Page 38 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 54 Late Spring 2025

Wallingford

Historical Society

The Wallingford Historical Society, founded
in 1916, operates a museum of local history in
the Samuel Parsons House, built in 1770. It has
open houses a few times per year where visitors
can view the historic home and see displays of
historic items throughout the building. It has an
annual holiday event that includes cookies and
Christmas caroling.

Other places of interest

Although my editor and I initially agreed that I Historical Society - outside
would write an article about the three nonprofits
that maintain Wallingford’s history, as I was
writing this article I could not help but point
out several other places in town that are on the
National Register of Historic Places.

The Samuel Simpson House

The Samuel Simpson House was initially built
at 216 North Main Street in 1838. Some of its
structural beams are from a previous home on
that property and date back to the 1600s. It was
later used as a bookstore and was later to be
used as a library, although the Wallingford Public
Library did not want to maintain a building of
its age, so it was moved to 1370 Scard Road to
avoid demolition.
Historical Society - backyard
Wallingford’s Historic Railroad Station

Wallingford’s Historic Railroad Station at 37 Hall The Wallace Hose House was built in
Avenue was built in 1871. Although it was used 1895 at 9 South Cherry Street, land donated by
as a train station until just a few years ago, more Robert Wallace to be used as a firehouse. It is
recent uses include New Haven Model Railroad now used as an office building.
Club and Wallingford Adult Education.
The Judd Carriage House is located
The Hall Elton Building behind town hall. It used to be the carriage
house of H.L. Judd, the original owner of the
The Hall Elton building at 43 Hall Avenue was built now-demolished Judd Mansion.
in 1847 and initially housed silver companies;
now it houses offices. It also used to house the Yalesville Underpass on Route 150 is the
school district’s central office. first skew underpass in America. Initially, the
underpass was made so high so it can allow
The Wallingford Center Historic District horses with tall hay carriages to pass through.
encompasses 73 buildings, 66 of which are It now is controlled by a traffic light to allow
historic, on Main Street. for one-way traffic, as it is not wide enough for
two lanes. It was also the site of a near-fatal car
The John Barker House at 898 accident for baseball legend Babe Ruth.
Clintonville Road was built in 1756.

The Theophilus Jones House at 40
Jones Road was built in 1740.

38 WALLINGFORD MAGAZINE - LATE SPRING 2025