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History of the Huntington House
Henry Arthur Huntington was born March 12, 1856, in Windsor, Connecticut and married Mary Margaret Dryden, born on July 12, 1872 in Montreal, Canada, on February 27, 1900. Mary and Henry had three children, Clark Chester (6/1/05), Walter Treadway (10/23/09) and Mary Margaret, known as Blissy (2/3/11). All were born in Windsor. Clark, the last of the family to live in the house, died in 1998 at the age of 93. The Huntington name passed with him, as neither Clark nor Walter had children. A rough growth chart of the Huntington children was preserved during the extensive renovation of the museum, and can be found in one of the closets on the second floor of the museum.
Henry Huntington graduated from Yale Law School in 1892 and practiced law in Hartford. He served as justice of the peace, town clerk and clerk of the Probate Court in Windsor. In 1911, he was elected to serve as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, in which he was a member of the Judiciary Committee. He died at his home in Windsor on March 7, 1912.
Prior to building the Huntington House, Mr. and Mrs. Huntington considered purchasing the Mark Twain House in Hartford, which was up for sale from 1889-1902. Using features from the Twain house and certain of the Newport, Rhode Island mansions, the Huntingtons built this house in 1901, right at the turn of the century. The cost of the lot was $3000 and the estimated cost to build the house was $7000. No property tax existed in 1901 (which was lovely), so unfortunately there was no reason to file the cost of homes with the town.
After the death of Clark, Blissy's daughter sold the contents of the house at auction and put the house on the market. Nothing originally owned by the Huntington family was left in the house. The chairs and silver in the library are period pieces only, but exemplify what might have been used in the early 1900s.
Dan Ferraina purchased the Huntington House in January, 2001, and embarked on a massive renovation project that entailed more than 15,000 hours of manpower. Mr. Ferraina never wavered in his pursuit of his dream to rescue the house and turn it into a museum for the public to enjoy. A Board of Directors for the museum was established, and the museum was born. Dan and Alice Ferraina are co-founders of the museum. A portrait of Mrs. Ferraina's grandfather, Mr. George Ford, is on display in the foyer. The portrait is by James Weiland, a member of the Old Lyme School of Art.
The Huntington House Museum closed on August 27, 2005 and thereafter sold to J. Morrissey Company who moved their Executive Staffing agency headquarters there and had their grand opening on June 1, 2006.
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