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02/01/2024 03:32 PMArticle by Henry Griggs, Madison Historical Society trustee
Every time a centuries-old house is torn down, a piece of local history is lost forever, and a sad marker is set down in the life of a community.
The demolition of 454 Horse Pond Road in Madison—a house that stood for more than 250 years a few paces north of Green Hill Road—is an especially poignant case. Associated with one of the most notable families the town has ever known, this structure was demolished on Jan. 29.
Philanthropist Daniel Hand (1801-1891), after whom Madison’s high school, Daniel Hand High School (DHHS), is named, was born there. The Madison Historical Society’s (MHS) website notes that, by the time he died, Hand had established “the largest philanthropic gift to a benevolent association in the history of the nation.”
In 1884, Hand funded the construction of Hand Academy, the precursor to Madison’s present-day high school. Although Hand was a successful businessman with interests in the American South, he strongly opposed slavery. By the time he died, he had established a trust fund, then valued at about $1.5 million, with the American Missionary Society. Its purpose was to educate Black Americans in states that had formerly permitted slavery.
A True Colonial
A true colonial dwelling, the Hand family homestead on Horse Pond Road was built in 1757 by Daniel Hand’s patriot grandfather, Capt. Daniel Hand (1732-1816), who served in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolution. However, even this illustrious background could not fend off the wrecking crew.
On Dec. 6, 2023, with the permission of the current owner, a group of history minded local citizens took a farewell tour of the house and property. They came partly to pay homage to former occupants, partly to document the house for posterity, and partly to organize efforts to prevent future demolition of historically significant structures.
The visit was organized by Tom Boyle, a member of the Town of Madison’s Historic District Commission. Photographer Bob Gundersen extensively documented the house in a set of high-quality images posted to the MHS’s Flickr page. Tricia Royston, a former museum professional and current MHS trustee, joined the tour.
Also present was Tom Savage, who traces his family tree to Captain Hand, his first cousin going back eight generations. Although the house had been dramatically modified by its subsequent owners, Savage said that “the basement showed the roots of the home.”
“An oversized chimney was still very evident in the basement,” Savage said. “Early pictures showed a room-sized fireplace taking up a large piece of the floor space of the first floor. All the hand-hewn beams attested to the workmanship of an early 18th-century home.”
Carol Snow grew up in Madison and is a DHHS graduate. She summarized the group’s reaction, noting that the house was “altered and deteriorated to an unsalvageable state.”
“We wondered: At what point did preserving its history become unsustainable?” Snow said. “Were there ways to save it if funding and housing options had been available?”
Tax Credits for Owners of Historic Homes
Connecticut’s State Historic Preservation Office offers a Historic Homeowner’s Rehabilitation Tax Credit of 30 percent (to a maximum of $30,000) for repairs and restoration work on such items as roofs, windows, masonry, and exterior paint.
The credit program has many restrictions and is not well known. Only homes on the State or National Register of Historic Places can qualify. More than 150 properties in Madison are listed on those registers. Homes in the Madison Green National Historic District and in the Liberty Street Local Historic District, among many others, could be eligible. However, despite its storied past, Daniel Hand’s birthplace was never placed on any such registry.
The French Farm
The house has also had an interesting history in more recent years. Bob Gerard, board president of the Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives (CLEMA) in Madison, wrote an article for the group’s 2023 newsletter stating that a federal Works Progress Administration inventory of old homes from about 1940 listed the house as “extensively renovated, with many of the ancient fireplaces removed and interior manipulated.”
Gerard wrote that a manuscript at CLEMA entitled, "The French Farm," written in 2010 by Sue Duques, sheds light on later uses of the home. During the 1920s, Annetta Colombot offered midwifery services. From 1930 to 1944, Louis Granger operated a farm and a whiskey still. He opened the home to the public, providing lodging and meals, and offered recreational lawn bowling.
The Dubois family operated an inn there from 1945 to 1955, catering mainly to French customers from New York City.
"Guests who returned to the farm every summer for years developed into a close-knit community with long-term relationships,” Duques wrote.
A Step Forward?
Henry Griggs, Madison’s municipal historian, suggested that history minded citizens organize a targeted effort to spread the word about the value of historic buildings in general and the historic homeowner’s credit in particular.
“By the time a demolition notice is posted, it’s almost always too late to do anything except document what is being lost,” Griggs said. “Publicizing the tax credit and helping residents to apply for it could be a big step forward in preserving the historic fabric that makes Madison special.”