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. |
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