Address: 9A-9D South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: Doug’s Barber Shop
Historic Building Name: Buell Farmhouse
Present Use: Mixed commercial offices, barber shop and apartments
Historic Use: Farmhouse
Architectural style: Vernacular / Greek Revival
Date constructed: c. 1820 (Baber)
Description: The main block has a two-story, three-bay front-facing pedimented, gable end. The doorway is off center with a modern door. Windows are vinyl 6-over-6 double hung sash. There is a one-story wing to the north which is the barber shop and has large picture windows. There is large two-story addition to the south which also has large modern picture windows.
Significance: Although much of the architectural significance is lost, and element of the Greek Revival architectural style is visible in the front facing gable. Historically, the building and surrounding lands belonged to Robert T. Buell. The Buell’s were an early and prominent family in Marlborough. Colonel Elisha Buell owned and operated the Marlborough Tavern which is located across the street and was also a blacksmith. The 1869 atlas depicts an E.C. Warner, blacksmith, as residing in a structure in this vicinity. He also was a post master.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:

Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:

Address: 36-38 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: 36-38 South Main Street
Historic Building Name: Sherman C. Lord House
Present Use: Residential
Historic Use: Residential
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: c. 1840 (Baber)
Description: The three-bay front elevation of the Sherman C. Lord House is oriented toward the street in the manner of the Greek Revival temple form. The recessed doorway in the south bay is flanked by narrow four-pane sidelights and plain pilasters which support plain architrave, frieze, and molded cornice. Windows are 6-over-6. Plain pilasters at the house corners lead up to a frieze that runs around the building under the eaves. A horizontal window in the pediment above is glazed in a plaid pattern with muntins parallel with and near the window casing and central vertical paired muntins. A central chimney rises from the roof ridge. On the north side elevation, first floor, fenestration is two pairs of windows, at the second floor two pairs plus a single window.
Significance: The Sherman C. Lord House features a typical example of a Greek Revival temple-front facade. Its doorway surround, corner pilasters, pediment, and characteristically muntined hortizontal tympanum window follow the mode. The fenestration on the south side elevation may not be original, as paired windows were not used in the Greek Revival and the continuous length of 39 feet, compared with the 23-foot facade, is greater than was customary. Both the 1855 map and 1869 atlas indicate that the house belonged to Sherman C. Lord.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:

Address: 45-47 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: 45-47 South Main Street
Historic Building Name: C. Blish House / Mill
Present Use: Residential
Historic Use: Residential, Mill?
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: c. 1840 (Baber), 1780 (Assessor)
Description: There is no door in the three-bay front elevation of the house, and the grouping of three windows is off center to the north. Windows are 6-over-6. A horizontal window in the pedimented gable end is now glazed as a pair of four-pane sash. A chimney rises from the north slope of the roof near the center of the ridge. A long veranda under low hipped roof supported by square posts runs along the north side elevation leading back to the main (side) entrance. The long two- and one-story ell to the rear is in two sections. The Assessor's field card reports that there is a cathedral ceiling in one portion of the ell.
Significance: While the C. Blish House has the three bays and pedimented front gable end characteristic of the Greek Revival style, other features do not fit the mode, suggesting the possibility of major alterations to the building in the past. Chief among the non-conforming features is the absence of a front door. While not unprecedented, the absent door usually is found in a wing or toward the front of a side elevation leading from a porch in front of a wing. There is no wing here, and the position of the door at the end of a long veranda seems unlikely to be the original arrangement. The odd location of the central chimney is also an anomaly. The mass of the two-part ell exceeds that usually associated with a residence. The 1869 atlas identifies a building at about this location with the name C. Blish. The 1855 map shows the words "Blish Mill," and indicates it is on a tributary to the Blackledge River, which might have provided the necessary power source for a mill.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:

Address: 61-63 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: 61-63 South Main Street
Historic Building Name: H. Dickenson House
Present Use: Residential
Historic Use: Residential
Architectural style: Greek Revival / Vernacular
Date constructed: c. 1860 (Baber), 1770 (Assessor)
Description: In the gable end of the H. Dickenson House facing the street the eaves return slightly. At the first floor a central front door is flanked by 2-over-2 windows in plain flat casings. There are two of these windows at second-floor level. The door is glazed with a single large pane. The one-story wing to the south is fronted by a shed-roofed porch supported by square posts. A large two-story frame garage to the south (1950) has open bays at the first floor. The property consists of 7.5 acres.
Significance: The H. Dickenson House is a vernacular structure with the Greek Revival-related feature of three-bay facade with gable end toward street. The glazed front door and 2-over-2 windows are late 19th-/early 20th-century details, while the assessor's date of construction is 1770, leaving the actual building year in doubt. Architecturally, the house is without pretense or stylistic features of consequence. The house is included in the survey because of its age. Presumably, historic fabric more than 100 years old is included in the framework. Both the 1855 and the 1869 atlas show a building at approximately this location identified with the name H. Dickenson. Sandra Soucy (then President of the Marlborough Historical Society) states that the house once was owned by William Richmond, who operated a mill (presumably a sawmill or gristmill) nearby and who built the fence at the Moseley Talcott House (see 10 Cooley Road). The Marlborough library was named for his son, William Henry Richmond.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:

Address: 211-213 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: 211-213 South Main Street
Historic Building Name: W. E. Jones House
Present Use: Residential
Historic Use: Residential
Architectural style: Vernacular
Date constructed: c. 1860 (Baber), 1815 (Assessor)
Description: The 1 3/4-story main block of the house, oriented with gable end toward the street, is the central component of a three-part structure which includes a 1 3/4-story gambrel-roofed wing to the south and a one-story gable-roofed wing to the north. Fenestration of the main block, first floor, is two 6-over-6 windows. At the second floor a central 6-over-6 sash is flanked by very narrow four-pane windows in Palladianesque fashion under a triangular pediment. The cornice and raking cornices of the pediment and the raking eaves of the main roof above are embellished with elaborate pierced bargeboards. A central chimney rises from the roof ridge. Entrance is through a shed-roofed porch, supported by square posts, in front of the south wing. In the second floor of the wing two pedimented wall dormers in the lower slope of the gambrel break through the arris of the two roof slopes. There is a central chimney above. The north wing has a shed-roofed section, which may be an enclosed porch, with door and two 6-over-6 windows in front of a shallow gable-roofed structure with tall central chimney.
Significance: The gable-end-to-street orientation and the shape and mass of the main block suggest the house has its origin in the Greek Revival period. A wing to the south with porch would have been consistent with the style. The present appearance of the house probably took its form after a severe fire which reportedly occurred several decades ago. The Palladianesque window, the Queen Anne-inspired bargeboards, and the south wing's gambrel roof with wall dormers may date from that building campaign. For another house of quite similar plan and architectural features, see 14 Jones Hollow Road. The 1869 atlas shows a house at the location identified with the name W.E. Jones.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:

Address: 351 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: 351 South Main Street
Historic Building Name: Carrier House
Present Use: Residential
Historic Use: Residential
Architectural style: Georgian
Date constructed: 1780-1820 (Baber), 1730 (Assessor)
Description: The five bays in the front elevation of the Carrier House are arranged in a 2-1-2 rhythm. The molded front door surround features an eared architrave. Windows are 6-over-6. The main block of the house appears to be one room deep. Twin chimneys are just inside the end elevations. The large ell, under gambrel roof, is reported to be the original part of the house. Windows in the ell are 6-over-6. The property consists of 11 acres.
Significance: The Carrier House main block is a good example of a Georgian house (post 1750), so designated because of the twin chimneys, the central hallway they imply, and the classical detailing of the front doorway. The gambrel-roofed ell is said to be earlier. The siting of the house high on a bank protected by two-level stone retaining walls is dramatic. The 1855 map shows the name A. Carrier at about this location, while in the 1869 atlas the name is J. Carrier.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes:

Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Meeting House, Church
Architectural style: Colonial
Date constructed: 1750-1803
Description: The original meeting house sat close to the existing Congregational Church that it replaced. The original building’s frame was 48 feet by 36 feet, and was “covered” and had windows. However, these initial expenses were such that more improvements were not started until 1754 when a pulpit, seats and pews were installed, as well as to “seal” the building up to the windows, and to make two pairs of stairs. In 1755, it was voted by the committee to provide “joice and boards” for the gallery floor. In 1756, a lock and “suitable fastenings” for the meeting house were installed. By 1770, the work on the galleries was completed. Parishioners voted to erect pews for the “body part” of the meeting house, and in 1782 the voted to shingle the front side of the roof. In 1787, the voted to procure pine clapboards to cover the front and two ends of the meeting house, and the following year, the north side was covered with pine clapboards too. In 1789, the inside of the house and the outside doors were painted. In 1792, they plastered the interior walls, and later they painted the exterior and installed a new roof replacing the chestnut shingles with pine shingles, and painted the roof. In 1803, the house was finished, when the congregation voted to pay Eleazer Strong $30 to underpin and lay the steps.
Significance: After 54 years, and several ministers, the Meeting house was completed, just as the town of Marlborough was incorporated (1803). Fortunately, a vivid description was given of the meeting house and its construction that we can gather a description. In 1841 it was decided that a new church was needed, as the current house had become, “cold, uncomfortable and unpleasant as a place of worship.” The house was torn down, and the new church was built within a year, with the opening sermon in 1842. This new church remains standing, just slightly back from where the original house stood.
Sources: Ives, Rev. Joel. “Historical Sermon” in Hall, Mary. Report of the celebration of the Centennial of the incorporation of the Town of Marlborough: August 23rd and 25th, 1903. Hartford: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company. 1904.
Notes: This image is an artist’s concept of the first meeting house, based upon the description in the above history, and other historical documents. Today, a rock monument stands at the site of the original meeting house.

Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1903 at the Centennial Celebration of Marlborough.

Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1907.

Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1938, shortly after a hurricane swept through the state. Notice the missing dome on the steeple, which was lost in the high winds.

Address: 35 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: First Church in Marlborough (Congregational)
Historic Building Name: Marlborough Congregational Church
Present Use: Church
Historic Use: Church
Architectural style: Greek Revival
Date constructed: 1842
Description: The Marlborough Congregational Church is a frame Greek Revival-style meetinghouse situated on a hill overlooking South Main Street. The setting is a rural, wooded area with a scattering of both historic and modern buildings nearby. Completed in 1842, the church is a single tall story high and measures 44 by 55 feet in plan, with its narrower end facing the road. The front gable is treated as a pediment, and the main entrance is recessed, centered behind two freestanding fluted Doric columns. The corners of the building are finished with wide, plain pilasters, and a simple entablature runs below the eaves and across the front gable. The entrance has double doors of recessed panels, above which is a row of dentils and a pair of panels where a transom might be; a fluted-board frame with acanthus-leaf carving in the corner blocks surrounds the entrance. Clapboards cover the side and rear elevations of the church, while the facade is finished with matched boards. Side elevations have a single tier of tall triple-hung windows fitted with fifteen-pane sash; the windows have shutters in two parts, with the top parts closed so as to block off the upper third of the windows. A small, square-plan tower located on the front end of the gable roof is made up of four parts: a base with a molded cornice; a belfry stage in which a plain paired pilasters flank a large rectangular louvered opening, about which is a reduced-scale version of the building's main cornice; another stage identical to the belfry but smaller in size; and a shallow dome surmounted by a wrought-iron weather vane in the form of a large arrow. The original bell dating from 1841 became cracked and was replaced by the present bell in 1889. The steeple was toppled during the Hurricane of 1938, which also caused minor damage to the church itself; both were repaired and returned to the original appearance. The church's granite basement story is partly exposed on the side elevations; it was built from stone quarried from the northern part of Marlborough, as were the entry steps that extend across the front of the church. The interior of the building, which is still used fro religious services, is simple, unadorned, and almost entirely original. A small vestibule runs across the rear of the church, where two doors give access to the auditorium; there are two stairways, one leading to the basement and the other to a balcony, which was closed off in 1888. The large open auditorium has plaster walls, a simple wainscot of vertical boards, and a coved ceiling. The pulpit, which is said to incorporate elements from an earlier church's pulpit commissioned in 1754, consists of a slanted desk atop a large base; its front has four fluted engaged columns that carry an entablature decorated with a Greek fret or meander design. The church's painted pews have paneled sides, a dark-stained wooden top rail, and stained curved arm rests terminating in a circular turning. Other original interior woodwork includes paneled doors and simple molded window frames. The seating is arranged as seven rows, with a large center section, two aisles, and smaller side sections. Wainscot railings define two spaces at the front corners of the church for a modern organ (a replacement for an 1860 organ that was originally located in the balcony) and, opposite the organ, seating for the choir. The mid-19th century circular was clock on the rear wall of the auditorium was a gift of Elias Ingraham, a former Marlborough resident and founder of E. Ingraham & Company of Bristol, Connecticut, one of the country’s largest clock and watch manufacturers. Two large wings have been added at the rear of the church. The Crawford Wing, a 2 1/2 story addition dedicated in 1955, extends from the northeast corner; it contains the Christian Education office, a kindergarten, and several other rooms. Extending from the southeast rear corner is a 1-story brick wing housing the Community Fellowship hall; it was built in 1974. Though they are sizable additions, the visual impact of the wings is reduced because they are relatively low in height, with their entrances at the same level as the church's basement.
Significance: The Marlborough Congregational Church is significant primarily as a well-preserved example of early 19th century New England church architecture, epitomizing the Greek Revival style with its fluted columns, pedimented gable, and other elements derived from Classical precedents. In addition, the property is significant for its role in the historical development of Marlborough. The church was the place of religious worship for the town's Congregationalist majority, as well as accommodating town meetings and other community gatherings. The Greek Revival style was a popular choice for New England meetinghouses built in the 1830s and 1840s. Features such as Classical columns, pilasters, cornices, dentils, and acanthus-leaf ornament--all present in the Marlborough Congregational Church--reflected an interest in the architecture and institutions of ancient Greece, which had important democratic connotations for Americans of the early National period. The ideal form for Greek Revival builders was that of the Classical temple. The temple form is closely approximated in the Marlborough Congregational Church through its orientation, with the gable end facing the road; the treatment of the front gable as a pediment; the creation of a recessed entry or "anta" with plainly finished side walls, a common arrangement in Greek temples; and the use of flush boarding on the facade to imitate masonry. The use of Greek Revival elements in this building also indicated that, like contemporary courthouses and academies, the meetinghouse was an important community building deserving of extra stylistic attention. Through its plain rectilinear form, numerous typical Greek Revival details, and simply finished interior, the Marlborough Congregation Church represents a pristine example of the antebellum New England meetinghouse. The pulpit is an especially notable component. Such Greek Revival-style pulpits appear in photographs from the mid-19th century, and the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives presided from a similar desk in the State House at Hartford, which was remodeled in 1837. Because of Victorian-period refurbishings, relatively few of these Greek Revival pulpits and lecterns have survived. The builder of the Marlborough Congregational Church, who along with the congregation's building committee presumably came up with the design, was Augustus Truesdale (c.1807-1870). Truesdale, born in Thompson, Connecticut, was himself the son of a carpenter. He lived for a while in Coventry and Somers before settling in the Rockville section of Vernon, where he is known to have built the first St. Bernard's Church (no longer extant), as well as several large houses for Rockville's millowner families. He passed on the country-builder tradition to his nephew Albert Truesdale, who worked with him for several years in Rockville and became a prominent builder in Killingly, Connecticut, in the lat 19th century. Truesdale received $2600 for building the church, with another $600 paid to A. and S. Brainard for laying the stone for the basement. The present church in Marlborough is the congregation's second meetinghouse. In 1736 fourteen people from the area, then part of the towns of Colchester, Glastonbury, and Hebron, requested permission from the Connecticut General Assembly to establish their own separate place of worship, claiming that travelling a distance of seven or eight miles to attend Sabbath services put a strain on their "weakly wives" and small children. In 1747 the Assembly finally granted the residents permission to form the Ecclesiastical Society of Marlborough, and work began to construct a suitable meetinghouse. In 1803 Marlborough was incorporated as a separate town. As the population increased, Marlborough's first meetinghouse became cramped; it also was thought to be cold and uncomfortable. In January 1841 a subscription was drawn up to raise funds for a new church, and at a March 1841 meeting the congregation voted to establish a building committee. The first services in the new structure were held in August 1841 upon completion of the basement. After several more months of construction, the church was finished and was dedicated on March 16, 1842, with a large number of people participating in the celebration. Although Congregationalism ceased to be Connecticut's state-supported religion after the ratification of the state constitution in 1818, it remained the faith of a large majority of people in most rural Connecticut towns throughout the 19th century. Consequently, Congregational meetinghouses served as symbols of community identity beyond their specifically religious meaning. With Sunday Schools, missionary societies, women's organizations, and other church-related groups, the meetinghouses functioned as social centers for their towns. Moreover, most small rural towns (including Marlborough) held their town meetings and elections in the Congregational meetinghouse well into the 20th century. Not only was this a tradition inherited from colonial times; but also in most towns the Congregational meetinghouse, because of its size and central location, was the only structure that could reasonably accommodate large public meetings.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 1993.
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This historic image was taken in 1938, after a hurricane had taken down the down on top of the steeple. Here, workers are rebuilding the steeple and dome.

Address: 39 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: 39 South Main Street
Historic Building Name: Center School, Centre District No. 1. School
Current Use: Residence
Historic Use: Schoolhouse
Architectural Style: Vernacular
Date of Construction: 1860
Description: The gable end of the school faced the Congregational Church. It was situated on a hill, so that a cellar was most likely included. The simple structure had a door and one six-over-six window facing the Church, and four six-over-six windows on the west side. No photos are available of the south and east facades. A brick chimney extends out of the gabled roof, near the northern end of the building, and a cupola/bell tower (with gabled roof) is at the southern end of the building.
Significance: The Center School was one of the last one-room schoolhouses in Marlborough, closing in 1949, when the new Mary Hall School opened. There are references to a “Center” school in the early 1840s when the town listed five school districts. This school had structural analysis done, and it was determined that its date of construction was 1860. Students from the South School District came to the Center school when that school was closed in 1902. More students from the North school came when that school closed in 1932. When the new Mary Hall School opened, the Center school was deserted, and was turned into a private residence (as of 1984).
Sources: Schwarzmann, Vi. “History of the Marlborough Schools,” in Know Your Schools, Marlborough, CT: September, 1970. A report published under the direction of the Principal of the Marlborough Schools.
Fowler, Janet. A History of Education in a Small New England Town—Marlborough, Connecticut. Storrs, CT: I.N. Thut Education Center, The University of Connecticut; c.1984.
Notes: Image taken c. 1870.

Address: 39 South Main Street
Contemporary Building Name: 39 South Main Street
Historic Building Name: Center School, Centre District No. 1. School
Current Use: Residence
Historic Use: Schoolhouse
Architectural Style: Vernacular
Date of Construction: 1860
Description: The gable end of the school faced the Congregational Church. It was situated on a hill, so that a cellar was most likely included. The simple structure had a door and one six-over-six window facing the Church, and four six-over-six windows on the west side. No photos are available of the south and east facades. A brick chimney extends out of the gabled roof, near the northern end of the building, and a cupola/bell tower (with gabled roof) is at the southern end of the building.
Significance: The Center School was one of the last one-room schoolhouses in Marlborough, closing in 1949, when the new Mary Hall School opened. There are references to a “Center” school in the early 1840s when the town listed five school districts. This school had structural analysis done, and it was determined that its date of construction was 1860. Students from the South School District came to the Center school when that school was closed in 1902. More students from the North school came when that school closed in 1932. When the new Mary Hall School opened, the Center school was deserted, and was turned into a private residence (as of 1984).
Sources: Schwarzmann, Vi. “History of the Marlborough Schools,” in Know Your Schools, Marlborough, CT: September, 1970. A report published under the direction of the Principal of the Marlborough Schools.
Fowler, Janet. A History of Education in a Small New England Town—Marlborough, Connecticut. Storrs, CT: I.N. Thut Education Center, The University of Connecticut; c.1984.
Notes: Image taken in 1995.