included in the lot was Emily Churchill as she looked in the 1820's--she was a strikingly beautiful dark-haired woman with large dark eyes and thin, dark, arching eyebrows.

319--Capt. Joseph B. Cary, sea captain, 1855. The 1927 tax cards states that this house was then 70 years old. (1857)

321--Betsey Kelsey, 1825. Betsey was a daughter of Phineas Dean; the Dean family lived in vicinity of 337 Main Street during the 18th century. The 1927 tax card also give age, 70 years for this property, which can be title searched back to the 1820s, and belongs to that decade stylistically, as well.

325--Brainerd sisters, 1888. Renamed "Stonehaven" when it was used as rental property during World War II It was built by xx Brainerd for his sisters, xx, xx, and xx.. The 1927 tax card says this house was then 39 years old, built in 1887, or 1888, if the assessor came through sometime in 1928. (Included in Colonial Dames research.)

329--George Gillum Jr., 1851. The 1927 age given for this house was 75 years (1852)

333--Portland Convalescent Center, ca. 1970. This lot may be the site of the Phineas Dean house. Dean was owner of much of the land in this area of Main Street. The 1927 owner gave the age of the house standing on this property as "100 years." He also said that it had been remodeled in 1910. Dean's house would date back into the 1700s, but many people offered round figures for the supposed age of their houses, and this may be one of them. Clearly the 100 years old does not refer to Portland Convalescent Center. (Ann Gildersleeve Sloan contacted the PHS 1/3/01 with the offer of pictures of the old 333 Main, her grandparents’ home. She said that it had been bulldozed for the convalescent home.)

337--Thomas Pickering, legislator and inventor of the Pickering Governor for xxx. 1886 (Inside the building is the history of this, the Daniel Haines house [!!?]) (1927 tax card: age 40:1887 )

341--Trinity Episcopal Church Parsonage, "1852" The 1927 tax card offers no guess as to the age of this building.

345--Trinity Episcopal Church, 1872-74. The 1927 tax card give an age of 97 years for this building, which is curious, because the history of the church building is clear. 1927 minus 97 would equal 1830, which is about the time the Episcopal Church was built on this lot. There is a long-running controversey over whether part of the 1830 building was reused in the 1872/74 building; this age figure would suggest that the person giving the age felt that at least part of this was the 1830 structure.

359--William. B. Smith, 18xx-1989. This house was destroyed by fire in 1989. (Episcopal Church history: #359 was bought up by the church in the 1920s or 30s because the family living there had noisy, smelly chickens and the church wanted to put an end to that.)

363--(Burr) The 1991 tax card gives a construction date of "1839" for this house; the 1927 tax card says age 75, i.e. built in 1852.

367--(Pierce) The 1991 tax card gives a construction date of "1839" for this house; no age is given on the 1927 card.

369--(Kay) This house was 59 years old, or built in 1868, according to the 1927 tax card. The precise figure, "59," tends to suggest that that speaker knew what he was talking about.

377--George and Helen Pascall, 1911. The 1927 tax card clearly states that this house was 16 years old at that time.

381--Portland Methodist Church fellowship hall, 1955.

385--Portland Methodist Church, 1853.

389--The 1991 tax card gives a construction date of "1850"

393--Henry and Ida France, the owners in 1927, gave its age as 15 years, or built in 1912.

395--Lillian Hick Aston, who lived here in 1927 with her husband Herbert, said this house was 8 years old, or built in 1919.

397--William and Rebecca Dean, 1923.

399--Daniel Stevens, the owner of this house in 1927, gave its age as 5 years, or built in 1922.

405--Elisha Covell, 1854. Covell came to this property in the early 1800s to work for Joseph Blague, and wound up marrying his daughter and inheriting his estate, whereupon he built this house.

417--The owner of this house according to the 1948 city directory was Oscar E. Mason. The house does not appear before that in the city directory. A construction date of 1924 is given on the 1991 tax card. This house is reputed to be a wing of the Covell house (405 Main Street), given to a grown child upon marriage.

421--Ernest and Teckla Gillis, 1948. The Gillises ran "Teck's," a popular hotdog stand on the northwest corner of Gospel Lane and the Portland-Cobalt Road. They opened it in the mid 1940s; Ernest died May 4, 1950, but the hotdog stand went on until approximately 1960. According to the 1982 assessor's records, the Gillises built this Cape Cod style house in 1948.

423--Walter and Selma Bayley, 1927. This house was built in the Colonial Revival style, popular in the 1920s. According to the City Directory, Bayley was a foreman at Portland Foundry.

425--Jessie and Julia Chapman, 1928. Jessie Chapman was a teacher, and her sister Julia was a stenographer. Their house is similar in style to the Bayleys', but it has Tudor Revival elements.

431--Isadore and Josephine Cycan, 1946. This brick Cape Cod style house sits on a lot nearly twice as large as its neighbors. Cycan was an accountant. This property was one of several on this block which was sold with a restrictive covenant on the deed: Michael Condon, the purchaser of the land in 1929, was restricted from building a house of less than $9000 value. This covenant was waived for his widow Anne in 1946, but when she sold the property, still without a house, that same year, she included the clause in the deed to Josephine Cycan. This property has more front footage than most of its neighbors, but the $9000 figure, particularly in 1929, seems rather high. Other properties in the same area sited figures between $3500 and $7500.

435--Samuel and Clara Frisbie, 1920. Samuel Frisbie was a salesman for Rogers and Hubbard Company of Portland, which produced fertilizer. This house is built in the Craftsman Bungalow style.

(site of 435/437)--the ca.1705 John Hamlin house, still standing in 1874, but gone by 1914. Hamlin’s daughter Mary married Joseph Blague of Saybrook, and their son, Col. Joseph Blague, apparently lived in this house for many years. This house eventually passed to Blague’s hired man, Elisha Covell. Covell had been born in Glastonbury, the second of 12 children, all but the youngest of whom were boys. He left the family farm because there wasn’t work enough for eleven sons, and worked for Col. Blague. Both Blague and young Covell were apparently similar perfectionists, and became friends. Covell was remembered in Blague’s will, and he acquired this property when he married Blague’s daughter a few years after her father’s death. In 1854 Covell built a stylish house at 405 Main Street; the house on the site of 435/437 is shown on the 1874 Beers Atlas map as still being part of the Covell family’s property, but it was gone by 1914, when the City Directory (the earliest one to give number-by-number street listings of Portland) shows no listing for it.

437--Edwin and Angela Beaudry, 1953. This ranch house was built in 1953 on a lot which had been sold in 1946 with a restrictive covenant prohibiting the construction of a house worth less than $7500 including the value of the lot. According to the city directory, Beaudry was an electrician.

439--Joseph and Mary Fazzino, 1945. The Fazzino’s small Cape Cod style house was built on a lot which was sold to them with a restrictive covenant prohibiting the construction of a house worth less than $7000.

441--Kidder and Sarah Stetson, 1944. The Kidders built this Cape Cod with its two dormers in 1944. Four years later, they sold it to George Stetson.

475—Marie Sammel Coe, 1942. Marie Sammel Coe appears to had this Cape Cod style house built on this lot. No occupation is listed for her in the City Directory.

477-- Paul Johnson, 1944. Paul Johnson, whose occupation is listed as "tile setter," built this ranch style house.

479--Edwin G. Camp, 1915. Camp told the 1927 assessor that this house was then 12 years old. The assessor's card goes on to say that it was stuccoed, rather than brick-faced as it currently is. Also, the assessor paid tribute to another feature in characteristic fashion: "should be [assessed] higher due to glassed in veranda." For the first few decades of this house's existence, the city directory indicates that it was numbered 483.

481--Edwin and Martha Markham, 1950. Markham’s occupation is listed as clerk at Pratt and Whitney. The deed which gave him the land where he built this small Cape Cod house specified that no dwelling house of less than $3500 could be built on the lot, nor could any outbuildings or barns be less than fifteen feet from the property line, nor could there be built any mercantile buildings. Those conditions had been set up in the first deed for the lot, written in 1921.

483--William and Laura Ackerman, 1951. According to the city directory, William Ackerman, who built this small Cape Cod, was an adjustor in Hartford.

(site of 483)--(demolished ca.1915) The house which occupied this spot until at least 1914 was probably built about 1720 by John Hall (1699-1767), son of Deacon Samuel Hall, whose house still stands at 478 Main Street. This house was given the number 477 in the 1914 city directory, logical because it stood opposite but slightly south of 478. The sketch from the 1874 Beers Atlas map suggests that it was broader than it was deep, oriented ridge-to-street, in typical "colonial house" style. John Hall died in 1767, and the house seems to have been owned by his younger son Gideon. In 1798, Gideon sold it to Jeremiah Buck. Buck sold it back to Gideon's nephew in 1805, but he may have continued to live there, because when it was sold in 1835, it was identified as the "Jeremiah Buck place." The 1835 buyer was Alfred Myrick. Myrick is the owner of record on the 1859 Walling map, and the 1874 map shows the house as part of his estate---he died in 1861, and his widow lived here until her death in 1884. After her death, the house was sold to the Gildersleeves, who probably used it for their numerous employees. Gildersleeves sold it to Ernest Davis in 1919 (?). A John W. Chittenden and a Clarence E. Harrison were living there in 1914, according to the city directory; by 1918, there was no more #477. The house would have stood on the brow of the hill in the front yards of 481 and 483, looking out over the fields towards the Connecticut River.

485--Irving and Isabelle Crafts, 1933. Crafts was vice president of the Pickering Governor Company in Portland. The 1927 tax assessor's card states "New house, 1933." This house was built in the Colonial Revival style. The Crafts’ property was encumbered by a restrictive covenant prohibiting a dwelling house of less than $3500 value (written in 1929), as well as barns or outbuildings within 15 feet of the property lines or any mercantile buildings.

487--Edwin or George Bell; ca.1850. The 1927 tax card gives an age of 90 years for this house (1837); the 1982 assessor's card says 1839. Stylistically it seems to be a product of the middle 19th century, however.

491--John Fournier, 1985. Notice how this house echoes the lines of two centuries earlier, say, #497...

495--Daniel H. B. Starr, 1930. The 1938 city directory lists Daniel H. B. Starr as the resident of this Tudor Revival-style house at that time; the 1927 tax card gives a construction date of 1930.

497--Moses Willcox, 1753. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.) Willcox inherited this property from his parents’ estates in 1753 and married that same year, so the house was probably constructed then. This house displays discontinuous purlin framing in the attic, rather late for this construction style although the separate parts of the purlins are not set as far apart as they traditionally were in 17^th century construction.

505--Sidney Keser, 1926. The 1927 tax card gives a construction date of 1926 for this house.

511--Jerrold Bransfield, 1927. The 1927 tax card gives a construction date of 1927 for this house.

513--Capt.James Gibbs, ca.1755. Gibbs was the son of Ebenezer Gibbs who lived at 523 Main Street. (Included in WPA research.)

515--R. A. McNulty (?), 1940.

523--Ebenezer Gibbs, 1732. Ebenezer Gibbs bought the frame of this house on 9 acres from his father-in-law in 1732. This is also the building where the first Catholic church meetings were held, when it was the home of Joseph Myrick. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.)

533--John Worthington, 1839. The 1927 assessor's card states that this house was remodeled in 1913. The owner in 1979, Mrs. David Carlson, nee Helen Hedstrom, described the remodeling: the original gable-to-street roof was lifted off the Greek Revival style main block, rotated 90 degrees, and extended to cover two additional bays, in imitation of a two-story, five bay colonial style house. During that time, the Hedstrom family (Mrs. Carlson was their young daughter) lived in three rooms while carpenters swarmed about them.

541--David and Helen Carlson, 1929. Carlson built this Colonial Revival style house on land acquired from his father-in-law, Oscar Hedstrom.

553--Congregational Parsonage, 1869.

555--The Thomas Curran House, 1921. Marion F. Jarvis, the owner in 1927, gave the age of this house as 6 years old.

571--Frank and Hazel Barker, the 1927 owners of this building, gave its age a 4 years old. However it was noted on the card that it was an "old barn"--it had been remodeled to a residence in 1923.

575--Harry Hale (?), 1923. The 1927 assessor's card states that this house was then four years old.

575 1/2--Gildersleeve School, 1964-65. A previous building, constructed in 1876, burned in 1889, sparking the formation of Fire Company #2 in the Gildersleeve District. It was rebuilt, then demolished and replaced in 1964. Whoever dealt with the 1927 assessor gave the age of this building, very accurately at that time, as 38 years old. The building they were discussing was the one built in 1889.

577--George J. White, ca.1847. The 1927 tax card gave the age of this building as 75 years, or built in 1852.

581--Titus and Ruth Hale house, 1941.

(Site of 581)--The 1751 Ensign Stephen White house.

585--Stephen H. White, 1840's. The 1927 owner felt that this house was 100 years old, a slight exaggeration

589--Capt.Jeremiah Goodrich, shipbuilder, 1740. There has been an elevator in house, along the south wall, since the earlier twentieth century. It is difficult to ascertain the age of this house, because a house stood on this site as early as 1720. Probably this house was built after that, but how much later is an interesting question. Structural evidence suggests that it was originally a center chimney house, the type built in the 18th century, but it has been modified to be a twin-chimney design, characteristic of the early 19th century. Considering that Jeremiah Goodrich was a major figure in Portland's shipbuilding industry, he might have had access to carpenters to build and/or rebuild whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. It descended to his son Hezekiah, who was a Jeffersonian in his politics--radical for the day, and upsetting to largely Federalist Connecticut. Hezekiah Goodrich was removed from office as a justice of the peace because he expressed the opinion that Connecticut did not have a constitution in 1805. It had, in fact, only the 1639 Charter, not a true constitution of the sort that other states were then making. Connecticut did not evolve a constitution until 1818.

(site of 589)--Thomas White, ca. 1720. Possibly demolished in the 1740s as Jeremiah Goodrich built his large colonial.

595--Medical Center--was formerly a tobacco barn. It is difficult to tell from the 1927 tax card quite which building this would be, but it appears to be the warehouse with 3 floors. Its age was then thought to be 27 years old, i.e., built at the turn of the century. The tax card noted an addition in 1928.

597--Ellery B. Taylor, joiner, 1855.

(site of 597?)--This may have been the site of the John or Nathaniel Savage house, built between 1703 and 1730 and demolished around 1852 to allow builder Ellery Taylor to display his craft.

601--Engine Company #2, 1889-1933. The 1927 tax card gives a rough figure of 40 years for the age of this building, which was still in use as a firehouse at that time.

605--Egbert Button, ship carpenter, 1845.

609--Alvin Brown, carpenter, 1840's.

(site of 609?)--This may have been the site of the John Stevenson house, built about 1736 and demolished around 1841 to make way for this house.

613--Jonathan Warner, 1703 or Nathaniel Savage, 1709. This house appears to be either the small one room over one room house of Jonathan Warner, built around 1703 when he sold his house in Cromwell, or the 1709 house of Nathaniel Savage. The title search works better for Warner, but the front footage suggests that Savage actually owned this property. A 1712 house built by Joseph White in the vicinity of 584 Main could have been reused to become part of this structure as well. The original section of this house, measuring 21' by 21,' displays principle rafter construction, with end-chimney framing, a common style in Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut, but virtually unheard of in central Connecticut. The section directly behind the northwest section was built in 1764 by sea captain Ithamar Pelton. The south part, which seems now to form a perfect 5-bay, 2-story colonial structure, was actually added in 1912 by William Gildersleeve. Behind the house is a small shed, once a shoe shop. The owner in 1927 gave the age as 125 years, or 1802; this is one date which probably does NOT figure in the construction of this fascinating house. (Included in WPA research.)

617--Sylverter Gildersleeve, ship builder and entrepreneur, 1835. Until Gildersleeve made his immense mark on this area of town, it was known as White's district. (Stephen at old 581, Joseph, Ebenezer and David at 582/584, Thomas at 589, and there may have been more.) Gildersleeve single-handedly remade the face of Gildersleeve with his entrepreneurial skills. He created a shipbuilding industry with links to both downtown's brownstone industry (just as the fashion for brownstone crested) and to New York City, and perhaps some other port cities. In his memoirs in the Connecticut State Library, he writes of the satisfaction of being able to give jobs to friends, family, and neighbors...he patched together perhaps a dozen different businesses in which to offer these jobs. Gildersleeve Store, the Gildersleeve Post Office, a mattress factory, an ice house, a carriage shop, and 1xx ships turned out from the lot on the Connecticut River bank where Petzold's still deals in boats.

(site of 617)--William Dixon house, age unknown. Gildersleeve mentions tearing down his father-in-law's house in the construction of his own Federal style house. It could have been the 1703 Jonathan Warner house, if the old house at 613 Main wasn't.

625--Henry Gildersleeve, Sr., ship builder, 1853. The owner of this house in 1927 gave its age as 74 years, exactly the date that the title search indicates. It was sold to Harold Randall in 1932; Randall appears to have cut the neighboring small street called Randall Place.

629--Cicero Brown, ship captain, 1852. The 1925 owner gave an age of 75 years for this house, again echoing the information revealed by the title search.

631--Grace Slater? 1922. The 1927 tax card states that this bungalow style house was 5 years old at that time. Grace Slater is the resident listed in the 1923 City Directory.

633/35--Abiel Cheney, ship captain and carpenter, built 1757. This house served as Cheney's Tavern in the early 1800's. Many of the old colonials were wildly misrepresented in age by their 1927 owners--the owner of this house gave its age as 170 years, or built in 1757, which is exactly what the title search indicates. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research. The Colonial Dames identified it as the Cheney Tavern.)

643--Giles Hall, mariner, 1717. Hall, the owner of much land in the greater Middletown area, went through a three-year process involving applying to the General Assembly, to buy this land from the Wangunk Indians. It had a house on it when he sold it in 1739. However, the owner of this house in the 1820s was "Boss" Abby, an area shipbuilder. There is some possibility that he had his men reconstruct many features of this house, or perhaps even construct the present front part in front of a smaller 1717 structure, which would have formed the ell which was destroyed by fire in the earlier 20th century. Many of the features of the main block--the beaded edged paneling, the fanlight over the entry door, and the general massing--are typical of a ca. 1820s Federal style house. (Included in Colonial Dames and WPA research.)

661--Henry Bowers, 1852. Bowers built this little house for his elderly parents.

675—site of the Harry O. Brooks blacksmith shop, late 1800's. (Rev Masters) According to the 1927 assessor's card, the blacksmith shop burned ca.1926 or 27. Consequently, Rev Masters is a ca. 1927 building.