Category: Sheffield

Mark Dewey Hat Shop (1816)

by Dan//Commercial, Greek Revival, Houses, Sheffield, Vernacular

On the grounds of the Sheffield Historical Society is a building, constructed about 1816, that once served as a hat and cap manufactory for Mark Dewey and his three apprentices. While conducting his business in the building, Dewey lived next door, in the Dan Raymond House, which is also owned by the Historical Society. He sold his hatter’s shop in 1828. In the 1980s, the building was restored by the Society to house the Mark Dewey Research Center, a collection of historical materials relating to Sheffield and surrounding towns. Continue reading “Mark Dewey Hat Shop (1816)”

Cassidy Building (1845)

by Dan//Greek Revival, Houses, Sheffield

The Greek Revival commercial building at 116 Main Street in Sheffield was built c. 1845. In the early twentieth century it was known as the Cassidy Building and housed Sheffield’s Post Office, with James G. Cassidy as postmaster from 1914 to 1922, succeeded by Miss Beatrice Ellis from 1922 to 1934. The building was again the Post Office from 1957 to 1966, with J. Wesley Warren as postmaster. The building has housed a number of antiques dealers over the years. Most recently, it is home to Samuel Herrup Antiques.

Goodrich-Robertson House (1727)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Sheffield

The saltbox house at 139 South Main Street in Sheffield was moved to its current location in 1946 from Wethersfield, Connecticut, where it had an address of 191 or 197 Main Street. It is thought to have been built c. 1727 by Jonathan Goodrich, who soon sold it in 1737 to Jonathan Stillman. In 1769 the property was acquired by Silas Deane (1737-1789), but it was not his residence. At the time he was erecting his own house next door at 203 Main Street. A wealthy merchant and lawyer, Deane played a vital role during the Revolutionary War. He was sent abroad by a secret committee of the Continental Congress in 1776 to secure aid from the French government. He later worked closely with Benjamin Franklin to negotiate the treaty of alliance with France that led to the sending of an army under the Comte de Rochambeau to aid George Washington. Together they would win the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Deane’s house in Wethersfield is now part of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum.

Dr. Barwick Bruce, who came to Wethersfield from Barbados, purchased the Goodrich House in 1809. He sold it in 1816 to Dr. Ashbel Robertson (1787-1847). As related in Stiles’ History of Ancient Wethersfield, Vol. I (1904), page 728-729:

Dr. Robertson, for many years, carried on a mechantile business, sold wines and liquors (under a license) and practiced medicine. His store, with roof cut down and a brick front added, is now occupied by Comstock, Ferre & Co., as a seed warehouse, a little further up the same street. The mansion is now occupied by Mr. Austin Robertson, a son of the old doctor [.]

Austin Robertson was for many years the town tax collector and before the turn of the century, Wethersfield residents would come to his house where he accepted payment. In 1909, the house was still owned by Austin Robertson, but by the 1920s, after Robertson passed away, it was owned by E. Hart Fenn, who lived in the Silas Deane House next door. The Red Cross used the Goodrich-Robertson house during World War I. The house was moved to Sheffield in 1946 by a Mr. Tompkins, but its foundations can still be seen on the property of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum. There is also a c. 1910s Wallace Nutting photograph of paneling from the house.

Although Silas Deane did not live in the Goodrich-Robertson House, its former proximity to his Wethersfield home led to to its becoming known as the Silas Deane House. In 1956, ten years after its move to Sheffield, the house was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Jones, who ran an antiques shop in the building. Most recently, the house has been the Blue Door Market & Cafe.

Continue reading “Goodrich-Robertson House (1727)”

Theodore Sedgwick House (1761)

by Dan//Colonial, Greek Revival, Houses, Sheffield

Although it now has a nineteenth-century Greek Revival appearance with eleven columns, the house at 126 Main Street in Sheffield dates back to 1761. In the 1760s, the house was rented by Dr. Lemuel Barnard, a physician who was one of the signers of the Sheffield Declaration, which was drawn up at the home of John Ashley in 1773. Seen as a predecessor of the Declaration of Independence, the Sheffield Declaration (or Sheffield Resolves) was a list of grievances against the British government and an outline of the basic rights of citizens. In 1768, David Ingersoll sold the house to Theodore Sedgwick, a Sheffield lawyer (born in West Hartford, Connecticut) who had written the text of the Sheffield Declaration. In 1781, he and Tapping Reeve represented Mum Bett, an enslaved woman at the house of John Ashley, who sued for her freedom under the Massachusetts constitution of 1780, part of which stated that “All men are born free and equal.” She won her freedom and took the name Elizabeth Freeman. Sedgwick was a delegate to the Continental Congress and would go on to serve as in the U.S. House and Senate. He was the forth Speaker of the House of Representatives (1799-1801) and served on the Massachusetts Supreme Court from 1802 until his death in 1813. In 1785, he sold the house at 126 Main Street to Elisha Lee, also an attorney, who was appointed the first postmaster of Sheffield in 1784.