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The
47 Acres
by Don Malcarne
Town Historian
On
May 17, 1886, Archibald W. Comstock sold 47 acres of land with
a Pavillion thereon to George Blake & his father, Hervey Blake.
The Blakes had recently arrived in the village of Ivoryton and were
in the process of establishing a livery and trucking business. This
property had come to "A. W." from the estate of his father,
Samuel Merritt Comstock, in 1879 (see Essex Probate Records 3/310).
It was described in the inventory of Samuel's, as being "the
farm on the hill, north of the Boarding House (current Ivoryton
Inn) and west of Frederick B. Savage's (Playhouse property) and
the highway to Deep River" (North Main Street). It was valued
at $1,600.00 and included 47 acres of land only. Samuel Comstock
was the founder of Comstock, Cheney & Co., the important ivory
and piano keyboard/action manufacturer. He was the son of Samuel
Comstock, a farmer and mariner, and the grandson of another Samuel,
a veteran of both the French-Indian and Revolutionary Wars. This
entire area had been the Comstock farm for many years, once being
much larger than the 47 acres. The Comstock homestead was at the
south end of this farm, overlooking the Falls River. It exists today,
just past the Ivoryton Inn, under the ownership of Jane Fuller.
This property currently encompasses Oak, Chestnut, Summit, and Blake
Streets.
Two
immediate questions arise, when viewing this sale from the perspective
of 117 years. Initially, what was the "Pavillion" that
was mentioned and where was it located on this rather large tract?
It was obviously erected after Archibald received the land, for
it was not described in his father's estate. Since "A. W."
was an executive with Comstock, Cheney & Co., it was entirely
logical that the company might have built a structure for musical
events, speeches, etc. here. This would have been replaced in subsequent
years by the "Wheel Club" and Comstock, Cheney Hall (current
Playhouse). Whatever the case, this building was never again referred
to in the "development" of this land. The second question
is very economic: why did Mr. Comstock sell this land, when, within
three years, his company would start buying it from the Blakes in
a "piece-meal" manner. The $1,200.00 "A. W."
received for this land was far less than what the Blakes would resell
it for over the next 17 years. Possibly, the money from the sale
was required to build "A. W."s new home, which was completed
in 1890, and is now known as "The Copper Beech Inn."
The
importance of this parcel is underscored by the number of dwelling
houses and businesses that were soon constructed on it. George Blake
sold a small parcel to Comstock, Cheney & Co. in 1889 (ELR 9/93)
and the company immediately put up 2 "single' tenements and
one double tenement. These were on what is today the corner of Blake
and Summit Streets. However, in 1889, there were no roads in this
area at all, and a part of this sale required the grantors (George/Hervey
Blake) build a road "not less than 40' in width on the eastern
boundary" of the land purchased. This became Blake Street,
named of course, for the family that was developing this section
of Ivoryton. By March, 1900, E. P. Auger, a surveyor from Middletown,
CT, had laid out streets and lots, most of the land parcels being
100' (on a highway) by 200' deep. The streets were Summit Street,
Oak Street, Chestnut Street and Blake Street, as previously indicated.
Comstock,
Cheney & Co. purchased most of the lots, but broke apart the
strict layout done by Mr. Auger. This firm built tenement houses
for its greatly enlarging immigrant workforce with approximately
60' frontage on the highways. This, of course, meant more houses
could be built in a given area, keeping in mind that local zoning
was not even a wild concept at the turn of the 20th century. By
1929, 51 homes had been built on these streets, 36 by the factory
alone. Notably, the period of 1900 to 1904 was the most intense
in the erection of homes by Comstock, Cheney & Co., when 27
were put up in this area alone. Most of the factory homes remained
in its ownership, until December 31, 1936, when Comstock, Cheney
& Co. merged with Pratt, Read & Co. of Deep River. At that
time, the Ivoryton Realty Co. was established to sell all the non-factory
assets of Comstock, Cheney & Co. This included the vast majority
of the dwellings on the 47 acres, plus many others located throughout
the village. Interestingly, the President of the Ivoryton Realty
Co. was A. W. Comstock.
It
has been stated that artifacts often give us a better picture of
the past than archives. Such is the situation here, for by viewing
all these wonderful factory houses, we can more fully appreciate
what life was like in Ivoryton 100 years ago. It was a world far
removed from the culture of today.
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