101 Main Street - Samuel Frisbie House

circa 1863 Italianate Victorian Style

This present-day office building has had a lot of alterations and renovations since it became a commercial property. There are some remnants of the original Victorian residential building like the decorative portico entryway with sidelights, carved columns and capitals, turned posts and corbel brackets. The tall narrow windows and hipped roof line with large overhanging eaves are also still evident.

The land was purchased in April 1863 by Samuel’s wife, Minerva W (Upson) Langdon, widow of Dwight L Langdon (1827-1860), and sister to Andrew Seth Upson, owner of Upson Nut Company in Unionville; no structure is depicted on the 1855 Smith’s Map of Hartford County. The house is first depicted on the 1869 Baker and Tilden Map. Samuel Frisbie’s grandfather was Ichabod Culpepper Frisbie, a Revolutionary War soldier. Samuel, a native of Southington, taught school before becoming a bookkeeper for the Upson Nut Company in 1860. In 1866 he became the Director and Treasurer of the Upson Nut company. He was an active member of the First Church of Christ Congregational, Unionville. His public service included representing Unionville in the Connecticut General Assembly for five terms and serving on the local school board.

On Minerva Frisbie’s death the house was inherited by her nephews, Samuel, Walter, and Henry Graham. In 1936 the house was purchased by Max David Shapiro. Max, a Russian immigrant, owned a dry goods store. Max’s oldest son, Louis Shapiro, served as a representative in the Connecticut General Assembly becoming Majority Leader. He later was appointed by Governor John Davis Lodge to the State Superior Court and then by Governor John N. Dempsey to the state Supreme Court, becoming one of three Unionville residents to serve on the Supreme Court. The other two were Fredrick Wyne and Maxwell Heiman (Unionville Museum)