16 Merrow Road, Mansfield, CT
Brief Overview
- From the 1963 Survey:
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"THE BOARDING HOUSE ... The south end was the 'back kitchen' as well as the regular kitchen and living room.
Upstairs a hall went the whole length with bedrooms on either side. The rooms were just about big enough
to hold a bed, bureau and one chair. Mrs. Wilcox [resident] believes the house to be about 150 years old,
and that it was built by Perry Brothers as a boarding house for their mill." - From an undated report by Anne M. Gauger (based on the research of Alice Bumpus):
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"The long narrow building known in the village as 'the boarding house' is not the first building
to serve that purpose. William Perry's boarding house no longer stands. We must make a guess,
based on the evidence at hand, as to the approximate date of this second building. Judging by
its style, with the distinguishing feature of the wide perpendicular corner boards
characteristic of the Greek Revival period in architecture, it is safe to say that it does not
date much before the 1840s." -
The report is here:
Southwick, Gilbert O., History of Merrow Station, 1810-1868
p.6 "A few years previous [ca 1848-1857] a boarding house was built a short distance from the mill,
to which additions have since been made, which has rendered it a large and spacious building."
The following link is to the 8 Megabye history.-
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Date/Style
Although Southwick is not precise, an early to mid-1850's date seems reasonable. Gauger describes the house as reflecting the Greek Revival style.
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Current information
2010
Town assessor's office: 16 Merrow Road is an 18 room, 5 bedroom house on 2.200 acres on the north side of Merrow Road and
the east side of the Willimantic River, built in 1800.
[Note that 1800 may mean "some time in the 1800's."]
Clickable Surveys
1963 Old Houses Survey
In 1963 the Society made a survey of old houses.
The form for this house is not found, but the file includes a house description and a title history back to 1893.
The description mentions that the current (1963) resident Mrs. Ira Wilcox's husband's grandfather bought the
boarding house in 1904. The title history verifies this. A photograph (see below) in the main Merrow folder shows
"The Wilcox Family at the Front Door."
1978 Historic Resources Survey
Around 1978 a survey resulted in 332 completed forms on individual houses.
This house is on Form 319.
Clickable Photographs
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| Early 1900's? The Boarding House (in the background) |
1907? "The Wilcox Family at the Front Door" |
Clickable Maps
1857 Map
In 1857, William. C. Eaton and H. C. Osborn prepared a wall map of Tolland County. The map shows what seems to be this house but it is unlabelled.
1857 District VI 1869 Map
In 1869, an atlas of Tolland and Windham counties was compiled by O. W. Gray.
The atlas's Merrow Station inset map indicates this house as the Boarding House.
1869 Merrow Station
Additional Material
Variant Names:
District VI House 26, The Boarding House (1869)
Merrow Station:
The web page for Merrow Station has useful information on the locale of this house.
Click here.
This file was created: 24 Jan 2010 by George Waller
This file was edited: 25 Jan 2010 by Patrick McGlamery
This file was updated: 1 Feb 2010 by George Waller