The beginning......
Redevelopment
officially began at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday Oct. 9,
1973. It began at Lincoln Square and proceeded
East. The first building to be razed was the gas
station that sat at the junction of Union and
Main. Four other buildings were razed in that
first three week period.
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First 5
buildings to be razed
Here is an overview of the first 5
buildings to be razed. Buildings were “released”
to the demolition firm in lots of 5.
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Main St. side of
buildings
This
is the Main St. side of buildings that had
entrances on both Main and Union Sts. On the
left is Martin’s Home appliances and at the far
right is Goettlich’s Furniture store.
The 2 buildings in the middle were vacant at the
time but I believe that the smaller one
was, at one time, Rothblatt’s Meat Market.
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Martin’s Home
appliances
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Goettlich’s Furniture store
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Redevelopment Area
Photo courtesy of Bruce Oscar and
Debbie Martel
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Northwest view of Union Street
The
Baptist Church is at the far
left.
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Demolition of the Pomeroy Block
The building being demolished was known as "The
Pomeroy Block". Some of you may remember that it
housed Brennan's Electrical and Noheimer's
Market. Across the street (from left to right in
the photo) was Melo's Beauty Salon, Olin's
Wallpaper Store, a barber shop, Theresa's Dress
Shop and Delmar Radio
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NE
corner of Union and Temple
The
large building was once known as
the "Temple of Fashion". To the
right, the small storefront was
Rob Roy Jewelers. (Rob's father,
Homer Roy, had a barber shop on
the Temple St. side of the
Temple of Fashion). To the right
of Rob Roy's is Morris Hardware.
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North & Valley Streets
"The Washburn Block" sat on the southwest
corner of North and Valley.
Until the building of the Town Hall, all Town of
Windham public meetings were held here.
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North St.
facing Meadow Street
Irene's
Coffee Shop and the
garage door was the entrance to Doc Lacey's car wash..
We also heard from Cheryl Zudin who said, "Joe's
Launderette was my father's
business, Joseph Udin from
Lebanon, CT. He ran this
business from around 1955 until
the coin-op laundry put him out
of the business around 1965. My
father work 7 days a week doing
people's laundry. He would wash,
dry, fold and package each
person's laundry like it was his
own. He took pride in his
business. My mother, Sonny and
sister, Michelle who was 3 years
old, when it first opened, used
to be there working most days
along side my dad."
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140-142 and 146
Valley Street
On
the left is the building that
had a double storefront and was
home to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
and the First Society of
Spiritualists. At one time it
was used as an Armory for the CT
National Guard. It was also used
as a social club. On the right
is the Park Central. These two
buildings as well as one on the
right of the Park central were
built around 1890 by M. Eugene
Lincoln (not the Lincoln Square
Lincoln) who was one of the
city's most prolific builders.
Besides these three, he put up
at least ten other buildings in
the city. |
Park Central Hotel -
146 Valley
Street
The
first mention of the Park
Central Hotel that we could find
came from a 1903 newspaper
story. A fireman wrenched his
back at a fire at the Hawthorn
House and was “confined to his
room at the Park Central Hotel”.
In 1913, the hotel was sold by
Mrs. Eliza Smith to Mrs. William
Rose . To the right is the
building that held J. B.
Carpenter’s Plumbing Co. and the
W.G. Potter Oil Burner Co. They
were built sometime around 1890
and by 1971 they were on the
“Redevelopment” hit list.
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Meadow Street
This is Meadow Street and the
view is toward North Street.
Brunen's Bakery is on the corner.
The home was at 10 Meadow Street and the
driveway led to the U.S. Post Office Parcel Post
substation that was at 20 Meadow Street.
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B'nai Israel Synagogue
The
B'nai Israel Synagogue was
located in a 1876 Spiritualist
church on the east side of Bank
Street, just north of the Bank
Street Fire house. It is
pictured here in September,
1952. The building had been
known as Excelsior Hall and
housed a cinema during the early
years of the twentieth century.
Picture courtesy of Ruth
Ridgeway
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Center Street Armory
The
Center Street Armory is pictured
here during the early 1950s.
This building housed a state
armory, a silk mill, boys clubs,
town offices, a dance hall and
finally the French Canadian
Club. It was demolished in 1972.
Picture courtesy of Tom Riquier
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Borodach's Market - Corner of
Valley and Jackson Streets
Ada Kerachsky Albright
identified this picture as that
of Borodach's Market. She said,
"It was Borodach's for at least
40 years as far as I can
determine. It started out as
Borodach's Meat Market in the
1920s.."
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Center St.
Center
Street, looking from Valley
Street south towards Main Center
Street was laid out in 1866 by
Allen Lincoln. This location,
along with Temple and Broad
Streets, developed into a
vibrant commercial, residential
center of the city. The entire
area was demolished in 1974.
Picture courtesy of Tom Riquier.
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Summer of 1968
This photograph was taken in the summer
of 1968, after the St. Valentine's Day fire
destroyed the Commercial Block, which had stood
on the site since 1865. The building located on
the eastern corner of Main and Church, the
Turner block, was built in 1877 and served as a
hotel for many years. It was demolished in the
early 1970s, and the site is today the home of
Liberty Bank.
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Osso's Store
Corner of Jackson Street and Valley
Street Ext.
Prior to Redevelopment, Catholic Charities had
moved into the building but prior to that it was
the confectionary store owned by Joe and Louis
Osso.
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Wonder Restaurant & Bar
The Wonder Restaurant
and Bar was once a landmark on
Jackson Street. The
Father Honan elderly housing
complex stands on this location
today, .The address of
the Wonder Bar was 35 1/2
Jackson Street.
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Wonder Restaurant & Bar
Note
Lenny's Package Store is also seen. The Wonder
Bar is advertising steamed clam dinners and
Schlitz beer
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Wonder Restaurant & Bar
Note
the unique curved balcony on the
south side of the building
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Saint Mary's Church
This
is a view of St. Mary's Church
that will never be seen again.
We're looking at the Church in
1970, between the houses that
once stood on the major parcel.
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Bank and
Meadow Streets
Looking west along Meadow Street
Home of Safety Complex today
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Meadow Street
Looking East from Bank Street
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