Two of the most prominent historic properties on Main Street are undergoing maintenance this season. One immediately captures the attention of passersby while the other is currently more subtle.

Newtown Meeting House and The Matthew Curtiss House are each having work done to maintain the structural integrity of their respective locations.

The meeting house, at 31 Main Street, has had scaffolding installed and workers on-site for a few weeks.

Meeting House Administrator Sherry Paisley told The Newtown Bee late last week that the steeple on the circa 1720 structure will have repair work done soon.

“It’s been a long time since anything’s been done to it,” she said August 11. As of Friday, she said, “we really don’t know when the repairs will begin.”

The scaffolding is up and the steeple is being assessed, she added.

The building was originally constructed where the Main Street flagpole now stands. It served as Newtown’s first meeting house, hosting town business during the week, Ecclesiastical Society religious services all day Sundays, and a prayer meeting one night each week.

The building’s steeple was added in 1752, after a committee of five men was appointed to construct it on the east end of the meeting house.

On June 13, 1792 — after the Episcopal Church agreed to relocate both the town house then located on Main Street as well as the meeting house to a new location, clearing the way for construction of the third Episcopal church in town — a group of men raised the meeting house onto logs and, aided by horses, rolled the building 44 yards to the west, to its present location in the middle of West Street.

The late Town Historian Dan Cruson believed Newtown Meeting House, in its current location, was the only one in the state, and possible New England, “which is sitting in an original Colonial site position, in the middle of the street.”

Due to deterioration, the society voted to build a new meeting house. While constructing the new meeting house, as much material as possible was salvaged from the original structure and used in the new one.

It was not until 1845 and the efforts of Reverend Jason Atwater that the congregation could afford to finish closing in the belfry, build a steeple, re-side and paint the exterior, and finish the building’s façade. Greek Revival elements were added to the front of the building. Pilasters were constructed on either side of the front entrance and at the corners of both belfry and the building itself, and cornice was added.

The Ecclesiastical Society eventually morphed into Newtown Congregational Church, which continued meeting at 31 Main Street until 1988. When the church moved to its new building at 14 West Street, its leaders deeded the meeting house to the Town of Newtown.

The Historic Preservation Trust was formed that year as well. The not-for-profit organization continues to oversee and maintain the historic building. The Trust assumed all of the costs for operating the building, HPT President Don Studley told The Newtown Bee earlier this year.

By 1991, major restorations earned the Trust a 1991 Award of Merit from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. The Meeting House is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Connecticut Register of Historic Places.

Matthew Curtiss House

Located just 100 yards north of Newtown Meeting House, The Matthew Curtiss House holds its own place of importance in local history. The Connecticut saltbox architecture style home at 44 Main Street was built around 1750.

The house was purchased in 1781 by its namesake, Matthew Curtiss Jr, the third of five children born to Phebe (Judson) and Matthew Curtiss Sr. Matthew and Phebe were the first members of the Curtiss family to settle in Newtown, in 1716.

Matthew Jr and his first wife Hannah (Ford) had four children, who were presumably raised at 44 Main Street. He and his second wife, Anna (Judson), had five children, who were also presumably raised at that residence.

Curtiss was a lieutenant in Connecticut’s Revolutionary War militia and also served in a number of Newtown’s civil offices, including haywarden, highway supervisor, school committee member, grand juror, keeper of the pound, and selectman.

He sold the house around 1805, but retained life rights of residence. He lived there until his death on June 3, 1824, at age 77.

The house remained in private hands and continued as a residence, through different owners, until it was purchased by Newtown Historical Society (NHS) in 1970. The 2,361-square foot dwelling was fully restored that year, and has served since as a house museum.

In recent weeks passersby have been unable to look inside the building. The windows have been boarded over.

Fortunately it’s all good news.

NHS President Melissa Houston says “it’s quite exciting,” in fact. The building’s windows and trim are being inspected, cleaned, and fixed by Kronenberger & Sons, a historic preservation company. The project is being overseen by NHS board member Louise Wagner, who Houston says has years of experience in historic preservation work across the region.

The boards over the openings are to protect the interior while the windows, which have been removed, are being individually cleaned. Houston said that process will preserve the historic glass.

The work is the result, according to Houston, “of a generous donor in town who wanted to help the historical society maintain the building.”

The original windows will be returned in the autumn, she said.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.