The Plymouth Center Historic District encompasses historic early village center of
Plymouth, Connecticut
Plymouth is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England. The population was 11,671 at the 2020 census, down from 12,243 at the 2010 census. The town of Plymouth includes the villages of Plymo ...
. Stretching along Main, North and South Streets from their junction, it flourished in the 19th century with small-scale industries, but declined late in the century with the separation of
Thomaston and the more significant industrial development at
Terryville. The district features colonial, Federal, and Greek Revival architecture and was added to 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 1999, with a slight enlargement the following year.
Description and history
The area that is now Plymouth was originally part of
Waterbury
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...
, and was first set off as a separate church parish in the 1740s. Plymouth, then including Thomaston, was incorporated in 1795. Its first town center was located at the junction of the east-west Main Street (now
United States Route 6
U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...
) and North and South Streets, with the first meetinghouse at the southeast corner, and the town common at the northwest corner. The village thrived in the 19th century with a number small industries. The town suffered an economic blow when Thomaston was separated from it in 1875, and its civic focus was generally transferred to the Terryville industrial area in eastern Plymouth.
The historic district extends mainly east-west along Main Street, roughly between Carter Road in the west and Maple Street in the east. It also extends north along North Street beyond Plymouth Park (the original town common), and south along South Street and Maple Street for shorter distances. Plymouth Park is the focus of the village's religious and civic buildings, including the 1838 Greek Revival Congregational Church and the stone Gothic former St. Peter's Episcopal Church (built 1915, now owned by a Baptist congregation). The most common architectural style found in the district is the Greek Revival, which is represented both in fine houses, and in more vernacular forms found in worker housing on Maple Street.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Colonial architecture in the United States
Federal architecture in Connecticut
Historic districts in Litchfield County, Connecticut
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Litchfield County, Connecticut
Plymouth, Connecticut