Test your knowledge of West Hartford history with this ‘Thursday Throwback,’ courtesy of the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society.
By Katie Cavanaugh
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
Lots of you remembered the place featured in last week’s image (shown at right and in larger size below) – the Sedgwick Foods Shopping Center.
Dianne Rechel was able to correctly identify this old landmark in the article’s comments: “I think I remember shopping there on the corner of South Main St. and Sedgwick Rd., where the TD bank and the shuttered South Main Pizza is…To the right was Dougherty Drugs and Luncheonette before the Big Fire that claimed most, if not all, of the building…Sorry to see South Main Pizza go!”
Eileen Shea shared her fond memories of the Sedgwick Foods Shopping Center on Facebook. “My sister and I grew up working at Sedgwick Foods and spending our money next door Hammerlunds, which we used to just call the Five and Dime for short.”
Many people remembered the mysterious fire that raged through the shopping center, burning it down on February 20, 1979.
“Sedgwick Foods had the fire, and it was suspicious?” inquired Shea.
“Now I’m not sure if this plaza was hit by a suspicious fire back in the day (1970s maybe), but it was re-built beautifully,” said Rick Liftig.
According to police reports, the fire was an act of arson.
The plaza was also home to South Main Pizza, a West Hartford staple that closed its doors this week. South Main Pizza was the last of the original tenants that moved into the shopping center when it was rebuilt after the fire.
There has been a bank on the side corner of the plaza since the new building opened in 1981, but it has changed names multiple times.
Courtesy Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
This week’s image (at right and in larger size below) is also of a strip shopping center that many longtime West Hartfordites may be able to identify.
Where do you think this photo was taken?
Any idea when this photo was taken?
What businesses are in this spot now?
Please share your memories below!
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
Sedgwick Foods and the other stores show were in the shopping center at the southwest corner of South Main Street and Sedgwick Road. Courtesy Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
That’s in the Center across from Town Hall. It’s Dunkin Donuts now. The First National and State Dime Bank was next door before Town Center, to the north. To the south, the set-back office has been there a long time and the house that was more recently taken down (would have made a great clam shack!) I think Allen Collins moved around the corner to Ellsworth sometime in the ’80s, into what was then a new building. The iron work is the give away!.
Ellsworth Rd., where something called Nelson Spa appears to be in 2011. Thank you Google. The date’s a little trickier, no earlier than 1963 when the fur shop opened. I’ll say 1972.
That was the original location of the uber-prep clothier Allen Collins on South Main Street before they moved around the corner onto Ellsworth Road.
43 S. Main St. @ 1968.