WPA

Samuel Hathaway House, Suffield, Connecticut

by

The house at 391 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


Samuel Hathaway was born around 1690 in Taunton, Massachusetts, but by 1719 he had moved to Suffield, where he married Sarah Rowe. He built this house sometime between 1720 and 1740, and he and Sarah raised their eight children here. During this time, he held several different town offices, including as a selectman and a highway surveyor. He was also involved in iron manufacturing, with a mill here in Suffield as well as ones in Willimantic and New Milford.

His businesses were evidently prosperous, because upon his death in 1765 his estate was valued at £1772, an impressive sum for the day. Samuel’s youngest son, Asahel, was also a leading resident of Suffield. A Yale graduate, he was a pastor for a short time before returning to Suffield, where he became a farmer and merchant. Around the turn of the 19th century, he purchased the mansion of Oliver Phelps, a Suffield landmark that remained in his family for many years.

Over the years, Samuel Hathaway’s former house has been expanded several times in the back, but it remains standing as one of the oldest houses in Suffield. Its construction even predates Suffield’s annexation to Connecticut, because prior to 1749 the town was part of Massachusetts. By the time the first photo was taken, the house was already around 200 years old, and very little has changed with the exterior since then. The house is now part of the Suffield Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Shadrach Trumbull House, Suffield, Connecticut

by

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

by

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.

James Hall House, Suffield, Connecticut

by

The house at 15 High Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


This house is one of many historic 18th century homes in downtown Suffield. It was built in 1786 for James Hall, with a Cape Cod-style design that was common throughout the region during this time period. Originally, it did not have the oversized dormer windows, but these were added sometime before the first photo was taken. There seems to be little available information about the original owner, but by the mid-1800s the house was owned by Joel Atwater, a harness maker whose shop was located here on the property. His name appears here on maps as early as 1855, and he lived here until his death in 1904 at the age of 93.

After his death, his daughter Mary inherited the house. She never married, and she worked as a dressmaker here at the house. She was still living here during the 1930 census, only a few years before the first photo was taken, but she appears to have died sometime before the 1940 census. When the first photo was taken, the house was listed as being in “fair” condition, with the photographer noting that the interior of the house was “greatly changed” from the 18th century. Since then, the only significant change to the exterior of the house is the removal of the double windows on the left side. These were probably not original, and their removal gives a more symmetrical and historically accurate appearance to the front of the house.

Herbert C. Puffer House, Springfield, Mass

by

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

by

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.