USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Berlin > History of the town of Berlin, Worcester County, Mass. from 1784 to 1959 > Part 14
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least two persons engaged in this business, namely, Rufus How- ard (1805-1865) of Pleasant Street and George Howard (1819- 1900) of West Street. There is in the possession of George R. Spofford a paper of agreement, dated November 17, 1847, in which Samuel Spofford "agrees to furnish Rufus Howard with all the timber and stuff suitable for the manufacture of baskets (from date until April first next), and all the baskets manu- factured from the stuff-are to be delivered to said Spofford, and said Howard is to receive a fair compensation for his work." George Howard manufactured baskets at his shop on West Street at a later date-until about 1875. Many baskets of various styles and sizes produced in these shops are found in homes of the town and exhibited at public fairs.
The Berlin House
In 1778 Levi Meriam bought of James Goddard, Sr., a tract of eighty-four acres in that section bounded by Carter and West Streets, and built thereon a house in the year 1780. This building has become known as "The Berlin House" with varied characteri- zations. His son, Jonathan D. Meriam, Esq., followed on the homestead, and became the first stagecoach driver and the first Postmaster of Berlin in 1828. He died in 1850, and the Town bought the property at auction, in 1855, to be used as a Town Farm. This was sold again in 1857 by lots.
The house was purchased by Peter O'Toole of Clinton in 1885 and converted into a hotel. During his ownership, a long list of proprietors conducted their business here. Finally, around 1922, Walter A. Wheeler bought the property and made it into a tene- ment. The present owner is Mrs. Freda L. Spielvogel.
In contrast with the connotation of "road-house," this house was the residence of an Italian artist, G. D. Carafa, in 1882-83. We are indebted to Mrs. Effie (Merrill) Gale for this informa- tion, who remembers his daughter as a schoolmate of hers and furnished us with an itemized list of provisions which he pur- chased of her father's (John A. Merrill) store in 1882 and 1883. D. G. Carafa is listed with the taxpayers of Berlin in 1882. Mrs. Gale recalls going to this house and seeing some of his works of art.
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The walls of St. John's Church of Union Street, Clinton, are decorated with twenty-four large paintings depicting "scenes from the Life, Passion, and Death of Our Divine Lord." The records impart that these were executed by Mueller of Munich and the Church was dedicated by Bishop O'Reilly on June 27, 1886. As with most contractors-they receive credit for the work that the workmen do-so in this case, Mr. Carafa assured us that he did work on these paintings in St. John's Church.
The "Howe Tavern"
Solomon Howe married Sarah Stow (both of Marlborough) on May 19, 1802. The following day they came to Berlin and re- sided in the Bullard House until their tavern was built, into which they moved and set up business in the following year. Sarah Howe was one of those practical women who kept an ac- count of her time and emotions, which has been passed on to posterity in her journal. To gain a background of some of the activities that transpired under that tavern roof, we may refer to her journal.
The records speak of weaving, baking (one entry mentions a baking of thirty-eight pies), quilting, braiding straw, tending store, posting books, churning, cheesing, soapmaking, candle- making (one entry records nineteen dozen candles). "A tinker comes mending tins and brass; the tailoress and dressmaker were called in, and a woman to clean."
There was at the Inn much coming and going. The Meeting- house was used for Town Meetings as well as religious assem- blies, but any public social life centered at the tavern. An entry for December 30, 1818 reads: "Have had 221 travelers the past year to victuals, 175 to lodge, not including the public times and the balls." This was several years before the more traveled days of the stage coach. Under May 25, 1819, the following notation is made: "Making arrangements for the ball, seventeen couples. -Had a good many spectators to see them."
At the opening of the twentieth century (or following the year 1895) there were at least five stores in the Town of Berlin. One at the Center, one in Carterville, two at the South and one at the West Village.
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The store at the Center had its origin in the "Howe Tavern" at the corner of Central and Pleasant Streets in 1803. The same was moved to its present location, on Central Street opposite Carter Street, in 1852. It was then under the management of R. S. Hast- ings. He was succeeded by Riley Smith, E. S. Moore, and Chris- topher S. White, who sold out to H. E. Lasselle in 1895. Follow- ing him there has been a long procession of proprietors, including W. H. Lasselle, Perley B. and George H. Sawyer (Sawyer Bros.), Zoheth H. Woodbury, and E. Guy Sawyer.
In the year 1925 James E. Andrews and N. Harriman Fay pur- chased the business, which became known as "Andrews and Fay." When Kendall E. Andrews took over J. E. Andrews' interest, in 1928, it still continued as "Andrews and Fay." On date of Sep- tember 1, 1936 Robert E. Taylor bought the interest of N. H. Fay in the firm and it was christened "Andrews and Taylor," until the decease of Kendall E. Andrews in 1948. From this date until December 29, 1954, Robert E. Taylor was the sole proprietor and manager of the "Red & White" Store.
Following the decease of R. E. Taylor, the ancient "Hartshorn" property changed hands through its purchase by Carl B. Devine, and Mr. and Mrs. Russell K. Hawkins purchased the general store business from the estate of the late Robert E. Taylor. On November 14, 1955 they took charge of the "Berlin General Store" where they are operating the enterprise under a self-service, cash and carry system.
The store in Carterville, located on the corner of Carter and Highland Streets, was owned and operated by John A. Merrill. This building was built by Luther Carter in 1846. The first floor was occupied by his son-in-law, Ezra Moore, husband of Lucy Carter, where he operated a general store. Thomas Pollard, an- other son-in-law, husband of Persis Carter, was in business with Ezra Moore about 1856. Lewis H. Barnard, a third son-in-law of Luther Carter, husband of Hannah Carter, manufactured shoes in the same building on the second floor over the store. Pliny B. Southwick and Josiah Moore, brother of Ezra Moore, bought out L. H. Barnard in 1848 and continued in the shoe business until 1872. At a later date the second floor was made into a tenement.
Samuel M. Fuller, who lived in the next house north of the store building (where Silas Bacon now lives), succeeded Ezra
F
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Moore and Thomas Pollard in the general store, and finally sold out his stock of "Flour, Meal, Grain, Choice Family Groceries, Crockery, Confectionery, Patent Medicines and all articles usually found in a grocery store" to John A. Merrill, December 20, 1875. This imposing list of stock was taken from a billhead of the general store of Samuel M. Fuller, and the same type of mer- chandise was carried by John A. Merrill after he took over the operation of the store. John A. Merrill married Laura E., daugh- ter of Ivory Carter (son of Luther Carter ) on April 9, 1851.
This was typical of a country store of the times. In the center of the room was a stove placed in a box of sand and surrounded by a number of chairs where men would gather on evenings to talk or have a social game of cribbage or checkers. Seventy-two dollars a year was paid to Mr. Fuller for rent until January 1879 when the building was purchased by John A. Merrill. He con- tinued this store operation until 1914, when he had an auction and sold out.
In 1923 the property was sold to Clifford H. Barter who changed this first floor from a store to a residential apartment, making the building into a two-apartment house. An additional wing was built on the south side, and in this room of the first floor James W. Barter conducted a men's clothing supply for around five years. He died April 24, 1936. In October, 1948, the property was sold to Hall Rayner.
In South Berlin Arthur B. Wheeler began the operation of a store on South Street (across from the John Bernardson place) in 1907. Mr. Wheeler was deceased November 24, 1925, and Mrs. Jane M. Wheeler continued with the store until 1927 when Mrs. Jessie A. Bernardson became Postmaster.
The Village Store of South Berlin, conducted by Willard H. Wheeler, has a varied history. The present building, at the junc- tion of Pleasant and South Streets, is the third on the original site of the Hastings Brothers Store. Two previous buildings were destroyed by fire. The present proprietor is a grandson of Arthur Hastings, who was in partnership with his brother Ruthven Hast- ings. Hastings Brothers sold out to John E. Walters and H. E. Lasselle in 1890. Walters-Lasselle sold the business to N. Harri- man Fay, which he operated until 1925 when he became a partner with James E. Andrews at the Center. He then sold his
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business to Joseph A. McCabe. Within three years (1928) the building was destroyed by fire and the site stood unoccupied until 1937. During this year, N. Harriman Fay purchased the property and constructed a building thereon and set up in the store business. Willard H. Wheeler took over the business and became the South Berlin Postmaster in December of 1946.
Mr. Wheeler also conducts the Village Farm Supply, Inc. of Pleasant Street. This is a business which deals in heavy modern farm machinery, equipment, and supplies. Near-by is the Village Garage, convenient to the patrons of this section of the town.
In West Berlin there was the voluminous business of Silas R. Carter. He built for himself a store on West Street (across from the "Old Colony" R.R. Station) in 1870. This business was en- larged and continued by his son, S. Rolla Carter and estate until 1919. S. Rolla Carter having died January 29, 1913, and his father, Silas R. Carter, on August 15, 1917, the business was continued under the management of Mrs. Nellie C. Carter for two more years.
Besides the goods of the General Store, the building housed the Post Office and the Ticket and Telegraph Office of the "Old Colony" branch of the New Haven Railroad. Across the street, adjacent to the railroad tracks, were the buildings and sheds which housed the grain and coal supply. Here was a supply of coal, grain, hay, and general farm supplies, such as tools, hard- ware, cement, roofing, seeds, paint, etc. On the grounds, at the pond, were two icehouses and the old Barnes "Saw and Grist Mill."
They had three teams on the road, driven by George G. Pierce, Frank K. Wilder and James D. Lockhart, to fill the orders for grain, commodities and coal. Their trade accommodated a terri- tory including parts of Northboro, Shrewsbury, Boylston, Bolton, and the Acre section of Clinton. To take orders and deliver goods from the General Store, there was another team driven by Walter A. Sawyer.
When the Carters closed out, the Post Office was transferred to the home of Charles F. Harris at the corner of Lincoln Road and West Street. Mr. Harris was engaged in a job printing busi- ness and continued here until he sold the property to C. Archie Bowen in 1924. The Bowens held the Post Office and conducted
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a commodity store, but the printing outfit was sold to William S. Eager of South Street. The ticket and telegraph office was moved over to the railroad station, and George H. Carpenter be- came the Station Agent.
The grain and coal business was taken over by the J. Cush- ing Co., Inc., which was superseded by the "Farm Service Stores, Inc." in 1933. In 1944 the business of the Farm Service Stores of Berlin closed up and was transferred to the Hudson office. The buildings were leased by the Wallace Grain Company of Clinton, and McCann Bros., for storage.
The abandoned icehouses appealed to the McCann Bros. as an opportunity for a good investment. So, during the summer of 1919, they bought the buildings and water rights, and that winter they cut and stored ice from the pond. The following summer they began the manufacturing of ice cream on a com- mercial basis under the trade name of McCann Bros. Ice Cream.
They enlarged the plant and installed modern machinery. By the year of 1938 they proclaimed themselves to be "the largest ice cream manufacturing company in New England, using mod- ern methods of instant-frozen ice cream." (Quote from Festus L. and Owen J. McCann). A fleet of twenty-three trucks were en- gaged in delivering their product to distant points throughout New England where they had planted their stores. These ranged from Williamstown (Mass.), Brattleboro (Vt.), Nashua (N. H.), and Boston, to points in Connecticut and Rhode Island. They made fifty mixings of 1000 gallons per week.
Since the decease of the original founders of the firm, their trade name has been changed to "Lovely Farms" Ice Cream. The freezer units from the various discontinued stores have been re- called and stored in the grain sheds awaiting their disposal. The trade is confined to the local area.
What became of the Carter General Store? There was a suc- cession of owners for short periods. Herbert C. Estabrook (1920), William H. Pinney (1921), William Milligan (1924), George A. Colson (1925), and finally Alphonse Plamondon purchased the property and business in 1929. He, with Mrs. Adeline G. Plamon- don, carried on the store until about 1942 when it gradually closed down.
Ralph L. Harriman built and established his Dairy Ice Cream
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Stand on West Street, opposite the Berlin Mushroom Company, Inc., in 1939. Here he manufactures a variety of ice creams and confectionary, and offers to the public a complete line of dairy products.
Ice Business
Correlated with the fuel and heat supply is that of the ice busi- ness. Before the advent of electric refrigerators, a great many farmers cut and stored their own ice to be used for cooling and keeping milk and food, but there were some who made it a busi- ness to cut, store and deliver ice.
Chief among these were the Hale Bros. (Charles F. and George W.), who operated their business until around 1950. They formerly cut their ice from the Wheeler Pond of South Berlin and stored it in the icehouses there. But, in 1927, they built and located at the Coburn Pond on West Street. During the heavy freshets of the spring of 1950, the dam gave way and the pond was drained. There was no purpose in restoring it for most of their customers had installed electric refrigerators.
Brittan A. Jackson also conducted an ice business between the years of 1925 and 1946. He handled manufactured ice and had installed a large refrigerating unit so that he could store ice for the next day's delivery. There was the argument that natural ice lasts longer than manufactured ice; but to demonstrate that manufactured ice is purer and clearer, Mr. Jackson procured a cake of ice in which a spray of roses was frozen which could be clearly seen.
Hartshorn's Patent Medicines
One ancient industry which is worthy of consideration is that of Hartshorn's Patent Medicines and Extracts, which are still on the market. Dr. Edward Hartshorn received his diploma from the Medical College of Harvard University in 1840, and he immedi- ately began his practice in Berlin where, up to 1855, he was the only physician in this locality.
In 1850 he began to prepare a patent medicine which met with increasing popularity. He took Dr. Lemuel Gott into partnership
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with him in his practice in 1855. However, he soon decided to sell his practice to Dr. Gott and devote his full time to manu- facturing his medicines and flavoring extracts.
His business increased so that eight large wagons were re- quired to distribute his goods. These gay-colored wagons bearing the inscription "Hartshorn's Medicines & Extracts," drawn by fine black horses, were as welcome to the farm housewife in his day as the Rawleigh man of the present generation. When the business outgrew its Berlin "Pill-Box" (as the Berlin factory was called), he moved his headquarters to Boston (1870). He con- tinued to maintain his summer home in Berlin until his death on July 26, 1906. In 1895 the property was purchased by his son, William H. Hartshorn, who also continued in his father's busi- ness and made Berlin his summer residence. He died in 1926 and, upon the disposition of the estate, this residence (at the corner of Central and Pleasant Streets ) was purchased by E. Guy Sawyer.
Rawleigh Products
For several years (1925-1956) the pleasant, congenial, cour- teous personality of Raymond F. Stone, the Rawleigh Agent, was a welcome visitor to the numerous households of Berlin. For here he dispensed the various products of good health from his store- supply of West Street. Mrs. Sylveia E. Stone continues to carry on the business.
Other Industries
During the past fifty years several industrial projects have been conducted in Berlin. Among these, there was the Stone-Craft Co., located on Carter Street in quarters of Berlin Cement Company, owned and operated by Arthur E. Bissell between the years 1916 and 1927. They manufactured a modern, smooth-finished cement "set-tub" which was customarily installed in the kitchen or laundry of the homes of that period. They employed as many as ten men, among whom were Carl L. Harris, Arthur H. Clark, Arthur P. LaPorte, Walter J. Allen, and Harold C. Hubbard.
After the removal of the business to Boston, Walter A. Wheeler
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bought the property and fitted part of it up for a blacksmith shop, where Carl E. Perry and Selden MacNeil wielded the ham- mer for a time. Thereafter, Lemuel D. Carter purchased the property and used the building for grain storage, which business he conducted until his decease on March 27, 1939. Since then Earle A. Wheeler has purchased the property and installed therein the Wheeler Garage and Hudson Service Station.
Shoe Polish
Fred A. Boyd began the manufacturing of a shoe polish in his shop on Central Street, opposite his home, in 1912, and he oper- ated this business until 1927, when the property was purchased by the Chedco Farms, Inc., and the building was converted into a storage house.
Recently (1956) shoe polish is made on the premises of John J. Sallinger, Pleasant Street. This location has an interest to the older citizens as the site of the original parsonage of the South Parish Church, occupied by Rev. Reuben Puffer and his succes- sors, including Rev. W. A. Houghton. The present is the third house on this site. The original burned in 1894, and the W. Addi- son Hartshorn house was destroyed by fire in 1948 while occu- pied by Earl C. Morey. Mr. Morey had the present structure built the following year.
Shoe Making
The making of shoes was a familiar subject among the inhabi- tants of Berlin. Houghton's History states that, "Previous to the Civil War the town was dotted with small shops for bottoming shoes; in fact, nearly every other house had a room or shop in which shoes were made." The work in these shops was conducted in "teams." That is, each person performed a certain part of the construction of a shoe. Such operations were termed: bottoming, pegging, lasting, healing, and finally, trimming. The output of a five-man shop, said the late James E. Andrews, was around sixty pairs per day. The Industrial Report for 1855 gives 9,340 pairs of boots and 34,340 pairs of shoes valued at $35,275 as the out- put of thirty-four males and twenty-four females.
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In 1868 the citizens of Berlin consolidated their talents and built a large shoe factory at the corner of Walnut and Carter Streets. This four-story (30 x 100 foot) building, employing 300 hands, the pride of the community, was the John H. Parker Shoe Shop, operated by steam power. They made boys' and youths' shoes, Parker's rubber-upper leather-sole boot, and leather tops put on lumbermen's rubber overs. The value of shoe production for the year 1875 was $150,000.
This building was burned on February 18, 1882, and opera- tions were transferred to a building on West Street (now used as an engine house of the Fire Department). The firm trans- ferred their business to Malden, Mass., in 1903. James E. Andrews became Secretary and General Manager, and a mem- ber of the Board of Directors. Cora A. Berry was employed as a bookkeeper. Both remained with the company until they closed up
The natural result of the loss of this industry from Berlin was for those familiar with the making of shoes to become employed in the plants of Hudson and Marlboro.
Fold-Well Table Company
In 1931 Leon H. Cummings, of Ware, purchased the property of George W. Lewis on Central Street and began the manufac- turing of a special design of an ironing table. The business was known as the "Fold-Well Table Co." He installed machinery which placed the production on a commercial basis, and main- tained a large truck for delivering their products to the market. He closed out his business in Berlin in 1945 and returned to his native town.
George W. Lewis had made ironing boards and clothes reels on the same location between 1921 and 1931. He moved his business to River Street in Hudson after selling to Leon H. Cummings.
Coldwell's Inc.
Percy R. Coldwell established his building contractor business in 1905 with headquarters at his residence on Central Street, east of the General Store. In connection with his contracting business
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he built up building supply stores, so that he would contract and supply the material-from the digging of the cellarhole to the finished house, with much of the furnishings.
During the prosperous years, between 1922 and 1930, he carried a force of some thirty-five men, who represented all phases of the building trades. Among the local men who were employed were:
CARPENTERS Walter M. Allen Cecil B. Wheeler
Lloyd L. Wheeler Raymond W. Cole Lester G. Ross
Ernest B. Coulson Adelbert E. Coulson David S. Tyler Stanwood A. Puffer
PAINTERS Clifford H. Barter Frank A. Pierce Arthur F. Sawyer Harold C. Hubbard John W. Bosselman Harry M. Bosselman Richard W. Bosselman Alfred S. Wheeler
MASONS Charles Houston Charles H. Bliss Elmo Gardner
Albert Bosselman
F. A. Krackhardt
ELECTRICIAN
Emerson W. Wheeler
PLUMBERS Charles A. Fromant Ralph G. Davis
Besides the above, there was James Jones and Elwin Jacobs, who manned the trucks which delivered the building materials to the jobs and the trade. These trucks were also used in convey- ing the building materials from the freight cars to the yards and storage buildings.
Around the year 1944 Mr. Coldwell ceased to do contract work and devoted his attention to building up a larger building stock business. His former employees became independent contractors. The business became incorporated as COLDWELL'S INC. on December 31, 1947. The office and stock in trade have become modernized. The yards and buildings cover over three acres. Percy R. Coldwell was deceased October 15, 1948, and the busi- ness is carried on under the management of his sons, Norman S. and Robert B. Coldwell.
Some of the modern general contractors are:
G. Bonazzoli & Sons, General Contractors in Excavation and Landscaping.
Roy Estabrook, Concrete Cellars, Foundations & Floors.
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Gordon W. Taylor, Barnes Hill Road, Excavation and Land- scaping Machinery.
Brandt Bros., General Contractors.
Lester Sarty, Pleasant Street, General Contractor.
Delbert Kuehner, Summer Road, Contracting Carpenter and Construction Engineer.
Risi's Cement Blocks
Around the year 1940 the Risi Bros. of River Road began the making of cement blocks on the premises opposite their resi- dence, at the junction of South Street with River Road. This is on the location of what was lately known as the "Newsome Place" which was in the John Brigham estate, one of three farms of Marlboro added to the South Parish of Bolton in 1784. The original house burned in 1895. The Risi Bros. have increased their business to include: concrete and cinder blocks, mason supplies, sand and gravel, sheet rock (rocklath), overhead doors installed, and insulation.
Garages and Filling Stations
One of the oldest and largest garages of the Town is that of Earle A. Wheeler, known as Wheeler's Garage. Earle, under the tutelage of Forrest E. Day, began tinkering with auto-cars in the shed back of Ethel Sawyer's house, corner of Central and Linden Streets, around 1918. He opened a garage in the building of the former Parker Shoe Shop on West Street in 1919. He continued operations here until 1953, when he sold the same to the Town to be used in the enlargement of the Fire Station for the storage of their new fire apparatus. At this time he established his garage in the quarters of the late L. D. Carter's Grain Store on Carter Street.
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