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About U.S.T.
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Located in historic Windsor, Connecticut, the Union Street Tavern brings a classic mix of new and old together into a charming and stylish American eatery. Offering our signature appetizers, steak, pasta and fresh seafood dishes, the Union Street Tavern uses only the finest ingredients to make each experience a memorable one. You will find our atmosphere relaxed and casual and our food and service exceptional.
With our fully restored antique bar, originally built in 1929, and vintage decor and millwork, the Union Street Tavern is genuinely American. The Tavern offers dining on two floors including an outdoor patio of the one-time Windsor Center firehouse. You will find that our unique American-style cuisine, specialty martini drinks, and generous selection of domestic and imported beer and wine selections will keep you coming back.
We pride ourselves on creating a casual yet elegant space with the greatest attention paid to using the finest ingredients and having the friendliest, most knowledgeable staff. Whether you are just planning a night out, looking for a private dining area or coming to our bar for a drink, the Union Street Tavern is a destination with something for everyone.
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The History of the Union Street Firehouse
On September 17th, 1927, during the Roarin' Twenties and Prohibition, a "Great Carnival" erupted on the Windsor Green. The Windsor Military Band led dozens of fire companies, marching bands and drum corps from all over Connecticut on a winding parade route through the Center. The celebration, one of the largest and most colorful in Windsor's history, continued for 4 days with band concerts, exhibition drills, sporting competitions, and a lavish feast for the visitors furnished by the good folks of Windsor. (Permit us to also speculate that the numerous clandestine stills and breweries that supplied Windsor's fine speakeasies enjoyed an especially robust trade during the festivities.)
The occasion for the revelry? On that date, this building at 20 Union Street was dedicated as the new headquarters of the Windsor Fire Company and as the new offices of its owner, the Windsor Fire District. Constructed at a cost of $23,009, this double-bay firehouse replaced the much smaller 1880 station at the rear of 20 Maple Avenue (a structure still standing and occupied and now owned in part by Union Street Tavern co-owner Mike Deneen.) This new firehouse was another milestone for the WFC, first organized in September 1830 when twenty prominent Windsor men each paid a subscription of five dollars.
You may have noticed a second cornerstone on the building front bearing the date 1915. It commemorates the establishment of the Windsor Fire District and its legislative charter as a taxing district. In that year, after a series of colorful local dramas, the private Windsor Water Company, owner of the fire hydrants in the Center, sold its assets to the Windsor Fire District. Windsor was evolving into a Hartford suburb, and the stage was now set for the modernization of its apparatus and firefighting operations.
But the firehouse was not the first building on this site. The Windsor Collar and Cuff Company, which produced collars, cuffs, neckties, shirt fronts, belts, and other ornamental articles, was established in 1897 on the corner of Union and Broad, in the former high school building. Collar and Cuff then moved a few lots away to this location and into the new factory built by owner Fred Tolles, joining the many other thriving industries near the train station. In 1912, the Collar and Cuff business dissoved the factory became a laundry.
In 1942, the newly-organized Windsor Police Department took occupancy of space in the rear portion of the building. Holding cells were located in the basement and a photo lab on the second floor. Both the fire and police stations moved to the present headquarters on Bloomfield Avenue in 1965.
Be sure to check out our new photo gallery of Historic Windsor on our second floor dining room and throughout the restaurant! |
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