6. Lizzie Stevens House, c. 1924 – 40 High Street
Colonial Revival Style
Colonial Revival Style
This house is architecturally significant as an intact example of a Colonial Revival residence. The house was built c. 1924 by socialite and millionaire, Lizzie Stevens, after the death of her third husband, Deputy Sheriff George Stevens. Lizzie came to Clinton in 1893 as the 41-year old widow to Charles Russell Pratt, a Kansas City businessman and heir to a fortune amassed by his family’s control of the Kansas City Gas Works. A shrewd businessperson herself, following the death of her husband Lizzie quintupled the value his stock portfolio and pocketed a profit of $500,000, which she used to finance a lavish lifestyle in Connecticut. During her time in Clinton, Lizzie was known both for her elaborate parties, as well as for the amount of time she and her sons Charles and Thomas spent in court defending their fortune. Many of the former were held in the Pratt family mansions on Pratt Road, known as “Harbor View” (63 Pratt Road) and “Bohemia” (79 Pratt Road). Like their mother, Charles and Thomas were successful socialites, however both were failures in business. Both died young, Charles at 37, and Thomas at 43. Lizzie died in her High Street home in 1939, at the age of 88.

