Picture Windsor Locks - Then And Now

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — Today's excursion into Windsor Locks history takes us back to the great photo book Images of America: Windsor Locks, compiled by Leslie Matthews Stansfield in 2003. On page 21, we find the C.H. Dexter house, constructed in 1810 and moved in the early 1820s to its present site at 14 Main Street.

Charles H. Dexter succeeded his father Seth at the helm of Dexter Paper, manufacturers of specialty paper products. He was joined in 1867 by his son Edwin and his son-in-law, Herbert Coffin, in turn changing the business name to C.H. Dexter and Sons. Coffin took over the company in 1886.

Coffin's son, Dexter D. Coffin, has been described as "a pillar of the Connecticut business and arts communities." Upon completion of a new bridge on Interstate 91 over the Connecticut River in 1959, connecting Windsor Locks and East Windsor, state officials named it after Dexter D. Coffin.

Bickford Health Care Center currently operates at 14 Main Street. Here is a contemporary look at the property, courtesy of Google Maps.

Do you have a photo of an old Windsor Locks business which no longer exists, to which you own the copyright, and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

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