Threadcity Photo Gallery
Welcome to
Willimantic (and vicinity)
<<Click on any
photo to see larger version>> |
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In 1980, the Willimantic Common Council formed
a special committee to explore possibilities of
boosting the town's image. John Lescoe,
Mayor at that time,
said he believed the city could enhance its
image
by erecting "Welcome to Willimantic" signs.
Signs were eventually put up on the RT 6 and 32
entrances to Willimantic. |
The following photos were used over the
years as "Picture of the Week" for "The Chronicle".
They are not grouped by category - they are just
a random assortment of pictures showing various
people, places and activities in Willimantic
and a few neighboring towns
throughout the years.
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Auto Show
These are exhibits at Willimantic’s first Auto
Show, which was held in February, 1920 at the
Pleasant Street Armory. Twenty local businesses
had spaces there and exhibited automobiles,
cycles and a huge range of accessories. The show
itself was, as the “Willimantic Daily Chronicle”
said, “an elaborate affair” and included
military marches, local singers and orchestras.
The Leonard Brothers Garage provided the three
Reo automobiles in the picture; a touring car, a
sedan and a roadster
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Interior of the Laramee Company
This is the interior of the Laramee Company
store which was located at 22 North Street. The
Laramee Company was one of the first local
businesses to install refrigerated cases for
meats and other goods. The man with the boater
hat was owner Pierre J. Laramee who later became
Mayor of Willimantic.
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ATCO Mill 6 Interior
This is the interior of ATCO’s Mill Number 6
just prior to the formal opening ceremonies in
April, 1906. The ceremonies included a charity
ball sponsored by the Thread Company Fire
Brigade which was considered to be “the largest
social affair ever in the Thread City”.
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Unidentified Ragpicker
Julian Beville, who
also climbed the 200 foot high smokestack at
Windham Mfg. Co. to take photos of Willimantic
from the top, took the picture above. It is of a still unidentified rag
picker who worked for “Warner’s of Willimantic”.
A note on the back of the picture says it could
be a, “Mr. Neff where the school buses are
parked”.
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Willimantic Lumber and Coal fire
On the morning of September 19, 1940, Bank
Street
Headquarters received a phone call from a The
first firefighters on the scene found flames
shooting more than 100 feet in the air.
Thousands gathered to watch
the fireman as they doused the flames. The
intense heat damaged several surrounding
buildings and blistered structures on the
opposite side of Church Street.
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Willimantic Lumber and Coal fire
Two men view the aftermath of the fire
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Sussman's Garage
At the time last week’s photo was taken, the
service station at 1125 Main Street was owned by
Morris Sussman. Other businesses located there
throughout the years include
Ben’s Dependable Used Cars ,Sussman’s Super
Service, Potters Oil Burners, Willimantic Auto
Repair and Kelley’s.
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Natchaug Silk Company
North St. façade of
the Natchaug Silk Company (in the 1950s, William
Brand was located there). Col. J. Dwight Chaffee
had the building erected in 1887 and by the time
it was completed his business had grown so much
that he also began taking over space in the
adjoining Morrison Machine Company’s building on
Valley St.
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Jack Roans - 1940s
Jack Roan’s garage on the northwest corner of Valley and Church Streets.
At the time, the garage specialized in
tire repair, road service, lubrication and
Motorola radios. In later years it became Jack
Roan’s appliance store.
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Susco Service Center
during WWIIThe
photo is of the Susco Service Center which was
on Main Street. It was located next to the old
City Garage which is where Tyler Square is
today. It was owned, at the time, by Sussman's
Oil and was also referred to as Sussman's Gas
Station No. 2
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Saint Joseph's Rectory
This dwelling dwelling on Jackson Street was originally built by T.J. Weeks
in 1844. In 1873, after being owned by three
other people, the house was sold to the Reverend
Florimond deBruycker and became the original
parochial residence for Saint Joseph’s Parish.
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Helmold's Orchestra
Helmold’s Orchestra was formed in
1900.
After the breakup of the old Opera House
Orchestra, the new orchestra was organized by
C.C. Helmold to play at Loomer’s Opera House and
it played there and at many other venues until
1917.
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Chronicle Printing
Company
Machinery and workers at “The Chronicle” which,
at that time, was located on Church Street.
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Rec Park Entrance
This is the eastern entrance to Recreation Park.
The American Thread Company’s wooden Mill Number
3 can be seen on the right.
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Winter Street
This view is looking North from the Willimantic River,
and shows
the end of Winter Street. At the far right of
the photo, buildings on Vermont Drive can be
seen.
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Bay State Drug Store
The interior of the
drugstore that was located inside the Nathan
Hale Hotel. It was run by the Bay State Drug
Company and originally opened in the Loomer
Opera House. In 1967, the pharmacy closed and
was replaced by a cocktail lounge
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The photo shows
Valley Street looking East. The steeple of the
Congregational Church is prominent and the
steeples of Saint Mary’s Church and Saint
Joseph’s church are to the left. Toward the
right, the smokestack of Turner’s Silk Mill is
visible along with the Fire Department’s bell
tower, the Loomer Opera House and the Hooker
Hotel. .
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William F. Lennon’s monument business.
It was
located for over 20 years at 18-20 Watson
Street.
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Smokestack of the Quidnick-Windham Manufacturing
Company on Bridge Street.
It was on the
southwest corner of their “L” shaped building.
In the 1940s, the buildings were bought and used
by Electro-Motive.
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Schoolhouse Lane vicinity.
Notice that there
were still houses on the south side of Valley
Street between High and Windham streets, the
rooftops of which are visible in the photo.
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Railroad Depot
The
photo was taken in back of the Willimantic
railroad station and shows workmen stringing
Western Union telegraph lines. The poles were
also used by the telephone company and for
electric power lines that originated at the
Willimantic Electric Light Company.
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This photo shows the Carpenter and Fowler storefront. It was located to
the right of Marshall Tilden’s business block
along with the Willimantic Trust Company.
Carpenter and Fowler later became Carpenter and
Jordan and then Jordan Brothers Hardware
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Commercial Block
At the time of the photo, the ground floor
stores were occupied by the Brick-Sullivan Shoe
Company, Harry Rosen’s Department Store and G.H.
Alford and Son Hardware Store
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The Tilden Block
In 1870,a “Mr. Hamlin”
erected the two sto
ry building on Main St. shown in last week’s
photo. It
contained four small stores. In 1887 it was
purchased by Marshall Tilden who, in in 1894,
completely remodeled it. Upon completion of the
remodeling it was called, “the most ornamental
four story block in the city”.
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Cities Service station
The Dahl Oil Cities Service station was
located at the corner of Main and Wilson Streets. The building at
the extreme right is the old Ives Bros. Ice &
Oil Company.
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Original Shetucket River Bridge
Roy Doubleday and the “shop oxen”
from the Smith-Winchester Manufacturing Company.
The photo was taken in front of the original
South Windham bridge over the Shetucket River.
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Abraham Krug
Abraham Krug inside
his first lunch cart which was located on Union
Street where the railroad tracks went across to
Main Street. Years later he moved to a location
on Main Street between Watson Street and
Arnold’s Lane.
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American Screw's Water Tower
The American Screw Company
was located on
West Main Street. The building was originally
built for Pratt and Whitney’s Willimantic plant.
American Screw came to Willimantic in
1949. It was bought out by Textron and closed in
1962. The building was then used by several
other industries over the years.
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Elks Band.
The band
was led by local legendary musician Charles
Wheeler (kneeling, to the right of the drum).
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Samuel Adams' Market
He was a well known businessman
in the City and his market was known especially
for quality beef. The business was located on
Main Street at the site of the present day
United States Post Office.
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Letter Carriers
This photo was taken on July 23, 1914 in front of the
old Post Office. Those pictured were the letter
carriers and “mounted carriers” of that time:
George K. Allen., Joseph Paulhus, ? Jackson,
Clarence Palmer, John Smith. Clarence Barrows,
Edward Syman, Anson Syman (mounted city
carrier).
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Memorial Park Dedication
Willimantic Mayor Pierre
J. Laramee speaks at the 1938 dedication
ceremonies for Willimantic's "Veterans' Memorial
Park". What was formerly known as "Windham Field"
had been purchased by the city and had been
converted to "Veterans’ Memorial Park" as part of
a WPA project. The occasion was celebrated by
veterans groups as far away as Worcester,
Massachusetts.
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Maverick Laundry’s new home
The Maverick
Laundry started out in Willimantic’s Melony
block in 1903 and moved to its new home at 1150
Main Street in 1940. The building later became
home to Wile Motors and then Superior
Electronics.
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The O.T. Cafe
Willimantic Mayor Oscar O. Tanner (on the right
wearing the porkpie hat)
stands
outside his “O.T. Cafe” which was located at the
corner of North and Main Streets. The Thread
City Bottling Works carriage belonged to
Willimantic entrepreneur Dennis O’Shea, a
partner of Tanner’s and whose establishment was
on Union Street.
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Sam Haddad
Dry goods peddler Sam Haddad and his son
are in front of 62-66 Church Street. The store
on the left belonged to Hiram Fenn. He was not
only an undertaker but also a photographer and
picture frame maker. He took many of the vintage
photos of Willimantic that were turned into
postcards. The other store belonged to grocer
Frank Blish.
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640 Main Street
In the 1890s,
William Tiffany had a meat market there.
At the time of the photo, it was occupied
by the Willimantic Beef Company.
After Willimantic Beef, Swift and Company
took over the building. In the late 1950s,
Willimantic Frozen Food was located there. In
the 70s, the building was razed as part of the
redevelopment project. |
Sherman's Corner
N.L. Sherman’s gas
station and store was located, of course, at
what we now know as Sherman’s Corner in Chaplin
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Junction of Main Street and Columbia Avenue
This farmhouse sat at the
junction of today’s Main Street and Columbia
Avenue.
Part of the farm was included in the land taken
for the New Willimantic Cemetery.
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Shirshac's Garage
When this 1960s picture was taken, the service station at 1068
Main Street was operated by the Shirshac
Brothers. It was originally part of the Ideal
Tire Company and then became a car repair shop.
By the fifties and into the mid sixties, the
Shirshacs had ran the garage until they moved to
Jackson Street.
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Thread City Cyclers -a
This1902 photo showed the Thread City Cyclers after a bicycle
trip to Phelps Crossing. Early “Chronicle”
editor/publisher George Augustus Bartlett is
standing third
from the left and wearing a winged T-shirt.
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Thread City Cyclers -b
A list of those Thread City Cyclers
members in the photo on the left. |
Rosen’s Auto Supply Company
It
was located at 628 Main Street. Many people may
remember that in later years, the storefront was
occupied by “City Lunch”.
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Auto Show
Willimantic’s first Auto
Show, which was held in February, 1920 at the
Pleasant Street Armory. Twenty local businesses
had spaces there and exhibited automobiles,
cycles and a huge range of accessories. The show
itself was, as the “Willimantic Daily Chronicle”
said, “an elaborate affair” and included
military marches, local singers and orchestras.
The Leonard Brothers Garage provided the three
Reo automobiles in the picture; a touring car, a
sedan and a roadster.
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Tanner Block
It sat
on the northeast corner of Main and North
Streets. At the time of the photo it was home to
Dorman’s Candy Shop, Miss Helen Battey’s tailor
shop, D.C. Barrows Jewelry store, Sherman’s
Fruit Store and James Murray’s Clothing store.
The shops were located both on the Main Street
and North Street sides.
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Trade School Electrical Department
The
photo shows part of the Electrical and
Drafting Departments which were on the
third floor of the old State Trade School on the
corner of Bank and Valley Streets.
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Latham and Crane Lumberyard
It was located just
north of where Bank Street ends at Valley
Street and was accessed from Spring Street as
well. Latham and Crane also worked as building
contractors. The 1877 buildings were destroyed
in a spectacular fire in 1922. Approximately
fifty homes and three factories were endangered
and burning debris floated as far as a half
mile. Every piece of fire apparatus in the city
responded as well as volunteers of the fire
brigades of Holland Manufacturing and American
Thread
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Fedor Litryn
The last owner of the Strand Theater, watches as the
Broad Street building was razed during
Willimantic’s Redevelopment period.
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Mechanics Brass Band
The "South Windham Brass Band, to the
best of our knowledge, formed in the mid 1860s.
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The Surprise Store
This was a clothing store
that was on Jackson Street. It was owned by
Samuel Eisenberg who is seen posing with his
wife and an employee. The family of Dr. Girard,
a prominent city physician and businessman, is
on the second floor porch. Samuel’s son Benjamin
took over the business and also opened another
store, “Ben’s Toggery Shop”.
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9-27-2018 Lincoln and Boss-North Stc.jpg
Main Street - possibly 1912
According to DMV records, the auto was
registered to C.W. and E.J. Tryon. It is
parked almost in front of 715 Main St.
where they had a real estate office. The
registration plate leads me to believe
the picture was taken in 1912
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Fire Engine on Main Street
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American Legion Baseball Team
This is the
1950 American Legion Baseball team in
back of Leonard Motor’s garage (the
team’s sponsor) on Meadow Street.
Maurice Leonard of Leonard Motors is
standing at the rear right side.
Top Row: F. O’Brien, Donovan, Frank Cutko,
Don Chandler, Dick Battey,Roger
Ouellette, Tom Sullivan, Rod O’Donald,
Willie Rivers, Charlie Coriarty,
Manager Shepaum, Maurice Leonard.
Bottom Row: Steve Vandis, Don Chanski, Adeeb
Haddad, Al Saba,
Batboy Mike Shepaum, Joe Rasicot,
Carl Ellison...Hal Ridgeway, Pete
Cronin.
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Hilltop Hose Clambake
Members of the Willimantic Fire Department’s
Hilltop Hose Company Three pose at their
annual clambake at Ayer’s Grove. For
several decades, clambakes were one of
the most popular social events for
Willimantic’s many clubs, societies and
organizations
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Drive for new YMCA Building
The Lincoln
Furniture building clock marks the
progress of the 1910 fund raising
project for a new YMCA building. Mr.
Edwin Bugbee had contributed five
thousand dollars
and had promised another thousand
dollars if the community could raise an
additional five thousand dollars to
match his contribution. In less than a
year, more than seventeen thousand
dollars had been donated toward the
thirty thousand dollar goal. The new
building was dedicated in February, 1913
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Saint Mary's Church Cornerstone
Blessing
The laying of the cornerstone of Saint Mary’s
Church takes place on
August 23,
1903. Several thousand people braved the
intense heat of the day. Mass was
celebrated and two sermons were preached
(in French and English). After Mass, the
cornerstone and foundation were blessed.
It was said to be the largest
celebration “of a religious character”
ever held in the city.
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Thread City Garage
TheThread City Garage
which was located off Main St. in
back of where the Nathan Hale Hotel is.
Parts of the brick walls are standing
today and can be seen to the left of the
present day firehouse. A spectacular
fire in 1915 ruined that garage as well
as the Natchaug Garage and the Johnson
House Hotel. The Thread City Garage
rebuilt and remained in business until
sometime in the 1930s.
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Political Baseball Game
Willimantic Mayor Pierre J. Laramee (left) and City Corporation Counsel
Harry S. Gaucher. They were preparing
for a baseball game during the annual
Elks outing. Laramee captained the
Democrat’s team and Gaucher, the
Republican team. At the end of the game,
both Laramee and Gaucher claimed
victory. After a great deal of good
natured yet party oriented bantering, it
was still unclear as to who won the
game!
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Lincoln
and Boss Lumberyard.
The company started in 1882 and was the
dominant lumber company in the city
until the mid 1920s. One of their ads in
1890 stated, “The firm deals extensively
in lumber, coal, lime,cement, plaster,
hair and builders' materials in general,
utilizing yards on North street, and
opposite the depot. The premises are
connected by telephone and the
arrangements for the prompt and
acccurate tilling of orders are
first-class in every respect”.
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First National Store on lower Main
Street.
The original store was called
Economy Grocery until the Economy chain
was purchased by First National. After
several moves, First National’s final
Willimantic location was at 1202 Main
Street until its closing in 1973. At the
time of Willimantic’s redevelopment
program, the building that this business
finally left was considered as a
possible location for some of the
displaced businesses but the proposed
rents would have been too high
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Bijou Theater.
The theater was opened in 1907 by Harry
Gale and was located in the building
on
the left side of Jordan Hardware. The
1916 fire that destroyed the Jordan
building had started in the Bijou
Theater and then traveled through second
story windows into the Jordan building.
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Hall and Bill Printing Company
This was on North St. Begun in 1847, it
was one of the nation's oldest printing
businesses. At the time of the photo, it
was also the home of
“The Willimantic Journal”. The
company printed many of the town and
city’s annual reports as well as voting
lists, yearbooks and brochures.
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Ayer Farm
It was on Pleasant
Street at the Lebanon town line. The
farm was one of Willimantic’s largest
suppliers of ice until April, 1934 when
the five connected ice house buildings
were destroyed by fire along with
several tons of ice.
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Astmann's Meat Market on Center
Street
Joseph Astmann was a sausage maker and ran the
meat and grocery store. In the early
1920s, there were at least fifty of
these small, neighborhood markets in
Willimantic, eight of them on Union St
Photo courtesy of Steve Marrotte
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Interior of Astmanns Meat Market.
Joseph Astmann was a sausage maker and ran the meat and grocery store. In
the early 1920s, there were at least
fifty of these small, neighborhood
markets in Willimantic, eight of them on
Union Street.
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Al Saba at the Elks Fair
Al is doing doing what he did best, entertaining
people. Al was named as “Mister Romantic
Willimantic” in 1981 . He was an
accomplished performer and over the
years he worked as a singing waiter,
performed at the hospital’s annual
“Willim-Antics” Revues, sang with Saint
Mary’s Church choir and entertained as a
member of several local bands. He was
probably best known for his High Street
dry cleaning business with its motto of
,”You wear ‘em and mess ‘em, we’ll clean
‘em and press ‘em”. Al died in August,
1986.
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St. Jean Baptist Society 1930
Convention
. Around six hundred people attended
from around New England. The photo shows
the members from Saint Mary’s Church. By
the mid 1920s, the French-Canadian
influence was growing in Willimantic.
Many of the present and future town
leaders were members. In the photo are
Alexis Caisse, Sr, a well-known stone
mason and businessman and his son,
Alexis Caisse, Jr. who would become the
Superintendent of Streets. Future mayors
Pierre J. Laramee and Florimond J.
Bergeron are in the photo along with the
influential Bacon sisters.
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Valley Street Extension
Looking toward Milk Street.
Over the years, several businesses were
located in that area. Many people will
remember the Hillhouse and Taylor
lumberyard and the M.Foster Banana
Company.
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Adelard Monast’s Barber Shop.
At the time of the photo (app. 1910), it
was located in the Hotel Hooker. By
1920, Monast had sold his shop to Thomas
Enfield and Benoit Archambault. Monast
then opened a grocery store on Valley
Street. By 1930, the shop belonged
entirely to Archambault.
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The American Diner
It was
originally owned by Steven Chontos (who
also owned the Windham Diner and Windham
Grill). It was sold to and run by Archie
and Margaret Dubina until the 1950s. It
was located on the corner of Windham and
Main Streets.
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Police Chief Grant Bombria
Police Chief Grant Bombria is
sitting in his office at the Police
Station which was then in the Town Hall.
Bombria became Chief in 1940 after the
retirement of Chief Thomas Grady. When
Bombria retired in 1952, he had been on
the force for thirty-five years. He was
followed as Chief by the man standing on
the right, Captain Frederick R.
Laramie.
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Valley Street opposite Pearl
Street - 1950s
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Willimantic Carriage and Jobbing
Shop
It was
owned by a Mr. C.A. Hawkins and stood at
the corner of Jackson and Ash St. It was
sold in 1910 to William Main and became
a woodworking plant. Ten people were
employed there. It is still in existence
although it has been moved a few blocks
and, from what the owner tells me, the
old signs can still be seen through the
faded paint and the present owner has
also found an old price list for buggy
whips and wagon wheels
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Commercial Block (661-677 Main
St.) and
the Turner Building (679-685 Main St.).
Both were destroyed in the Saint
Valentine’s Day fire of 1968. At the
time the photo was taken, the buildings
were occupied by the Grand Union Tea
Company, Towne Photographers, Bowman’s
Tailor Shop, Yonclas Confectionary,
Danahey’s Barber Shop, Dondero’s Pool
Room, Hunt’s Clothing Store and Giles
Hardware
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Lathrop House
The Lathrop house stood on the corner of
Union and Washington (now Clark)
Streets. The first Roman Catholic
Mass in Willimantic was celebrated there
in 1847 by the Reverend John Brady of
Middletown.
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Clark - Hurley Company
(left to
right) Burt Trowbridge, Herbert Clark,
James Hurley and Jay E. Grant are shown
inside the Clark-Hurley Hardware
Company. Clark sold his share to Grant
and the company became the one we all
knew – Hurley-Grant Hardware on the
corner of Railroad and Main Streets.
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Lucky Strike Bowling Lanes
Courtesy of Susan Haggerty
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Willimantic
Police Department and CD AuxiliariesThis
1952 photo shows members of the
Willimantic Police Department. Police
Chief Grant Bombria had appointed police
auxiliaries and Civil Defense personnel
in response to the nation’s new “Civil
Defense Structure”. Among those in the
photograph are Chief Bombria, First
Selectman Ralph Crosthwaite, Stanley
Harris, Calvin Harris, Jessie Owens, Jim
Spurlock, Paul Pinkiewicz and Andre
Marrotte. |
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