The Stars of Longmeadow

Star on the Storrs House Museum

Have you ever noticed the plaques on many of the antique houses in Longmeadow? The markers feature a white star and a many also have a number in the middle of the star. Why do these houses have markers and what do the symbols mean?

The house marker project was part of Longmeadow's celebration of the country's bicentennial. The numbers on the markers correspond to the numbers on a brochure created by the Longmeadow Bicentennial Commission in 1974 entitled “Colonial Longmeadow: A Brief History and Guide to the 18th and Early 19th Century Homes”. The brochure features a map of Longmeadow Street drawn by Longmeadow resident Wallis H. Sturtevant. Designed to be a walking tour of historic Longmeadow, 80 historic homes were assigned a number and they were briefly described. Numbering began at the north end of Longmeadow Street and continued south to the Connecticut border. Houses #78, #79, and #80 are on Williams Street.

Colonial Longmeadow: A Brief History and Guide to the 18th and Early 19th Century Homes

The markings on each plaque also provide information on each house.

• If a house was built in the 18th Century, the star is on a red background.

• If a house was built in the 19th Century, the star is on a blue background. There are 10 homes for which the build date could not conclusively be determined and these homes have both red and blue backgrounds.

• If the marker also includes a tri-cornered hat, someone who lived in the house fought in the Revolutionary War. Stars with the hat indicate how many soldiers from the house fought as Minutemen.

• If an “A” is on the plaque, the house is of architectural interest.

Legend of Symbols

The Bicentennial Commission asked homeowners for permission to install the wooden markers on their homes for the duration of the Bicentennial Celebration (April 1975 - December 1976); at the end of the celebration, the markers were to be removed. But, in December 1976, almost all homeowners requested that the markers remain on their homes, so most of these markers, which were designed to be temporary, stayed in place.

In 1988, these 80 homes were featured in Historic Homes of Longmeadow, a book written by Longmeadow residents Chris and Susan Hall and Jeff and Nancy Hayes. The authors further researched each of the houses in the “Colonial Longmeadow” brochure and included an image of each house. Historic Homes of Longmeadow is out of print but a copy can be found at Storrs Library.

Historic Homes of Longmeadow

The wooden plaques, which were intended for limited use, weathered over the years and the Longmeadow Historical Commission fielded many requests for replacement signage. In 2003, Alex Bistran of Boy Scout Troop 90 earned his Eagle Scout award for a project that replaced weathered house signs with new signs. The replacement plaques do not include a number, just the white star on a blue or red background. A sample replacement sign is the one on the Storrs House Museum which is shown at the top of this article.

Since 1988, new online databases and other research tools have enabled researchers to uncover additional information, and sometimes correct erroneous information, about these homes. Judy and Jim Moran provided updated research on many of these homes and the families that lived in them through the “Throw Back Thursday” articles that the Longmeadow Historical Society sent out from 2016 through 2020. Ongoing research will further illuminate the stories of the homes and their owners.

Today, the map in the “Colonial Longmeadow” brochure is available online as an interactive walking tour. Links to each home provide a history of the house from Historic Homes of Longmeadow.

Further information about houses, as well as information about other Longmeadow houses, can be found at our interactive online map, Through the Lens- Longmeadow 100 Years Ago.

Take a walk down Longmeadow Street, either virtually or on foot (getting your steps in!), and help celebrate our town's rich architectural heritage.

Sources

1. Historic Homes of Longmeadow

2. “Colonial Longmeadow: A Brief History and Guide to the 19th and Early 19th Century Homes”

3. Longmeadow Historical Society Archives

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, LHS Board Member

Originally published March 7, 2022

"While her fingers o'er this canvas move"

"Jesus Permit the Gracious name to stand As the first efforts of an infant's hand And while her fingers oe'r this canvas move Engage her tender heart to seek thy love With thy dear children let her share a Part And write thy name thyself upon her heart"

Ten-year-old Flavia Field Stebbins stitched those words on a sampler in 1810. It was a typical young girl's stitchery practice piece, with the alphabet in script, then upper and lower case letters, then numbers, then a pious verse. The same unattributed poem appears on another sampler in the collection. It has also been found on a sampler from Hanover MA, and a cousin of Emily Dickinson used it on a sampler she made! Near the bottom, she proudly signed her work "Wrought by Flavia Field Stebbins, Long Meadow July 23rd, 1810."

Flavia was born in Longmeadow on December 23rd, 1799. Her parents were Lucy Colton Stebbins and Doctor Benjamin Stebbins. Flavia had an aunt Flavia, and her grandfather's first wife was also called Flavia. Flavia, not a common name today, was quite common then. Its origin means "golden, or blonde." I wonder if little Flavia was fair-haired? Sadly, her mother Lucy died in 1804 when Flavia was not quite five years old.

Simple samplers such as this one, called "marking samplers," were made by young girls to practice their stitchery skills as well as their letters and numbers. They were not intended to be framed or displayed like the more elaborate pieces created at girls' schools like the Misses Patten school in Hartford, or the Abby Wright school in South Hadley, MA. Nevertheless, many of these simple marking samplers were preserved as treasured mementos, and the Longmeadow Historical Society is lucky to have several in its collections. Many of these samplers contained the alphabet and letters like Flavia's, but others included family tree information or educational virtues.

Detail of Eunice Storrs' sampler showing family tree information

Eunice Storrs

Huldah Laird's sampler including educational virtues

Experts in the textile arts can often identify where a sampler is made by certain characteristics like the color of the background cloth or features such as birds, houses and animals. The verses stitched into the cloth often included some admonition for good behavior or warning about the dangers of everyday life.

Irinda Colton (private collection) "To Day We Live toMorrow I may Die"

Needlework skills were important to the young girl, as she would be expected to mark her linens, sew her clothes and perhaps even weave her own yardage.

Flavia grew up and married Russell Underwood, of Chicopee, MA, a furniture maker.

Since beginning this story, I have created a database for all of the Longmeadow samplers in the Historical Society's collection, and photographed them. More research is needed on all of the makers. Coincidentally, this project resulted in learning of a Longmeadow sampler in a museum in Oregon, and another at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY. We know of others in private collections that we would like to add to the database...

if you have one, or know of one, will you share your information and a photo?

Most of these simple marking samplers were done by 10 or 11-year-olds. Could you do as well when you were that age? This author made a simple counted cross-stitch sampler in her youth. My parents proudly framed it, though I thought it was a pretty amateur effort!

Contributed by Betsy McKee, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published March 31, 2022

Longmeadow's Shrinking Boundaries

Over the years Longmeadow‘s boundaries have changed and its size has decreased. Beginning as a precinct of Springfield, Longmeadow’s boundary extended much further east and included current-day East Longmeadow and Wilbraham.

In 1740 the eastern portion of the precinct of Longmeadow, Wilbraham, became the fourth precinct of Springfield. In 1763, Wilbraham was incorporated as a town separate from Springfield. In 1783 Longmeadow was incorporated as a town separate from Springfield. In 1890 a portion of northwestern Longmeadow was annexed by Springfield to become Forest Park. In 1894 East Longmeadow became incorporated as a separate town, reducing the size of Longmeadow by approximately one-half. Finally, in 1914 the Franconia section was annexed to Springfield.

1831 Map indicating Longmeadow's northern border extending into present-day Springfield

A man named Everett Barney (1835-1916) was instrumental in establishing Forest Park as we know it today. This story and its effects on Longmeadow is history that should be remembered.

Everett Barney was born in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1835. He was involved in the manufacturing of Spencer carbines during the Civil War. He resided in Connecticut, New York City, and eventually moved to Springfield, MA towards the end of the War.

Along with an old friend, John Berry, the Barney and Berry Skate Manufacturing Company was started in 1865. At the height of its operation, Barney & Berry were turning out 600,000 pairs of skates each year and employed 250 workers. John Berry retired from the company in 1869.

Map indicating site of Barney & Berry Skate Factory in Springfield

Barney and Berry's Skates

Pecousic Villa, the home of Everett Barney

Everett Barney became a wealthy man and built a beautiful estate in south Springfield in 1885. It was called Pecousic Villa and was located on Laurel Hill. This estate encompassed approximately 250 acres, some of which were set aside for his son George to build his own home. Unfortunately, George, his only child, died in 1889 at only 26 years of age from tuberculosis. As a memorial to his son, Barney built an impressive and imposing mausoleum that can still be seen in Forest Park today. In addition, in 1890 Barney donated 109 acres of his property to the city of Springfield.

Forest Park had been established on land donated by O. H. Greenleaf several years earlier. Along with land donated by Everett Barney, who donated his entire estate to Springfield upon his death in 1916, and also bequests by the Cooley and Dickinson estates, the park grew to over 400 acres. The carefully landscaped park is perhaps under-appreciated today.

A portion of the property donated however was technically located in Longmeadow.

New Boundary Created

On June 2, 1890, the governor of Massachusetts, John Quincy Adams Brackett, signed into law the annexation of this portion of Longmeadow to Springfield.

This photograph was likely taken from what was once part of Longmeadow

Pecousic Villa was torn down in the early 1960s to build I-91.

However, the carriage house and the mausoleum remain today and are familiar sites to anyone who visits this end of Forest Park today.

Barney Mausoleum

Barney Carriage House

So next time you travel beyond the intersection of Western Drive and Forest Glen Road to get onto I-91, remember this used to be Longmeadow.

Contributed by Leonard Shaker, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published March 24, 2022