Hayden Block - Part 3 by Tom Beardsley 3-16-2024 |
Between 1894 and I897, the
Hayden block’s east shop was home to the offices of the Willimantic
Electric Light Company and the Citizen's Gas
Light Company. In 1900, the Hawkins & Barstow Clothing
Company took over Walker's space. In 1902,
Mary Rullinson opened a confectionery and fruit
shop and an ice cream saloon in the building. ln the same year,
the Knights of Columbus took over the vacant courtroom and made it their
headquarters. In 1904,
A.P. Benner, a dealer in monumental
marble and granite, opened a store in the building
In 1904 and I905, Willimantic’s Ancient Order of Hibernians met
in the courtroom. The Irish
society disbanded in I906, and the courtroom lay unused for several
years, but new tenants arrived in 1914, when the Willimantic Board of
Trade & Businessmen‘s Association
held its meetings there. The association became the Willimantic Chamber
of Commerce in19l7, and held meetings in the Hayden Block until
1943. In 1906, James F. Clune opened a piano and organ showroom,
and in 1909 he rented the courtroom and transformed it into a movie
house called the Elite Nickel Moving Theater. This survived for
two years. ln1910, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company opened a
grocery store in the building, trading from there
until 1917, when it was taken over by the
Grand Union Tea Company, which stayed until 1926.
From 1925 until the outbreak of World War ll, the building had
numerous tenants, such as the
Tunney Corp, variety store (1925-1927),
Woolworth‘s 5, 10 and 25 cent store (1927-
l933), and the HL. Green Co. department store
(1934-1940). The building’s offices were used by a number of
President Roosevelt's New Deal agencies. Santo Mattasa operated a news
dealership and Irene M Tantro was proprietor of Irene’s Ladies Apparel
Shop. In 1954, Louis Ganzler’s shoe shop, The Bootery, was taken over by
Franklin Prague’s Sundial Shoes
which traded well into the 1970s. In 1942, the Star Furniture Company
opened in the Hayden Block and by
1948, it operated in two of the ground floor
shops. ln 1950, Star Furniture was taken over by the
Surplus Center. Proprietor Sam Gordon remembered the second floor
courtroom as having, “a ceiling 24 feet high and attractive woodwork.”
The furniture and fixtures had been removed and Sam used the old
courtroom as a toy store. In later years, the ceiling was lowered and
more offices were installed. ln 1948, Edward T. Rocheville opened a
popular women's clothing store, which traded until 1957. And in 1957,
Cecile Deschene opened a snack bar, the
only time the building housed a restaurant of
any description. It closed in 1969, and became
Don & Ron's Snack Bar. The offices in the building were in much
demand in the 1950s. Renters were Dr.
Ernest A. Bolt, R.J. Waldron, an architect, Retail Insurance
Credit Insurance Investigators, and Valuation Associates Incorporated
Appraisals. In 1970, Richard Rita operated an employment agency; the
local office of planned parenthood arrived in 1972.
Gordon remained at the Surplus Center until 1987.
(An interesting side note… Willimantic’s new Town Building had a
tower but no clock. On March 28, 1896, Whiting Hayden’s son, James
Hayden made an offer in the following letter.
“Anticipating the convenience to my fellow citizens to be derived from a
public town clock centrally located and conspicuously displayed, I am
desirous at this time that our new town building be supplied with one of
the best makers of town master clocks and to that end will provide the
Town with one of the Howard best Tower
Clocks. The only condition I desire to impose on the town in accepting
the same would be that the Town supply a bell of suitable weight of
equal good quality with the clock together with four (4) illuminated
dials the same to be illuminated during hours of street lighting on Main
Street”. Mr. Hayden’s offer was accepted that night and it was decided
that a 2,000 pound bell should be ordered. Records from the Howard Clock
Company show that the town ordered a “No. 2 Striker with 4 sectional
illuminated dials 6’-4” diameter; black hands & figures”. On June 22,
1896, “the new town clock was formally started by Mrs James E.
Hayden...and since then, the hours have been regularly announced by the
striking of the remarkably clear and sweet toned bell placed in the
tower by vote of the town. It is the first public clock ever started or
set up in this city.”)
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