Picture Enfield - Then And Now

ENFIELD, CT — For today's look back into Enfield's past, we return to a great book of photographs from the 1880s through 1950s, entitled Images of America: Enfield Connecticut. The book was compiled in 1998 by Michael Miller for the Enfield Historical Society.

On page 49, we find an undated postcard of a beautiful Victorian house at 72 High Street in Thompsonville. The Elms was located beside St. Patrick's Church, and was built by the Sullivan family, which also owned the stables that supplied horses and carriages to visitors arriving in the area by train.

At some point, the building was demolished and replaced in 1978 by a smaller ranch-style house. A prominent remnant of the original grounds is the perfectly manicured hedges, leading from the front door then turning 90 degrees both east and west.

Here is a more contemporary view of the property from 2018, courtesy of Google Maps.

Last week's trivia answer:
Last week's trivia question was, "Where was the big party spot in southern Enfield before the advent of a housing development in the mid-1980s?" The answer: well, I'm not exactly sure. My thought process was Neelans Road, which is what everyone who signed my yearbook wrote ("See ya this summer at Neelans" - "Man did we have some parties at Neelans" - "Remember that bash at Neelans? Me neither"). The map below from the 1970s shows proposed names for streets in that neighborhood; however, Frederick, Everett, Harold, Top and End streets never came to be. Future mayor Scott Kaupin did write Neelans, so he gets a lifetime subscription to Enfield Patch. Other people had answers such as The Pits and Memorial Park, which could very well also be correct. Where were those?

This week's trivia question:
Well, where were those party sites? Post the answer in the comments section below under your real name (we'll see who follows directions).

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