150 Central Avenue
In 1807, Friend Stephen Hanson (1774-1847) took down two smaller homes on this site to build one large one. He and his wife Lydia (1784-1849) lived there until their deaths. In 1851, George P. Folson (1813-1882), an oil and paint dealer, lived here, and 20 years later J.B. Folsom (1815-1889) occupied the house and owned an oilcloth factory on adjacent Locust Street. In 1876, the property came into the hands of Thaddeus P. Cressey, a millinary shop owner, and his family until the 1930s. Mrs. Eva Cressey Hale lived there until 1937, and Nellie Howard until 1943. The owners at that time were the Coogan/Carberrys next door and this family donated the land for a new Catholic church for Dover’s southside. Construction began in May, 1946, and St. Joseph’s Church , with a seating capacity of 650, was formally dedicated on October 12, 1948.
From the 1987 Heritage Walking tour booklet