Page 14 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 54 Late Spring 2025

by Britt Bartow, Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust with ancestry research from Bobbie Borne
A Dress to Impress
A Dr es s t o Im pr es s

he primary bedroom of the John- The added 1900s vel-
Tson Mansion is the home of a gold vet on the collar and
brocade dress, trimmed with satin belt is backed with
and velvet, and in near perfect con- gold satin to match
dition. This early Edwadrian walking the gold brocade of
dress has signs of being altered from the 1890s portion of
a late Victorian style dress. The corded the dress. The decorative
hem, velvet collar, belt with buckle, and belt buckle displays an-
elastic attached to the underside of the other trend of the time,
skirt, are all features that would have as it features individual
brought a dress from the 1890s into the shaped and cut steel,
early 1900s. But more than hiding these instead of stones. The
details, the dress is also hiding a connec- buckle would have like-
tion to Wallingford. ly had matching shoe
buckles and even hair
In 1860, John P. Stevenson was born in accessories to complete the look. Sarah
Clinton, Massachusetts, and came to could have complimented the ensemble
Wallingford in 1887 with his brother, Fran- with a silver chatelaine and hat pin.
cis. Together they opened a clothing store,
JP Stevenson & Co., and ran it until 1911. The dress was donated to the Walling-
After moving to Wallingford, John mar- ford Historic Preservation Trust by a de-
ried Sarah Lousie Jones in 1888. John and scendant of Sarah Stevenson. The care
Sarah settled on South Elm Street, and and love that Sarah and her family put
raised three children. into the dress has very clearly been
passed down through the genera-
Sarah Jones Stevenson has a long lega- tions, and the WHPT is proud to con-
cy in Wallingford. The Jones family, de- tinue caring for and displaying this
scended from the Lt. Gov. of Colonial immaculate representation of fash-
New Haven Theophilis Jones, lived on ion and how it changes, for many
a large farm on the west side of Wall- years to come.
ingford near today’s Jones Road. C.N.
Jones, her father’s brother, was proba-
bly the first in the family to move into
town when he built the house north
of the Johnson Mansion. Sarah, wear-
ing the gold brocade gown, may have
visited the house where her uncle
lived. Maybe she strolled next door to
say hello to the Johnson’s, the house in
which the gown now resides.

Because her husband John owned a clothier and
hatter shop for men and boys, the gown was likely made
for Sarah elsewhere, but perhaps using her husband’s
connections and eye for detail. The dress is lightly boned in the
front of the bodice with metal strips, in what looks like an addi-
tion to the original design. A cord was sewn into the hem of the
skirt, and backed with heavy fabric using a sewing machine. Most
parts to the late Victorian style of the dress are hand sewn using
black or gold thread, while later reinforcements and changes used
a sewing machine with black or white thread.

14 WALLINGFORD MAGAZINE - LATE SPRING 2025