A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 7

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 960

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The East Hampton trip was a great success, the show being put on in its entirety at Seibert's. The performance was a little late in getting started as Mike Falvey, the advance man, was out selling burglar alarms and Doc Lahiff spectacles to the natives-business in those lines being good that day. The towels got lost in transit and the burnt-cork artists used up two of Falvey's white shirts to clean up with after the performance. Mike did not discover the disaster until he was ready to make a change at Hebron, and then there was trouble. Falvey is now employed by the United States Government as special enumerator in census work. Doc Lahiff is happily married and living in Leominster, Mass.

Later the troupe put on the show at Loomer Opera House and all back deficits were settled as the receipts were a record breaker. Dunn has an

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ensemble picture of the troupe which he occasionally shows to the rising gen- eration in comparing them as better minstrel exponents than the present day.

MOVING PICTURE HOUSES

About sixteeen years ago a new form of stage entertainment "horned in," known as "The Silent Drama," better known as "The Movies." In later years Willimantic succumbed to this form of entertainment and in fact "The Movies" had its effect on the "Legit" in so much that the theatrical profession has been reduced in numbers and over half of the theaters in the entire country are now running moving pictures. The first moving pictures run in Willimantic were those shown at Loomer Opera House when John H. Gray was manager, and sandwiched in between regular run of show dates. Manager Gray attempted to run moving picture shows on Sunday evenings on one occasion, but one of the local organizations, whose aims are to safeguard the morals of the individual and the community, had an injunction placed on the movement. "Time changes all things," so the saying goes. Movie shows are the rule now on Sunday eve- nings in Willimantic and some of the "fans" are those who "bucked" Sunday performances in the years before.

The honor of managing the first moving-picture theater in Willimantic comes to Harry W. Gale, who arrived in Willimantic in the summer of 1907. He with a partner leased the west store of the Kimbel Block. The seating capacity was but a little over one hundred. One reel of pictures constituted a whole show. The music was furnished by a "hurdy-gurdy" piano. Busi- ness was very poor and inside of two weeks Gale had to go it alone as his partner quit. Business commenced to pick up when Gale secured a reel depict- ing the episodes of the shooting of Sanford White by Harry Thaw.

The next person to enter the local moving picture theater field was the late James F. Clune, who opened up a "penny" arcade in the west store of the Chamber of Commerce Block (old Marble Front). This venture went big and Clune leased the next store adjoining in the same building as a moving picture house, hiring John R. Pickett as manager. This move by Clune was in the year 1908. At that time, Gale, the pioneer, sought and found larger quarters, the old wooden building on Main Street next to the Stiles and Har- rington wholesale grocery house. The Jordan Brothers Hardware Dealers had moved into the Tilden Block. Gale remodeled the old building and christened it "The Bijou."

THEN ALONG CAME THE SCENIC TEMPLE

John Hurley, in the spring of 1909, disposed of his lunch wagon business on Union Street and leased the old Spiritualist Church on Bank Street. Look- ing about for a partner, he interested John R. Pickett, manager of Clune's Elite Theater in the Marble Front Building. Hurley and Pickett on April 19, 1909, began business in the Scenic Temple, the name they gave the Bank Street Theater. One year from the date of opening of the house, Messrs. Hur- ley and Pickett sold the business to Arthur P. Dorman of Woonsocket. The latter retained Mr. Pickett as manager and operator. With the Bijou, the Elite and the Scenic Temple bidding for patronage, a merry little war was soon on in the way of seeing which house could give the most or best entertain- ment for a "nickel," the price of admission charged in those years. Additional reels of pictures were given, vocalists secured for illustrated songs and acts of

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

vaudeville. The Elite was the first to hit the rocks and after a siege of four or five months the other two houses saw the folly of frenzied competition and gave up the war.

THE GEM-FIRST BUILT "MOVIE" THEATER

With the movies an assured success for the future, Manager Dorman of the Scenic went in strong for the game. In January, 1912, he purchased land on Main Street just west of the Maverick Laundry Building and erected a theater, seating capacity 1,000, at a cost of $30,000, which is considered even today the peer of any moving picture house built in the state. The theater was opened on the evening of September 25, 1912. John R. Pickett was retained by Mr. Dorman as manager of the theater. Mr. Dorman died in July, 1918. The theater is still a part of the Dorman estate and is still managed by Mr. Pickett.

WILLIMANTIC'S FIRST BASEBALL TEAM

A photograph of ye-olden-time group of young gents was dug up a short time since which carried with it baseball history of fifty-four years ago. The picture was that of a group of ball-tossers who made up the first authentic organized team Willimantic ever had and, according to the emblazoned script of the old Town of Windham, was mirabile dictu. Almost to a man the bunch was composed of native sons and they were the Tri-County champions in 1866, everything in New London, Tolland and Windham counties being defeated by them. Edwin H. Hall, in later days county commissioner and thread manu- facturer at North Windham, and now living in retirement, was a member of this famous team. Baseball, before, then and now, has appealed to him as the greatest of all outdoor recreations. "Ed" Hall is a thorough "fan," not the hi-hi brand, but the kind that wants to see all that is good in the sport. This team had a great record during the year mentioned, one that fits in well in the niches of the Hall of Fame of Old Windham.

To Clitus Witter was due the honor of organizing the team. "Clite" was just home from Yale College for his summer vacation. Later he won success at the New York bar, died about three years ago. His boyhood home was in the old Colonial House, where now stands the handsome postoffice building at the corner of Main and High streets. Witter had seen the stars of the time play, the Athletics of Philadelphia and Atlantics of Brooklyn. The boys in Willimantic were graduating from the old game of "rounders" and could put up a fine article of real brand. "Clite" got busy and on July 26, 1866, the club was organized. William H. Osborn was elected president. "Gene" Boss, who was secretary and third base, afterwards entered the employ of the Wil- limantic Linen Company, first as accountant, gradually rising until he became resident agent, and remained as local head of the corporation when it was combined with the American Thread Company. Stories are still told of the remarkable ability of General Boss as an accountant, and how he could readily add four columns of figures in the earlier days of mathematical attainments of that sort. The scorer was Thomas S. Weaver, afterward all-round newspaper man and today superintendent of schools of the City of Hartford.

J. Randolph Robertson was treasurer of the club, and afterwards a jeweler, first at Woonsocket, but later returning to Willimantic, where for many years he was depended upon by merchants, railroad men and a wide circle of patrons

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to keep their watches on time. "Randy" Robertson was also a "connoisseur" in horse flesh, and always owned a good "stepper."

The "tryouts" for membership on the ball nine were spirited, and a dele- gation of "impartial citizens" picked the nine from a big squad, with the fol- lowing as the original line-up: "Clite" Witter, catcher and captain; "Gene" Boss, third base and assistant field captain; "Ed" Hall, center field; "Al" Turner, second base and manager; "Bill" Swift, right field; "Ed" Dewing, shortstop; Dan O'Neill, first base; George Cunningham, left field; Dave Gil- lian, pitcher.

WILLIMANTIC BASEBALL CLUB, 1866. TRI-COUNTY CHAMPIONS-NEW LONDON, WINDHAM, TOLLAND

Back row, left to right-George Cunningham, c.f .; Edwin H. Hall, l.f .; Albert Turner, 2b. (manager) ; Edward Dewing, s.s .; William Swift, r.f .; Front row, left to right- Eugene S. Boss, 3b. (assistant captain) ; Dave Gillian, p .; Clitus Witter, c. (captain) ; Dan O'Neill, 1b.

Gillian "blew" into town one day for a feed at the Commercial House, which was run by Turner. Between the caviare and coffee, Turner learned that Gillian was a twirler, that settled it. He was their huckleberry for the season. He was the goods all right. His underhand shoots were too hard for "Ed" Hall to handle, so Witter officiated in the big games. These were the days when masks, gloves and protectors were unknown. Witter, however, was game and came up under the bat on the third strike and when men were on bases. O. B. Griswold, for many years monument dealer in Willimantic, later in real estate, and father of "Al" Griswold, agent for the "New Haven" in Hartford, missed making the team owing to over-confidence in the preliminaries.

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As he now says, Gene was the bon-bon kid on the third sack, having a good whip and he generally had a hay-making wallop with the willow. Dan O'Neill was a popular tailor in town and, like all of the rest of the O'Neill's, could hit the ball a mile. Dewing was a college chum of Witter's and a member of the Dewing family of Mansfield. Albert S. Turner became a Willimantic merchant and real estate owner, and his son, Fred E. Turner, is the well-known photog- rapher and druggist of our day. "Bill" Swift was for many years connected with the local plant of the Holland Silk Company. Other young men identi- fied with this famous team were James Walden, afterwards merchant, post- master and banker; Joel W. Webb, merchant and postmaster; Thomas F. Rollinson, organizer of Willimantic's first "brass band," and for many years musical composer with Oliver Ditson and Company in Boston, where he still resides; James Murray, for many years afterwards a leading dry goods mer- chant here.

The grounds in those days were owned by Alfred Young and he charged the club only $5 for the season. The location was known afterwards as Hickey Park, lying south of the present Crescent Street and Quercus Avenue.

Putnam, South Coventry, Mansfield, Norwich and other towns "over east" were kiboshed, and to settle the championship of Windham County, the Wind- ham County Agricultural Society, the eldest of its kind in the entire country, put up a silver ball emblematic of the county championship. Four teams entered : the Mechanics of Brooklyn, the Enterprises of Danielson, the Reso- lutes of Putnam, and the Willimantics. The games scheduled for the elimina- tion process were planned to cover the three days of the fair in Brooklyn in September, 1866. The Enterprise team trimmed the Mechanics in the fore- noon of the first day and in the afternoon the Willimantics won from the Res- olutes. On the second day the two winning teams of the day previous (Wil- limantic and Danielson) got at it. Darkness following a prolonged kick by the Danielson team, the game was called off at the end of the fourth inning. Rain prevented play the last day of the fair and it was decided to play the game off two weeks later on the fair grounds, October 4th. The Willimantic team was on hand, but the Enterprise team failed to show up. Former Gov. Chauncey F. Cleveland of Hampton was a red-hot fan in those days. He also was pres- ent and sent word to the Enterprise team to come on and play the game or send a "white feather"-the equivalent in those days of "cold feet." The Mechanics hopped in the breach, but were mutton, as Gillian's benders and Turner's swatters were too much for them.

On their way home that evening overland by "busses" hauled by horses- as the auto was then not even dreamed of, except in Mother Shipton's prophecy, a welcome stop was made at Governor Cleveland's spacious home and grounds on Hampton Hill. The premises were "brilliantly lighted" (they seemed so in those days) by "Chinese lanterns," and the governor gave a fine supper in honor of the Willimantic team, with the silver ball in the center of the table. Thereafter the Willimantic team was known all over the county as "The Gov- ernor's Pets."

It must have been a trying week, for the next day a special train carried the "Scions of the First Families of Windham" to Rockville for a game with the Snipsics, champions of Tolland County, and who for that season were captained by Jabez L. Woodbridge, later time chief of police of Hartford and warden of the Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield. It was a great game

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with the "Snips," finishing with the short end of the score. The Snipsies gave a banquet to the whole Willimantic party. It would be hard getting any- thing out of Rockville now. A special table was reserved for the victorious team. The Snipsics were joshed a great deal afterwards as they had felt very sure of winning the game. It is said that the speeches at this banquet had Sim Ford's best efforts skinned eleven ways and he is a Windhamite at that. A duplicate of this love feast and score of the game took place later in the Thread City.

Allen Jewett of Hampton has the original letter which Secretary Weaver once addressed to ex-Governor Cleveland at Hampton asking him to attend a game at Brooklyn and enclosing a badge of the club. Following is a copy of the letter and badge: The badge, made of silk salmon color, five inches long, one inch wide with rosette at top. The words Willimantic B. B. C. in purple letters are printed on the ribbon. The rosette still holds its color of red, white and blue, red in the center and blne at the outer edge, and the central figure of metal beads, in the shape of a star.

THE LETTER :

Ex Gov. Cleveland,

Willimantic, Oct. 1, 1866. Dear Sir :

The Willimantic Base Ball Club at a meeting held Sept. 24th. unanimously elected you as an honorary member of the association, as a slight token of our gratitude to you in manifesting an interest in the club, while at the fair in Brooklyn last month.

Our club will play at Brooklyn on Thursday, Oct. 4, for the Silver Ball of the county as per arrangement of the Executive Committee of the Agri- cultural Society.

We should be happy to see you on the ground, and shall endeavor to play so as to win.

Inclosed please find a badge of the club.

Yours with Respect, Thos. S. Weaver, Secretary, Willimantic B. B. C.

C. F. Cleveland.

The only member now living on this famous team is Edwin Hall, who still retains his interest in the great national game. He has attended about every game played by local teams managed by Danny Dunn, Tom Kelley, Shaun Sullivan, Jack Nichols and the Thread Mill magnates. He attends the big league contests when his business permits. He was a great admirer of Morgan G. Bulkeley's 1876 Hartford team in the National League. He has in his study a fine picture of the senator's team. Mr. Hall in his younger days um- pired some. One big game that he "umped" was that between the Arctics of Willimantic and the Arctics of Manchester, played at the latter place. Mr. Hall got by with a whole skin. Such artists as "Billy" Foran, Bartley Burns, Pete Farrell, former Alderman Dan Sullivan, Martin Burns, and Pat Mc- Dermott, played on the local team. The one team in those days which had a big reputation outside of the state was the Charter Oaks of Hartford who were touted as the state champions. Mr. Hall says that the Charter Oaks were a really great team, but when the Wilimantics sent them a challenge

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they would not accept, suggesting instead that their second team play the Willimantics. The latter team was in no mood to play "second fiddle," as they believed that they could trim the original Charter Oak team. The silver ball, rosewood bats and silver loving cups won by Willimantic teams in the past half century are proof conclusive that Old Windham had been going some in the old national game.

The silver ball which was won by the earliest team disappeared a few years after that memorable year, and it was a long time before its whereabouts became known. It is now in the possession of Austin D. Boss, son of the late Gen. Eugene S. Boss, who treasures it highly. It was on exhibition with a picture of the team in Chesbro's drug store show window during the week of the fiftieth anniversary of the famous series and was viewed by hundreds of people.

TEAMS THIRTY YEARS LATER

Baseball continued to flourish in Willimantic in amateur manner until 1883 when Willimantic got its first brand of the professional kind. That was the year the fair-ground track and park were built in the section of the town called "Sodom." A few professional baseball players came to town and in a short time a boom was started to have Willimantic in the Connecticut State base- ball league. There were eight clubs in the league, with Willimantic the smallest of the several places. The home team as it happened had the best battery in league, Lovett pitcher and Daly catcher. Willimantic lost the services of Lovett who was taken over by the Waterbury team. Willimantic lasted but one sea- son at professional baseball but managed to hold a part of its players for two seasons, and played with the best of the semi-professional teams in the state. The men behind the team at the time are staid business men of the city today. Some of the greatest series of those years were those played with the famous Mt. Nebo's of South Manchester which had three members of the famous Cheney family on the team. For the ten or a dozen years that fol- lowed, Willimantic boasted of a number of fine teams, including the "Side Hills," the "Sodom Stars." The latter team during the seasons of 1887-88-89 was the leading team in Willimantic and became champion of Windham and Tolland counties. This team won a silver loving cup or pitcher in a contest for the best team in Tolland, Windham and New London counties. Among its players were Andy Leary, catcher, now a prominent business man of San Francisco, Cal .; James S. Donohue, a former fire chief of the Willimantic fire department, pitcher; "Bud" Murphy, shortstop; "Al" Griswold, first base- man ; "Pete" Gilbert, third base; "Jack" Moriarty, left field ; "Toby" Gingras, center field. Great games were played with the Rockvilles, and the Monitors of Manchester. The pitcher of the latter team was "Bert" Bowers, who suc- ceeded the great Stagg as pitcher on the Yale University baseball team. A new crop of players were coming along about that time and a few years later, some of them broke into the game, among them being Flagg Doyle, "Art" Nichols, "Jake" O'Rourke, and "Jim" Casey. In the years 1890-92 a semi- professional was run in Willimantic by Joe Doherty who was then connected with the Windham House. This team made a good showing, playing teams of its calibre in Norwich, New London, Putnam and occasionally making trips in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The year 1893 was not very prosperous for the national game in Willi-

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mantic, as the place boasted only of a scrub team, which filled games out of town mainly on the reputation of the teams of the year or two previous. In 1894 Willimantic had another fling at professional baseball, when former Mayor Oscar O. Tanner managed the team, which had no superior at the time in the state. The team was made up of local and outside players. The first string of players were "Jake" O'Rourke (now postmaster), James ("Red") Casey, James ("Flagg") Doyle, "Bob" Ford, "Big" Dan Sullivan, Al ("Broadway Aleck") Smith, "Mike" Welch, "Eddie" Lavin and "Tony" Regan. The games at home were played on the diamond at the fair grounds and history has it that some of the most memorable contests in Willimantic were then and there staged. This team was a great drawing card out of town, for the reason that "Broadway Aleck" Smith was one of the greatest catchers in the National League, but was just then outside the breast works owing to some disagreements with the New York management.

Mayor Tanner managed the team for the following two seasons with con- siderable success. During the years 1898, 1899 and 1900, there was a slump in baseball in Willimantic, and although there was not what might be termed a regular team to play games on the home diamond, teams were "picked up" at home and filled out of town dates.

WILLIMANTIC'S GREATEST BASEBALL HISTORY

Baseball underwent another boom in 1901 and for several years following there was a great deal of interest taken in the sport. It was the first time in the history of the game that thorough records were kept of the finances and players, The meeting of organization was held on April 18, 1901, and in a short time a working capital of $796 was raised. The grounds were located off West Main Street, on the property of the old Windham Manufacturing Company, now known as the Quidnick-Windham Company. The grounds were fenced in and a commodious grandstand built. The organization was perfected in the office of Dwight A. Lyman, then local correspondent for the Hartford Courant. Danny Dunn, later mayor of Willimantic, was chosen manager of the team. The officers elected as the board were president, D. P. Dunn; vice president, Louis B. Lincoln ; secretary, Fred A. Hathaway ; treasurer, Edward S. Wyatt; directors, D. P. Dunn, L. B. Lincoln, E. S. Wyatt, A. L. Griswold, Oscar O. Tanner, C. H. Dimmick, A. F. McQuillan, E. J. Gilligan ; committee on by-laws, F. A. Hathaway, A. N. Colgrove, D. P. Dunn; committee on grounds were L. B. Lincoln, A. F. McQuillan, D. P. Dunn. The committee that arranged for the building of fence, bleachers and grandstand were E. S. Wyatt, E. J. Gilligan and A. L. Griswold. Robert E. Mitchell made the survey of the grounds.

The Willimantic Baseball Association, as it was named, weathered through six seasons. The first five seasons a fine financial account was made at each annual meeting. Danny Dunn was manager of the team during the seasons 1901-2-3-4. Lawyer Thomas J. Kelley was manager in the season of 1905 and John J. ("Shaun") Sullivan in 1906.

The total receipts for the first five years was $18,584:58 and the expenses, $18,943.17, leaving a deficit of $358.59. In 1901, twenty-six games were played with receipts from all sources $4,888.24. Expenditures, $4,262.43, leaving a net balance of $625.81. In 1902, thirty-six games were played with receipts of $5,302.86 against expenditures of $5,267.75, leaving a balance of $35.11, and

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leaving a net loss on the two seasons, counting all money invested, $590.70. In 1903, twenty-one games were played. This was the most successful year financially of the Willimantic Baseball Association. All of the players that season on the team were home boys. The receipts were $3,336.49. Expendi- tures were $2,782.28, a balance to the good of $354.11 and a net gain in profit on the season of $519.

In 1904, twenty-three games were played; some outside players were hired and the expenses grew larger. The receipts were $3,345.26 and the expenses $3,391.65, leaving a deficit of $46.39 and an actual loss of $600.50 as the surplus of $554.11 cleared the season previous was used up in meeting the expenses of the team. In 1905, twenty-two games were played, with receipts $2,507.40 ; expenses were $3,238.76, leaving a deficit of $730.76. During this season the club treasury was enriched $419.36 by contributions brought in and a fair that brought the total receipts $2,926.76, leaving a deficit over all of $358.59. In 1906, a league of the "Big Four" was organized. Officers were elected but the league died a-bornin'. Willimantic made large prepara- tions for the event. "Shaun" Sullivan was elected manager of the local team. New uniforms were purchased. With what money was raised by means of a fair a paid team was kept intact until July 9th, when the final game was played with Paddy McEnnis' Rockvilles, which proved to be the last game played under the Willimantic Baseball Association. A team composed of Willimantic and Mansfield players known as "Kirby's" finished the season on Windham Field. The annual meeting of the association was to have been held the fol- lowing March, went over until May 2, 1907, when a report was expected to be ready by the secretary. Only six interested persons were present, which number included three local newspaper men. Nobody gave a report and then and there the association died.

AMATEUR BASEBALL

During the season of 1907 the "Kirby's" played several games on Wind- ham Field but did not draw as well as in previous years. In 1908 "Jack" Nichols, one of the old timers, got together a strong team and furnished some baseball. Nichols' team made a creditable showing. There was little doing in the season of 1909, as the famous Milk-Can League composed of East Hamp- ton, Moodus, Hebron and East Haddam held the attention of this part of the world, with most of the Thread City's best ball players playing on the various teams of that league.

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 7

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 960

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 960