USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > Mirror to America : a history of New London, New Hampshire, 1900-1950 > Part 10
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16Data from the Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Sunapee Electric Light and Power Company for October 7 and December 27, 1915, - furnished to the writer by Henry J. Ellis, Western Division Manager for the Public Service Company of New Hampshire, May 10, 1950. The line to New London was subsequently extended to meet other transmission facilities at Contoocook.
17As early as 1939 the New London Civic Association petitioned the New Hampshire Public Service Company to undertake such a step. The problem was still unsolved, however, in 1950. In the latter year the Public Service Company began the construction of a new high tension trans- mission line from the Franklin Falls dam to Sunapee. The towers and cables for this project were to be built along the eastern and northern fringe of the Town, following the perimeter of Pleasant Lake.
18The Poems of Kitty Gay, pp. 65-66.
19F. J-T., December 2, 1920.
20Ibid., April 30, 1930. Franklin and Newport had instituted "Talkies" in the autumn of 1929.
21By an interesting coincidence, in the very month in which New London had its first television installation, Platform, March, 1949, fea- tured a pro and con treatment of the question, "Television: Marvel or Monster."
22See "The Great Whirlwind of 1821," N. H. Historical Collections, I, pp. 241 ff.
FIRST NATIONAL STORES
MARKET 34SKE 3
SOME BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS in 1950
The First National Store Homan the Florist The Four Seasons Gift Shop
Betty's Beauty Shop and the College Sport Shop The Market Basket The Sawyer Poultry Farm
FRIENTIS DORR TET
Gibson
REFRIGERATORS RANGES
ELINS ELECTRIC
1
OTHER FORMS OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE in 1950
Cricenti's Market Business Center of Elkins The Gray House
New London Fuel Company and the Locker Plant Emery's Saw Mill in Elkins The Sunapee Studio
6
Other Business Adaptations and Developments
"Conservative they are indeed, those country people of New Hampshire, . .. but it does not follow that they are dull. Far from it! They are as shrewd as they are conservative, and so must occupy pretty nearly the first place among the shrewd peoples of the world. Shrewd is the word, but it is not only money shrewdness that they possess. That is merely one phase of the uncanny sense which gives unusual value to their judgments upon anything from uncertain weather to even more uncertain human nature . . . Is it possible that the countryside in which they live is a tiny cosmos concerning all types of human character, so that all they have to do mentally is to match up the newcomer with one of their familiar types? Perhaps it is so. At all events their keenness in judging individuals is equaled only by their knowledge of human nature in general."
- Lawrence Shaw Mayo
1. Field, Farm, and Forest
Rural living in the United States during the half century from 1900 to 1950 showed the same increase in complexity and interdependence that were manifest in urban areas. The com- ing of good roads and electric power have already been noted, but their major impact in altering the habits and customs of an older generation of farmers cannot be overemphasized.1 In this section the changes of fifty years in local farming are set forth.
Since 1900 old-fashioned general farming in New London has suffered a decline. Some of the leading farmers at the beginning of the century have been named in Chapter One.
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
At mid-century the list would be much shorter. In 1950 the full-time farmers in Town included the Morgan family - Charles, Elizabeth, and Lucy - whose fields lay athwart State Highway 11 near the golf course; Anzel Messer and Philip Parker on the North Sutton road; Murray Caldwell and James W. Messer on the King Hill road; and Louis Kroutil on North Pleasant Street. There were many more in Town, of course, who engaged in some general farming as an adjunct to other activities. There were also several fine local farms run on an avocational basis by individuals who enjoyed agriculture. Among these were the establishments of Jean Harrison Hall, Walter S. Bucklin, G. T. Sawyer, and Herbert D. Swift.
A few other observations on general farming in New London since 1900 may be made. Wheat as a local crop had been largely abandoned in the 1880's, but the exigencies of World War I stimulated a temporary revival of this basic grain.3 The Merrimack County Farmers Association secured its first members in New London in 1915, and after the Armistice sought to encourage more widespread Town use of lime. In this objective Ira S. Littlefield acted as chief local promoter.4 The decline in the use of horses and oxen on Town farms was hastened by the introduction of the steel- tired tractor in 1925 and the rubber-tired tractor in 1933.5 In the years just before World War II, Herbert D. Swift carried out experiments with soy bean production in New London.6 Although there was no large-scale animal husbandry, some local agriculturists raised cattle, sheep, goats,and even rabbits as side-lines.
Dairying showed a marked development during the five decades after 1900. By 1950 there were four principal dairies in the community, whose output, however, was augmented by milk production from many other non- specialized farms. These four were the farms owned by Dura P. Crockett; by Charles S. Messer and his son, Robert; by Edgar C. Knowlton; and by Charles E. Gay. Mr. Gay and the Messers had registered Guernsey herds, while the other two had excellent mixed herds. Miss Jean Harrison Hall raised
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
milking Shorthorns. As State supervision of milk production was introduced into New Hampshire, the figure of the "cow tester" became a familiar one in New London. The first tests on local herds were carried out in 1923,7 and at stated intervals thereafter. By the middle 1930's pasteurization had been adopted in Town, thereby adding another improvement to the local milk supply.
In 1900 there were no large flocks of hens in New London, but the ensuing fifty years witnessed an extensive development in local poultry raising. As early as 1916, Mrs. Tracy on her "Willow Farm" had pioneered in large-scale egg and chicken production. She was followed by many others, - Willis A. Philbrick, Joseph Cricenti, Forest W. Kimball, Richard Sawyer, Orra A. Smith, Robert Simpson, and Vaughan Biggert. By 1950 the number of chickens owned by some of these men at one time was as great as 5,000. The latest types of equip- ment were introduced, and egg and chicken production were put on a mass-production basis.
New London farmers since 1900, as heretofore, had a variety of side-lines by which to supplement their income. One of these was the raising of apples. In nearby Enfield one hundred and one species of apples have been grown, and competent authority affirms that New London over the years has produced all these kinds likewise.8 Among local men who specialized in apple raising over the last fifty years, notable were Fred Farwell and George Thurston. Both men had fine orchards; for a number of years Thurston sold his prize Baldwins on the Boston market in special boxes with each apple individually wrapped. Cider was made at various times, particularly in the early part of the century at Bickford's mill in Elkins.9 Native berries such as raspberries and blue- berries have abounded in Town, and have been eagerly sought after in the summer months. In a few instances medicinal herbs have been cultivated in New London, such as ginseng and golden seal on the old James F. Hayes farm.1º Some New Londoners like Ransom Sargent, Benjamin Sargent, Earl Rowe, and Fred Knowlton experimented with bee-keeping
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
and honey production. Joseph Cricenti, over the years after his arrival in New London in 1910, developed on his farm the largest truck garden in Town.
Closely related to farming developments was the ap- pearance of local nurseries and greenhouses. The first green- house in Town was that on Mrs. Tracy's "Willow Farm" in the years before 1920. During the same period Ira S. Littlefield conducted a successful nursery on his farm. In 1926 Harry Hooper started a nursery on the property in 1950 owned by Miss Evelyn Boynton; two years later George Corey began his greenhouse on South Pleasant Street.11 In April, 1937, Henry J. Homan and Shirley Hemmings opened the New London Florists at the upper end of Main Street in New London.12 Two years after, Hemmings left the business and it became Homan the Florist. Hemmings associated himself with John Holteen and formed a rival greenhouse and nursery with the former name, New London Florists. Holteen, in turn, bought out Hemmings and became sole proprietor of the New London Florists on January 1, 1942. Following the death of George Corey in 1947, the New London Florists acquired the green- house of the latter.13
Historically speaking, forest productions have often proved a useful auxiliary to the income of New England farm- ers. So it has proved in New London. One of the most suc- culent products of local woodlots has been maple syrup, Since 1900 there has been a decline in the total output of New Lon- don maple syrup, but the production has become much more concentrated in a few orchards. In former years, such men as Arthur Bickford, Francis P. Call, Walter Gay, Ira S. Little- field, Charles S. Messer, Charles Morgan, and Ransom Sargent all had excellent areas of "sugar bush." Well did these men and others like them know the truth to the ancient jingle:14
"When the wind is in the east, Then the sap will run the least. When the wind is in the west,
Then the sap will run the best."
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
By 1950 maple syrup production in New London was largely in the hands of three producers, Dr. William P. Clough, Jr., Paul B. Gay, and Herbert D. Swift. Each man had fine equip- ment and annually made hundreds of gallons of high quality syrup.15
New London is situated in the forest belt of New Hamp- shire, and upwards of fifty varieties of trees are found in its native forests.16 From this wealth of timber resources, in addi- tion to the maple industry, New London men have secured many products. Among these have been hemlock bark;17 Christmas trees;18 cordwood; shingles; and lumber. In the early years of the century wood for fuel was indispensable in New London, as it had been since the Town's beginning. Every home and place of business had a stove, - chunk, freestone, or baseburner. The pipes would often go through the ceiling into the second floor for discharge in the chimney at that level, thus warming the upstairs. Sometimes there were registers in the ceiling over the stoves to permit an updraft of warm air to reach the second story. Thousands of cords of wood were cut in New London each year, and at times, as in 1906, dry wood sold for the then high of four dollars a cord.19 In one winter in the 1920's Harold Messer sawed hun- dreds of cords of stove wood, working from door to door throughout the Town.2º As the use of coal and oil for fuel in- creased in more recent decades, New London's woodsmen turned their attention to the cutting of pulp wood for the ceaseless demand of the paper and fiber-board industry.21
Lumbering was an important business in New London at all times during the years after 1900. While the stationary sawmills in Town were limited to those in Elkins and at Otterville, already mentioned, there were many portable saw- mills which operated in the winter-time. Some of these were from out of Town, but local operators over the years included Andrew J. Kidder, Joseph Cutting, Fred B. Gay, and Fred A. Todd and son. The great hurricane of September 21, 1938 necessitated the largest lumbering program in the Town's history. In a few hours on that Wednesday afternoon,
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
20,000,000 feet of lumber and 10,000 cords of wood were levelled in New London. The total estimated loss exceeded $100,000.22 For many months thereafter both Messer Pond and Otter Pond were used as storage basins for the thousands of saw logs that could not immediately be cut. Gradually the wreckage was cleared away, and the down timber reduced to cord wood or to lumber.
One other aspect of agriculture in New London during the first fifty years of the twentieth century may be noted; viz., the increasing relationship of government to what has tradi- tionally been the most individualistic of private enterprises: As already noted, in the 1920's the State of New Hampshire began its program of dairy-herd testing; a decade later there was introduced State control of the price of milk. A 4-H Club, under the direction of Mrs. Helen Nelson, was founded in Elkins in 1936 and flourished for ten years. In the 1930's land conservation and the prevention of soil erosion became topics for active discussion and participation by New London land- owners.23 For a few local farmers in the 1940's the Commodity Credit Corporation provided price supports. The County Agent became a counselor to Town farmers, while the Exten- sion Service of the University of New Hampshire proved in- creasingly useful and practical.24 Thus in New London, as elsewhere throughout the nation, agriculture lost much of its rugged individualism, and grew ever more interlocked with the vast complex of American life.
2. Some Modifications in Older Types of Business
The mercantile establishments as they were in New Lon- don in 1900 have been summarized in Chapter One. During the half century thereafter there were numerous changes and developments in this important field. Herein they can be sketched only briefly.
The store at the Four Corners, known at the beginning of the century as Adams Brothers General Store, was operated by Fred A. Pressey after 1907.25 For most of the next twenty years he was in business on this location. Part of the time he
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
had Byron T. Jones as a partner; for a short period in 1913- 1914 he was out of the business entirely.26 Finally, in 1928 he sold his stock to Ervin P. Edmunds, who then operated the store continuously for fifteen years.27 In 1943 the building and stock were sold to Robert H. Blake. He greatly altered the store, "streamlining" it in accordance with city styles,28 and giving it the name, "Market Basket." In 1946 Blake sold out to William Vose, who operated the store for two years.
In 1948 Joseph Cragin took over the proprietorship. On August 10, 1949 the entire structure was burned to the ground in a spectacular fire. Nothing daunted, Mr. Cragin immediate- ly arranged to rebuild the store, and on January 23, 1950 the new Market Basket was officially opened. It represented the latest concept in general merchandising for a small town, and gave New London one of the fine stores of New Eng- land.29
Robert M. Knight - part of the time in partnership with F. Linley Chase-operated a store for various periods between 1906 and 1920 in the building where the First National was lo- cated in 1950. In 1920 Fred A. Pressey bought out Knight, and made that place of business into a drygoods store which ran for several years. In 1935 the lower floor of this building, then empty and then the possession of Myron Adams was leased to the First National Stores, and that chain system's local unit began functioning shortly thereafter.30 As early as 1906 Benjamin F. Sargent began operating a leather-goods repair shop in the rear of the post office, then located at the Four Corners. Eventually Mr. Sargent added a line of groceries, and con- tinued to run a general store until 1941. In 1947 Joseph Cricenti and sons opened their fruit and vegetable store in a newly-built structure on the Newport road.
In Elkins the general store in 1900 was conducted by Clark and Boynton in a building at the foot of the lake. After various changes in ownership, the store was moved to the structure now occupied by the Elkins Electrical Shop. In 1926 Arthur McDonald took over the establishment, and for several years operated it as a general store. In the meantime, following
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
the closing of their woodworking mill in Elkins, the Thurston family in 1910 began a general store in the front portion of that building. For some twenty years it so continued. Then it was sold to the Howland brothers, Harry and Frank, who ran it for eighteen years. In 1948 it was sold to Howard P. Billings- ley, who was operating it in 1950.
In addition to the regular grocery and general mer- chandise stores, New London from time to time has seen certain other types of food selling. In the early years of the century Frank H. Mastin ran a meat market in the Odd Fel- lows building on Main Street. There have also been various individuals who brought food directly to the homes of the people. Among these were George Kennie, meat man; Joseph Cricenti, vegetable produce raiser; and sundry fish vendors.
The New London drug store, rebuilt after the fire of 1905, in 1910 passed into the hands of A. B. Stimson. On September 15, 1924 the store was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Fred S. Lovely of Lebanon, and by them renamed the New London Pharmacy.31 Following Mr. Lovely's death in 1940, his son, Robert M. Lovely, assumed the managership of the store. Under his direction extensive repairs and improvements were carried out; and in 1950 a complete sports goods department was added. Historically speaking, drug store and barber shop are related types of business. While New London did not develop a second drug store, for many years it had more than one barber shop. Alfred G. Sargent continued to operate his shop until his death in 1927, and for a time in the 1920's there was a barber shop in the present (1950) First National Store. In 1905 Eugene Wheeler opened a similar enterprise in the basement of the New London Inn, and carried on his work there continuously until his death in 1940. At that time, his assistant, Clarence Lull, took over the establishment and was operating it in 1950.
As with merchandising, so with the hotel business. Well founded at the beginning of the century, it had many changes and developments in the ensuing fifty years. Among the new places in this field after 1900 were the Cliff House in Elkins,
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
the former Ruel Whitcomb home, operated for a number of years by Mrs. George R. McFarland; the Maplewood Inn, opened by Mrs. Marie Barrett in 1914 and still operated by her in 1950; the Edgewood Inn, started in 1922 by Charles H. Bool, and run at mid-century by Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Sampson; Mrs. Fred E. Williams' tourist home, opened in the late 1920's; Pleasant Lake Lodge, operated by Lincoln Parks; the Marvin J. Murray cabins on Little Lake Sunapee; some cabins built by Henry J. Hall on the east side of Pleasant Lake, owned in 1950 by Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Lull; the College Inn on Main Street, the former summer home of Mrs. Jane A. Tracy, opened as an inn by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin E. Nash in the autumn of 1946;32 "Bachelor Barracks" opened by Eliot G. Clemons in 1948; "Pine Crest," begun in 1950; Worthen Lodge in Elkins; and Interlake Farm, operated by Miss Helen D. Hoge for many years after 1907.
Older hotels and rooming houses continued to flourish. The one-time Hotel Sargent was enlarged and improved in 1903 and took the name, New London Inn. During the next fifteen years it was operated by a number of different owners. In 1918 it was purchased by Colby Academy, and leased to Frank Gay. Eleven years later, a new lessee, Wendell N. Hobbs, took over the hotel. In 1938 the business was purchased from Colby Junior College by Mr. Hobbs.38 Many of the other hotel and lodging houses in New London, albeit improved and enlarged during the fifty years, continued to be owned and operated by the same families which were directing them in 1900. In other instances, e.g., Red Gables, Lakeside Lodge, Soo-Nipi Park Lodge, - new ownership took over and new citizens became residents.
The Town's industrial activities lessened in importance during the half century after 1900. George Thurston's wood- working mill in Elkins went out of business in 1910. Even before that date a similar fate had come to the Taylor carding mill in Otterville; by 1950 the old Hiram Eastman sawmill in that section of Town was running on a part-time basis only. Early in the century Arthur Bickford had established a saw-
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
mill in Elkins, which, after transfer in ownership to Mason Emery and later to his son, Roy E. Emery, was still running in 1950, the largest industrial enterprise in New London at that time. The decline of the horse and buggy business has already been intimated in the discussion of the automobile. Early in the new century Charles E. Shepard bought out his partner, Arthur Gould, and for a number of years operated his stables and other enterprises under his own name. In 1919 he brought his son, James E. Shepard II, into partnership with him, and the business so continued for many years. In 1945 its coal and fuel interests were sold to Rene Trudeau; for five years he directed the New London Fuel Company from the old headquarters, but in 1950 moved to his new building on the Newport road. In 1947 the stable buildings themselves were sold to Colby Junior College, to be used thereafter as a storehouse and garage for cars and other vehicles belonging to that institution. In 1950 Ralph Gay instituted a modest revival of the saddle horse business on property owned by Miss Jean Harrison Hall.
The Kearsarge Telephone Company had a steady growth in the five decades after 1900. As already indicated, "central" was in the old drug store until 1905, when that building was destroyed by the fire. After being located at the Earl Rowe house and in the First National store structure, "central" was removed to the second floor of the store building at the Four Corners, where the head offices remained until 1924. At that time the present headquarters in the house adjacent to A. S. Little and Son, Inc. were established. The New London exchange in 1950 had approximately 500 subscribers served over 140 separate lines. Of these 77 were private, and 63 party lines. The telephone operators blew the noon whistle, and actuated the fire siren in case of need. As with all other tele- phone employes, they were repositories of local information, and frequently were called upon for data wholly unrelated to the telephone business.34
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
3. New Kinds of Business Develop
In addition to the older varieties of business which flour- ished in New London between 1900 and 1950, and apart from those mentioned in other chapters of this book, there were many new enterprises which appeared during these five dec- ades. We may consider, first, a number of establishments which catered to the physical satisfaction of the people. In 1909, Syl- vester Allen opened the New London Baking Company on Pearl Street.35 After a period of successful operation, the Allen bakery burned, thus terminating its existence. In subsequent years several other efforts to establish a bakery took place- notably that of Walter Cupples in 1938-but none lasted long. The most promising undertaking of this sort was that of Mrs. Eva Rollins, who in 1949 opened the New London Bakery in Kirk Heath's new building on the Newport road.36 Following the invention of the ice cream cone in 1904, that frozen deli- cacy became a part of the American scene. In 1921 John Put- nam opened New London's first ice cream parlor, as distin- guished from service at a drug or grocery counter.37 With the building of the "Gray House" in 1932, and its enlargement in 1936, Dura P. Crockett began an ice cream business which won wide support from local and summer residents alike. Over the years, New London saw several experiments in restaurants and tea rooms. Among the former were those operated origi- nally by Weston Ray and by Joseph Bourgeau on Main Street in the late 1920's. In 1932 Ervin P. Edmunds bought Ray's eating place, and operated it himself for ten years. In 1936 Bourgeau sold his restaurant to the Catholic Church to be re- modelled into a chapel. In 1950 Lincoln Parks was operating Pleasant Lake Restaurant in Elkins. Several women in Elkins and in the village on the hill have at various times experi- mented with tea rooms. Faced, however, with the competition of hotels, stores, and larger enterprises in New London and neighboring towns, none has been lasting.38
Perhaps the most ambitious new type of business relating to food was the New London Locker Plant, Inc., opened in
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
1947 in a specially-designed and handsome structure on the Newport road. The preservation of food by chilling has passed through three stages in American history, and all three have been represented in New London in the twentieth century. The first stage, of course, was the cooling of food in cellars or in springhouses with running water. Then came the use of natural ice,39 and finally the development of artificial refrig- eration. The New London Locker Plant furnished refrigerat- ing facilities equal to any in the nation. It was built and di- rected by an able group of local men and summer residents, headed by James E. Shepard II. Technologically a great suc- cess, the Locker Plant, however, in its original corporate form, was unable to succeed financially. In 1949 it passed into bank- ruptcy, and was sold to Eliot G. Clemons. The latter reopened the business, added a stock of groceries and other staples, and retained the basic refrigerating services.
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