de Koven House Community Center
The deKoven House is home to The Rockfall Foundation, and also serves as a Community Center for non-profit organizations in Middlesex County.
Meeting Rooms at the deKoven House Community Center
PURPOSE:
These rooms are available for meetings of Middlesex County non-profit organizations.
LOCATION:
27 Washington Street, Middletown, CT. 06457
(at the intersection of Washington Street and deKoven Drive near Exit 15, Rt. 9)
HOURS:
Monday -Thursday: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (September through July) Closed for all major holidays.
FACILITIES:
The smaller, more formal WADSWORTH ROOM easily accommodates 13 people.
The newly renovated LARGE MEETING ROOM holds up to 70 people, and offers ceiling fans, air conditioning, 6 moveable room dividers, 70 chairs, 10 large folding tables and 2 small folding tables, retractable ceiling mounted projection screen, dimmable lighting, moveable blackboard, and an a-v cart.
A small kitchen and two restrooms serve both rooms.
All meetings, whether occasional or regular, need to be SCHEDULED in advance though the Rockfall Foundation office.
Call Lisa Brown, Office Assistant, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at (860) 347-0340.
History
The deKoven House, a stately Georgian brick mansion overlooking the Connecticut River, was built 
between 1791 and 1797 by Captain Benjamin Williams, famous as a trader to the West Indies. During a visit to Middletown he met and married Martha Cornell. Since Middletown was the chief port for West Indian shipping, the Captain decided to settle here. He purchased five acres of land, bounded at that time by Main Street, Washington Street, and the Connecticut River, for "thirty pounds of lawful money" from John and Rebecca Cotton, whose ancestor William Cornwell acquired the land in 1650 as one of Middletown's original settlers.
On Captain Williams' death in 1812, the property passed to his four children who, six years later, sold it for $3,600 to Henry L. deKoven who was active in the China trade. In 1900, the deKoven House was passed to Clarence Seymour Wadsworth (1872 - 1941) by his mother, Cornelia deKoven Wadsworth through her sister Margaret deKoven Casey.
The Clarence S. Wadsworth family occupied the house for a number of years along with their various residences in New York City, Maine and Florida, but after their mansion at "Long Hill" in Middletown was completed in 1917, deKoven House became Colonel Wadsworth's business office. He bequeathed it to the Rockfall Corporation in 1941. Gifts from the Colonel's widow Katherine Fearing Hubbard Wadsworth, in cooperation with the Rockfall Corporation, made possible restoration of the house and grounds and establishment of the deKoven House as a Community Center in 1942.
The Memorial Rooms, maintained in tribute to Colonel Clarence S. Wadsworth , hold some of the original deKoven family furnishings. Through the years, two additions have been made to the original house. In 1882 a two-story brick ell was added and in 1957, a large Meeting Room was built extending the south end of the ground floor. In 1984, renovations were made to provide a second, smaller meeting room (the Wadsworth Room). In 1987 the yard was re-designed to accomodate additional parking while preserving the grounds as a small urban park, and in 1992-94 the roof and gutters were replaced and the facade and trim were restored.
Structural and functional renovations to the Large Meeting Room were completd in the fall of 2002. Improvements include structural roof repair and construction, and installation of ceilings, insulation, air conditioning, wall treatment, lighting, a ceiling mounted projection screen, and a sprinkler system.
For More Information
To request more information about the deKoven House Community Center and The Rockfall Foundation, contact Virginia R. Rollefson, Executive Director, at (860) 347-0340.