Massachusetts

Simon Colton House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The house at 787 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow, around 1883. Image from Proceedings at the Centennial Celebration of the Incorporation of the Town of Longmeadow (1883).

The house in 2024:

This house was built in 1735 as the home of Captain Simon Colton (1709–1796), shortly before his 1736 marriage to Abigail Burt (1714–1760). Its design was typical for homes of this period, including a front facade with four windows on the first floor and five on the second floor, a central chimney, and a saltbox-style roof in the back of the house. Simon and Abigail had 12 children, 7 of whom lived to adulthood, and after Abigail’s death in 1760, Simon remarried to Rebecca Hale (1717–1803).

Simon and Abigail’s son, Major Luther Colton (1756–1803), subsequently inherited the house. He lived here with his wife, Thankful Woolworth (1759–1797), and they had 9 children, one of whom died in infancy. After Thankful’s death in 1797, Luther remarried to Mehitable Deming (1763–1856) in 1799. She was a widow from Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and she had four children of her own. They would have two more children of their own, before Luther’s death in 1803.

Mehitable lived here for the rest of her life, and it would remain in her family throughout the 19th century. Her granddaughter, Elizabeth Parker Colton (1823–1898), later inherited the house, and she owned it when the top photo was taken in the early 1880s. Also visible in this photo is a massive elm tree in the front of the house, which may have been even older than the house itself.

In 1906, Elizabeth’s brother Simon Parker sold the house to T. W. Leete, who briefly owned it before selling it in 1908 to Julia Colton Allen, a granddaughter of Major Luther Colton. At some point in the early 20th century, the wing on the south side of the house was significantly expanded. The 1880s photo shows a one-story wing on the right side, but photographs from the 1910s (such as a 1918 photo that was featured in a previous post) show a two-story wing.

The Colton descendants continued to own the house until 1935, when they transferred it to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. This organization, which is now known as Historic New England, has since sold the house, and it is once again privately owned. However, the sale includes several stipulations, including that the front facade cannot be changed and that it must always be painted red.

Today, the house stands as perhaps the oldest surviving house in Longmeadow, and it is a good example of the saltbox style that was popular in the Connecticut River Valley during the mid-18th century. It is one of the many historic homes that line the Longmeadow Green, and it is an important town landmark that is featured on the town’s official seal. Along with the other homes on the Green, it is part of the Longmeadow Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Justin Colton House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The house at 797 Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow, on December 15, 1909. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The house in 2024:

The sign on this house indicates that it was built in 1833, although it is possible that it could be older, since this style of architecture was common in the region throughout the 18th and into the early 19th centuries. During the 1830s, it was owned by Justin Colton, and it was part of a group of houses on the east side of the Longmeadow Green that were all owned by members of the Colton family.

Justin Colton (1802–1852) was the younger brother of Newton Colton, who lived in the house that once stood just to the south of here. Justin was married twice, and the presumed 1833 date of this house likely comes from the date of his second marriage, which occurred on June 19, 1833, when he married Sophia Field Colton (1811–1887). He had one child by his first marriage, a son who died in infancy, and he and Sophia had four children: Emeline (1834–1871), Louisa (1836–1916), Amelia (1838–1915), and Albert (1840–1910).

Although Justin Colton died in 1852, the house would remain in the Colton family for many decades. The 1894 county atlas shows that it was owned by Louisa, but she does not appear to have actually lived here, since she spent most of her adult life in Buffalo with her husband Edwin Sikes. Instead, it was her sister Amelia who lived here in the family house. The 1900 census shows Amelia here with her husband George Hatstat and their daughter Elsie. George died in 1902, but Amelia and Elsie were still living here in 1909 when the top photo was taken.

By the late 1920s, this house was owned by George (1880–1969) and Margaret Adams (1882–1968). During the 1930 census, the home was valued at $1,500, and they were living here with their daughter Rosamond and their son Averill. In 1940, George and Margaret opened a tea room here on the first floor of their house, which they named the “Old House on the Green.” Newspaper advertisements from the 1940s promise that it was a good place for events such as wedding receptions, anniversaries, birthday parties, bridge parties, afternoon teas, business meetings, and showers. They ran the business here for about 18 years, until their retirement in 1958, but they lived here until their deaths a few months apart in 1968 and 1969.

Over the years, the house has seen some exterior changes, including the removal of the side porch, the partial enclosure of the front porch, and the removal of the shutters. Otherwise, though, the house is still easily recognizable from the top photo more than a century ago, and it stands as one of the many historic 18th and early 19th century homes that line both sides of the Longmeadow Green. As with the other homes here, it is a contributing property in the Longmeadow Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

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.