Woolworth's

The F. W. Woolworth Company (Woolworth’s) first came to Middleborough in 1911, establishing a store in the American Building on South Main Street as Middleborough’s first chain department store. Increasing business prompted the company to have a building built to its own specifications on Center Street in 1927-28 (the building most recently occupied by Reedy's Archery), replacing the James Soule House which had originally stood on the site. This new building was built the same year that Woolworth’s principal Middleborough competitor W. T. Grant arrived in town. 

The building was purpose built for Woolworth's to that company's specifications by Arthur Shactman of Brookline, the owner of the property in 1927-28. Woolworth's proposed leasing the building for a period of 20 years commencing May 1, 1928 and ending May 1, 1948, with an annual rent of $3,600 for the first 10 years and $3,900 for the remaining years. In return, Woolworth's required the building to be "the same in workmanship and materials as the premises now occupied by the lessee at 297-297A Harvard Street, Brookline, Massachusetts." Specifications for the building were incorporated directly into the lease between Shactman and Woolworth's.
 

Woolworth’s occupied the southern store in the multi-store building. (The northern store in the block was occupied initially by the Park Cafe). In 1948, Woolworth's expanded to occupy the entire building and remodelled thoroughly in 1957.

Woolworth's closed its Middleborough store on December 24, 1971.

Winter Scene, c. 1923

A 1920s blizzard has tied up hapless motorists on South Main Street. The sole landmark recognizable today is the Central Congregational Church, the steeple of which can be seen plastered with snow. The buildings on the left have all since been replaced by what is now the Rockland Trust Company. At the time the building at the far left housed Williams' Specialty Shop, a business conducted by Harold Williams (later of Williams' Trading Post). The view is looking from the Four Corners.

First Holy Communion, Sacred Heart Church, 1890s

The original Sacred Heart Church was built in 1881 following Archbishop John Joseph Williams' blessing of the cornerstone on July 12, 1881. The church stood on Center Street approximately on the site today occupied by the church rectory and parking lot.

Prior to the construction of the church, the community's Catholic residents worshipped in private homes as well as the upper floor of the P. H. Peirce grocery store (now the Middleborough Police Station). Mass was celebrated by visiting priests and the first recorded Mass in Middleborough was celebrated in the home of Patrick Sullivan on Wareham Street in 1852.

Here a group of children celebrating their first Holy Communion have gathered for the photographer. The girls are attired in white dresses, veils and gloves while the boys wear their best suits. Several proud parents look on.

 Though the image is undated, it appears to be from the 1890s.

B. F. Tripp Trade Cards

Trade cards were a popular means of advertising during the late 1800s. Small and highly-colored, these illustrated cards became widespread with the introduction of color lithography in the 1870s and their free distribution helped retailers and manufacturers advertise their goods. The cards were frequently changed by merchants, helping entice shoppers back for a return visit. Children often collected the cards, pasting them into bound volumes, and they remain highly collectible today.

One Middleborough merchant who made wide use of trade cards for advertising was Benjamin F. Tripp, who conducted a combined ice cream, confectionary, fruit and cigar store on the site now occupied by Kramer Park next to the former Savings Bank Building on Center Street. Tripp utilized many different styles of cards which would have been purchased in bulk and printed by a local printer (most often Thatcher & Company) with Tripp's specific information.

The samples below from the collection of Recollecting Nemasket provide a glimpse of the variety of trade cards offered by Tripp's.

 

Nemasket Spring Water Company Drivers

In order to deliver its products, the Nemasket Spring Water Company required several drivers. From left to right are Sulo Jussila, Albert Malefant, George Chilian, Edmund Rondelli, Stan Sinoski and Armen Kayajan. With business reaching a new peak n 1937, the plant began 24-hour operation, requiring a fleet of 10 trucks to deliver its product throughout southern Massachusetts.

Nemasket Spring Bottles

During the 1930s, Nemasket Spring on Plymouth Street produced a variety of beverages, producing under its own name as well as the Cape Cod brand. Early in the decade, the firm bottled its sodas and mixers in pressed green glass bottles manufactured to resemble cut glass. Later, simpler clear bottles were used for bottling the Cape Cod brand sodas. During the mid-1930s, the firm also produced unflavored carbonated water retailed in heavy glass soda siphons, a development likely fostered by the repeal of Prohibition in December 1933.

Bottles from the collection of Recollecting Nemasket. The Cape Cod brand bottle still contains the original cola.

What would the Pilgrims have Thought?

This tidbit from the Brockton Enterprise of August 24, 1912 indicates that the cranberry truly was king in Middleborough, the harvest that year even postponing a traditional local meeting of churches.

   "There isn't going to be a meeting of the Plymouth County neighborhood convention of the churches next month because of cranberries.
   "That sounds rather strange, but Gen. Sec. A. H. Wardle of the [Middleborough] Y. M. C. A., who is secretary of the convention, announces this to be the reason for missing the September meeting.
   "Ordinarily the sessions are resumed in September after the vacation period, and it was expected the same custom would be in effect this year....
   "But it didn't happen. The active members of these churches are so busy gathering up cranberries, which literally translated means money, that they can't stop to entertain church delegates, Mr. Wardle states, so the meeting will go over till October.
   "It is said to be the first time the convention failed to resume its meetings in September, and the reason assigned is considered a very unusual one."

Source: Brockton Enterprise, "Cranberry is King, Religious Convention is Postponed", August 24, 1912.