Romantic Main Street

Middlesex Mutual Assurance Building (1867)

The building at 179 Main Street in Middletown was built in 1867 to house the office of the Middlesex Mutual Assurance Company (established in 1836) and commercial tenants. The third floor contained a meeting hall for fraternal organizations. A rear addition was built in 1891 to accommodate the Southern New England Telephone Company and behind the addition a theater was constructed in 1892. The third floor then was used for lounges for theater patrons. The Middlesex Mutual Assurance Co. moved to a new building on Court Street in 1927.

191 to 195 Main Street in Middletown dates to c. 1891

The present style of the front facade of the building at 191 to 195 Main Street in Middletown dates to c. 1891, when the original two-and-one-half story structure with a gable roof was raised to a full three stories:
The north section of this commercial building was built in 1835 by Joshua Stow, a former county judge and Middletown post master (also a politician and ardent Jeffersonian Republican) who operated a store. In 1845 the building passed to William Trench, who rented it out to various commercial tenants. From 1882 to 1887 it was rented by the Middletown Police, who used it as the town’s first police station. The matching south section of the building was in place by 1856 (and may have been built at the same time as the north half (1835), with the brick fire wall down the center of the building being shared by the owners of the two separate halves). Click For The Hartford Courant Story On The Fruitery Closing On September 25th 2014

Former Universalist Church, Middletown (1839) May 17th, 2015 Posted in Churches, Commercial Buildings, Greek Revival, Middletown

The First Universalist Society was organized in Middletown in 1829. Ten years later the Society constructed a church on Main Street at the corner of College Street (then called Parsonage Street; the building’s current address is 203-207 Main Street). Declining membership in the early twentieth century led to the sale of the building to the Odd Fellows for use as a meeting hall in 1916. The building has always had retail space on the first floor (originally the basement, as a flight of stairs led up to the church entrance from street level) and there was a conference room in the rear of the first floor. The Main Street front is currently home to Thai Gardens Restaurant.
FRONT, SIDE AND BACK VIEWS:

Information From The Greater Middletown Preservation Trust and
Historic Buildings of Connecticut

AND REMEMBER SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 9th IS: MIDDLETOWN STROLL DAY!!