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New Canaan Now & Then: The Thrift Shop
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The next time you are waiting at the light on Locust Avenue take a minute to consider the interesting history of the building that currently houses the New Canaan Thrift Shop. This clapboard Greek revival home was built in 1840 by Joseph Scofield. Scofield purchased the property, “75 feet from the highway,” from Seymour Comstock for $150. Scofield, a prohibitionist, leased the two-story house to the Young Men’s Total Abstinence Society (later known as the Friendship Division of the Sons of Temperance). Unfortunately, Scofield had limited success with prohibition. The upper floor of 2 Locust Avenue was used as a dance floor and boasted a vaulted ceiling that was painted to resemble the night sky.