60 Center Street

This house was built in 1870 by J.C. Larwill, master mechanic, carpenter and joiner.  Two years later he sold it to Professor Jerome Allen.  Professor Allen, who was Professor of Natural Sciences at the State Normal School and also an ordained Presbyterian minister, added a wing to the house in 1874.  In 1882, he accepted the presidency of the Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota and sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Rogers.  Mr. and Mrs. Rogers had moved here in 1881 when Mr. Rogers became proprietor of the drug store on the southeast corner of Center and Main Streets.  In the early 1900’s, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers separated.  Mrs. Rogers left for California and Mr. Rogers moved to live with his daughter and son-in-law in a farmhouse on Avon Road.  The Center Street house was conveyed to another daughter, Emma, and her husband, Dallas Newton.  The Newtons converted part of the house into an apartment that they rented.  In 1930, they sold the house to George Thompson and his sister, Blanche.  Blanche Jennings Thompson was a well-known author, primarily of children’s books, but her works also included short stories, plays and poems.  She never lived here.  George Thompson died in 1953.  In 1964 his widow moved to an apartment on Main Street and the house was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Barrett Quirk.