Historic Significance
Architectural description:
This long flat-roofed two-story building is oriented southwest to northeast, parallel to and southeast of the road. The southeast facade, facing away from the road, has a series of 5 full-height openings on each level, possibly door openings but now boarded shut. Between the openings are panels of windows consisting of a vertical light and a high horizontal light; there are groups of either two or four of these. Plywood siding surrounding these openings suggests that there may have been more windows previously. Siding is vertically grooved plywood with horizontal trim boards at the joints. The foundation appears to be stuccoed masonry. The north end facade has a sliding door at the ground level flanked by a single-pane window on each side. The second level also has two single-pane windows. The northwest facade has a row of single-light windows on each of the two levels, and a chimney, and a concrete block masonry attached shed addition with a flat roof near the north end. Portions of the wall appear to be concrete masonry. The building is painted red and has a flat roof with roll or built-up roofing. A newer gable-roofed barn or shed is located up-slope to the northwest of the main structure.
Historical significance:
Poultry farming grew in popularity during the second half of the 19th century, and by the early 20th century most farms had small chicken coops. These lightly-built structures often feature a gabled or shed roof and large windows on the south side. Often chicken coops have a small stove and chimney for heat to protect young chicks during cold weather. Small openings near the ground provide the fowl with access to the yard. Inside are nesting boxes for the laying hens.
During the 1930s and 1940s, poultry farming was adopted by many farmers in New England as a replacement for dairy farming.
By the 1930s, large two-and three-story poultry barns were being built for raising broilers and capons for meat and pullets for eggs. These often have a shallow-pitched gable or shed roof and many windows on the south side, which are often covered with wire mesh. Mineral-surfaced asphalt paper or shingles typically cover the roof and walls. Housing thousands of birds, these large structures became virtual factories, with automatic, clock-activated feeders and waterers to reduce labor.
Field Notes
Street number approximate. This chicken coop is located between 282 and 263 Bebbington Road.
Aerial view suggests foundations of additional poultry houses, now gone.
The town of Ashford was incorporated in 1714 and for its first century had the typical scattered settlement on upland ridges which characterized nearly all of Connecticut. The economy was community-subsistence agriculture. Industry was limited to the mills of the agricultural economy – grist, saw, fulling mills. In the early 19th century, turnpikes and improved roads, along with limited market-oriented agriculture, resulted in some local wealth and settlement nuclei at the major crossroads. Ashford Center, Westford, and Warrenville date from this period. So do the fancy Federal-style houses in these villages and along Route 89 (Mansfield Road) south of Warrenville. Also in this period there existed a short-lived glass factory at Westford. In the 19th century, the lack of significant waterpower and railroad connections led to stagnation. Its peak population, 1820 (2,778) which had declined to 668 by 1910, was not exceeded until 1980. In the early 20th century, the declining farms of Ashford were abandoned by their Yankee owners and sold to East European immigrants, notably Slovaks, Bohemians, and Hungarians (Magyars). This transformation of the rural countryside is one of the great stories of modern Connecticut. Today a large portion of the town is descended from these people. Today Ashford remains a beautiful, scenic town. All roads are mostly scenic, with wooded, overgrown pastures (stone walls, young hardwoods) predominating (Clouette, Ashford survey).