Test your knowledge of West Hartford history with this ‘Thursday Throwback,’ courtesy of the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society.
By Ronni Newton
It’s Throwback Thursday (#tbt), and time to take a look back into West Hartford’s past to either stir up some memories, reflect on how much things have changed, or both. And if you have no idea, we love the photo captions, too!
Courtesy Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
I think this week’s photo is going to stir up a lot of memories for those who have a long history in West Hartford, but first let’s focus on last week’s image, shown at right and in larger size below. (Thanks to Joy Taylor for writing this column for me while I was on vacation last week!)
What would we do without local history buff Rick Liftig? He’s always willing to take an educated guess, even when the photo is of a solitary building with few other references.
“My guess: a new house on West Hill Drive sometime in the 1920’s. It’s too small to be a mansion and it’s too fancy to be a farmhouse. The pole has a sign on it which makes me think new construction,” Rick commented.
Lisa Petersen posted her guess on Facebook: “Looks like it might be on a hill. I’m guessing on Avon Mountain – perhaps a building on the Brainard farm near Renbrook.”
“I’m guessing this is on West Hill Drive maybe?” added Bonnie MacKenzie on Facebook.
This was a tough one, and although the guesses were great, no one got it right. According to the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, this is the house at the Arrowhead Fruit Farm on Tunxis Road. We’ll update if we can get more details about exactly where on Tunxis it was located.
Courtesy Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
This week’s image (at right and in large size below) is much easier to identify, and probably not too difficult to date. (We almost blew it by posting the image with the date the photo was printed on the border, but cropped it just in time!) Who knows which West Hartford street this is? Who has memories of these stores? What businesses are there now?
Please share your thoughts and memories below. Captions are probably not needed this week, but of course are always welcome.
Thank you to the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society for providing us with the images. For more information about the organization, visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org.
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Courtesy Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
House at Arrowhead Fruit Farm, Tunxix Road, West Hartford. Courtesy Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
Every Saturday, my friend and I would walk to Dougherty’s. At the ripe old age of ten, it was our Big Outing. We always wanted to correct the spelling of Ye Olde Greeting Card Shoppe next door.
The original Ye Olde Greeting Shoppe holds a special place in my heart. In 1957 we moved to a new house my late father Michael Curcio built on Howland Road (which was still unpaved back then!) I was excited when a family with three kids moved into the newly built house next door. Their last name was Tonucci and the father owned Ye Olde Greeting Shoppe! “Mr. and Mrs. T” and the whole family would become dear friends of ours. I loved that store and all the fun and pretty things they sold. They had a bow-making machine that made gorgeous fluffy bows when you fed the ribbon in. My sister and I both had our wedding invitations engraved there (back in the day when copper plate engraving was the only way to go).
Now with the Shoppe gone, and Bennett’s too, we are relegated to CVS…just not the same!