The Alexander House in Springfield was originally built at the corner of Elliott and State Streets in 1811 for James Byers. The design of the house has been attributed to Asher Benjamin and it was built by Simon Sanborn, Springfield’s master builder of the first half of the nineteenth century, who designed many of the city’s old mansions. In 1820, Byers sold the house to Colonel Israel E. Trask, who also owned a plantation in Mississippi. The artist, Chester Harding, briefly lived in the house from 1830 to 1832, as did the railroad superintendent General James Barnes, in 1839. After … Continue reading Henry Alexander, Jr. House (1811)