Melrose is a rural village in northeastern
East Windsor, Connecticut
East Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 11,190 at the 2020 census. The town has five villages: Broad Brook, Melrose, Scantic, Warehouse Point and Windsorville.
History
In 1633, Settlers laid cl ...
. Centered at the crossroads of Broad Brook Road and Melrose Road, it was settled in the 1700s and developed as an agrarian village center in the 19th century. A landscape of more than , including farmland, period farmhouses, ruins of a small distillery, and a district schoolhouse (now a library) was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2010.
Description and history
Melrose is located in northeastern East Windsor, a historically agricultural town opposite
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
on the eastern bank of the
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
. The village is well removed from that river, occupying an area bounded on the west by the
Scantic River
The Scantic River (pronounced SKAN-tik) is a river that flows through the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut and is tributary to the Connecticut River.
The Scantic River's tributaries rise in the towns of Hampden, Wilbraham, East Longm ...
, on the south by Broad Brook, and on the north and east by the neighboring towns of
Enfield
Enfield may refer to:
Places Australia
* Enfield, New South Wales
* Enfield, South Australia
** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb
** Enfield High School (South Australia)
...
and
Ellington. The village is today little more than a cluster of homes centered on the junction of Broad Brook Road and Melrose Road, extending mainly to the east and west along Melrose Road. Land use patterns in this area are relatively little changed from the 19th century, with houses set relatively near the road and agricultural lands in strips behind them. The principal non-residential elements of the area are a small cemetery, the 19th-century district schoolhouse (which now houses a small library), and the remains of a small distillery on the banks of Broad Brook at the southern edge of the area.
The houses in the district were mostly built in the 19th century, with a number of 20th century intrusions. There are numerous barns and other farm outbuildings in the area, an indicator of its long history of agricultural use. Many of the barns date to the late 19th or early 20th century, but there are a cross-section of older barns as well, illustrating the changing uses of the land over time.
Melrose was first settled in the early 18th century, and was known for a time as "Irish Row" for the Scots and Irish who first settled the area. Early agriculture was primarily for subsistence, but tobacco developed as a major cash crop in the 19th century, and remained a significant force in the local economy into the 20th century. The district schoolhouse was erected in 1850, and served the town until 1938, after which it was adapted for use as a library.
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut
Historic districts in Hartford County, Connecticut
East Windsor, Connecticut