Between 1870 and 1890, the town of Windham's population almost doubled from:  5,412 to 10,032. The rapid development of the borough of Willimantic’s cotton and, silk industries caused these dramatic demographics. "  During the 1880s, Prospect  Hill, just north of Willimantic’s Valley Street  became a much sought after  address for the borough’s growing middle class.  When farmer Eli Hewitt purchased a 30 acre tract on the eastern slope of Prospect Hill in 1840, he had no idea what a gold mine mine this remote,hilly, out-of  the way area would become.  In 1886, Eli Hewitt’s son, George Hewitt of Norwich, laid out two wide avenues, initially named New Side Hill Street (Summit Street) and Hill Street (Lewiston Avenue) westward from Jackson Street and connecting to Church Street. Oak Street was surveyed and graded between Prospect Street and Lewiston Avenue during the summer of 1887. Hewitt Street, named for the landowners, was laid out east of Oak Street, connecting Prospect and Summit Streets. Lewiston Avenue was probably named for Joseph Lewis, a nurseryman and market gardener who planted his crops on the Hewitt land. His house and other gardens were at 315 Jackson Street. Having spent $3,000 to lay out his street, George Hewitt developed 50 highly desirable building lots and sold 13 of them in 1887. Three successful local businessmen, John J. Hickey, John F. Hennessy and Paul F. Moriarty were among the first purchasers. Hickey was a drugstore owner and grocer on Union Street, and was famous for his “Hickey’s Cough Balsam”. He built his home at 154 Jackson Street on a hill overlooking the Natchaug School. Hennessy was the proprietor of a successful grocery store at 187 Main Street. He built an attractive Victorian House north of Jackson Street’s junction with Prospect Street (190 Jackson Street). Paul Moriarty of the plumbing supply company Moriarty and Rafferty had worked on many of Willimantic’s pre-Civil War houses. He built 204 Jackson Street. All three fine houses were completed and occupied by the fall of 1888. Hickey, Hennessy and Moriarty were first and second generation Irish immigrants. This suburban growth on lower Jackson Street signaled the arrival and establishment of Willimantic’s expanding Irish middle class. In the spring of 1888, Frank Larrabee, another Willimantic grocer, built a stylish residence on the east corner of the junction of Prospect Street and the newly laid out Oak Street (55 Prospect Street). In 1892, an overseer at the Willimantic Linen Company, Irish-born John McAvoy built a fine house at 3 Bellevue Street. In 1892, Willimantic’s future Irish-American Mayor, Danny Dunn, built a house on Summit Street and Irish-American tobacconist, stationer and local politician William Sweeney invested in building new houses on Jackson Street. He built number 233 for himself opposite the recently laid out Summit Street and mover there in 1893. The southwestern junction of Oak and Summit Streets proved to be irresistible for the town’s growing Swedish population and they raised their Lutheran Church there in 1892. During the spring of 1889 the Chronicle reported that, "every building lot save two all the south side of Lewiston Avenue, the uppermost street on the hill, has been disposed of to parties who intend to build this season. It will soon be desirable to open streets towards the north “for northward the star of empire seems to wend it  way in Willimantic."  Lewiston Avenue was subsequently graded westward from Church Street to High Street  and, in‘July,1892, the Willimantic Journal reported that, “new houses are springing up like mushrooms on Lewiston Avenue on the Hewitt estate”. Around this time, Windham Street was laid out northward from Main Street and proved to be a favorite spot for Willimantic’s wealthiest citizens.