National Register of Historic Places

Shadrach Trumbull House, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 423 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


This house is located a little south of the center of Suffield, and it was built in 1779 for Shadrach Trumbull, a tailor who was originally from Westfield, Massachusetts. He was about 24 years old when he moved into this house, which was around the same time that he married his first wife, Jael Hathaway. They had four children together, before Jael’s death in 1785. Three years later, Shadrach remarried to Lydia Dwight, and they had six children of their own.

Shadrach died in 1811, but the house appears to have remained in his family for many years. According to 19th century property maps, his daughter Mary and her husband, George Bradley, were living here into the 1850s. On such maps, it is often hard to tell which house is which, but this one appears to have been theirs. As late as the 1869 county atlas, the house was labeled as being owned by a “C. Bradley,” suggesting that the house had remained in Trumbull’s family for at least 90 years after he built it.

By 1920, the house was owned by Charles C. Austin, a middle-ages tobacco farmer who lived here with his brother Ernest, and Ernest’s wife Adeline. The first photo was taken about 15-20 years later, in the midst of the Great Depression. It was taken as part of a WPA project to document historic buildings in Connecticut, and at the time the photographer noted that it was in good condition and “mostly original.” Around 80 years later, very little has changed in this scene, and the exterior of the house remains well-preserved. The interior has also retained much of its historical integrity, and the house is now part of the Suffield Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mercy Norton House, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 451 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


According to a marker on this house, it was “A frame of a house deeded to Mercy Norton” in 1701. This is also the date provided in the National Register of Historic Places listing for the Suffield Historic District, and, if accurate, it would make this house among the oldest in the town. It would also make it a fairly early use of a gambrel roof, as this style did not come into widespread use until later in the 18th century.

The house would have been smaller when it was first built, but is has subsequently been expanded in the back, giving it a saltbox-style appearance. There is also an ell that was later added to the back of the house, although it is not visible from this angle. When the first photo was taken, the house was described as only being in “fair” condition, but it has since been restored, and in 1979 it became a contributing property n the newly-created Suffield Historic District.

Herbert C. Puffer House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 145 Dartmouth Terrace in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:


This house was built in 1888 for Herbert C. Puffer, a flour and grain merchant who lived here with his wife Elizabeth and their three children, Nellie, Caroline, and Herbert. The family had previously lived on Howard Street, but when Dartmouth Terrace was developed in the late 1880s they joined the city’s other prominent families who moved into the McKnight neighborhood. Aside from his business, Puffer also held several public offices. In 1899, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and he subsequently served as a city water commissioner.

In 1892, his oldest daughter Nellie married Fordis C. Parker, an insurance agent. The couple lived here with her parents for some time, although by the first decade of the 20th century they had moved into their own house on High Street. Fordis went on to become a partner in the Springfield-based fire insurance firm of Judd, Parsons & Parker, and he also had a successful political career. He served nine Springfield’s Common Council and Board of Aldermen, in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate, and as mayor of Springfield from 1925 to 1929.

In the meantime, Herbert and Elizabeth lived here in this house until their deaths in the 1920s. Their son Herbert inherited the house, and he lived here with his wife Harriet and their son Charles. The house remained in the Puffer family for over 60 years, until Herbert’s death in 1953. Harriet sold the property the following year and moved to Longmeadow, where she lived until her death in 1974 at the age of 95. In 1976, this house became part of the McKnight Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was subsequently restored in the 1980s. Today, there is hardly any noticeable difference between the two photos, and it still stands as one of the many historic 19th century homes in the neighborhood.

Edgar S. Bliss House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 153 Dartmouth Terrace in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:


Most of the homes on Dartmouth Terrace were built in the late 1880s, but this particular lot remained vacant for several decades, until this house was built in 1908. As a result, its Colonial Revival design is very different from the earlier Victorian-style homes on the street, reflecting the changes in architectural tastes at the turn of the 20th century. It was originally the home of Edgar S. Bliss, a paper manufacturer who, in 1896, had purchased a controlling interest in the Worthy Paper Company in West Springfield. He became the company’s president and treasurer, and a little over a decade later he moved into this house, along with his wife Jane and their four children.

Edgar Bliss ran the Worthy Paper Company until his retirement in 1930, and he continued living in this house for the rest of his life. Jane died in 1935, but Edgar was still living here when the first photo was taken a few years later. He died in 1942, and his children sold the house to Joseph Chapdelaine, a building contractor. He and his wife Florida had immigrated to the United States from Quebec in 1924, and they had lived in the South End before moving into this house. They remained here until 1956, when they sold the house and moved to East Forest Park. The house went through several more owners before being restored in the 1990s, and it is now part of the McKnight Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Walter T. Bugbee House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 24 Dartmouth Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.


The house in 2017:


This house was built in 1887 for Walter T. Bugbee, a tailor whose shop was located on Main Street, directly opposite Court Square. He and his wife Flora had three young children when they moved into this house. Another child had died prior to their move to Springfield, and their fifth child was born in 1892. A year later, they moved out of here and into a nearby home at 60 Dartmouth Street. They did not live there long either, though, and by the 1900 census the Bugbee family was living in Forest Park.

In the meantime, this house was sold to traveling salesman Frank Howland and his wife Bertha, who were living here during the 1900 census. By 1906, though, the house had been sold again, to general store merchant Charles D. Haskell. His first wife, Mary, had died in the late 1890s, and they had one son, Ethelbert, who was about 12 when his father moved into this house. Around the same time that they moved into this house, Charles remarried, to his late wife’s younger sister, Mabel.

The family lived here together for the next seven years, but tragedy struck in 1913. Late in August, 19-year-old Ethelbert was critically injured in a diving accident that fractured his spine. About a week later, Charles contracted typhoid fever, and he died on September 9 at the age of 55. In the meantime, Ethelbert remained in critical condition for about a month after the accident, and he died on September 25, a day after surgeons operated on his neck in an effort to remove the bone fragments.

Mabel was still living here in this house when the first photo was taken, around 25 years later. Alone except for a live-in maid, she continued to live in this house until her death in 1956. Since then, the exterior of the house has been well-preserved, and in 1976 it became part of the McKnight Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ezekiel M. Ezekiel House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 36 Dartmouth Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:


Ezekiel M. Ezekiel was born in 1841 in Richmond, Virginia, to a prominent Jewish family. He had 13 siblings, including an older brother, Moses Ezekiel, who went on to become a noted sculptor. During the Civil War, Ezekiel fought for the Confederacy, but after the war he moved north, first to New York and later to Springfield. He worked for many years as a traveling salesman for David B. Crockett Co., a Bridgeport, Connecticut-based varnish company.

In 1884, he married his wife Caroline, who was 20 at the time and less than half his age. Their only child, Grace, was born the following year, and in 1886 moved into this newly-built house in Springfield. Ezekiel continued working for the varnish company, but he was also involved in local politics. He served on the police commission, and he was also at one point the chairman of the Democratic City Committee. In 1903, he was even nominated as the Democratic candidate for Secretary of the Commonwealth, although he lost to incumbent Republican William M. Olin by a wide margin.

The Ezekiel family was still living here during the 1900 census, but they later moved to a new house at 251 Longhill Street in Springfield’s Forest Park neighborhood. By at least 1908, their former house here on Dartmouth Street was owned by Mary F. Strong, a 56 year old widow whose husband Judson had been murdered in 1904. He was a real estate dealer, and one of his tenants at 120 Main Street was Dr. Edward J. Belt. On October 8, 1904, Belt entered Strong’s office, shot him twice in the face, and also shot another man in the room. He then returned to his own office, where he drank a bottle of carbolic acid. All three men were transported to Mercy Hospital, and Belt was pronounced dead soon after. The other man’s injuries were not considered life-threatening, but Strong was critically wounded and he died nine days later from the resulting infection.

Mary Strong lived here with her three children until sometime in the 1910s, when, like the previous owners, they moved to Forest Park. By 1920, the house was being rented by Robert L. Notman and his wife Laura, who lived here with their six children, aged 9 to 23. Both Robert and Laura were Canadian immigrants, and Robert was listed as being an automobile manufacturer. Later in the 1920s, the house was purchased by Jeremiah L. Shea and his wife Ella. During the 1930 census, they were living here with their son and four daughters, whose ages ranged from 26 to 32. However, by the time the first photo was taken the house was for sale, as indicated by the large sign on the porch.

The house was apparently on the market for a few years, because during the 1940 census it was being rented for $55 a month to Paul M. Limbert, a professor at Springfield College. He and his wife Anna purchased the house a year later, and they lived here for over a decade. In 1946, Paul became the president of the college, and he served in this position until 1952. The following year, he and Anna left Springfield and moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he became the Secretary General of the World Alliance of YMCAs.

The house was restored in the late 1960s, and it has been well-maintained ever since, with hardly any difference from the first photo. The carriage house, partially visible in the distance on the left, has also been restored, and is now used as an apartment. Along with the rest of the neighborhood, the property is now part of the McKnight Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.