The Hall Block by Pete Zizka and Tom Beardsley 11-12-2022

Few people will be familiar with the name, "Hall Block" although the building is still remembered as the old home of the Victorian Lady restaurant, and is the current home of Eminence Ink. The builder was John Manning Hall, who was born in Willimantic in October, 1841. In 1869 he opened a thriving law practice and between 1888 and 1893 he was a highly respected judge on Connecticut's Superior Court. Hall was very much involved in the growth of the borough after the Civil War. In 1872, as a young lawyer, he drafted a charter, enabling the growing borough to develop sidewalks, paved roads, sewers and street lights. In 1890, Hall invested in his hometown’s growth and bought a lot built on the corner of Main and Walnut Streets and stood conveniently in the center of town bordered by the Bridge Street cotton mills and tenements to the west, the Willimantic Linen Company’s mills and tenements to the east and the Valley Street silk mills and hill section residences to the north. There, he built the "Hall Block." This three-story building was designed to facilitate a large store on its first floor. The upper two stories housed apartments. The large bay windows and attractive corbeled cornice made it one of Main Street’s most attractive commercial and residential buildings. Judge Hall, as he was known locally, was not a prohibitionist, but he believed that a grocery store would provide a better return on his investment than a saloon.  The "Hall Block“ was ready for occupation in January  1891. The apartments were rented, and Willimantic’s most well-known grocers, Samuel Amidon and Charles Dimmick, leased the store from Hall. Since 1884, Amidon & Co. had operated the Windham Manufacturing Company’s store, the building now occupied by the Schiller’s Sewing Circle — now the oldest surviving building on Main Street, built in 1825. Arnidon called this his "Up Town Store." In 1891, Amidon and Dimmick consolidated their growing grocery business and relocated in the new Hall Block at 877 Main St. An account of the opening of the new store in the Willimantic Journal of Feb.5, 1892, noted that Willimantic’s shoppers no longer had to put up with "dingy rooms saturated with the stuffy odor of salt cod and cheap molasses."  Now they could shop in the finest grocery store in Connecticut. "The establishment is beautifully lighted and a glance at the line of shelf goods show that it is not exceeded in variety by any house in the state."  The writer was also impressed with the store’s vast storage space and its "large and handsome refrigerator for butter."  Amidon and Dimmick did a roaring trade there for more than a decade. Amidon died in 1902, and Dimmick became Willimantic’s postmaster. Between 1903 and 1917, the Hall Block grocery business became the “City Grocery Store”. In 1918 the store was leased by Walter Hibbert. Between 1925 and 1931, 877 Main was known as the “Economy Grocery Store” (today’s photo). The right-hand section (875 Main) was occupied by Solomon Haddad’s “Willimantic Malt Store” which sold “beverage making equipment” to local drinkers suffering from prohibition. Haddad sold malt, hops, kegs, bottles and supplies. During the 1920s, the “Economy Grocery Store Company” operated seven branches in Willimantic with the headquarters at 877 Main Street. The building was later home to “First National Stores” from 1933-1941. In 1941, Abraham Pearl opened “Pearl’s Food Center”. Then, in 1943, Solomon Haddad took over 877 Main. After 52 years of retailing groceries and provisions, the store on the first floor of the Hall Block became a restaurant. It went out of business in 1948 and remained closed until 1951 when Haddad reopened it as the “Luncheonette”. In 1958, the Luncheonette was taken over by Rose Haddad who had operated “Lindy’s” on Union Street. The Luncheonette closed in 1963 and the storefront remained vacant until 1969 when Thomas and Renette Daleb opened it as “Tomenree’s Restaurant”. Several other businesses came and went. But in 1983, “The Victorian Lady” opened in the Hall Block and became one of Willimantic’s favorite restaurants for the next ten years. In a span of over 100 years, the Hall Block was home to six grocery stores and six restaurant/bars.

<<HOME>>                    <<back to Historical Articles index>>