Tinker Ted's Taxi
ServiceTed's
new taxi cab pictured on High Street,
Willimantic in February, 1923.
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Tinker Ted's Taxi
Service"Ted
Marrotte (1894-1965) introduced Willimantic's
first taxi, or jitney service in February 1915.
Ted trained as a plumber, and gained a
reputation of being somewhat of a mechanical
genius, thus his name, "Tinker Ted." Ted is
pictured here with that first taxi on Valley
Street, Willimantic."
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Tinker
Ted's Taxi ServiceThe
summer of 1915, and Ted's convertible taxi has
its top down. Fares? 10 cents one way within the
city.
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Tinker Ted's Taxi
ServiceWhen
Ted Marrotte was 21, his father Arman Trudeau, a
well known local grocer, loaned him the money to
purchase the city's first taxi cab, and launch
the first motorized jitney service. Here is
Marrotte's business card. |
Tinker Ted's Taxi
ServiceTed's
children are pictured in his taxi, in the yard
of his 100 High Street house. Note the hard
rubber spare tire. Ted's children are pictured
in his taxi, in the yard of his 100 High Street
house. Note the hard rubber spare tire.
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Tinker Ted's Taxi
ServiceThe
Marrotte household at 100 High Street was
demolished in 1949 because of building projects
at the Willimantic State Teacher's College. Ted
is pictured here laying a new drive in 1937.
Note the old Willimantic Normal School in the
background.
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Tinker Ted's Taxi
ServiceThe
Marrotte family purchased a summer home on Lake
Coventry in the 1920s. Ice fishing was a
favorite winter pastime. Marrotte (right) and
his father-in-law Arman Trudeau dsiplay their
catches, circa 1925 |
Tinker Ted's Taxi
ServiceTed
Marrotte's taxi service eneded in 1938 when he
was hired as superintendent of the Willimantic
water works. During World War two Marrotte
worked at Pratt and Whitney. After the war he
was employed as a plumber and handyman, and from
1954 until 1959, Marrotte established "Tinker
Ted's tinshop" at Sturbridge Village, where he
made vintage tin utensils using age-old methods.
He is pictured here at his Sturbridge Village
workshop in the mid 1950s. |