Glenville to Receive Historic District Marker

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Rendering of a new historic district marker that will be dedicated on June 23.

The Greenwich Historical Society and the Greenwich Preservation Network will dedicate a new historic district marker for Glenville that outlines the history of the Glenville Historic District, June 23 at 12 p.m. Elected officials, historic preservationists, Glenville residents and business owners will gather to dedicate the permanent marker, located just east of the Glenville Fire Department. Sound View Engineers and Land Surveyors, LLC is a sponsor of the marker; Charles Hilton Architects donated the design and Cornerstone Contracting donated its services to install the marker.

The Glenville Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. It is a primary example of a New England mill village, starting with a sawmill built in 1717 and a grist mill in 1718 in the area then known as Sherwood’s Bridge. The name “Glenville” (for the area’s valley or glen) first appeared in print, in the name of the Glenville Manufacturing Company, in 1848. With water power provided by the Byram River, the mill complex grew over time and morphed to manufacture wool and lead products before becoming America’s first woven felt manufacturer in 1852, and under the ownership of the American Felt Company, the largest. In 1978, Greenwich Associates transformed the mill complex into office space and condominiums in a sensitive redevelopment that precipitated Glenville’s second wave of gentrification, as Glenville morphed from a remote factory town into an up-and-coming suburban community.

The Glenville Historic District is architecturally significant because it contains two elaborate examples of mill construction — a transitional Stick-style/Queen Anne (the 1879 Depot Building, 334 Pemberwick Rd.) building and a Romanesque Revival (the 1881 New Mill, 340 Pemberwick Rd.) structure; an excellent example of a Georgian Revival school (the 1920 Glenville School, 449 Pemberwick Rd.) that is now the Western Greenwich Civic Center; and notable examples of domestic, commercial, and municipal architecture, including a Queen Anne mansion (the 1886 Superintendent’s Mansion, 6 Glenville St.) and the 1950 modified Georgian Revival Glenville Firehouse (266 Glenville Rd.).

Greenwich Preservation Network
The Greenwich Preservation Network was founded under the auspices of the Greenwich Historical Society with a mission to educate and provide information to Greenwich residents regarding the value in preserving significant architectural and historic structures and streetscapes.

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