Norwich bulletin., 1909-07-03

c4etN is said to have been the fir b,lck building erected in Norwich.
 IS not known when 1t was built, or b whom. Occupied before the Revoiu
 ton as a public house, it was after wards well known as an auction stan Miss Caulkins telds us that anotht "cld hotel stood in Water street, near ll in the rear of the Merchants bank
 H'th its upper story on a level wit
 Main street" In 1909 Ralph Bolles crened the hotel known as the Chelsea C. flee House. The Merchants hotel
 On Main street, in the present Austin block, was built in 1797
 Church street was called Upper or ThIrd street. Here. in 1900, lived Shu- hael Breed, Nathaniel Peabody, Rev. John Tyler, and Dr. Lemuel Boswell. The principal householders on -he
 VI. st side of the river were Elijah Ircrrick, Jedediah Willett, Dewey
 E. omley. Thomas Gavvitt, Septimus Clark, Stephen Story, and Luther Ed
 gerton, all engaged in shipbuilding, or in some business nearly connected with it. A rope walk had been estab- lished in West Chelsea in 1797.
 East Chelsea, comprising everything east of Franklin square, was known as Swallow all. There was no road tc Greeneville, East Main street was
 nerrow and crooked, with wells, fences, SUOIJS anu 1AOuSES IAII lDlO the present street. Franklin street and l. swell avenue formed the road to Lisbon. An editorial in the Norwich Courier of May 25, 1885, describes the cpt ming up of this part of Chelsea as Allows:
 The work of digging up both sides Of Main street, east of the Wauregan by two Aqueduct companies-though Universally pronounced a public nuis- nr -hae fal fv1 kka r,f certain relics. of the elder day, which are not without interest. At the cor her by the Norwich Bank, some four or five feet under ground, was found one of the old wooden pipes laid in the year 179s, by the first Aqueduct com pany formed in this city, who brought water from springs in. the rear of the present residence of Col. George L. Ferkins. The pipe was in good state Of preservation. Directly in front of OUi office, under the crosswalk, the VI vrkmen found a covered we'll about twenty feet deep, with eight feet of wster, which was formerly used by the occupants of the old Lathrop house, which stood right in the center of the resent street.
 Tt is within the recollection Of many of our citizens when the ground all through the vicinity on the south side of East Main street was universally cs lied Swallow all on account of the foods, from the Shetucket and the b. ook which runs in the rear of Frank lin street. The street was altered in-
 ta its present shape in 1880, by Dr. HVm. P. Eaton, who removed houses, lerelled the steep hill which stood at the corner, made good road and u rev Franklin square into its present form. IT. 1881 Chapman's block, where ie Bulletin office is located was tiult, and the street soon filed up with buildings"
 Between 17eo and 1900 the section of the town lying around Chelsea Parade, then known simply as the Little Plain, was brought into notice. Building lots were purchased and houses built upon its borders, but the central portion lay untitled and unfenced and was popu- larly known as "Adgates three-square lot"
 In 1797 Joseph Perkins and Thomas Tanning, who owned land upon it's
 borders, undertook to clear this cen tral area of all claims and incum-
 brances, and, having effected this, con-
 veyed the fee as a free gift to the town. The preamble of the decd reads as follows:
 We, Thomas Tanning and Joseph
 Perkins, both of Norwich, for and in consideration of the good will we have and do bear to the inhabitants of the Town of Norwich, and in consideration of the desire we have that said in- habitants may continually and at all times be furnished and accommodated
 with a free, open, unincumbered piece of land or ground, convenient for a public Parade or Walk, do give. grant, remise, release and forever quit claim unto Doctor Joshua Lathrop, one of the principal inhabitants of said town, and to all the rest of the inhabitants of said Town of Norwich in their cor porate capacity, and to their success ors forever, for the use and purpose of Public Parade or open Walk, to be
 unincumbered with any kind of build 1 ing or buildings. public or private, or nuisance whatever. and for no other | purpose.
 Dated 5th day of April, 1797."