The building was originally a schoolhouse built in 1834 by Abolitionist Simeon S. Jocelyn. Jocelyn who founded The Village of Spireworth (spireworth refers to a plant that can only grow in poor soil) developed the neighborhood with the idea of offering social and legal assistance to Africans that were imprisoned on the Amistad. The plaque in current Trowbridge Square reads that in 1834 Jocelyn transferred the title to the local African Americans.



In 1870 the building was acquired by Thomas Trowbridge and later taken over by his 5 sons when he died in 1882. In 1924 Brown and Von Beren redesigned the former wood framed school house, as indicated by Sanborn maps, into the brick structure you see today, adding a basketball court within its U shaped design.



City directories indicate that the building was called Spireworth School until 1949 when the lot had 2 addresses listed as 158 Spireworth School and 160 Trowbridge Recreation Center named after the civic minded Thomas Trowbridge reflecting the socially conscious intention that persisted throughout the neighborhood’s history. 



Documents from the Connecticut Historical Commission indicate as a threat to the building: “Deterioration of neighborhood”, which given the current state of the building may provide insight to the current economic state of the area as well as the interdependent relationship of the building to the immediate community.



Names of past occupants:



Information provided by Manuscripts and Archives at Sterling Library



1865 Caroline Cassfentes(unsure of spelling)



1870 Thomas Trowbridge



1882 Thomas Trowbridge dies and leaves house to wife and 5 sons.



1907 Rutherford Trowbridge



Aug 25, 1909 Reynolds and Margaret Loftus



Oct 29, 1917 To James McDermott from Bridget Foley



*Info researched in Sterling library was hand written and hard to decipher, which may reflect the contradiction in 1916 found in city directory



Information from City Directories



1916 James McDermott



1931 Address not in book



1933 Spireworth School (listed until 1949)



1949-51 158 Spireworth School, 160 Trowbridge Recreation Center



1952-55 158 Spireworth School, Kelly T. Williams. 160 Trowbridge Recreation Center



1959-60 158 Trowbridge Recreation Center, Kelly T. Williams



1963 158 Trowbridge Recreation Center



1964 156 Trowbridge Recreation Center



1966 158 Moro, Pasquale, Trowbridge Recreation Center



1967-68 152 Moro, Pasquale, Minutillo, Joseph, Trowbridge Recreation Center



1971 158 Moro, Pasquale, Minutillo, Joseph, Trowbridge School



1974 158 Trowbridge Recreation Center Gold St. Annex



1978-82 Trowbridge Secondary Educational Center



1983 Hill Cooperative Youth

Staking out one corner of Trowbridge Square, the 1820s utopian development created by Simeon Jocelyn.

Tan brick, stone trim, and neoclassical detailing gives this 1925 structure its graceful character on the street. Note especially the details around the entrance, which is canted to the intersection of Carlisle and Salem Street. Quoins set off a protruding center section and a "Swan's Neck" broken pediment rises above the central, second story window.