Clinton’s reputation for historic preservation may soon be growing thanks to the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Council approving an application for a $20,000 grant that will be used to possibly add Commerce Street and Leffingwell Road to the National Register of Historic Districts.

On Dec. 1, the State Historic Preservation Council unanimously approved an application from the Clinton Historic District Commission (HDC) for the town to hire an architecture historian.

“The money will be to hire an architecture historian to do research and then write a report that will ultimately go to the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior,” said Peggy Adler, one of the people responsible for spearheading the process.

From there, the federal agency will decide whether or not to approve the request. If approved, the district would join the Clinton Village Historic District and the High Street Historic District as recognized historic districts in town.

Adler said that the town will have to do a request for proposal to find qualified architects and that the grant will last for one year from when the architect is hired.

Adler said that the area being considered runs from about the Post Office down to where Lobster Landing is currently located. The application sent to the state noted that many of the houses in the Commerce Street and Leffingwell Road area are historic homes built in the 1800s as well as the 1920s in mail order kits from Sears and Roebuck. Adler added that in addition to the homes, the area was also an important part of Clinton’s business history with shipyards once located in the area and that Native Americans also made their homes in the area.

Adler said that once the report is complete, it hopefully wouldn’t take much longer for the report to be reviewed by the Department of the Interior and a decision made. Adler also stressed that if the streets were eventually deemed historic, it would not change anything for the homeowners.

“There would be no obligations for the homeowners. The only thing that could be a problem would be if someone wanted to tear down a home or something like that,” said Adler.

Adler credited Town Manager Karl Kilduff with helping get the grant application in front of the state.

“Karl was great to work with. He pushed me beyond my literary comfort zones and he was very helpful,” said Adler

Adler said that part of her appreciation for the area came when she wrote the book Images of Clinton in 2019 through which she learned a lot of information she had not previously known about the history of Clinton.

Letting others know about that history was part of the motivation for Adler to pursue the addition of the two roads to the national register.

“I think Clinton is a very historic town with a history most people don’t know. I’m tired of people only knowing the town because of the outlets,” said Adler. “I’m not against the outlets in any way, but there’s a great history here of notable people and events here that more people should be aware of.”