870 Longmeadow Street (#50 The Newton Colton -1823)

This Colonial home, built in 1823, was one of the last of the homes built on the Longmeadow Green to mirror the design of the typical 18th century farm home. You see this simple, "five over four and a door" facade repeated many times in the 18th century homes along Longmeadow Street. Originally this house was situated diagonally across the street at the site of the present Center School. It was moved across the Green by one "lonesome" donkey in 1923. As the story goes, the donkey turned a winch that, with the help of pulleys and ropes, safely got this home to its present site. Some of the doors and much of the house's hardware came from the old Parsons Tavern of downtown Springfield. This Tavern had George Washington as a guest when he visited the Springfield Armory and leads to speculation on which doors in this house could tell us some secrets about our first President.