Picture Somers - Then And Now

SOMERS, CT — Our periodic look at Somers history brings us back to the amazing photo book, Images of America: Somers, compiled in 2001 by Jeanne Kenyon DeBell for the Somers Historical Society. On page 29 is an undated photo of a house at 247 Springfield Road, which wound up producing a fairly significant figure in American judicial history.

The house was built in 1808 by Rev. William L. Strong, who served the Congregational Church for more than 25 years and was a descendant of colonist John Strong, one of the founders of both Windsor and Northampton, Mass.

William Strong and his wife Harriet had 11 children, the first of which, also named William, was born in Somers the same year the house was built. He went on to attend the Monson Academy in Massachusetts (now Wilbraham & Monson Academy), then graduated from Yale University and the Yale Law School.

After moving to Reading, Pennsylvania and starting a legal practice, Strong was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846, serving two terms. He later was elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, serving 11 years before returning to private practice in Philadelphia.

In 1870, Strong was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to the U.S. Supreme Court as an associate justice. He was one of five Supreme Court justices appointed to an Electoral Commission which resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, which resulted in Rutherford B. Hayes winning the presidency. He retired from the Supreme Court in 1880, and died in Lake Winnemaska, New York in 1895 at 87.

The Springfield Road house burned down in the mid-1930s, and was rebuilt in 1938. According to town property records, it consists of 2,646 square feet of living area, and sits on 1.62 acres.

Here is a more contemporary look at the home, courtesy of Google Maps.

Do you have a photo of an old Somers business which no longer exists, to which you own the rights and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

To register for free Ellington and Somers news alerts and more, click here.