USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > Mirror to America : a history of New London, New Hampshire, 1900-1950 > Part 11
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The Town also developed a number of enterprises cater- ing to the axiom that "cleanliness is next to godliness." For a few years after 1910 Jennie A. Warner operated the New Lon- don Laundry between May 15 and October 15 of each year; but in other seasons New London folk depended upon steam laundries in Franklin or elsewhere. Early in 1928, however, Mr. and Mrs. Ervine Williams returned to Elkins from Bristol, Connecticut.40 The next spring they opened a hand laundry in their home there. In June, 1936, they removed their busi- ness to a newly-built structure on the King Hill road in New London. Ten years later they enlarged the plant and added the latest type of steam equipment. As it was with a laundry, so was it also with the problem of dry cleaning. Until 1941 New London residents relied on Newport for the nearest dry cleaning facilities, but in that spring Walter P. Heald opened his New London Cleaners and Dyers.
As with clothing, so with persons, the trend was toward a professionalizing of service. In 1928 Miss Evelyn Wheeler, daughter of the local barber, opened the original beauty shop in New London in the rear portion of her father's place of business. After several changes of proprietors, it was owned
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
in 1950 by Mrs. Cora C. Gaudet and operated under the name, Silhouette Beauty Shop. In June, 1930, Miss Elizabeth Nichols established Betty's Beauty Shop, carrying it on suc- cessfully for the next twenty years.
Other kinds of special shops and business enterprises like- wise developed. Several efforts to set up a local women's ready- to-wear store have been tried, but the only one still function- ing in 1950 was the Colby Sport Shop, owned and operated since 1939 by the Misses Genevieve Millar and Mary C. Bar- rett.41 Percy M. Thurston founded the Elkins Printing Com- pany in 1931, and soon made it a thriving business. Early in the 1900's Robert Todd had a shoe repair shop under the New London Inn, and Harold E. Snow, a veteran of World War I, set up a similar enterprise in the fall of 1933.42 The Colby Bookshop under the New London Inn first opened in 1944 and, after various changes in ownership, was taken over by D. K. Sieburg and renamed the Village Studio. Several gift shops have hopefully begun in the Town since 1900. Among these were the "Sampler," the "Willows" in Elkins, the New England Tea Room and Gift Shop at Lakeside, the Bancroft Gift Shop, and the Four Seasons Gift Shop. The latter in 1950 was the only such business operating on an all-year basis; it was owned and managed by Miss Henrietta Riddell, and her sister, Mrs. Helen R. Holcomb. In 1943 Mrs. Herbert Hayes opened her interesting "Thrift Shop," which specialized in the sale of used items of apparel.
Among the "handy men" around the Town in the years between 1900 and 1950 were Sidney M. Pedrick, Melville E. Robbins, Tyler Grace, Earl R. Berry, Earl Lawler, and Charles Wheeler. These men, and others like them, by power saw, by lathe, and by resourcefulness of hand and mind for many years served as the "ingenious Yankee" of song and story. For example, Melville Robbins devised "walkers" for those with broken hips and sliding drawers to fit into stair cases. In the same way, Sidney M. Pedrick turned gavels out of ancient church timbers, made bread-slicing contrivances before bread was commercially sliced, and constructed unusual cases for
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mineralogical specimens. Tyler Grace built the fine stone walls around the president's house at Colby Junior College; Earl R. Berry operated a watch repair shop; Earl Lawler sharpened saws; and Charles Wheeler was a skilled gunsmith.
4. A Variety of Individual and Professional Skills
New London during the fifty years after 1900 was fortu- nate in having among its citizens many persons possessed of special abilities. It would be impossible to mention them all, but an indication of the broad range of trained aptitudes available to local people may be given. New London secured its first professional architect when Thomas E. Wistar, Jr. opened his office in August, 1947. Until his death in 1911, Nathaniel W. Colby worthily represented the legal profession in Town, also maintaining an office in Bradford. From then until 1949 New London had no lawyer resident in the com- munity. In the latter year, however, James C. Cleveland, a lineal descendant of New London's most famous citizen, Gov- ernor Anthony Colby, opened a law office in the Town. Ira S. Littlefield, listed as a surveyor in 1900, was still practicing his profession a half century later,-the senior civil engineer in active service in the State. Mrs. Helen R. Colburn began giving music lessons to Town children in 1922. At her annual June recitals for more than a quarter of a century following, Mrs. Colburn's pupils gave many evidences of musical talent.43 For a short time in the years before World War I, a violin teacher offered instruction in New London, but the most extensive effort in this field came after 1942. Beginning then, Miss Helen Eberle of the Colby Junior College faculty gave violin lessons to New London boys and girls who wished to specialize in that instrument. Between 1926 and 1932, thanks to Mrs. Jane A. Tracy's interest in music, Alfred E. Plumpton of Manchester came regularly to New London to give leader- ship to choral groups. In the early part of the century Mrs. Fannie Keil French was active in public school music, while in the 1940's Mrs. Alberta Fisher performed the same service for the young people of the Town.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
Since it was a growing and expanding community throughout the half century after 1900, New London had a goodly number of citizens who made their living in the trades associated with building.44 Among those who in the early years of the century were active as contractors and builders were Luther Ray, Charles Woodward, Robert Davis, S. J. Dean, Reverdy F. Smith, George Fifield, and W. S. Call. Men subse- quently prominent in this field included Horace C. Stanley, Fred A. Todd, Clarence Granger, William C. Hayes, Raymond Hayes, Gilbert N. Wiggins, Wilbur C. Knowlton, Wesley Woodward, Joseph Johnson, Waldo Woodward, Clifton J. Lull, Gerald Prescott, Charles Hill, Walter Chadwick, and Jules Pellerin. Painters in the years shortly after 1900 num- bered E. A. Dean, Edgar Sargent, and W. C. Sanborn. Later men in the same occupation included Paul G. Morey, Herbert Hayes, Thomas B. Webber, Charles M. Prew, Charles Prew, Robert Powell, Warren Sargent, and Berkeley Hunter. Car- riage painting in the horse and buggy era was a specialized craft; in this field New London had the Goings brothers, and Herman N. Adams. Perhaps the most skilled craftsman in Town for many years in the arts of sign painting and decora- tive work was John Edmunds. He was still active in 1950, but his specialty was by then shared with Laurids Lauridsen and others from nearby towns. John Walker, Frank Merrill, Ed- ward Kimball, and Rufus W. Lamson practiced the trade of brick mason early in the century, as did John Dayton in later years. Fine stonework was done by the three Preston brothers and by George W. Philbrick. Merle C. Gay and the Rowe brothers in 1950 represented the trucking business, one in which many men had played a part in the older days of horse and wagon transport. The first plumber in Town was Henry T. Robbins who opened his shop in 1908.45 As water and sew- age systems developed in New London, there was need of more men in the plumbing field. By 1950 Fred G. Williams, Morton E. Walker and son, and Russell Spaulding and son were active in plumbing work.
Many other types of service flourished in New London
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during the five decades after 1900. Accountants and notaries were always available in Town. Insurance agents and real estate dealers did a thriving local business. Among those per- sons with long periods of activity in these allied fields were Evarts W. Messer, Calvin E. Sargent, and Mrs. Emma L. Colby. Those carrying on these enterprises in 1950 included Mrs. Colby, Seth A. Lamson, and Mrs. Ann Pardy,-the latter in 1950 being president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, and the only woman director of the National Real- tors Association. Photography had a consistent appeal to many in New London; in 1950 William Kitchin, Frank Eydent, and Don K. Sieburg were able representatives of this skill. In the early 1900's Elmer E. Adams served as local undertaker; but in 1908 Fred A. Pressey purchased the business and established a modern funeral home. Thirty years later Lawrence S. Hale joined Mr. Pressey in partnership; in 1949 this association was dissolved, and Walton Chadwick became the junior mem- ber of a new partnership between himself and Mr. Pressey. Such other occupations as auditor, bookkeeper, buyer, chef, expressman, paper-hanger, plasterer, secretary, stenographer, tax agent, telegraph agent, typist, and well-driller have all had local representatives.46
5. Journalism in New London Since 1900
Quantitatively speaking, the opening years of the twen- tieth century were a golden period in the history of American journalism. In numbers of daily and weekly newspapers, rec- ords were set between 1900 and 1910 that have never since been equalled.47 Even before this decade, however, efforts had been made to establish some sort of newspaper in New London. None of these was destined to become permanent. As early as 1872 Fred W. Cheney started a four-page monthly which he called the New London Advocate, but it survived only a year.48 In August, 1887, the first issue of Summer Rest came from the press. Published by the Rev. George W. Gardner and the Rev. George W. Gile, it had one issue annually for the next seven years.4ยบ In June, 1889, the Colby Academy Voice, intended
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VARIOUS ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION AND TRAVEL The Tracy Memorial Library Snow Rollers of Yesterday Charles E. Shepard and his Concord Stage
The New London Post Office "Ken" Rich and the State Snow Plow Edmunds' Bus and Servicenter
HOSPITALITY IN NEW LONDON in 1950
The New London Inn Twin Lake Villa The Edgewood
Lakeside Lodge Red Gables The College Inn
n-T
HOSPITALITY IN NEW LONDON in 1950 (continued)
The Kidder Garage The Brocklebank The Cranehurst
King Hill House Pleasant Lake Lodge Soo-Nipi Lodge
Soo
TWO OF THE OLD DISTRICT SCHOOLS
The Elkins School, June 1951. In the picture are Robert Whitcher, Mary Grace, Mis. Doris H. Langley, Doris Taylor, Sharon Prescott, Maxwell Campbell, George Albee, Diane Prescott, Jordon Grace The Low Plain School shortly after 1900. In the picture are Dura P. Crockett, Ausbon Sargent, Lena Sargent, Alice Sargent (teacher), Leon Todd, Amy Quimby, Lottie Brown, Amos Shepard, Leslie Colby, Warren Sargent, Emma Sholes, Ruth Shepard, Howard Hunt, Annie Quimby, Bertha Colby, Amos Hunt, Albert Sholes
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
primarily for the Academy students, but containing a good deal of Town news also, began publication. The original edi- tors were Ella M. Hunting and James S. Roberts, and the first business managers were Clarence E. Clough and Fred Far- well.50 Appearing each month during the school year, this valuable little journal continued until 1925.
In the absence of any regular daily or weekly newspaper in town, New London people depended upon local correspon- dents for out-of-town newspapers to keep them informed on their community affairs. To the work of a long succession of these faithful local correspondents for larger newspapers the historian owes much. Their printed despatches are among the basic sources of our knowledge today concerning the events of the past half century. In 1950 New London correspondents included Mrs. George Lovering for the Manchester Union and the Franklin Journal-Transcript; Mrs. John D. Johnson for the Concord Daily Monitor; Mrs. George D. Graves, Jr. for the Newport Guardian; Mrs. Lucien Worthen for the Newport Argus-Champion; and Kenneth A. Lord for the Kearsarge In- dependent at Warner. In the summer months for many years prior to 1950 Miss Rowena Morse provided valuable coverage for New London events in the columns of the New York Her- ald Tribune and the New York Times.
The summer of 1928 brought success to an effort to give New London a local weekly newspaper of its own. Under the editorship of Stanley A. Spiller, The Highlander published Vol. I, No. 1 on August 8, 1928. It continued for three years. Following its demise, in 1931 the New London Civic Associa- tion sponsored a new weekly paper for New London, called The New London News. Mrs. Florence B. Griffin was named editor; Herbert D. Swift was chosen advertising manager; and Calvin E. Sargent was given the post of circulation manager. Published weekly for three years, it was not a money-making enterprise, but it "broke even." In February, 1935, Stanley A. Spiller was back in the field with a new monthly news- paper entitled The Speaker. Mr. Spiller continued as pub- lisher until September, 1938, when J. Lawrence Archibald
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succeeded him in that position. Beginning with the issue for November 24, 1938, however, Kenneth A. Lord took over The Speaker, and carried on its publication, part of the time on a weekly basis. War-time shortages of paper and ink and lack of advertising forced it to suspend with the issue of April 30, 1942.51
There were other journalistic developments in New Lon- don throughout the 1940's. With the love of printers' ink in his blood, during the decade Stanley A. Spiller gave the com- munity three more newspaper enterprises. The first was a monthly called Echoes from the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region. Its initial issue appeared in December, 1939. In be- half of the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, Spiller served as publisher, while the board of editors included the Rev. Harold W. Buker, J. Duane Squires, and Freeman Tilden of Warner. Miss Naomi Colburn provided attractive art work for the new publication. It continued, however, for only a little more than a year. Following the conclusion of World War II, in 1947 Spiller began a new monthly entitled Neigh- borhood Exchange, and three years later began publishing Scattered Chatter. In November, 1948, George D. Graves, Jr., a local war veteran, began publishing the Newport Guardian and Kearsarge-Sunapee Sun. Although editorial offices were in Newport, the new paper gave generous space to news from New London.
6. The Rise of Organized Winter Recreation
From earliest times winter days in New Hampshire have furnished opportunity for many forms of outdoor recreation. As one writer put it in 1940: "For sport there are skiing, skat- ing, tobogganing, ski-joring, hunting, ice fishing, and long tramps over the hillsides on snowshoes. For amusement there are winter carnivals, skating contests, sled-dog races, sleighing parties, and snowshoe tramps."52 He might have added sliding on the hills, horse racing on ice, and sundry other vigorous diversions which have delighted New Hampshire folk in the winter season. Most of these activities were enjoyed by New
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London people over the years, but not until the twentieth century did they become highly developed and economically valuable to the community.
The original ski club in New Hampshire was organized in Berlin shortly after 1900. In 1909 the Dartmouth Outing Club was founded, and the next year initiated its famous Winter Carnival at Hanover.53 Neighboring towns followed suit with winter carnivals of their own. Among those which were organized near New London were the carnivals at New- bury and at Newport, both of which were annually observed years before U. S. entrance into World War I. In 1931 the Boston and Maine Railroad began its well known "Snow Trains" with an initial run to Warner, New Hampshire.54 Four years later the New Hampshire Forestry Department added the word, "Recreation," to its official title, and prepared many of its reservations and parks for winter amusement. In 1937-1938 the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway in Fran- conia Notch, the Cranmore Mountain Skimobile near North Conway, and the Chair Lift at the Belknap Mts. State Park were opened to winter sports enthusiasts.
These rapid developments in organized winter recreation had their effect in New London. The Civic Association spon- sored a New London "Snow Carnival" in February, 1932, and managed similar events in ensuing years. Beginning in 1938, however, the name of the affair was changed to the "Colby- town Carnival," in recognition of the fact that it was hence- forth jointly conducted by the College and the Town. For a number of years these were successfully continued, being fea- tured usually by the coronation of some local young lady as the carnival "Queen."55 Perhaps even more important than the winter carnival as a project of the Civic Association in the 1930's was that organization's activity in developing a first- class skating rink. During the years in which B. A. Hoban served as president of the New London Civic Association, 1938-1941, the Town had one of the finest outdoor skating rinks in New England.
The New London rink in those years drew people from
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a wide area. It was located in Jeffers Cove, a sheltered spot on Little Lake Sunapee. The ice was carefully swept after snow storms, and a warming house was provided with electric lights, radio, and facilities for light refreshments. The rink was flood- lighted at night, and kept open six days a week from 2:00 to 5:30 and from 7:30 to 9:30 P. M. Under the direction of Mr. Hoban and his assistant, Lester Taylor, in the winter of 1938- 1939 the rink served over 3,000 skaters,56 and the next year the number was even greater. Colby Junior College furnished some financial help for its maintenance, and it was popular with the students and their guests. In the war years the rink was moved to the area behind the New London Central School, and dur- ing the later 1940's its management was taken over by the New London Outing Club, with some fiscal support from the Town.57
An early ski tow in New London for those interested in that sport was opened in the winter of 1939-1940 by Messrs. Harold W. Buker, Jr., Richard Messer, and Maurice Shepard on the slope behind Seamans Road.58 It operated for two years, when the coming of war ended its existence. After 1945, despite the imminent completion of the Mt. Sunapee Chair Lift, New London ski enthusiasts returned to the idea of a local ski tow. In November, 1947 a number of such sport-minded individu- als, headed by Dr. William P. Clough, Jr., organized the New London Outing Club. This group proceeded to take immedi- ate action. Land was leased on the west side of Pleasant Lake, and clearing work begun. A warming hut and other buildings were erected; an 800-foot rope tow installed; and an experi- enced lessee secured to manage the project. On January 3, 1948, the Northeast Ski Tow went into operation.59 In the winter of 1949-1950 the Outing Club itself took over the management of the ski slope, and announced plans for its enlargement and improvement.60
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
NOTES FOR CHAPTER SIX
The quotation at the head of this chapter is from Lawrence Shaw Mayo, Three Essays, privately printed, Cambridge, Mass., 1948, pp. 65-66.
1These points were stressed at the New England Regional Conference on Rural Life, held at the University of New Hampshire in June, 1947; Manchester Morning Union, June 24, 1947. Note also the address of James M. Langley at the New Hampshire Council of Towns two years later; Manchester Morning Union, July 7, 1949.
2During the earlier decades of the half century covered by this history the largest avocational farm in New London was that owned by Mrs. Jane A. Tracy. Named "Willow Farm," it was a feature of the West Part of Town. Among the various local men who served as Superintendent of Wil- low Farm was Sidney M. Pedrick, who held the post from 1905 to 1915. Under his supervision the farm reached its greatest magnitude. Beautiful stone walls, many of them still in perfect condition in 1950, were erected; handsome new buildings were constructed; a driven well was built; and even a private golf course laid out. Mr. Pedrick had a number of Italian laborers who worked for him. Among these was Joseph Cricenti, who served as interpreter after 1910, and later himself settled down in New London, to become one of the Town's leading farmers.
3F. J-T., May 29, 1919. See also J. D. Black, The Rural Economy of New England, Harvard University Press, 1950.
4Ibid., November 11, 1915; January 21, 1926; May 20, 1926.
5William M. White, Power, Production, Prosperity, Princeton, N. J., 1946, p. 11.
6Echoes of the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, April, 1940.
7F. J-T., March 15, 1923; November 22, 1923.
8 Echoes of the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, April, 1940. The names of all 101 varieties are given in the article.
9F. J-T., October 21, 1909.
10Cf. Frederick W. Baker, "Medicinal Plants from the Commercial Standpoint," The Speaker, January 11, 1937; the author's ideas were ex- panded in his article in Popular Mechanics for April, 1937.
11F. J-T., April 22, 1926; February 23, 1928.
12Ibid., April 22, 1937.
13George Corey bequeathed all his property to the New London Hos- pital. On February 4, 1948, the Board of Directors of the Hospital sold the greenhouse to John Holteen, the highest bidder.
14Helen and Scott Nearing, The Maple Sugar Book, New York, 1950, p. 34. See also Barrows Mussey, "Grandpa Was Quite a Fellow," Saturday Evening Post, November 9, 1946.
15The Clough sugar orchard was written up in the New Hampshire Sunday News, April 16, 1950; Paul B. Gay in 1950 was serving as president of the Maple Sugar Producers' Association of New Hampshire; and Herbert D. Swift presented Winston Churchill a gallon of "Windy Acres" maple sirup at the time of the famous Briton's appearance at the M.I.T. Mid-
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Century Convocation in March, 1949. On the economic importance of maple products to New Hampshire see the interview with Paul B. Gay in the Manchester Morning Union, April 26, 1947.
16. Echoes of the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, August-September, 1940. It is important to remember that 77% of the land area of New England, even in 1950, was still woodland; "Who Owns Forest Land in' New England?" Monthly Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, August, 1949; "An Appraisal of New England Agriculture," ibid., May, 1950.
17F. J-T., February 22, 1906; January 27, 1909.
18Ibid., December 27, 1923.
19F. J-T., December 13, 1906. On this fascinating subject see "Fuel Wood used in the United States, 1630-1930," U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Circular, No. 641, Washington, D. C., 1942. Among local dealers in cord wood in the years after 1900 were Charles E. Shepard and Son, and Mark N. Shepard. The latter also handled cattle and hay.
20Neighborhood Exchange, April 4, 1950.
21On the growth of New England's wood pulp industry, see Frank C. Bowler, It Began with the Wasps, Princeton, N. J., 1949.
22F. J-T., October 13, 1938; note also "Hurricane Supplement" to The Speaker, September, 1938.
23F. J-T., February 18, 1937. Chapter 151, New Hampshire Laws of 1945, provided for the creation of a commission within the State to coop- erate with Federal agencies in programs of land conservation.
24The Speaker, March 6, 1937. A thoughtful reader will be impressed by the contrasts implicit in such works as M. N. Rawson, Forever the Farm, New York, 1940- describing older types of New England farming-and the essay, "An Appraisal of New England Agriculture," Monthly Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, May, 1950.
25Fred A. Pressey to the writer, April 7, 1950. Mr. Pressey came to New London in 1905, and during his first two years in Town drove the Potter Place stage for Charles E. Shepard.
26F. J-T., January 30, 1913; May 1, 1913; October 27, 1914.
27Mr. Edmunds had suffered a serious fire in his store in November, 1935.
28There is an article on the Blake store in Yankee Food Merchant, October, 1946. After selling his grocery department to Blake, Mr. Ed- munds moved his drygoods to his one-time restaurant building on Main Street, and was in business there at midcentury.
29Neighborhood Exchange, June 12, 1950. It is worth remembering that for a few years before World War I Fred W. Goings had a grocery store where the Village Studio was located in 1950.
30F. J-T., June 6, 1935.
31There is an account of its 25th anniversary celebration in the New- port Guardian and Kearsarge-Sunapee Sun, September 22, 1949. In 1933 the New London Pharmacy was the first store in Town to display the NRA blue eagle sign; F. J-T., August 3, 1933.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900-1950
32On the opening of the College Inn, see Manchester Morning Union, October 9, 1946.
33Mr. Hobbs was a familiar figure in New London for almost the en- tire period, 1900-1950. During the earlier portion of these years he had been closely associated with the management of Soo-Nipi Park Lodge.
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