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About the Museum

Built in the mid-1860s by Rawson Fuller, the building was used between about 1910 and 1945 as a boarding house for G.H. Bass employees.  Bass had built his new shoe factory on Wilton Stream in 1904 and bought the Fuller property by 1911.   After the boarding house ceased to be a hotel, the Bass Company used it for hand sewing, offices, and for storage space.

The building was deeded to the Wilton Historical Society in 1987 and soon after was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

There are four floors to this impressive building.  The basement level features farm and shoemaking tools.  It also includes the working Canal Street Forge, where blacksmith Ray Tilton (645-2261) gives lessons on the art of blacksmithing.   The main floor, in addition to the general meeting and display room and kitchen, has the restored parlor.  The second floor has rooms devoted to homemaking, military uniforms, ladies' clothing, bedrooms, and the extensive bottle and Wilton Academy collections.  Exhibits featuring giantess Sylvia Hardy are in the Academy Room.  The third level includes a scouting exhibit, and an adult and child's bedroom.

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This page was last updated on October 23, 2001.

Artwork courtesy of Clarice Nyberg