The Hicks-Stearns Family Museum is a Victorian

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

located on the town green in Tolland,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. The house was built in 1788, when it served as a tavern. It was occupied by the Hicks family from 1845 until 1970. Along with the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum, the Tolland County Courthouse, and the

Daniel Benton Homestead The Daniel Benton Homestead is a historic house museum and the oldest house in Tolland, Connecticut. It was built in 1720 and has been operated by the Tolland Historical Society as a museum since 1970. Along with the Old Tolland County Jail and ...

, the Hicks-Stearns Family Museum is one of Tolland's four major landmarks.

House

The Hicks-Stearns family house is a transition home, featuring a colonial-era kitchen and a Victorian-era parlor and furnishings. Collections include family heirlooms, cloth tea balls,

Victrola The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

, and faux bamboo furniture. The house's original owner was Benoni Shepard, a Congregationalist deacon and Tolland's first postmaster. The museum hosts tours, concerts, and holiday programs from May through December.

Hicks family

The house's most prominent resident was Ratcliffe Hicks (1843-1906), eldest son of Charles Hicks, a successful merchant from

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, and Maria Stearns. Ratcliffe was a Brown University graduate (1864), successful lawyer and industrialist (president of the Canfield Rubber Works in

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

), and Connecticut state legislator. Ratcliffe renovated and expanded the family house with many Victorian elements, adding a front porch and a distinctive three-story tower. When Ratcliffe Hicks died in 1906, his will established a trust (worth a quarter of his estate) to start a school of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

in Connecticut. The school opened in 1941 as part of the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. UConn's Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture and the Ratcliffe Hicks Building & Arena are named after him. Dedicated in 1951, UConn's Elizabeth Hicks Residence Hall is a women's dormitory named after Ratcliffe's daughter, painter and philanthropist Elizabeth Hicks (1884-1974).{{Cite web, title=East Campus residence hall namesakes' ties bridge the years, url=http://www.advance.uconn.edu/1998/980413/041398hs.htm, last=Roy, first=Mark J., date=1998-04-13, website=UConn Advance, url-status=live, archive-url=, archive-date=, access-date=2020-05-27 Elizabeth willed the Tolland family home to a nonprofit trust to convert into a museum.

References

External links

Hicks-Stearns Family Museum
- official Facebook page Tolland, Connecticut Buildings and structures in Tolland County, Connecticut Museums in Tolland County, Connecticut History museums in Connecticut Historic house museums in Connecticut