Waterbury's Oldest Houses

I've been meaning to put together a catalog of Waterbury's oldest houses for some time now. I still haven't finished researching the buildings, but I figured I might as well get what I have posted, since there is interest in this. 

In some cases, the date of the house comes from the City Assessor's Office. In other cases, the date is based on historical records. The Assessor records aren't always accurate for houses built before construction records were kept. For some of the houses, I have done in-depth research. For others, the research remains to be done.

Please note this is a work in progress and I will add more information when possible. 

 

Some photos are new, others are from years ago.

Gaylord-Welton House
3029 North Main Street

c. 1704

This house was built for Joseph Gaylord, Jr. and later became the home of generations of the Welton family; it is quite possibly the oldest house in Waterbury, built sometime in 1703 or 1704.

3029 North Main Street, c. 1704

Umberfield House

2 Umberfield Road

c. 1721

This is the second-oldest house in Waterbury (so far as I can tell). The porch and dormer windows were added after 1870. During the 1850s, the house was owned by Allen Umberfield and the farm contained about fifty acres. Following his death in 1860, the property was inherited by his son Norris, while Allen’s widow Sena retained the right to live in the house. Norris farmed the land for decades, until his death in 1891. From 1914 until 1928, the farm was used by St. Margaret's School as a recreational facility for their students.

2 Umberfield Road, c. 1721

Hickox House

442 Bunker Hill Avenue

1757

I don't know who the first owner of this house was, but during the early 1800s, it belonged to a branch of the Hickox family that lost everything during the Revolutionary War. Abraham Hickox and his son Joel were Loyalists who went to Long Island in 1776 to join the British army. All of Abraham's property was seized by Connecticut as a penalty. Abraham's grandsons, Sherman and William, born a quarter century after the war, rebuilt the family's wealth through a series of real estate transactions, buying and selling land at Bunker Hill and in other Waterbury neighborhoods. This house was one of the properties acquired by the grandsons. William Hickox lived here for twenty years, surrounded by a hundred acres of farmland that included chickens, cows, and beehives. After his death in 1859, the farm was broken into smaller parcels for development.

442 Bunker Hill Avenue, 1757

Pierpont Farmhouse

3092 East Main Street

1774

Built just before the Revolutionary War, the historic properties of this building are hidden behind modern siding. The decorative moldings on the porch are probably from the 1800s. The Pierpont family owned the house for nearly 150 years. 

Rochambeau’s army marched past this house during the Revolutionary War. Two of his soldiers died here (not necessarily in this house) and were buried in the nearby cemetery. 

In 1870, the farm included 600 acres of land. The farm produced more than a thousand pounds of butter each year.

3091 East Main Street, 1774

181 Frost Road

1792

Frost Road was named after the Frost family, which was active here during the early 1800s. I have not yet done research into this house's history.

181 Frost Road, 1792

Todd/Clark Farmhouse

461 Scott Road

1790

Miles Todd lived in this house during the early 1800s and owned 98 acres of farmland. John H. Clark purchased the property in 1883 and continued to operate the farm until the early 1900s. The house has been remodeled recently. This photo is from 2012, before those renovations.

461 Scott Road, 1790

Pierpont/Bronson Farmhouse

185 Pierpont Road

1798

This house was in the Pierpont family from 1798 until 1876. Sidney Bronson bought the house and 56 acres of farmland. By 1879, Bronson's farm was producing more than six thousand gallons of milk. Bronson's son, Edward, continued the dairy farm until 1950. A different dairy farm, Maple Hill Dairy, was on the opposite side of the road, operated by the Pierpont family. 

185 Pierpont Road, 1798

Brooks/Bunnell House
799 Bucks Hill Road

1800

This house has been abandoned and is falling apart. It is currently listed for sale as part of a 55+ acre parcel of land to be developed. The families that lived in this house during the 1800s were farmers. The property is completely overgrown now, hemmed in by trees, but a century it was open farmland.

799 Bucks Hill Road, 1800

4 Marley Place

1800

Located near the center of Waterbury, this house has been significantly modified with multiple additions and modern windows and siding. In 1901, the street was called Marley Alley and the house did not yet have any additions built onto it. The street was named for Patrick Marley, an Irish immigrant who lived at the foot of Wolcott Street (about where Marley Place is located) and owned at least two houses here. Marley appears to have come to Waterbury during the 1860s.

4 Marley Place, 1800

337 Oakville Avenue

1800

Originally a single-family house surrounded by farmland, this is now a two-family house surrounded by bodegas and apartment complexes.

337 Oakville Avenue, 1800

Hobart Victory Welton Farmhouse

342 Wolcott Street

c. 1803 - c. 1819

The house is best known for the stone arch on the opposite side the street. You can read more about that in my older blog post about Hobart Victory Welton.

According to Anderson's history of Waterbury, the house was built sometime around 1819. The City Assessor's Office lists it as having been built in 1803. I'm not sure which is correct.

The house was part of a farm which was purchased around 1819 by Victory Tomlinson for his daughter Eunice and her husband, Rev. Joseph Davis Welton. Their son was Hobart Victory Welton, who grew up working the farm and ornamenting it with sculptures he carved out of stone and wood. He also worked as superintendent of public roads in Waterbury, responsible for laying out roads and overseeing the construction of bridges. He also built a system of reservoirs on the Mad River. 

342 Wolcott Street, c. 1803 - c. 1819

680 Cooke Street

1810

I don't yet know the history of this house, but it has been beautifully maintained for two centuries. It was sold in 2021, and the photos taken by the realtor were stunning.

680 Cooke Street, 1810

374 Bunker Hill Avenue

1812

This house is completely hidden from view by overgrown hedges. You can just barely glimpse a stately, large white house through the shrubbery. I wasn't able to take a photo of it because of the overgrowth. Instead, I have used a photo from the City Assessor's database taken in 2016 that shows the upper half of the house.

374 Bunker Hill Avenue, 1812 (from propertyrecordcards.com)

Isaiah Prichard House

463 Pearl Lake Road

1814

Isaiah Prichard was a Revolutionary War veteran. He married Sylvia Scovill during the 1790s, and the couple had six children. This was one of two houses Prichard had built for himself and his family. The other house is on Piedmont Street. The family owned about 200 acres of land. Read more in my earlier post about the Prichard Houses.

463 Pearl Lake Road, 1814

Isaiah Prichard House

561 Piedmont Street

1700s and 1815

This is the second house built for Isaiah Prichard's family. It's actually two houses: the 1815 house you see from the street was built in front of an older, 1700s house which can be seen in the back of the house. When Isaiah died in 1834, Sylvia inherited the “new part” of the Piedmont Street house, as well as two small bedrooms in the “old house” adjoining the new house. Their son Spencer inherited the rest of the old house. The house was sold in 2019; since then, the more period-appropriate door and some of the windows have been replaced, detracting from the elegant beauty it used to have. You can see how it used to look in my previous post about this house.

561 Piedmont Street, 1815