Middletown's Leverett Beman Historic District

West Burying Ground (Washington Street Cemetery) At Washington and Vine Streets, In Middletown.

To the rear of this cemetery are the graves of local African Americans, including Fanny Beman, the mother of Reverend Amos Beman, one of Connecticut's best-known African American abolitionist leaders of the 19th century. There are also graves here of men who fought in the Connecticut 29th Regiment and other African American units of the Civil War.

Among them is James Powers, who is listed on the Civil War monument located on the Green at South Main Street (Title Picture Above) near the Benjamin Douglas House .

The Benjamin Douglas House Is Now Privately Owned

Leverett Beman Historic District At Cross and Vine Streets, Middletown

The 5-acre triangle of land at Cross and Vine Streets was laid out by Leverett C. Beman (1810-1883) in 1847. The neighborhood is the first known residential subdivision in the state to have been laid out by a free black man for black homeowners.

The 5-acre Triangle

There are 16 historic homes in this district today, with more than half constructed between 1840 and 1890. The remaining homes were built between 1904 and 1947. The growing neighborhood was home to several remarkable African Americans. Resident Isaac Truitt had been a slave in Delaware before he moved to the community. He and several other residents were veterans who fought with the 29th Regiment in the Civil War.

The Beman family was involved in the anti-slavery movement. Leverett’s father, Jehiel, was the first pastor of the Cross Street A.M.E. Zion Church which was originally located in the neighborhood and it was under his direction that it became known as the Freedom Church. Clarissa Beman founded the Middletown Colored Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1834. Leverett’s brother, Amos Beman, was the pastor of the Temple Street Congregational Church in New Haven and often represented Connecticut at national anti-slavery conventions. Today, most of the properties are owned by Wesleyan University.
Sources: Janice P. Cunningham and Elizabeth A. Warner, Experiment in Community (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Commission, 2002).

Click: Here For The Complete Ct. Historical Society's Experiment-in-Community-Middletown