Complex sentence: Bennett hired Charles McKim (soon to be of the firm McKim, Mead, and White) to design the Casino, and by January of 1880 Nathan Barker of Newport, RI, was contracted to begin construction.
Split into simpler sentences: Bennett hired Charles McKim (soon to be of the firm McKim, Mead, and White) to design the Casino. By January of 1880, Nathan Barker of Newport, RI, was contracted to begin construction.