National Register Listing

Cannondale Historic District

Roughly bounded by Cannon, Danbury and Seeley Rds., Wilton, CT

Cannondale Historic District is significant because it embodies the distinctive architectural and cultural-landscape characteristics of a small commercial center as well as an agricultural community from the early national period through the early 20th century. The historic uses of the properties in the district include virtually the full array of human activity in this region -- farming, residential, religious, educational, community groups (the Grange), small-scale manufacturing, transportation, and even government (the building that housed the first Cannondale Post Office). The close physical relationship among all these uses, as well as the informal character of the commercial enterprises before the rise of more aggressive techniques to attract consumers, capture some of the texture of life as lived by prior generations. The buildings also include excellent examples of Federal, Greek Revival, Victorian, and Colonial Revival houses; vernacular houses from the entire period of significance; barns from the 19th century; a range of school buildings from early examples that resemble houses to the B.F. Brown Boarding School, with its clearly institutional character; and specialized buildings such as the railroad depot. The historic significance of the district (Criterion A) derives from its changing role in the life of the town, from clusters of farmsteads around a small centrally located gristmill to an important commercial district in Wilton once the railroad opened in 1852, to an area whose commercial presence substantially declined upon the advent of automotive transport and whose bucolic qualities then attracted an increasing degree of leisure use beginning in the early 20th century.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1992.