a stroll down memory lane
was a tavern around that time.
From 1860 until just recently, the
house stayed within one family,
beginning when Rev. Dr. Joseph
D. Wickham bought it. A Yale
grad, he came to Manchester
to be headmaster at Burr &
Burton Seminary (then a college
preparatory school for boys), a
position he held for over 25 years.
Wickham, who taught Bible
school at the First Congregational
Church just up the street, was 95
when he died in Manchester in
1891. The Georgian-style house at
3519 Main Street gives you an idea
how some of these houses may
have looked before large porches
were added.
The grandeur of the iconic
Equinox Hotel has always been
its connection to so many famous
people–politicians, diplomats,
and celebrities. Among its
distinguished guests and passersby
were Mary Todd Lincoln, her
sons Tad and Robert, and former
presidents Ulysses Grant and
Theodore Roosevelt (TR stood
out front and gave a quick speech
there in between campaign stops at
Bennington and Rutland). In 1912,
while still in office, President Taft
was “entertained” at the Equinox,
perhaps only at a reception before
giving a speech at the Music Hall
on Union Street. He spent the
night at the Lincolns' Hildene
estate, not far away.
Stylistically, the hotel is not easy
to categorize because the original
historic districts
“A historic district possesses a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites,
buildings, structures, or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical
development.” That’s the government talking–simply said, Manchester Village was recognized
as “significant” by the National Register of Historic Places for more than one reason.
First, taken as a whole, it is important as an example of an early 20th century New England
“vacation attraction.” Second, the character of the individual buildings in the district–the
hotels, homes, and civic and religious sites–is typical of the domestic and commercial
architecture in a rural resort town in a specific era. In other words, because this part of Main
Street has changed so little since the early 1900s, it is easy to see and understand its time and
place in history. Although a historic district can also include buildings and sites that are very
different than the other properties, and that have no connection to the historical nature of
that area (say, a gas station), the Equinox House Historic District (its official name in the NR)