Gridley-Case cottages, 138-140 Main Street. Photo by Brooke Martin.

Welcome to the Web site of the Farmington Historical Society.

Founded in 1954, the historical society is dedicated to preserving the town's history and educating the public about its significance. We sponsor exhibits, lectures and other events, and we provide tours of the Freedom Trail's Underground Railroad and Amistad sites.

The society celebrates the diversity of all those who have contributed to the town's history—the Tunxis Indians who established the first settlement by the Farmington River; the English settlers who traded with the Indians; the fugitive slaves who sought freedom on the Underground Railroad; the abolitionists who gave them shelter; the 38 Africans who lived here in 1841 after gaining their freedom in the Amistad case; the entrepreneurs who constructed the Farmington Canal in the early 1880s; and the merchants and traders who built the stately homes lining Main Street in the historic village.

The town is what it is today because of educators like Sarah Porter, who started Miss Porter's School for girls in 1843; architects such as Theodate Pope, a student of Porter's who built the home that's now the Hill-Stead Museum; and collectors like Alfred Pope—one of the first Americans to collect the Impressionist paintings of Monet, Manet, Degas and Whistler—and Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis, who founded the Lewis Walpole Library. 

Farmington has flourished through the generations because of the work of businesspeople who promoted commerce and brought industries to town; doctors, who led the fight against smallpox at Hospital Rock and worked as pioneers in the field of psychiatry; immigrants, who labored in the mills in Unionville; farmers, whose homesteads have been passed down through as many as nine generations; town leaders; ministers; artists; and many others.

The town has also played an important part in the nation's history in times of war. From King Philip's Indian War in 1675 to the present-day war in Iraq, Farmington has provided soldiers and support. In the town's "Memento Mori" cemetery, there are gravestones inscribed with the names of twelve men who fought in the French and Indian War, thirty-four Revolutionary War patriots, one veteran of both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, and one Civil War soldier. A monument in Riverside Cemetery includes the names of twenty-one Civil War soldiers who fought at Gettysburg, Antietam, Fort Wagner and Winchester.

Like the river flowing through the town, Farmington's history is always near at hand, seldom far from view, linking past and present. The Historical Society, located at 138 Main Street, is committed to studying, celebrating and preserving that history.

View our calendar of events and programs.

Farmington Bicentennial Quilt at Main Library. Photo by Nicholas Schaus.

What's New

Amy Spirito, Sue Sturtevant, Lois Wadsworth, Nancy Walker
and Katherine Windsor. Photo by Lauren Jenkelunas.

Dr. Charles Leach discusses the painting Approaching Storm, by Robert Brandegee.

Ulrich Birkmaier of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford repaired and cleaned the damaged painting and added a hundred-year-old Louisiana hardwood frame. A donation from the Alison & Nathaniel Howe Fund helped make the project possible. Ann Arcari, former  president of the historical society, led the project to restore the painting.

The Old Stone Schoolhouse is open for tours each summer on Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. during July and August.

As part of Freedom Trail Month in Connecticut, Constance Baker Motley, who grew up in New Haven and became a prominent advocate for civil rights and school desegregation, was inducted into the Freedom Trail on September 25.

Representing the Farmington Historical Society, Joanne Lawson, a former president of the society, attended the induction ceremony, which included the dedication of a Freedom Trail marker at the corner of Day and Edgewood streets in New Haven, near Motley’s childhood home at 8 Garden Street. The Connecticut Freedom Trail includes 120 sites associated with the heritage of African Americans and their struggle for freedom, including about a dozen sites in Farmington.

Motley, born in New Haven in 1921, was the ninth of twelve children. Her father, who had emigrated with her mother from Nevis in the Caribbean, worked as a waiter in the restaurant at Yale University’s Skull and Bones society. Motley graduated from Hillhouse High School, and with help from a local philanthropist she earned a law degree from Columbia University. Motley worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1945–1965, and she helped write briefs for Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that outlawed school segregation. In 1961 she became the first African-American woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court. In Meredith v. Fair, she won for James Meredith the right to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi.

In 1964, Motley became the first black woman elected to the New York Senate. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson appointed her to the federal court. She was the first African-American judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and she later became chief judge. Motley worked in the court until her death in 2005.

Part of the program in September was a panel of four African-American female judges from Connecticut. Three had met Motley, and all said they were aided and inspired by her trailblazing career of firsts. Motley’s son, Joel Motley, also attended the event. “She was a great student of history, [and] a great believer in the power of history,” he told the New Haven Independent.

Motley’s autobiography, Equal Justice Under Law, is available at the Farmington Library.

In July 2010, the historical society presented an exhibit of the patriotic artwork of Gary Kollberg—collages featuring American icons such as eagles, Stars and Stripes, Uncle Sam, and the Statue of Liberty.

Patriotic collage by Gary Kollberg.

Kollberg, who has studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Parsons School of Design, has said that the events of 9/11 “crystallized people’s support for their country,” and led him to take his art in a new direction. He began creating works celebrating Americans' patriotism and showing his "appreciation for those individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Patriotic collage by Gary Kollberg.

The patriotic exhibit was organized by Marcie Shepard, the historical society's special events chairwoman.

A “Patriotic Sing-Along” for the community was held on July 4th at 138 Main Street.

Image courtesy of VintageHolidayCrafts.com.

The historical society held its annual meeting on June 13 at 5 Church Street in Farmington. Jean Pickens, president of the society, presented the slate of officers and board members for election.

5 Church Street, Farmington

The program also included a talk by Gay Ayers on the history of 5 Church Street, which was once part of the property at 87 Main Street and served as a barn and carriage house until the early 1900s. The house at 87 Main was built in 1815 for Major Timothy Cowles and is often referred to as TimCo.

Gay Ayers gives a talk at the annual meeting
of the historical society on June 13, 2010.

Ayers, whose grandmother Marguerite Chase Boas Holcombe lived in TimCo, shared stories gleaned from a collection of approximately 1,500 letters that Marguerite wrote between 1898 and 1954.

The Farmington Historical Society, at 138 Main Street, was open in February for an exhibit showcasing a dollhouse replica of a nineteenth-century home on Route 6 in Farmington.

Steve King gave a talk on a dollhouse replica of an
of an eighteenth-century Farmington home at the
historical society's New Year's gala on January 10.
Photo by Brooke Martin.

The home, formerly known as the William Crampton House, is a good example of the Greek Revival style. The Crampton family owned the house until 1887, when it was sold to George A. Beckwith of Southington for $2,300. Beckwith sold the property in 1915 to Edward T. Smith. Since then, it has changed owners several times. In 1964, William E. and Edith T. King purchased the property. An addition housed William’s optical business and Edith’s antiques shop. At that time, the property was referred to as “King’s Little Acre.”

Family photo of the "William Crampton House."

In 1972, Edith commissioned Gary McLeod of Wethersfield to build the dollhouse replica. Edith then furnished it with homemade items. Gina King, Edith’s granddaughter, inherited the dollhouse in 1995. In 2009, Gina, who lives in Massachusetts, contacted the historical society and arranged to donate the dollhouse. At a recent New Year’s gala held for members of the society, Gina and her father, Steve King, gave a talk about the history of the dollhouse.

Interior of dollhouse. Photo by Brooke Martin.

The historical society hosted an exhibit for Black History Month in February at its headquarters at 138 Main Street. The exhibit included posters and information on the Amistad story. The freed Amistad captives lived in Farmington in 1841 before returning to their homeland in what is now Sierra Leone, Africa.

Freedom Trail marker and lantern, 2 Mill Lane.
Photo by Brooke Martin.

The exhibit also included information on the Underground Railroad in Farmington, where a number of prominent abolitionists lived. The book Speaking for Ourselves, about the history of African Americans in Farmington, is available for sale from the historical society. This book was written in 1998 as a project of the historical society under the direction of Barbara Donahue.

Jean Pickens, president of the historical society, addresses
members at the New Year's gala on January 10, 2010.

At the event, Gina King and her father, Steve King, gave a talk on a dollhouse that is a replica of their nineteenth-century family home on Route 6 in Farmington. The dollhouse, which the King family donated to the society, was on display during the gala.

Steve and Gina King, with the dollhouse they donated
to the historical Society. Photo by Brooke Martin.

Jean Pickens was elected the new president of the Farmington Historical Society at the society's annual meeting on June 14, 2009. Jean is the former vice president of the society and the former president of the Friends of the Hill-Stead Museum. The meeting was held at the new Hartford Medical Society Library at the UConn Health Center in Farmington.

Jean Pickens, president of the historical society, left, talks with librarian Jenny
Miglus at the Hartford Medical Society Library at the UConn Health Center.

The society also elected new board members and officers, including Joanne Lawson as vice president and Ann Newbury as secretary. Edward Leary was reelected as treasurer of the society. A complete list of the board members is available here.

Members and guests met in the Robert Massey Auditorium for a short business meeting and refreshments. Guest speaker Ralph Arcari gave a talk about the Hartford Medical Society’s connection to Farmington, and librarian Jenny Miglus gave tours of the library, which was previously located on Scarborough Street in Hartford.

Mary Jane Dapkus, giving a talk at Miss Porter's School
about 19th-century shelf clock makers in Farmington.

The Historical Society reprinted Farmington in Connecticut, by Christopher P. Bickford, in 2008.

An exhibit of nineteenth-century clothing and linens was held in June 2008. The Gridley-Case cottage came alive with items from the 1800s. A table was set in the dining room overlooking the restored garden; several pieces of period furniture filled the parlor; the small bedroom held a youngster’s bed and children’s items; and the kitchen contained a variety of household goods, from laundry products and tools to a display of hats and capes. Mannequins dressed in period clothing were arranged throughout the cottage.

The Historical Society’s Gridley-Case cottage and garden at 138 Main Street was one of the six homes and two museums featured in the Friends of the Farmington Library Kitchens & Gardens Tour on June 14, 2008.

Garden at Gridley-Case cottage, 138 Main Street.
Photo by Brooke Martin.

The eighteenth-century formal garden was designed by Sarah C. la Cour, a landscape designer from Amherst, Mass. The garden reflects the style and plantings typical of New England. The design incorporates boxwood-edged brick and bluestone walks and quadrant beds.

This spring, as part of a volunteer UConn master gardener project, annuals, herbs and perennials were added. The Treadwell list of 18th-century plantings was used as a guide. John Treadwell documented commonly found vegetables, herbs, and flowers planted in Farmington gardens. Plantings in 1999 included: geranium striatum, blue Campanula ,and autumn joy in the center circle; white phlox, Stella d'Oro lilies, red bee balm, blue columbine, and Russian sage in the quadrants; and lilacs, red bud, coreopsis, and hostas above the stone wall.

Side garden, 138 Main Street.
Photo by Brooke Martin.

From the Treadwell list, the society added pinks, daffodils, tulips, violas, blackberry lily, poppies, hollyhocks, sweet william, sweet pea, morning glories, and marigolds. Herbs to be added to the garden include: parsley, coriander, pepper, savory, sweet marjoram, thyme, rue, hyssop, lemon balm, chive, tansy, and wormwood. These and lamb's ear, iris, oregano, yellow yarrow, germander, and lavender were generously donated by the Connecticut Unit of the Herb Society of America. We welcome volunteers who would like to work in the garden, as well as donations of perennials. The goal is to have the garden in bloom from April to October.

The Library Gardens Tour also included the garden and orchid room of advanced master gardener Sandy Myhalik. The orchid room contains more than 100 varieties of tropical orchids.

Theodore Roosevelt visits "Oldgate" in Farmington;
 Farmington in Connecticut, by Christopher P. Bickford.

Historical letters concerning the Amistad Africans, written in 1841, can now be viewed at the Farmington Library's Web site. Ann Arcari, president of the Historical Society, and other members of the society transcribed the letters, which include one written by Cinque, the leader of the Mendians.

Cinque, by Nathaniel Jocelyn, 1839

The letters shed light on the lives of the Africans when they lived in Farmington from March to November of 1841 and on the thoughts of the abolitionists who helped them win their freedom.

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