Henry Sterns House (1827)

At 48 Madison Avenue in Springfield is a brick home built in 1827. It is located on Sterns Hill which, according to An Historical Address, delivered by Charles H. Barrows in 1911:

is bounded south and east by the Springfield Cemetery, west by Central street and north by Thompson’s Dingle. The brick house, No. 48 Madison avenue, afterward removed easterly to make room for the great mansion of Charles L. Goodhue, now occupying the center, was in the middle nineteenth century the residence of Henry Sterns, Treasurer of the Springfield Institution for Savings. Of his three daughters, two joined the Roman Catholic communion and made their permanent abode in the Eternal City.

According to Charles Wells Chapin, in Sketches of the Old Inhabitants and Other Citizens of Old Springfield of the Old Springfield of the Present Century, and its Historic Mansions of “Ye Olden Time,” Henry Sterns (1794-1859) was

[a] merchant, was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 11, 1794. He came to Springfield about the year 1803, and for many years was a merchant on Main street opposite Court Square, having formed a copartnership with William Sparhawk, under the firm name of William Sparhawk & Co. On the death of Mr. Sparhawk, June 27, 1834, the late Joseph C. Parsons became a partner under the firm name of Sterns & Parsons. […] He was treasurer of the Springfield Institution for Savings, from December 24, 1849, until May, 1858.