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Farmington History Quiz
Farmington History Quiz, by Carol Leonard
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1. Who were the seven pillars?
The organizers of the First Church of
Christ, who signed their names to establish the church on October 13, 1652. They were
Roger Newton (the first minister), Stephen Hart, Thomas J. Judd, John Bronson,
John Cowles, Thomas Thomson and Robert Porter. A map on page 20 of Christopher
Bickford's Farmington in Connecticut will enable you to locate their
homes in a walk around the village.
First
Church of Christ
2. Can you
name five founding families of Farmington?
They include lots of familiar names and some
not so well known. Among them are: John Steele, William Goodwin, Deacon Andrew
Warner, Stephen Hart, William Lewis, Roger Newton, Matthew Webster, Thomas
Barnes, John Brownson, George Ovis (Orvis), Thomas Porter, John Warner, Thomas Demon (Deming), John Cole (Cowles), Deacon Thomas
Judd, Thomas Upson, Deacon Isaac Moore, John Lomes (Loomis), and William Hitchkock.
Stephen
Hart gravestone, Memento Mori cemetery
3. Where did the Tunxis Indians move to from Farmington?
First, briefly to Stockbridge, MA, then to Oneida, NY, and finally to the
area of Green Bay, WI.
4. Who was Sarah Porter's father and what did he do? And her brother?
Sarah's father, the Rev. Noah Porter, was minister of First Church from 1806 to
1866, the first local boy to be called to the Farmington pulpit. The Porters had
seven children, all of whom distinguished themselves as teachers or clergy; best
known is Noah, who became president of Yale College.
Noah
Porter memorial, First Church of Christ
5. What famous furniture maker is buried in Riverside Cemetery? What
playwright?
The furniture maker is Lambert Hitchcock, who started the Unionville Chair
Company in 1843. Hitchcock, who was from Cheshire, CT, first built a chair
factory at the junction of the Farmington and Still rivers in the 1820s, in a
town that would later be called Hitchcocksville in his honor. The town's name
has since been changed to Riverton.
Hitchcock made chairs with stenciled instead of painted designs, to make the
chairs more affordable. He moved his company to Unionville in 1843 because of
competition from other chair makers. The Unionville Chair Company was
unsuccessful, and Hitchcock died insolvent in 1852.
Hitchcock
Chair Co. catalog
The playwright is Winchell Smith, former owner of the
Gridley-Case cottages, which are now owned by the Farmington Historical Society.
Among the plays written by Smith are Brewster's
Millions (1906), The Fortune Hunter (1909), The Boomerang
(1915), and Lightnin' (1918), which was for a time the longest-running play in
American theatrical history, with 1,291 performances.
Smith lived in a Georgian mansion at 188 Garden Street, the other end of
his extensive property
that then included the cottages. The mansion was built overlooking a bend of the
Farmington River, at its junction with the Pequabuck River.
Winchell
Smith's monument at Riverside Cemetery
Smith wrote and produced the silent film classic "Way Down
East," and it was he who brought Lillian Gish to Farmington to star in the film
in 1919. Smith owned the grist mill by the river at the time, which was used in
a scene in the movie. The scene shows Gish crossing the river in the winter by
jumping from ice floe to ice floe.
Winchell Smith
estate
6. Can you name three manufacturing industries in Unionville?
Once again, you have a lengthy list from which to choose. Some of them are: Platner & Porter, Charles House, Inc., Fisk Rubber Co., Case Manufacturing
Co., Upson
Nut Co., Pioneer Steel Ball, H. C. Hart. Mfg., American Wire Washer Co.,
American Plough Co., Cowles Paper Co., Ditson Pond & Co., Crum Saws, and B. J.
Broadbent & Sons.
7. What distinguished restaurant is located in a former streetcar barn? In an
ancient mill?
Apricots restaurant is in the former streetcar barn on Route 4.
Apricots
restaurant
The Grist Mill restaurant is in the venerable grist mill
at the end of Mill Lane (once owned by Winchell Smith).
Painting
of the Grist Mill by Frank Munson, 1956
8. What was the original name of Unionville?
Unionville was once named
"Langdon's Quarters," after its most prominent landowner and after
Langdon's Inn.
Unionville
town green
9. Name three Underground Railroad hiding places in Farmington Village.
Four of the best known include: 1 Mountain Spring Road (formerly faced
Farmington Avenue), 27 Main Street, 66 Main Street and 127 Main Street.
Austin
Williams house, 127 Main Street
10. Which park is named for a hero of the 1955 flood and what did he do?
Yodkins-Morin Memorial Park, on the river in Unionville, honors police Officer
Charles Yodkins and Joseph Morin, who drowned while rescuing people whose homes
had been washed away.
Plaque
at Yodkins-Morin Memorial Park, Unionville
11. Where can you find traces of the Farmington Canal?
Drawing
of construction of Farmington Canal
While Pitkin Basin is long gone, its location is easily identifiable at 128
Garden Street. Remains of the canal bed and towpath are visible to varying
degrees west of Garden Street near the river, and ruins of the aqueduct can be
seen on the Land Trust property on Waterville Road.
Canal
towpath, off Route 10
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(without answers).
Photos, except Hitchcock Chair Co. catalog, by Brooke E. Martin.
Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008
The Farmington Historical Society, P.O. Box 1645, Farmington, CT 06034
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Copying any portion of this site without
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