alt
Tolland Town GreenJump to a pagePage 1 buttonPage 2 buttonPage 3 button

image 5_4

Tolland Green, black-and-white photograph, circa 1900. Courtesy of the Tolland Historical Society, Tolland, Connecticut.

image 5_2

Panorama View of Tolland Green, black-and-white photograph, circa 1890. Courtesy of the Tolland Historical Society, Tolland, Connecticut.

A

s the centerpiece of civic affairs, the Tolland Green was the site of large political gatherings, sports events, dances, and Fourth of July celebrations. From 1852 to 1859 the Tolland County Fair was an annual highlight. Lavish displays of locally grown produce and trotting races also were held here.

  Growth slowed when the town was bypassed by the railroad, and the 1890 move of the county court to Vernon marked the end of Tolland's prominence. One by one houses around the green became summer retreats as "Tolland Village fell asleep." Today these well-preserved buildings form an eclectic composition of styles and types woven gradually into place as the years went on. Among them are an impressive number of private houses from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including several turreted confections from the Victorian era.

  The Congregational Church (1838) is the town's third. The old Tolland County Courthouse (1822), the old Tolland Town Hall (1879), and the new Tolland Town Hall (1909) all reflect the civic pride embodied by such institutions, which were typically added around town greens in the late 1800s.

 
Back To Exhibit Index
image 5_1

Tolland County Courthouse, Bank, and Church, black-and-white photograph, circa 1880. Courtesy of the Tolland Historical Society, Tolland, Connecticut.

 
 
 

Home | GreenLink | Exhibits | DataCenter
© 2001–2024 TownGreens.com