Backus Store by Tom Beardsley and Pete Zizka 4-20-2024

George  Harlow  Backus was  a South  Windham  merchant,  well known  to several  generations  of  Windham area residents. He was a direct descendent of William Backus, who arrived in Saybrook, Connecticut from England in 1638. In 1660, William became one of the original  landholders of Norwich, Connecticut, and his son, also William, became a landholder in  Windham in 1692, one of the legatees of Ioshua Uncas.  George H. Backus was born in South Windham on September 30, 1858. On leaving  school he briefly worked as a clerk for the Adam Nickel Plating Company in South  Windham. By 1876, Backus was employed as a clerk in the South Windham mercantile  store of Elisha Harlow Holmes. The Holmes family established a thriving mercantile  business in the village, which prospered thanks to its proximity to the railroads. Elisha  Holmes was educated at the Fitch Academy in the village, and in later years he became  a member of the board of South Windham’s Radial Thread Buff Company. Well-known  in its time, this company manufactured "buff wheels" for polishing silver and bronze.  One of the buildings still stands on Route 32, and has been recently refurbished. When  heading south towards South Windham on Route 32, a left turn in the village leads to  Route 203. On crossing the railroad lines, there is a large brick building on the left. This was built by Elisha Holmes shortly after the arrival of the railroads through the village. The earliest located reference to it reveals that it was a millinery store in 1869. In later years it was the residence of the Backus family. Elisha H. Holmes was a famous local merchant and entrepreneur who had also built the adjacent grocery and supply store  (pictured). This typical, Yankee country store, built shortly before the Civil War, was located just across the railroad lines. It was the meeting place of generations of area residents. In 1880, Holmes sold the store to brothers George Harlow Backus and his brother William and Edwin. The Backus Bros. grocery Store supplied provisions for railroad travelers, the workers of the Smith and Winchester paper-producing machine factory, the residents of the South Windham Hotel, and for people from the outlying rural areas. A note from the South Windham reporter for The Chronicle mentioned that, “Backus Bros. have a new sign on their store. This is I believe the first sign ever on the building, which has been used as a store for many years and by several different proprietors.”  The reporter also said, “A decided improvement both in looks and convenience, is the new show-case which Backus Bros. have placed in their store. It is much larger and of more modern construction than the old one which it displaced”. Backus also partnered with  O.M. Larkham who opened a meat market in the basement of Backus Bros’ store. “He drives through this and adjoining villages several times a week and will supply customers at the market at any time.” New York Times journalist Allan Keller, who was raised in South Windham during the early years of the century, captured the Backus store's historic Yankee character. In his 1955 book "Grandma‘s Cooking," Keller refers to the Backus store as the "crossroads  store," and "Grandpa‘s club," "a wondrous place," with a large pot-bellied stove, where  men met and talked endlessly amongst the odors of vinegar, molasses, pickles and  licorice.  The Backus general merchandising and coal yard business became well known across New England. George Backus served as village postmaster in the 1890s, and his brother William operated the telegraph office in the village's Central Vermont railroad depot.  George was also a Windham selectman for 17 years, and served one term as an assessor  George was in business in the South Windham store, as an employee and owner, for an  amazing 62 years from 1876 until 1938. It took a hurricane to put him out of business. The 1938 hurricane caused extensive damage to the building and George decided to  retire. Windham historian Ruth Ridgeway once recalled the store well and remembered  that it was demolished when the state  highway (Route 32) was constructed around 1940. George Backus died in Pomfret on November 30, 1942, aged 84.

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