USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Newport > Newport, New Hampshire, 1761-1961 : bicentennial celebration, Aug. 14-20, 1961 > Part 8
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Murphy continued as General Su- perintendent for W. H. McElwain Shoe Company until 1921 when it was taken over by the International Shoe Company, the world's largest shoe manufacturer. Murphy left Interna- tional to join J. F. McElwain and Se- ward Paterson in forming a new com- pany in Nashua, the J. F. McElwain Shoe Company which in 1944 was merged with Melville Shoe Corp. owner of all Thom McAn stores. Many of the top executives of Melville Cor- poration and J. F. McElwain received their background under Francis Mur- phy in the shoe factory at Canal Street. And Newport has received much of its fine reputation and fame as a shoe manufacturing town by the records and accomplishments of these men in the shoe industry.
Under the management of the In- ternational Shoe Company from the year 1922, millions of pairs of shoes, were produced. All types of footwear, mens, boys, womens, children, military dress and combat boots were manu- factured at Canal Street and almost every conceivable type of process and construction was used in the manufac- turing process.
But in 1955, the St. Louis based In- ternational Shoe Company decided to terminate the operations of their east- ern division and along with this was included the plant at Newport.
During the time the plant was closed the Newport Industrial Group headed by Mr. Harry Woodard, Mr. Remington Woodhull, and Mr. Maurice Downing each representing the Cham- ber of Commerce, Newport Industries Inc. and Newport's Selectmen respec- tively, spent months searching for a new management to take over the va- cated plant at Canal Street.
They were successful in their efforts in bringing Newport to the attention of Mr. Chris Laganas a successful shoe manufacturer of Lowell, Massachusetts, who began manufacturing shoes in 1918 in Haverhill, moved to Lowell in 1921 and continued to expand and en- large his womens shoe manufacturing business through the years.
Chris Laganas and his sons, Peter, Arthur, and Con formed a new com- pany in February 1956, the Newport Shoe Manufacturing Corporation for the purpose of manufacturing mens and boys shoes at the vacated building on Canal Street.
After five years of continued ex- pansion and steady employment the plant at Canal Street continues to be Newport's largest employer with over 425 people on the payroll averaging over $1.250,000 annually.
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The mens and boys shoes manu- factured by the skilled craftsmen em- ployed at Newport Shoe Manufactur- ing Corporation are sold throughout the United States. including Hawaii and Alaska under the Royal Cadet and Windsor brand names.
Newport's fame and reputation as a shoe manufacturing town continues to be made known throughout the country by Pat Boone who is under exclusive contract with Newport Shoe Manufacturing Corporation to adver- tise and promote the mens and boys shoes made in Newport.
L. L. RANSOM & SON, 59 Belknap Ave., - Since 1913, L. L. Ransom & Son has been serving the public of Newport and the surrounding area with their retail furniture needs. The busi- ness began in 1913, with Leslie L. Ransom and his son, Harold L. Ran- som, as owners, and at its present location, 59 Belknap Avenue. The sen- ior Mr. Ransom died in 1947, and his son has continued to operate the busi- ness since that time. * *
SUGAR RIVER SAVINGS BANK, 35 Main St., - Perhaps the most dra- matic way to start this brief history of the Sugar River Savings Bank of Newport might be to recite the manner in which the thought first occurred to some man or group of men that there was need of an additional banking function in the area. Unfortunately, no record appears to exist in this re- spect, quite probably due to man's unending failure to recognize the his- torical significance of what appear to be the simple everyday occurrences in his life and the necessity for re- cording such events for posterity.
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In any event, all that can be found in the records is that the Sugar River Savings Bank was authorized to do business in the Town of Newport by a special act of the New Hampshire Legislature passed in 1895 and signed on March 16, 1895 by the then Gover- nor, Charles A. Busiel. The original charter members of the Corporation were listed in the act as Charles M. Emerson, Carlton Hurd, George H. Bartlett, William C. Stocker, N. P. Baker, Elisha H. Carr, William H. Per- ry, Sylvanus G. Stowell, Hiram B. Cheney, Shepard H. Cutting, George H. Woodbury, Sumner Fairbanks and Perley A. Johnson. Other members were admitted to the Corporation as the year 1895 progressed until there were thirty-six in all, conforming to the by-laws of the bank which pro- vided that there should be no less than twenty nor mroe than fifty members of the Corporation.
The first act of the Incorporators of the new bank was to elect from their own numbers a Board of Trustees, who were directly responsible. to the Incorporators for the future operation of the bank and these men were E. H. Carr, George H. Woodbury, N. P. Baker, N. A. Smith, Carlton Hurd, A. J. Hook and R. E. Bartlett, seven in all, again conforming with the by-laws which specified that the Board of Trustees should be no less than seven nor more than twelve. The Trustees then pro- ceeded to elect the officers of the bank who were Carlton Hurd, President, N.
P. Baker Vice-President, and Perley A. Johnson, Treasurer and Secretary.
The bank started its operation in the same quarters occupied by the Citizens National Bank, which had come into being exactly ten years previously, in the brick building lo- cated on Main Street now occupied by town officials of Newport and known as the Municipal Building. The original bank vault is still in the building and is in use today princi- pally for the storage of town records.
At some point in the early years of the bank's operation one of the Trus- tees, A. J. Hook, began to accept bank transactions in his insurance office located at Warner, N. H. and thus there came into being what may have been the first branch bank in New Hamp- shire. The Warner office, now under ownership of Walter P. Miner, has continued to serve as an outpost of both the Sugar River Savings Bank and the Citizens National Bank since that time, serving the people of Warner and vicinity in all their banking needs.
From a comparatively small begin- ning, the growth of the two banks was such that it became apparent that larger banking quarters were required and as a result plans were laid for a new and larger home for the banks. The Citizens Bank Building was erect- ed in 1912 on the site of the former residence of the Claggett family di- rectly across Main Street from the original building. Banking operations have been carried on in the new build- ing since that date.
The founder and first Treasurer, Perley A. Johson, served as executive officer of the bank from its incorpora- tion in 1895 to his death in 1928. He was succeeded in office by his son, Carroll D. Johnson, who held office until his retirement in July, 1956 and in turn was succeeded by Kenneth P. Stoddard the present Treasurer. Other officers of the bank are George A. Dorr, President, Burton D. Thorpe, Vice-President, Leslie M. Pike, Ass't Treasurer, and Oliver M. Drown, Ass't Treasurer. Present Trustees are John P. H. Chandler, Jr., Austin B. Corbett, George A. Dorr, Jr., Albert J. Gau- thier, Paul B. Gay, Michael J. Harring- ton, Henry W. Kidder, Hamilton R. Krans, Herbert B. Sawyer, Kenneth E. Shaw, William A. Stocker, and Burton D. Thorpe.
With few interruptions, the growth of the Sugar River Savings Bank has been the fastest during its lifetime of any bank in the area, surviving the severe depression of 1929 with hardly a pause and continuing until today. Its deposits are at an all-time high of over $11,300,000 with total assets of over $12,900,000 making it the larg- est bank in terms of assets in Sullivan County.
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GAUTHIER & WOODARD, INC., 6 North Main St., - originated in 1872 when O. G. Osgood opened an insurance office in the Richards Block. He later sold the business to George L. Dame who sold to Fred W. Cheney. In 1893 Mr. Cheney decided to go into the printing business and the insur- ance business was purchased by Wil- liam Woodbury. Mr. Woodbury added an interest in grain and, to operate
the insurance end of his office, he took in as partner Fred T. Pollard. The firm was known as Woodbury & Pollard until the partnership was dis- solved when Pollard bought out Wood- bury. Mr. Pollard continued to oper- ate the business for nearly fifty years in the Citizens Bank Building. On De- cember 31, 1946 Harry M. Woodard pur- chased the Pollard Agency and in January, 1947 Harry Woodard and Albert J. Gauthier joined forces doing business as Gauthier & Woodard in the Citizens Bank Building. Harry had been employed by the Merchants Mu- tual Insurance Co. for eighteen years serving the New England area as claims adjuster, special agent and under- writer. Al had been in the insurance business for ten years maintaining an office in the Eagle Block.
On January 1, 1953 the partnership was incorporated under the name of Gauthier & Woodard, Inc. On January 22, 1954, Harry and Albert purchased the Cheney Block, originally the home of Col. William Cheney, early Newport benefactor, for whom Cheney St. was named. This was one of the earliest brick residences in town.
On May 1, 1957, the agency moved its office from the Citizens Building to the Cheney Block occupying the location formerly used by the Lucca Fruit Co. which was operated for fifty years by Joseph T. Bonaccorsi and which he vacated upon retirement. Gauthier & Woodard remodeled the old fruit store into a modern insurance and real estate office.
July 1, 1956, Harold H. Campbell be- came a third member of the firm after graduating from the University of New Hampshire and completing his additional training in the insurance field at the Hartford Training School in Hartford, Conn.
On January 24, 1957 Arthur Nelson retired and sold his insurance busi- ness to Gauthier & Woodard. This old agency had been bought by Mr. Nelson from Tyler Barker in 1924, who in turn had bought it from the Stand- ish Brothers years before.
Gauthier & Woodard is equipped to write any type of insurance and is serving their customers throughout New Hampshire and Vermont with representation in the soundest insur- ance companies available. They are members of the New Hampshire In- surance Agency Association.
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JOHN R. KELLY PHARMACY, INC., 5 Main Street - This store has been serving the public since 1848 in the same place, first in the old building and later in the biggest block in town, the Richards Block. The first owner who was presumably a druggist, was Nathaniel Adams. Strangely enough, about 1865, the owner was a John C. Kelley, no relation to the late John R. Kelly. It is known that this Mr. Kelley kept a tame coon in the store and a pail of shiners on hand to feed it. Mr. Kelley was also agent for Great Western Railway tickets to all points West. Later owners, all pharmacists, were E. C. Converse who took over a- bout 1875, F. E. Lovell from about 1900, and John R. Kelly who became owner in 1929. In 1940, the American Druggist, the leading national drug publication,
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elected John R. Kelly as the Typical American Druggist after a nationwide survey. Since Mr. Kelly's death, mem- bers of his family have operated the store. At present two of the pharmacists to be found compounding drugs there are John R. "Dick" Kelly and Louise Kelly, his son and daughter.
MARTIN HARDWARE, 3 Main - Just when William Nourse, doing busi- ness as W. A. Nourse & Son, started what is today the Martin Hardware is not immediately known, but the bus- iness has had an interesting history since then. In 1907, Frank A. Rogers and George S. Robb purchased the business and operated under the firm name of Rogers & Robb until 1917 or 1918, when Robb left. Frank A Rogers continued the business under his own name until 1925, when he sold out to Anthony C. Benges, who ran the store for three years before selling to B. L. Horne. He too owned the establish- ment three years, selling out to Her- bert G. Martin in 1931.
Mr. Martin has operated the business for thirty years and in the past few years has associated his two sons, Jerry and Don, in the business with him.
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McCRILLIS, INSURANCE, 20A Main - McCrillis, Insurance, has been a familiar phrase in Newport since 1890, when the senior Mr. McCrillis started the business that is now carried on by John W. McCrillis and H. Newcomb Eldredge.
The younger Mr. McCrillis took over from his father, who retired, in 1927, and for thirty years operated the busi- ness by himself. In 1957, his son-in-law. H. Newcomb Eldredge became associa- ted with him in conducting the general insurance business. Over the years, the business of other agencies, estab- lished between 1872 until recent years, have been acquired by the McCrillis firm so that today it is one of the leading insurance agencies in town. *
THE NEWPORT INN, Main Street - The Newport Inn, formerly known as The Newport House, was originally built in 1814, and was probably about one half its present size. The history of the development of the town and the his- tory of the Inn must be closely inter- woven. As Routes north from Boston, Manchester, and Concord were opened and improved, Newport town and New- port Inn became natural stop-overs for many travelers coming, going, and having business in the area. In 1860, a fire destroyed the building to the ground. Rebuilding was started at once and the Inn was reopened the same year. A note of some interest may be that public concern for the enterprise was such that townspeople raised $10,000 towards the construction funds. On April 29, 1868, National Fast Day Eve was celebrated by a Ball. Tickets sold for $2, which included supper, dancing, and 'free carriages.' In 1907, the Newport Inn underwent extensive interior remodeling. The shape of the present day lobby and public rooms in the south end mater- ialized. Mr. Seth M. Richards and Mr. Bela Cutting were instrumental in the financing of this work. The first
annual meeting of the New Hampshire Hotelmen's Association, a gala event, under the auspices of Mr. Rand was held at the Inn, Another change of management and later ownership de- veloped in 1917. This involved Robert Gould. During his tenure, many of the Ivy League teams competing in Han- over made the Newport Inn their Headquarters. In 1947, Mr. Peter D. Latchis purchased the property and made many improvements in the rooms and fixtures. Mr. Latchis, in 1949, add- ed a fireproof theatre as an adjunct to the north end of the building. At the present time, with the develop- ment of the Mt. Sunapee Ski Area, the Newport Inn has become a mecca for many out-of-state winter sport en- thusiasts.
PRISCILLA SWEET SHOP, 59 Main St., - What is one of Newport's most modern business establishments, the Priscilla Sweet Shop, first started out in business as a fruit store and ice cream parlor at the location of the present Harrington's Jewelry Store, under the name of Anastos & Saggi- otes, the two men purchasing the busi- ness from Nicholas Bardis in 1919.
They continued in business there un- til 1936, when a bad fire gutted the store. The partnership dissolved at this time and Mr. Arthur G. Saggiotes cpened the Priscilla Sweet Shop at its present location, 59 Main Street, in 1937. As the years rolled by his two sons, James A., and Soterios A. Saggiotes, became partners in the busi- ness with him, and in 1957, they did a complete remodelling of the entire block which resulted in the present mcdern structure.
THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 57 Main St., - started as the Newport Electric Light Company and was incorporated on June 28, 1892 "for the purpose of lighting by electricity the streets of the village of said Newport and the stores, offices, churches, public halls, banks, factories and private dwellings in said Newport." The amount of capital stock was $15,000; 300 shares at $50.00 per share.
The first meeting of the association to adopt by-laws, elect officers, issue stock and transfer any other business necessary to organize a corporation under the laws of the State of New Hampshire was held at the office of Dexter Richards & Sons on the 27th of June, 1892 at 5:00 in the afternoon in Newport. Stockholders were Seth M. Richards, President; William F. Richards, Treasurer; Martin S. Whit- tier, Arthur B. Chase, and Myron W. Tenney, all of Newport, N. H.
In April, 1896, the Newport Electric Light Co. contracted for the lighting of the Peerless Manufacturing Co., manufacturers of ladies' and child- ren's muslin underwear and wrappers at 6 2/3 cents per thousand watts. The Peerless Co. furnished their own transformer and meter.
The following are some statistics re- ported by the manufacturers to the Bureau of Labor:
1897
1907
Capital employed, including plant
$15,000 $50,000
Value of Goods manufactured $6,600 $14,180
Total number of thale wage
carners 3 6
Total yearly payroll $2,116 $4,729
Total number of non- producers 1
Total annual rent, insurance, taxes, etc. $270
Total number of days worked 365 365
It is interesting to note that in the report of 1903, the number of days run- ning full time was 365 nights and 313 days. Also in the report for 1907 they reported as Kinds of Goods Made, Electric Light, Heat and Power. The report of 1915 shows the address of the company to be 17 Depot St., where Dot's Pastries is today, with 10 male wage-earners and one female and a total payroll of $9,802.23.
On January 1, 1924, the Newport Electric Light Co, and several other light companies were incorporated into the New Hampshire Power Co., and on March 31, 1936, this was purchased by the present Public Service Company of New Hampshire.
Excerpts from local papers:
New Hampshire Argus and Spectator 1. April 8, 1892 - At the recent Town Meeting it was voted that $400.00 be raised by taxation to light the streets of Newport village by electricity, pro- vided an equal amount could be raised by subscription for the same purpose. The lighting will be done by Richards & Sons, who have erected a building and put in a plant near their mill on Sunapee St.
2. April 15, 1892 - The selectmen and a number of citizens, accompanied by an agent of the Thompson-Huston Elec- tric Light Co., made a careful survey of the location of our streets with the view of locating 15 arc lights so as to secure the best results.
3. June 3, 1892 - Saturday and Mon- day evenings a trial was made of the arc electric light plant by which our streets are to be illuminated. Our villagers patrolled the streets till a late hour enjoying the scenes of the innovation.
The Republican Champion
1. May 5, 1892 - The Newport Elec- tric Light Co. is now ready to talk with parties desiring light. * THE SHOP-RITE SUPER MARKET, 2 North Main Stret - This business is owned by Anthony Kulesza and Pat- rick Zullo, who bought it from the John J. Condon estate in April, 1956. The original store was located in the center third of the ground floor of the Cheney Block, flanked on the north end by The Lucca Fruit Company and on the south by the United States Post Office. A meat market existed here before the turn of the century and was owned at that time by Rogers and Robb. Mr. Rogers was the father of Bill Rogers, now of the Red Gate Farm. John Condon came to Newport in 1903 to take a summer job at Rogers & Robb and stayed to buy them out in 1906 in partnership with Walter Davis. About 1916 Mr. Condon purchased the Davis interest and the store was re- named Condon's Market. Mr. Condon added a grocery line and in 1936 when the Post Office was moved to its new building on Park Street, their space was added to the store and a new
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front, fixtures, lights, office, etc. made Condon's Market one of the most mod- ern, attractive, stores in this area. Dur- ing the 20's and 30's, Mr. Condon oper- ated two branches in addition to this main store-a fish market where Bob's Sportshop is now and the Newport Provision Company, a smaller grocery in the space now occupied by Ernie's Mill End. Kulesza and Zullo purchased the business immediately following Mr. Condon's demise in the spring of 1956. Before re-opening the store, which had been closed permanently as Condon's Market the day Mr. Condon died, this new partnership had it completely re- decorated and equipped. In 1961 all refrigeration was replaced with new units and the store enlarged at the rear.
Before entering the meat and grocery business for themselves, both Mr. Ku- lesza and Mr. Zullo had worked for nine years in the A & P Company. At the time they formed their partner- ship, "Tony" Kulesza was the man- ager of the meat department at the Claremont A & P and "Pat" Zullo was managing the meat department at Dixon's Super-Duper at Claremont. *
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SILSBY & JOHNSON INC., 49 Main St. - The hardware store and plumb- ing service now known as Silsby and Johnson was established in 1898 by Ira G. Stowell, who died at Chicamaugua Park during the Spanish-American War. After his death, the business was taken over by John Silsby, who at a lat- er date took on Charles Johnson as a partner. Mr. Silsby died in 1939, Mr. Johnson in 1941, and since then the business has been operated by Morris Silsby, son of John Silsby, who has been associated with it for fifty-two years.
* * o ARGUS-CHAMPION, 18A West St. - Cyrus Barton, who was born in the East Pass Gatehouse at Croydon Four Corners on Christmas Day, 1795, was an astute observer of political trends. He sensed that Newport and not Claremont, would be selected as the shire town of the then-forming Sullivan County. So he moved his news- paper, the Claremont Spectator, to Newport in 1825, two years after he established it.
He also changed its name to the Newport Spectator, and shortly after- ward, in a move that probably denoted broad ambition, re-named it the New Hampshire Spectator.
This was the original ancestor of today's Argus-Champion, which in the intervening 138 years has been involved in no less than 14 mergers or changes of ownership.
The newspaper is now owned by James D. Ewing and Walter C. Paine, owners of the Keene Evening Sentinel and the Valley News of West Lebanon, who bought it last December 1 from Nicholas J. Mahoney Jr., who had been editor and publisher since 1950. Its present editor and publisher is Edward DeCourcy, former editor of the Milford (Conn.) Citizen and former president of the New England Weekly Press Association.
Mr. Barton did not have the field to himself long. Only two years after he launched his original Spectator,
Edmund Burke established The Argus in Claremont. In 1834, Mr. Burke also moved his paper to Newport, to com- pete with the Spectator.
Those were the days of strong polit- ical bias in newspapers, and both the Spectator and Argus were strongly Democratic. Their competition led to splits between groups within the Dem- ocratic party here, splits that were settled a year later when The Argus and The Spectator merged.
Matthew Harvey and Henry Guy Carleton bought the combined news- paper in 1840, and published it suc- cessfully for 40 years.
In 1880 the paper went through a succession of owners, until it was bought by another partnership, that of Hubbard A. Barton and George B. Wheeler. They moved the establish- ment from the Richards Block to the Wheeler Block.
Maj. Edes bought the Argus and Spectator in 1908 and published it until 1925 when Harry B. Metcalf, who had been city editor of the Boston Adver- tiser, bought both the Argus and Spec- tator and the rival Republican Cham- pion.
The Republican Champion, as its name denoted, was established as an antidote to the Democratic viewpoints of the Argus and Spectotar. Fred W. Cheney started it in 1881, and, as did its competitor, the paper had a suc- cession of owners. In its 44 years it had almost as many owners as the Ar- gus and Spectator had in 102 years. Its greatest success came under the third owner, Capt. Olin H. Chase, who bought it from Edwin C. Hitchcock.
Capt. Chase sold the paper to a syndicate of several men, who employed Stephen F. Rowell to run it for them. A short time later George Brown of the Manchester Union bought the pa- per, and he later sold it to Harvey W. D. Brown, who owned it at the time of its merger with the Argus and Spectator.
Mr. Metcalf published the paper for 20 years, and in 1945 sold it to Caesar J. Del Vaglio and William R. Smith, who published the paper twice a week. It had also been published twice a week for a time under the editorship of Maj. Edes.
Mr. Mahoney bought the paper on January 2, 1950. It was during his ownership that still another competing newspaper was established here. George Graves launched the Newport-Lake Sunapee Times, which was published for several years before Mr. Mahoney bought it and merged it with The Argus-Champion.
Mr. Mahoney moved the paper from the Wheeler Block to its present lo- cation at 18-A West St. On June 8 this year, for the first time in its 138- year history, it published an adver- tisement in two colors.
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