Romance in Old Mansfield

Valentine's Day is two weeks away, and as the world freckles with pink and red hearts, we at the Mansfield Historical Society are remembering one of the town's famous romances.

Edwin Sullivan Fitch was born in 1812 in Windham, Connecticut.  He probably did not come from much money because he apprenticed to a carpenter-builder as a young man.  Taking to the craft, he completed a house in Coventry when he was 21 years old. 

The following year, in 1834, Fitch was boarding in Mansfield when he met and fell in love with the daughter of Dr. Jabez Adams, a prominent town physician.  One can imagine that Alice Adams must have been very lovely.  In any event, young Edwin seemed to think so.  He himself would later be remembered by a local resident for his “sparkling black eyes, and genial manners” – in short, “[h]e was a handsome man” (Marsh). 

Edwin Fitch, then, with his bright dark eyes and pleasant ways, determined to marry his beloved.  In order to persuade Alice’s father of the match’s suitability, Fitch resolved to build her the handsomest house in all of Mansfield.  On October 17, 1835, he purchased from Isaac Arnold an imposing hilltop lot in Mansfield Center.  The following year, he built Alice the grandest home the town had ever seen. 

 In the words of scholar Lloyd Grosvenor Marsh, it was “the most monumental and contemporary of houses” (Marsh).  The building was in the Greek Revival style, with a magnificent Grecian portico upheld by two fluted Ionic columns, and with a thickly ornate front door.  In designing and building the house, Fitch had demonstrated a talent for architecture as well as carpentry, and the house served to launch his career. 

Meanwhile, Fitch had won over Dr. Adams.  The sweethearts married and moved into their new home. 

Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Fitch’s idyllic stay in the house was terminated when Edwin’s tax loans and unpaid mortgage caught up with him.  He declared bankruptcy in 1843 and sold the northerly half of the estate to silk manufacturer Edmund Golding and his family.  Thus the two families lived side by side. 

One might imagine that the strains of house-sharing proved great for both parties.  By this point, the Fitches had four children.  In 1848, the youngest son Jabez died.  At this point, Fitch sold his half of the mansion to Golding and built his own family a new home on nearby Centre Street.  On the property, which abutted that of the Adamses, Fitch also built himself a barn and a carpenter’s shop.  This second home was simpler but still elegant.  The house stayed in the family until 1968.

Both of the Fitches’ homes still stand in Mansfield Center.  The former is now a bed and breakfast and the latter is a private residence.  On this last day of January, 178 years after Edwin Fitch and Alice Adams first met, we salute the lingering reminders of one of Mansfield’s dearest love stories. 

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If You’d Like to Learn More:

·         “About the Fitch House.”About Us. The Fitch House Bed and Breakfast. 2010. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.

·         Favretti, Rudy J., Kenneth Forman, Roberta K. Smith, and James Slater. Historic Mansfield Center: Site of the Earliest Settlement of Mansfield, Connecticut. Mansfield, Conn.: Mansfield Historical Society, 2002.

·         Marsh, Lloyd Grosvenor. Selections from “Edwin S. Fitch of Mansfield: A Connecticut Builder-Architect, 1830-1860. Thesis for M.A. Storrs, Conn.: University of Connecticut, 1970.

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