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  • Home
  • Field Trip Bookings
  • About Us
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Research
    • Historic Buildings Tour
    • Charles Ives Birthplace
    • Marian Anderson Studio
  • Membership
  • Upcoming Events
  • Digital Archives
  • Student Resources
  • Celebrate Black History
  • The Great Danbury Fair
  • Collecting & Donations
  • Volunteer!
  • Danbury History in Brief
  • Newsletter Archive
  • 2025 Danbury Museum Gala

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Historic Building Tours

Tours of the Danbury Museum's four Historic Buildings are offered Friday and Saturday, at 12 noon, and booked via Eventbrite. For open tour dates and more information, click below. We appreciate booking in advance when possible. Huntington Hall, the main level of the John & Mary Rider House, and the Marian Anderson studio are all wheelchair accessible. There are stairs to the John Dodd Hat Shop and the schoolhouse. Please note that if the museum is closed due to inclement weather, tours on both campuses and research appointments will be canceled. 

Learn More & Book a Tour

The John & Mary Rider House

 The John & Mary Rider House is the Danbury Museum’s signature historic structure. The house that previously stood on this property, the home of Jonah Benedict, was destroyed by fire when the British troops raided Danbury on April 26, 1777. 


The property was bought from the Benedicts and this home was constructed in 1785.


The Rider House was saved from destruction by the combined efforts of the Daughters of the American Revolution and other concerned citizens. 

The Danbury Museum showcases multiple aspects of Colonial-era and 19th century life within the Rider House and it has been a favorite part of school field trips for many years.


Guided tours of the Rider House and all four historic buildings are available by appointment, Friday and Saturday at 12 noon. Please book your tour via Eventbrite. 

The John Dodd Hat Shop

 The John Dodd Hat Shop was built in 1790 and was originally two doors south of the Rider House on Main Street.

 

The Hat Shop is typical of small concerns that would have lined Towne Street (modern day Main Street) in the 18th century. John Dodd used it as a law office. 

 In 1958, the building was moved to its current spot to make way for a grocery store. To honor Danbury’s heritage as a hat making center, the Dodd Hat Shop contains a hatting exhibit and many hats and hatting-related artifacts. 



The Little Red Schoolhouse

The Little Red Schoolhouse is a reproduction of a typical one-room schoolhouse found in the greater Danbury area during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Bricks from the old Balmforth Avenue school were used to construct our building.  

 The Schoolhouse houses artifacts that relate to education history and early American schooling in Danbury and is an integral part of our school field trips as well.


Marian Anderson Studio

 In 1943 Marian Anderson and her husband Orpheus Fisher bought a farm on Joe’s Hill Road in Danbury. 

They named their property Marianna Farm and remained there for many years. Mr Fisher, an architect, built this studio for his wife where she could sing and rehearse.

 After her husband’s death in 1986, Ms Anderson continued to live at Marianna Farm until 1992, a year before her death in 1993.

In 1993 the Studio was donated to the Danbury Museum and it was rehabilitated and opened to the public in 2005. 

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