Our Life on the Green.

Winter is waning and springtime threatens to break through at Governor Marcus Holcomb’s home on the Green in downtown Southington. Once again, the Governor’s home from 1899 to 1932 is in need of a new tenant for the first floor facing the Town Green.

Before this can happen, this 1876 home to the Freemasons needs a facelift after 142 years of service to the town of Southington. Town Health Director Dr. George M. Gura’s presence still remains from when he had his office there in the 1960s. Looking at the angled receptionist window in the front area, I remember reluctantly reporting there for my high school physical in 1969.

Well, we’re going to leave the receptionist area alone, but the angled door Dr. Gura added to the hallway entrance for privacy should be removed. Other areas needing cosmetic updates such as the vintage canvas painted ceilings will follow. Imagine our delight to find the original hall doorway moulding intact when we removed the clandestine wall.

Becoming intrigued by the history of Governor Marcus Hensey Holcomb’s home built in 1876, I decided to learn more about Southington’s Governor Holcomb and J. F. Pratt, its builder. After all, my life has revolved around this building and the Governor’s name since my early teens, when I came here on Friday evenings to attend the Marcus Holcomb Order of DeMolay in the Mason’s Lodge.

My association with 76 Main Street continued into adulthood when I joined Friendship Lodge #33 and became a Freemason.

On this inviting spring day, I navigated my way across our Town Green to meet with Marie Secondo, the curator of the Barnes Museum, and Bonnie Boychuck Plourde, caretaker of the home also built by J. F. Pratt in 1836. Surely, their history records and documented photographs will shed some light on the Governor’s home and his importance to the town of Southington.

Marcus Holcomb was born on a farm in New Hartford, Connecticut, on November 28, 1844. He spent the greater part of his life in Southington, and died March 5, 1932, at the age of 87. He is interned at the Oak Hill Cemetery, as are the Bradleys and Barneses.

Holcomb taught school for many years while studying law in the office of the Honorable Jared B. Foster, and was admitted to the bar in 1871. He was for 30 years President of Southington Savings Bank, and a director in the Southington Bank and Trust, National Fire Insurance Company, and Peck Stow & Wilcox Co. He served as Connecticut State Attorney General from 1905 to 1907 and as Superior Judge from 1910 to 1915. Becoming Governor of Connecticut on January 6, 1915, he served until January 5, 1921 — Connecticut’s only three-term governor.

While Governor, he raised the most money of any U. S. State for the Victory Liberty Loan Campaign for the war effort, exceeding Connecticut’s goal by 49%. Connecticut was honored when the Governor received the flag floated over the U. S. Capitol during the inaugural ceremonies on March 5, 1917 — the night the President addressed Congress on the subject of war with Germany.

Surprise — our Town Green started out as “Pigweed Park.” J. F. Pratt, head of the Village Improvement Society, decided to spearhead an effort in the 1870s to clean up what was little more than a centralized garbage dump. He created the Town Green that residents know and appreciate today.

As the U. S. Centennial approached in 1876, Pratt and other local businessmen took steps to remove the refuse, put in sidewalks, and plant trees. Philanthropist Emma Bradley Yeomans Newell, the daughter of Amon and Sylvia Bradley, provided the funding for several key monuments on the Green, including a drinking fountain erected to remember her father.

In 1876, J. F. Pratt built 76 Main Street — which would become Governor Marcus Hensey Holcomb’s home from 1899 through 1932 when he died. Friendship Lodge #33 had been meeting in the upper floor of the Bradley Boarding House where the present Southington Town Hall now stands. Friendship Lodge #33 purchased the home Pratt built in 1933, and it has been their meeting place ever since.

Sitting in the Governor’s entry room facing the Town Green, you can hear Jerry Limmer’s Wednesday-night Music on the Green start to generate life. Chairs for the concert have been set up since the early-morning hours. Local food vendors set up to provide the home-style comfort foods they offer to hungry guests. You can even get ice-cold cans of soda and bottled water on the Governor’s lawn from the Masons for $1.00 — every cent of which provides a Southington teen with a scholarship each year.

Stepping outside, you can take in a panoramic view of the activity going on. Antique cars begin to rumble in. Most of their owners will have a story to tell of how they met the loves of their automobile lives, if you’re interested.

Oh my, look at the hour. You wouldn’t believe it was 9 o’clock already, and time to say goodnight to our Music on the Green festivities, and return home to prepare for another day in the real world. But in my heart, I could just get up tomorrow and do it all over again.

So, it would seem that our life on the Green has finally come full circle for me with Governor Marcus Hensey Holcomb and his 76 Main Street home. Because it now has a new business house guest dedicated to redesigning kitchens and bathrooms, and helping families enjoy life in their familiar surroundings. Yes, we have decided to reopen our business, Classic Kitchen & Bath, in the Governor’s former residence and home of Friendship Lodge #33.

Come and visit us, and we will be glad to give you a tour along with a little more insight into the building’s “secrets.”