From 1909: Wadsworth Home will be Palatial

This article is from the June 21st, 1909 Hartford Courant. 

Colonel Clarence S. Wadsworth and his wife Katharine Fearing Hubbard built their Long Hill estate as their country summer residence.  The house was designed by Francis Hoppin in the Beaux Art style, and the 600 acres of farmland and orchards were landscaped by the nation's preeminent landscape architect firm, The Olmsted Brothers.  The landscaping included farmscapes, formal gardens, grand colonnades of trees, and more naturalistic forests.  

The Dennis O'Brien construction company of Middletown was awarded the contract for its construction.  A few weeks before this article in the Courant, there was a very short article reporting that groundbreaking had taken place.  

The photograph below is from the Wadsworth Mansion site.  

Building $90,000 Place in Middletown

The new $90,000 residence, which is being erected by Clarence S. Wadsworth, in the Laurel Grove District of the town, will undoubtedly be one of the finest residences in this section of the country. Mr. Wadsworth owns a large estate, and the house will have several drives leading up to it. The building will be almost entirely of concrete construction, and is planned to contain in the neighborhood of 200 rooms.  The building will be divided into three wings, built round a large court yard.  The work is being done by Denis O’Brien.  A large number of trees and shrubs have already been set out on the estate.  

New Freight Station Established.

The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company announced Saturday that a public freight section had been established on the siding near the Rockfall woolen mill, to be known as Maplewood.  Robert W. Merriam has been appointed agent of the new station. 

Fifteen Graduates to Enter College.

Fifteen members of the class of 1909 at the Middletown High School are planning to enter college this fall.  Clarence Bengston, Leo DeMore, Payson Hayward, Walter James, C. Everett Bacon, Victor McCarthy, and Benjamin Luntz will go to Wesleyan.  Theodore Greene and Dudley Butler will attend Amherst, and Sylvester Butler will go to Yale.  Philip Tormay, jr., has chosen Dartmouth, and Earl Nettleton, Worcester Polytechnic.  Miss Ruth Wilson will enter Smith and Miss Marean Bradley Wellesley.  

Decorate Graves of Members.

Apollo Lodge, No. 33, K. of P. decorated the graves of their dead members who are buried in the local cemeteries, yesterday afternoon.  The lodge will hold their annual memorial exercises in the fall. Nex Sunday S.M. Bacon Company, U.R., K. of P., will attend the memorial exercises of the combined Hartford lodges.

Real Estate Transactions.

During the week ending June 19, there were recorded at the office of the town clerk four mortgage deeds, one mechanic’s lien, one attachment, one lease, four quit claim deeds, one release, one probate district certificate and six warranty deeds.

Notes.

Rev. Raymond Maplenden, a former pastor, preached at both services at the Baptist Church yesterday.

Ernest A. Inglis returned yesterday from the Yale Law School to spend the summer with his parents on William street.

Benjamin North took a party from Mattabessett Council of the Mechanics down the river in his launch yesterday, a stop being made at Cold Spring, where dinner was served.  

Miss Edith Rogers of Springfield, Mass., is spending a few days in town as the guest of her uncle, De Forest Rogers of Burr avenue.

The body of Mrs. Samuel Bowers of New Haven was brought here for interment in Miner Cemetery, Saturday afternoon.

Special children’s day exercises were held at Bethany Chapel yesterday afternoon.