Putnam Residence

Henry W. Putnam (1825-1915) was one of Bennington’s leading philanthropists, inventors, and entrepreneurs. Putnam began his career peddling bottled water in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, a lucrative endeavor. He experimented with various bottle stoppers and acquired several patents. He moved to Bennington in 1864, where his second wife, Mary Everett, had family ties. The large family home was constructed in 1873, not long before this photograph was taken. 

In Bennington, Putnam purchased Samuel Hinman Brown’s stone mill just southeast of his home and manufactured his patented “Lightning” jars, washing machine wringers, double-pointed carpet tacks, fruit jar tops, and machines for making barbed wire. He was also responsible for the Bennington Opera House and the seventy-five-room Putnam Hotel downtown. His most significant legacy might be financing a water system for Bennington, which he gave to the town in 1912 with the understanding that the profits from the sale of water would go to maintaining a hospital (now Southern Vermont Medical Center). 

Putnam’s Bennington residence was just one of his several homes. He owned another property in New York City (where one of his business offices was located), and rented a cottage in San Diego for use during the winter months. After his death in 1915 his elegant Victorian home was used as a convent and business school by the Sisters of St. Joseph Catholic order. The structure was razed in 1964 to make way for an A&P shopping center.