Granby Living April2020

RESIDENT FEATURE
SALMON BROOK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CELEBRATES 75 YEARS
By Faith Tyldsley
Photos by Amy Geigner & Shirley Murtha
Additional photos supplied by SBHS
SBHS volunteers pictured left to right, front row: Sally Sargent Markey, Ellen Cunha,
Melba Griffin, Patty Sansone, Martha Korostynski, Lynn Lochhead, Carol Laun, Mary
Zlotnick, Jean Potetz, Lisa Vibert. Back row: Bill Ross, Howard Berg, Dave Laun,
John Horr, Jim Glenney
The Salmon Brook Historical Society
(SBHS) began modestly, humbly housed in the
basement of the old Granby Public Library.
Seventy-five years ago, in 1945, a group of residents
began meeting in the library’s Historical
Room under the leadership of Ethel Robinson
Linnell.
Mrs. Linnell, the organizing force behind the
fledgling group, took on the role of curator, in
charge of keeping records and cataloging acquisitions,
planning exhibitions, and researching
objects and collections.
There was popular support for such a group.
Granby’s older lifelong residents were generous
in their gifts of artifacts, books and documents
of historical import. Exhibits and displays
gradually filled the room.
When Mrs. Linnell retired in 1958, she
turned her energies toward ensuring the
long-term sustainability of the group, and the
Salmon Brook Historical Society was incorporated
in 1959. The position of curator was then
passed on to Eva C. Dewey, who was subsequently
designated curator for life. She served
from 1959-86, when the position was passed on
to Carol Laun, who holds it to the present day.
VOLUNTEERS: THE SBHS FAMILY
The Salmon Brook Historical Society is staffed
solely by volunteers. A core group of approximately
20 gather every Thursday morning.
There is always a working list of repair and
4 | APRIL 2020
maintenance projects for Dave Laun and his
crew to attend to. Several women — under
the direction of Textile Curator Jean Potetz
— clean, repair and research donated vintage
clothing and other textiles.
Donated articles, referred to as accessions,
are recorded on index cards.
If it’s flea market time, Ellen Cunha and
helpers are sorting, cleaning and pricing contributions.
Curator Carol Laun and Assistant
Curator Martha Korostynski field phone calls,
meet with prospective donors, and deal with
never-ending piles of paperwork.
On a periodic basis, the Thursday group
gathers around the table in the kitchen, in
assembly-line formation, to prepare the newsletter
for mailing. At 10:30 sharp comes the
welcome break: time for goodies and camaraderie.
The kitchen becomes like a home full
of noisy children, competing conversations
resounding across the community table. It’s the
SBHS family.
SALMON BROOK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BUILDINGS | ABIJAH ROWE HOUSE
• Built c. 1732 — Acquired 1966
A permanent home for the society was
established through the gift of the Abijah Rowe
House by sisters Mildred Colton Allison and
Carolyn Colton Avery in 1966.
Melba Griffin and Sally Markey work
on accessioning new donations.
The Rowe House is the oldest structure left
intact in Granby from the time of the original
Salmon Brook Settlement. The house was
probably built by Nehemiah Lee, who sold it
in 1750 to his son-in-law Peter Rowe, who in
turn sold it to his brother Abijah Rowe in 1753.
The Rowe brothers were both blacksmiths and
may have made some of the hardware presently
in the house. Abijah Rowe lived there with his
wife Deborah and 11 children until his death
in 1812.
The Rowe house was restored to an early
1800s appearance through use of items from
the Bunce Collection, which consisted of
artifacts from the Granby area accumulated by
Laura Dibble Bunce (1838-1916). The Bunce
collection was donated by Mrs. Bunce’s granddaughter,
Miss Mary Edwards, in 1975 and accounts
in large part for the authentic ambiance
of the house.