Buildings

Newton and Asa Colton Houses, Longmeadow, Massachusetts (2)

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The houses at 817 and 809 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow, looking north from the corner of Colton Place, on May 10, 1918. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The same scene in 2024:

These two photos show a scene that is very similar to the one in the previous post. As explained in that post, the house on the right is the Newton Colton house, which was built in 1823, while the one on the left is the c.1775 Asa Colton house. Both houses were moved in 1921 in order to make room for the junior high school building, which still stands here today as Center Elementary School. Both houses are also still standing today, with the Newton Colton house at 870 Longmeadow Street and the Asa Colton house at 44 Colton Place.

Newton and Asa Colton Houses, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The houses at 817 and 809 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow, looking north from the corner of Colton Place, in June 1921. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The same scene in 2024:

As explained in the previous two posts, these houses once stood on the east side of the Longmeadow Green, and both were originally owned by the Colton family. The house in the foreground was built in 1823 as the home of Newton Colton, while the one farther in the distance was built around 1775 for Asa Colton. A third Colton house, at 797 Longmeadow Street, is also partially visible in the distance, and it is said to have been built in 1833 for Justin Colton, although it might be older than this.

The top photo was taken shortly before this scene was drastically changed. By the early 20th century, Longmeadow’s population was growing rapidly due to new suburban developments in the town, and this site was chosen for a new junior high school. To make room for the school, the two houses here in the foreground were both moved in 1921, with the Newton Colton house in the foreground being moved in July, about a month after the photo was taken.

Today, both of these houses are still standing in their new locations. The Newton Colton house was moved across the green to 870 Longmeadow Street, while the Asa Colton house was moved eastward from its original location, where it now stands at 44 Colton Place. The Justin Colton house, which did not need to be moved, is still standing here in its original location, and can be seen in the distance on the left side of the present-day photo.

The junior high school building later became Center Elementary School, and it underwent a major reconstruction in the mid-1990s. This involved completely gutting and rebuilding the interior, while leaving the exterior largely unchanged in its original 1920s Colonial Revival appearance, as shown in the present-day photo.

Asa Colton House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The house at 809 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow, on May 13, 1915. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The same scene in 2024:

This house once stood directly to the north of the one that was featured in the previous post. According to the MACRIS inventory form for the house, it was built in 1775 as the home of Asa Colton, but it was later expanded. Based solely on the exterior appearance of the house, the back portion of the house appears to be older, since its windows do not line up with those in the front part of the house. Other elements of the house, such as the shutters and the Greek Revival style front doorway, would have also been added later.

The Colton family owned this house throughout the first half of the 19th century, but in 1865 it was sold to Daniel Erskine Burbank (1826–1914). The 1870 census shows him here with his wife Jerusha (1825–1903) and their children James (1854–1936), Eunice (1857–1948), and Mary (1860–1936). Prior to moving to this house they also had a fourth child, William, who died in 1863 when he was about 9 months old.

By the time Daniel Burbank died in 1914, Longmeadow was in the midst of considerable changes. Once a primarily agricultural community, by the turn of the 20th century it was transforming into a suburb of Springfield. Many of the old farms were being subdivided into new streets and home lots, and the town’s population was steadily growing. This led to a need for a junior high school, and this site on the east side of the Longmeadow Green was selected for the location of the new school. This required the removal of both this house and the neighboring one to the south. Rather than demolishing the historic houses, both were moved in 1921. This house was moved east and rotated 90 degrees, and it now faces south on the lot at 44 Colton Place, directly behind the school building.

The junior high school building, which is shown here in the present-day photo, is now part of Center Elementary School. The exterior of the school has not changed much since it was built more than a century ago, but the interior was completely gutted and reconstructed in the mid-1990s.

Newton Colton House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The house at 817 Longmeadow Street, at the corner of Colton Place in Longmeadow, on May 13, 1915. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The scene in 2024:

The house in the top photo was built in 1823 as the home of Newton Colton (1795–1858) and his newlywed wife Naomi Robinson (1799–1879). It stood on the east side of the Longmeadow Green, and it was owned by the Colton family throughout the 19th century. They had three children: Francis Parmalee Colton (1824–1852), Naomi Robinson Colton (1828–1920), and John Newton Colton (1837–1899). The oldest, Francis, became a physician, but died young from a disease that he contracted while working at a hospital in New York.

The youngest son, John Newton Colton, ended up inheriting this property, and he lived here until his death in 1899. A year later, the property was sold to Charles S. Allen (1847–1909), and at some point after his death the property was subdivided, and a new street—Colton Place—was laid out just to the south of the house, as shown in the foreground of the 1915 photo.

By about 1920, the property was chosen as the site of a new junior high school building, which required the removal of this house and the neighboring house to the north. However, rather than demolishing the historic houses, both were moved to new sites on or near the Green. This house was purchased by Charles (1881–1957) and Esther Bump (1878–1970), and in July 1921 they moved it across the Green to 870 Longmeadow Street, where it still stands today.

In the meantime, the junior high school was subsequently built here on this site, as shown in the modern-day photo. The building is now Center Elementary School, and it was completely reconstructed on the interior in the mid-1990s, leaving only the original exterior of the building.

Ethan Ely House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The house at 664 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The house in 2024:

This house was built in 1856 as the home of Ethan Ely (1791–1875) and his son, who was also Named Ethan Ely (1835–1906). It was constructed on the site of an earlier house, the Thomas Bliss House, which was moved across the street to accommodate the new construction. The Ely house was built of brick with stone trim, and it features an Italianate design that stands out among the predominantly colonial and Federal-style homes that line this part of Longmeadow Street.

Shortly after the completion of this house, the younger Ethan Ely married his wife, Charity Bush (1836–1867). The 1860 census shows the elder Ethan Ely as the owner of the property, which was valued at 17,000 in addition to a personal estate that was valued at $23,000. The younger Ethan was living here with Charity and their one-year-old son Mason. They had at least one other child, Ethan, who died in infancy in 1862, and Charity died in 1867 from consumption (tuberculosis) at the age of 30. Mason also died young, from scarlet fever in 1871 at the age of 13.

Ethan does not appear to have ever remarried, and by the 1880 census he had no other family living here, although his household included two housekeepers, a servant, and a boarder who all lived here. Likewise, in 1900 he was living here with a boarder and a servant. He died in 1906, and his house was subsequently sold to James B. Burbank (1854–1936), who was living here when the top photo was taken around 1908.

Burbank was a real estate developer, and he was responsible for developing residential subdivisions in Longmeadow during the early 20th century, at a time when the town was becoming a desirable suburb of Springfield. The 1910 census shows him living here with his wife Martha and their children Eunice, Daniel, Laura, and Lulu. They also had a live-in servant, 29year-old Irish native Rose Doyle.

The Burbanks remained here until the 1930s, and the house has had many subsequent owners. Much of the property behind the house was subdivided and developed around the 1950s, creating modern-day Wheelmeadow Drive. However, the old house has remained mostly unchanged, and it still retains its historic appearance, as shown in the second photo. It is now part of the Longmeadow Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

David Hale House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The house at the southwest corner of Longmeadow Street and Emerson Road in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, in November, 1910. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The scene in 2024:

The exact date of construction of this house seems uncertain, and the MACRIS inventory form for the house estimates that it was built around 1830 as the home of David Hale. However, it might be several decades older, because the 1831 town map shows David Hale living here at the time, although it is unclear whether it was in this particular house or an earlier house on the same site. Either way, the architecture of the house suggests that it was probably built sometime around 1830 to 1850, when Greek Revival style architecture was prevalent throughout much of New England.

During the 1850 census, David Hale and his wife Rebecca Woolworth were living here with their youngest child, Fanny. They had eight children in total, seven of whom lived to adulthood, and by 1850 all the other children had apparently moved out and started families of their own. The 1850 census lists David as a farmer, and in the 1860 census he is a shoemaker, with a personal estate of $150 and real estate valued at $1,000. Fanny was still living here in 1860, with her occupation listed as “Domestic.” She may have been the primary caretaker for her parents as they aged, and she did not marry until 1865, less than a year before her father’s death.

After David’s death in 1865, the heirs subsequently sold the property to Michael Kinney. He and his wife Ellen were born in Ireland, as were their two older children, Mary and Jerry. They evidently came to America by around 1860, because their two younger children, Eddy and Thomas, were born in the United States. The 1870 census listed Michael’s occupation as being a farm laborer, but by 1880 he was listed as working on the railroad.

Michael died in either the 1880s or 1890s, and Ellen died in 1897. Their son Jerry died two years later from liver cancer, and Thomas also died relatively young. Thomas was living here in the house when the top photo was taken in 1910, along with his wife Mary; their children Edward, Thomas, Ellen, Jeremiah, and Francis; and a boarder named Thomas Evans. However, Thomas died just three years later, in December 1913, from pneumonia at the age of 45. Mary was pregnant at the time, and five months later she gave birth to another son, Charles.

Mary and Charles were still living here in 1930, and she was working as a manager at a dry goods store. She apparently sold the house at some point in the 1930s, though, because by 1940 she was living a few blocks away on Westmoreland Avenue with her daughter Ellen and Ellen’s family.

The house changed hands several times in the mid-20th century, and in 1966 it was purchased by Bay Path Junior College—now Bay Path University—and was used as a nursery school. The house is still part of the Bay Path campus today, and it is now used for administrative offices. At some point during this time, the exterior of the house was altered, including enclosing the porch on the left side and installing vinyl siding, windows, and shutters. The scene behind the house has also changed since then. What had once been farmland extending along both sides of Emerson Road has since been subdivided into house lots.