The Thaddeus Clapp House, circa 1940 (Courtesy of The Berkshire Eagle)

The Pomeroy House, 1870 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Pontoosuc Woolen Mill, 1890 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Pomeroy, 1866 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Park Square, 1855 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Park Square, 1860 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Park Square, 1880 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Park Square, showing The Soldiers' Monument (Courtesy of the Local History Room of the Berkshire Athenaeum)

Wendell Avenue, looking South, circa 1915 (Courtesy of the Local History Room of the Berkshire Athenaeum)
(The mansion shown on the right is now the home of the Pittsfield School of Music)

Wendell Avenue, looking South, circa 1890 (Courtesy of the Local History Room of the Berkshire Athenaeum)

St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 2002

William Stanley (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

The Berkshire Athenaeum (Courtesy of the Local History Room of the Berkshire Athenaeum)

Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1881 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Herman Melville, 1861 (Courtesy of the Local History Room of the Berkshire Athenaeum)

View of Mt. Greylock from Arrowhead (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Herman Melville's Arrowhead 
(Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Previously, they had lived in the adjourning house, which was sold to another well-known Pittsfield businessman, James Hinsdale, when the new house was completed.

The Hinsdale House, 2002

Mr. Clapp was a descendant of Roger Clapp who sailed from Devonshire, England, in May of 1630, landing in Nantucket, then settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The descendents of Roger Clapp became preachers, merchants and manufacturers Gradually, members of the family moved west settling in Belchertown, Easthampton and later Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

In 1865, Thaddeus Clapp became superintendent of the Pontoosuc Woolen Mill, founded in 1827. He succeeded Ensign Kellogg as president of the corporation in 1882. 

His father was Colonel Thaddeus Clapp who had been the superintendent of the famous Pomeroy Mills. His mother was Elizabeth Colt Clapp. The Colts were famous paper manufactures. Thomas Colt's mansion was next door to the Clapp's original house on Wendell. Mrs. Clapp was the former Lucy Goodrich, daughter of Levi Goodrich who erected the Goodrich block in Pittsfield. 

The Thomas Colt House, 1936 
(Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

The family was virtually a "who's who" of Pittsfield.

According to the Berkshire County Historical Society: "Taxes were the motivation for the founding of Pittsfield. In 1735, the city of Boston, complaining that its tax burden was unfair, petitioned the general court for a grant of deeds in western Massachusetts that it could then resell to earn revenue."

Boston native, Jacob Wendell, surveyed the area (then called Poontoosuck, which was Mohegan meaning "land of the winter deer"). The result was the creation of two major roads (now East-West and North-South) and 60 building sites. In 1761, the town was incorporated and renamed Pittsfield in honor of the English Prime Minister, William Pitt, who was considered a friend of the Colonies. Jacob Wendell moved his family to Pittsfield and settled in the community.

Slightly to the east of the intersection of North, South, East and West Streets, the area known as Park Square was created. By 1829, public sidewalks and many beautiful churches and public buildings lined Park Square. Pittsfield was selected as the "county seat" for Berkshire County. In 1868, the city started the building of the county courthouse on the southeast side of Park Square at the entrance of Wendell Avenue, named for Jacob Wendell. 

The Court House, 1910 
(Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

The Clapps attended St. Stephen Episcopal Church, re-built in 1890 on the north side of Park Square.

By the 1800's Pittsfield was the center of industry in Berkshire County. The railroad had been built and transported the products of the many textile and paper mills. Besides the many mills, Pittsfield was the location of the Stanley Electric Company. William Stanley invented the first alternating current electrical transformer. His company was bought by the General Electric Company and remained a major employer until end of the 20th Century.

But it was the railroad that opened Pittsfield to the world. Trains brought visitors from all over to the Berkshires. Many of America's wealthiest families built "cottages" throughout the county, including many in Pittsfield. One of the most well known was "The Court" built for the family which owned the Kimball Piano Company. It became Hillcrest Hospital in 1951.

Susan Eisley, Executive Director of the Berkshire County Historical Society, wrote in Pittsfield, Images of America:

"Pittsfield can be an enigma. The largest and most industrial town in a county that prides itself on being 'America's Premier Cultural Resort', it has a personality that sets it quite apart from other towns. When you look closely, Pittsfield has contributed every bit as much to culture, beauty, grandeur, compassion, invention and humor as any town in the Berkshires. Without the heartbeat of the city, the county would be so much less than the wonderful place it is today."

Although Mr. Clapp was a respected businessman, his heart was in the arts. "This house in those days was the center of the social life of the community and gained wide fame as such" -The Berkshire Eagle, 1908. The Clapp's home was designed for entertaining and the couple often held musical performances and poetry and theatrical readings after elaborate dinner parties.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Clapp were noted amateur thespians. Mr. Clapp used the stage name of "Thaddeus Clappertino."

Playbill of The Williams Street Theatricals. Click here to enlarge.

The Colonial Theatre, 1915
(Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Unfortunately, Mr. Clapp did not live long enough to attend performances of such famous actors as Sarah Bernhardt and the Barrymores at the Colonial Theatre, which was built in 1903. 

Nor did he get to visit the new Berkshire Museum also built in 1903.
The Clapp's collection of 170 travel books and bound volumes of The Century and Scribner's magazines were donated to the Pittsfield Athenaeum, which at the time was the largest gift to the library. The Berkshire Athenaeum was built with funds donated by Thomas Allen, grandson of Pittsfield's famous minister, "The Fighting Rev. Allen", who was well known for keeping a loaded musket close by during the Revolutionary War. The building housing the athenaeum became the Berkshire County Registry of Deeds after a new library building was built on the land between Wendell Avenue and Bartlett Street in 1967.

Thomas Allen House, 1880 (Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

One of the Clapps' famous contemporaries in Pittsfield was Oliver Wendell Holmes, poet, dean of the Harvard Medical School and the great-grandson of Jacob Wendell. (Mr. Holmes is known for being the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who became a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.)

Another neighbor on nearby Holmes Road was Herman Melville, one of America's most celebrated authors. According to the Berkshire County Historical Society: "Herman Melville spent many summers in Pittsfield visiting his uncle's farm (on South Street). In 1850, he decided to move to Pittsfield permanently, buying a home that he named for the artifacts he dug up while plowing. It was at Arrowhead that Melville wrote Moby Dick along with three more novels. 16 short stories and one volume of poetry. Many of his stories and poems were set in the Berkshires, including several set at Arrowhead. 'A great neighborhood for authors, you see, is Pittsfield,' Melville wrote in 1851.'" 

John and Sara Morewood purchased Melville's uncle's farm on South Street in 1850. Later the property became the Pittsfield Country Club. Mrs. Morewood was well known for her humanitarian work during the Civil War. Sara's son, William, married Herman Melville's niece, Maria, and they lived at Arrowhead.

Sara Morewood and her Children, 1860 
(Courtesy of The Berkshire County Historical Society)

Pittsfield has some of the most beautiful and historic architecture as in any city in New England. Like Wendell Avenue, many of the city's streets are named after the well-known authors, industrialists and civic leaders who built their homes in the city.

Mr. Clapp died in 1890. A few years later, Mrs. Clapp became ill and she moved to a smaller home on Henry Street. Mrs. Clapp died in 1908. Her daughter, Agnes Margaret, who married Louis Emil Berger of Brooklyn, New York, survived her. Daughter, Lillian, who was married to the Rev. William Prail of New York, died in childbirth several years before Mr. Clapp's death. Son, Theodore Harold, died in 1893 in Bermuda.

Mrs. Clapp had deeded the house on Wendell to grandson Stuart Clapp, who lived on Bartlett Street. In 1906, he sold the home to William Whittlesay. Mr. Whittlesay was a former Massachusetts senator and superintendent of the Pittsfield Electric Company. 

The Whittlesays sold the home to William Wyman in 1920. Mr. Wyman was the president of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. The company's headquarters was located across from Park Square. The company's headquarters were later moved to another location on South Street.

In 1930, the grand home that the Clapp's lived and entertained in was converted to apartments.

Walking down Wendell Avenue and on the adjacent streets of Bartlett and Pomeroy as they intersect East Street and Park Square, one appreciates the elegance of the homes that still remain. Many are still single-family homes while others have been converted into professional offices or broken up into apartments. They have been preserved to illustrate a time long gone by.

In 1981, the Clapp house was nominated to the Massachusetts Historic Commission's Register of Historic Homes. The home was named to the National Register of Historic Places of the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1991.

Another building on the National Register is The Colonial Theatre on nearby South Street, which is undergoing a major restoration. 

The plans for the restoration of the Clapp House and the conversion to a bed and breakfast inn began in 2001; completed in the summer of 2002. The guest suites have been named for several of Pittsfield better known citizens of the age.

We wish to thank The Berkshire County Historical Society's Executive Director, Susan Eisley, and the staff members of the Local History Room of the Berkshire Athenaeum for their support, encouragement and assistance.