The Francis Gillette House is a historic house at 545 Bloomfield Ave. in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Built in 1833, it is locally unusual as a stone house, but is most significant for its association with

Francis Gillette Francis Gillette (December 14, 1807 – September 30, 1879) was a politician from Connecticut, US. He was the father of actor and playwright William Gillette and politician and editor Edward H. Gillette. Gillette was born in Bloomfield, Co ...

, one of the state's leading abolitionists in the years before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982.

Description and history

The Francis Gillette House is located on the west side of Bloomfield Street, between Cottage Grove Road and Knollwood Drive. Unlike the surrounding 20th-century residential construction, it is set back from the road, and faces to the south. Its main block is roughly cubic and two stories in height, built out of locally quarried fieldstone and covered by a low hip roof. A two-story wood-frame ell extends to the west. Its south-facing facade is three bays wide, with the entrance in the leftmost bay, a window in the second, and a blank space formerly occupied by a brick chimney in the right bay. The home has some local architectural significance but is mostly significant for its association with abolitionist

. Gillette was prominent in the state as publisher of the ''Hartford Press'', which he founded to counter the ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...

'' as a vehicle to promote opposition to slavery. There is also some documentation supporting claims that he sheltered runaway slaves at his home. Although this type of

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

participation is claimed for many homes and is often not credible, here the claim dates from at least 1886 and been accepted by informed scholars. and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillette, Francis, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Houses completed in 1833 Houses in Hartford County, Connecticut Bloomfield, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References