The path the man and woman are standing on is today a sidewalk on the north side of Governor Street near the Donnelly shopping center. Governor Street is to the right of the two girls, and heads downhill behind the girls.

The house at the left was built in the 1870s on Main Street by Dr. Nathan Perry and later purchased by Phineas Lounsbury. In the 1890s, when Governor Lounsbury wanted to build a new house -- now the Community Center -- on the Main Street site, he had this place moved here. Today, it is used for offices.

In the background, up on East Ridge, is a building originally built in the 1890s as a house for the Rockwell family. Later, it was the Vinton School for Girls. In the 1920s, it became the barracks for State Police Troop A, which covered most of Fairfield County. When the state police moved to Southbury in the mid-1970s, the town bought the building and converted it into today's Ridgefield Police headquarters.

Phineas Chapman Lounsbury was born in the Farmingville section of Ridgefield in 1841. He left town at the age of 16 to, as he put it, seek his fortune, which he set at $10,000, so he could marry his sweetheart, Jenny Wright. At his death in 1925, he was worth many times his youthful goal: close to $1 million in 1925 dollars.

For a while he worked in his brother George's shoe factory in Norwalk, but Phineas was more interested in politics. In 1874, he was elected to the State Legislature from Ridgefield. He then got a job as head of a New York City bank. By the 1880s, he was back in politics, and in 1887 was elected to a two-year term as governor of Connecticut. (Older brother George was governor from 1899 to 1901.)

When at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Phineas Lounsbury was taken by the design of the Connecticut Building seen in the next picture. He had his existing house on Main Street moved to Governor Street (see previous picture) and built Grovelawn, modeled after the Connecticut Exposition Building, in its stead.

Grovelawn remained in his family until shortly after World War II when the house, and most of the land in the block between Main Street and East Ridge, was purchased by the town as the Ridgefield Veterans Memorial Community Center. Part of the land today is used for Veterans Park School and for athletic fields. Two other houses on the property are rented.

Note that the card shows that the building was not originally all white as it is today. We are not certain of the original colors, but this and other post cards, as well as black-and-white photos of the era show that it was clearly painted in colors. Color would show off some of the fine moldings and other designs, mostly "hidden" today by the all-white paint job.

When at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Phineas Lounsbury was taken by the design of the Connecticut Building pictured above. He had his existing house on Main Street moved to Governor Street (see first picture) and built Grovelawn, modeled after the Connecticut Exposition Building, in its stead.

Entering the foyer. This photo taken by Joseph Hartmann.

Living room looking from front toward the back of the house.

Living room looking from back toward the front of the house.

The dining room.

This is the dining room all set up for Thanksgiving. This photo by Joseph Hartmann.

This may be a room of old Grovelawn, the house that was moved to Governor Street.

This may be a room of old Grovelawn, the house that was moved to Governor Street.

Possibly another room of the old Grovelawn house.

Upstairs bedroom, presumably.

Grovelawn barn and windmill, near Market Street facing Main Street. It may have been owned by Dr. Nathan Perry prior to Phineas Lounsbury.

Grovelawn barn and windmill, with addition.

The Governor and his family at their residence after the turn of the century.

There was once an awning off of the front porch.

Grovelawn from the South side. Note the stairway up to the side porch.

The back of the building.