History

The construction of 5 Maple Ct began in August 1929 (empty lot with lumber pile) and was completed in snowy December 1929. Photos Aug 1929 through June 1930 in 1 month increments except the last photo which is 6 months after the December snow photo. All photos by the late Garland Martin and courtesy of his daughter Diana Martin Wildemann.

Maple Court subdivision houses date back to the turn of the century and this neighborhood is steeped in history. Six homes were built from 1907-1923 and the remaing four were most likely built 1929-1932. According to town records, the land which became Maple Court was given to Ensign-Bickford Company by its then President Mr. Ralph Hart Ensign (1834-1917) in May, 1907 for one dollar. Shortly thereafter, the company began building homes on the property. First along West Street and then later on what became the street Maple Court. Maple Court became an official street in town around 1931 and it first appears in a town directory the following year.

The charming, close knit neighborhood and utilitarian colonial homes remains a remnant of the time when the rural farming town of Simsbury turned from agriculture to manufacturing safety fuses for the mining industry.

The Maple Court neighborhood was created to fill a need at an ever growing Ensign-Bickford Company (EB Co.) safety fuse manufacturing plant, namely, to provide affordable housing to a growing workforce which came from throughout Connecticut, New England, New York and even Europe. It reflects an era when housing stock was scarce in the Farmington Valley and home ownership was not a reality for most residents.

To fill this need at the manufacturing plants in Simsbury and Avon, EB Co. began building homes for their workers. These homes were built in "villages" modeled after the English manufacturing firms. They built entire neighborhoods of which Maple Court was the smallest in Simsbury. The ten colonial style homes were built between 1907-1932 and are located a half mile from the Simsbury plant. The company rented the properties to their workers at below market rates -- $24-$28 a month during 1930. Ultimately in the 1970's, Ensign-Bickford began to sell the homes and convert them to homeowners associations and privately owned residences when they were no longer required for plant operations.

The 1836 privately held, family owned company that brought safety fuses to America, developed "Primacord" detonating cords, and became involved in aerospace, defense, real estate and even pet foods and its company owned neighborhoods represent a fine example of "Yankee engineer-uity".

To learn more about the neighborhood,the street, its houses, renters and owners over the years visit these areas of our web site which document some of the neighborhood and association's early history over the last century: