The Shire of Worcester, Part the Fourth

From Dave Brigham:

I explore plenty of gritty neighborhoods in service of this blog, but I rarely get the chance to make photos of strip clubs. Well, that's not totally accurate. I've taken photos of a handful over the years (in Panama City, Florida, and downtown Boston) but have only written about one of them: King Arthur's in Chelsea, Mass. (see January 22, 2019, "Not Exactly Camelot").

So when a fellow chronicler of the rough-and-rusty side of things mentioned Hurricane Betty's in Worcester, well, I figured that would be a great jumping-off point for my second visit to the Bay State's second-largest city.

My buddy thought the gentlemen's club had closed, and said he was hoping to get inside -- he's more of an urbex guy than I am. The place wasn't open when I arrived early one Sunday morning, but I could tell it was still in business. The joint has been "changing the world one lap dance at a time" for more than 20 years, and was voted the top such establishment in the city (I'm not sure how much competition there is).

I had a naked ambition to learn more about this part of Worcester -- south of Polar Park, between I-290, the commuter/Amtrak railbed and Quinsigamond Avenue -- so I moved on.

A short hop away from the club, I saw the Miss Worcester Diner -- a little gem in an evolving old industrial neighborhood -- and it was like catching a glimpse of a movie star walking down the street. I've seen pictures of it on Instagram and Facebook, and read about it in various media outlets for years. Voted best diner in Massachusetts in 2022 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the classic eatery opened in 1948. I'm not sure whether it's been in business ever since, but the place was humming, with a line out the door, on the morning of my visit.

In addition to serving up taasty breakfast and lunch fare over the decades, the Miss Worcester also served as showcase of sorts for the Worcester Lunch Car Company, which was located across the street for many years (I'll get to that company in a moment).

In 2019, the diner's owner, Kim Kniskern, commissioned artist Lexi Bella to paint a mural on the side of the Miss Worcester, showcasing Kniskern and her late husband, Robert "BK" Kniskern, Jr., who had helped her purchase the business.

(When I first saw this painting, I thought the dude was Guy Fieri from Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.")

When I'm cruising through towns and cities, for better or worse, I'm on a "get as much as I can" mission, eager to explore as many nooks and crannies as possible, to crush the scavenger/treasure hunt. Unfortunately, that means I don't eat at the great diners, shop in the cool shops or down a cold one at the dive bars. I'm sorry to tell you, dear reader, that I am not perfect.

Anyway...the Worcester Lunch Car Company.

When I took the photo above, I couldn't make out the ghost sign above the flea market banner. I had no clue what this place had once been. When I posted this shot on a Facebook ghost signs group, I learned that it was once the Worcester Lunch Car plant. I was shocked and amazed and glad I'd noticed the ghost sign and made the photo.

Located at the corner of Quinsigamond Avenue and Southbridge Street, the diner manufacturer was in business here from 1916 to 1957. The company was founded in 1906 and operated out of a different facility for the first decade. From MACRIS: "The Worcester Lunch Car and Carriage Manufacturing Company was founded by Philip H. Duprey and Irving M. Stoddard. They bought out the lunch car-building enterprise of Wilfred H. Barriere and Stearns A. Haynes at 69 Franklin Street in Worcester. The company built 651 diners, beginning with serial number 200 and continuing through 850. When Worcester remodeled one of its diners, it kept its original production number. Worcester was know (sic) for a well-built conservative handcrafted diner. Even into the 1950's, the company continued to employ wood trim and booths on the interior. Many Worcester diners sported beautiful graphics in porcelain enamel."

There are many Worcester Lunch Car diners still in operation around Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England and other states (I've written about ones in Clinton, Mass., Webster, Mass. and Natick, Mass.).

The Worcester Lunch Car Company stopped building diners in 1957 - a victim of competitors building larger eateries. "By the 1940s, diner manufacturer customers began asking for larger eateries with sleeker designs and shiny surfaces," according to this 2022 WGBH article. "The Worcester Lunch Car Company tried to meet those demands, producing diners that could seat about 60 people and featured slanted metallic roofs. However, the company struggled to compete with New Jersey’s growing industry.

"[Diner guru Richard] Gutman said New Jersey manufacturers started producing more modern stainless steel diners that could seat about 150 people. The Worcester Lunch Car Company refused to retool its small factory in order to create similar designs. As a result, the company lost customers and made just a handful of diners in its final years before going out of business. 'Nothing lasts forever,' Gutman said. 'The company had basically run its course.'"

The company's assets were auctioned off in 1961, according to Wikipedia. The space is currently occupied by a tattoo shop, the Worcester Flea Market and other businesses.

I'm happy that so many diners -- including ones built by competitors -- still dot the New England landscape.

Speaking of which....

Located one block south of the Miss Worcester, Marvin's Corner Lunch Diner was built by a New York-based Worcester Lunch Car competitor. From MACRIS: "Built by DeRaffele Diners in the mid-1950s, the diner was originally located in Babylon (Long Island), New York. In 1968, Musi Dining Car Company purchased and remodeled the diner and brought it to Worcester."

"[T]he Corner Lunch was established in 1968 by Jim and Fred Efstathiou," MACRIS indicates. "Beginning in 1954 Jim and his father had operated the Corner Spa at this intersection. Later the two brothers took over the business. After the death of their father, they tore down a house next to the spa and installed the present diner. The business closed in 1978."

I'm not sure how long the diner was shuttered after that closure.

DeRaffele Manufacturing was founded in 1933 in New Rochelle, NY. I believe the company is still in business, building and renovating diners.

Miss Worcester and the Corner Lunch sit squarely in the middle of an industrial zone that, while still somewhat active, at one time must have supplied hundreds, if not thousands, of potential customers. To the north, on the other side of the railroad tracks, is the Junction Shop industrial district, where numerous factories operated during the 20th century (there are still some industrial businesses there), and which I featured in the second part of my ongoing Worcester series (see February 3, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Second"). Some of these old factories have been converted to apartments, and others are slated for redevelopment.

Here are links to the first part of my Worcester series, and the third.

To the south of the eateries was the Lundquist Tool and Manufacturing Company (still in business as Lutco, which I will discuss later in this post) along Quinsigamond Avenue. The diners are situated at the western end of the Southbridge-Sargent Manufacturing District, which still features some businesses, as well as a slew of empty mill buildings and some vacant lots.

"The Sargent Street Manufacturing District is located immediately east of the junction of the Boston and Albany, the Norwich and Worcester, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroads," per MACRIS. "The construction of these railroad beds in the mid-nineteenth century led to the development of the surrounding area as one of Worcester's major manufacturing centers."

The building shown below, the former Sargent Card-Clothing Factory, built in 1866, is one of the most architecturally significant factory buildings in Worcester, according to MACRIS.

Located at 300 Southbridge Street, directly behind Miss Worcester, the building is covered in graffiti and murals, and is empty. In its heyday, in the early 1880s, Sargent was "among the largest of its type in the United States, manufacturing 'Machine Cards for Cotton, Wool and Flax machinery.' Involved in a complex series of partnerships, the Sargent Card-Clothing Company acted 'as special agents for the James Smith Woolen Machinery Company of Philadelphia' by 1881. By 1886 the business had become a part of the Sargent Hardware Company and in 1890 the business was sold to the American Card Clothing Company, a conglomerate which purchased all but two card-clothing factories in the United States."

"Card clothing is a specialized component used in textile machinery, particularly in carding machines," according to TextileGlossary.com. "It plays a crucial role in the process of converting raw fibers into yarn by aligning and separating the fibers. The primary purpose of card clothing is to clean, parallelize, and blend fibers while eliminating impurities and short fibers. This process ensures the production of high-quality yarn with consistent properties."

(Art on the rear of 300 Southbridge Street.)

The former Sargent Card-Clothing building is boarded up and has a red "X" on it, which indicates it's not safe for use. In February 2022, Boston-based Dalfior Development applied to the Worcester Historical Commission for its plan to partially demolish 300 Southbridge and develop the site for retail and residential use. I'm not sure of the status of that proposal.

Across Sargent Street from that building is 125 Gold Street, seen on the right in the photo below, one-time home of the Whitcomb Manufacturing Company.

"The Whitcomb Manufacturing Company Factory, built in 1892, is a two-storey (sic) brick building of utilitarian design. Founded in 1849 by Carter and Alonzo Whitcomb as C. Whitcomb Company, the firm became the first successful manufacturer of copying presses in the United States....In 1905 the Whitcomb Manufacturing Company merged with four other firms to form the Whitcomb-Blaisdell Machine Tool Company."

MACRIS has a write-up about the former Rice and Griffin Manufacturing building that was situated across Gold Street from the Whitcomb plant, but that building has been torn down. There is a building in the lot just east of that, which may have been part of the same factory.

Rice and Griffin was founded in 1866, per MACRIS, and manufactured mouldings, doors, sashes and blinds. "In 1875 the company advertised that it had 'the only Machine in New England that will work circle rope mouldings, cutting right and left.'"

I'm not sure when either Whitcomb-Blaisdell or Rice and Griffin went out of business, what, if any, businesses are located in these buildings today, and if there are redevelopment plans afoot.

There are a few more buildings in this area that caught my eye.

Tucked under a massive railroad trestle, this little place may have been part of the Whitcomb outfit, or perhaps was related to one of the railroads.

On the rear of 13 Quinsigamond Avenue, just south of the Miss Worcester, I spied a nice mural, featuring Jimi Hendrix.

Along Lamartine Street, heading east-northeast from the Corner Lunch, is another former mill building.

This place houses a self-storage company, dates to 1907 and is known historically as the F. E.Reed Tool Company Factory. Just next door is Century Linen, which has been in business since 1915.

From this point, I trucked (well, carred) on over to just northeast of Polar Park, to check out some stuff along Green Street that I missed on my first visit to Worcester.

At the corner of Temple and Green streets, in the shadows of a train bridge, sits a rather unassuming building housing a small bar and a shuttered shop.

At the far left is the entrance to The Sundown, which calls itself "a purveyor of fine and sophisticated beverages."

For a quarter-century leading up to its 2019 closure, this space was home to the city's iconic Dive Bar. I love the port hole in the door.

The other part of this building was filled by English Darts & Billiards, a game shop that has been closed for a while.

There's a very cool mural along the side of The Sundown, created by Scott Boilard, a Worcester-born artist with a degree from the Art Institute of Boston.

Next door to the old darts store is Fiddlers' Green Pub, which is operated by the Ancient Order of Hibernians/Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division 36.

"Altered beyond recognition," according to MACRIS, this one-time Italianate home dates to around 1855. Known historically as the Anson Hobart House, it was occupied by the Polish-American Veterans Club prior to the Irish club taking over.

Around the corner on Winter Street, I was quite taken by the Iron Workers Local 7 building.

The union, which represents workers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, traces its history back more than 120 years. The building dates to 1930.

I got in my car again and headed south to Millbury Street, just west of highway 290. The first thing that caught my eye was the sign for the Polish Naturalization Club.

The building dates to 1961.

Across Ashmont Avenue from the club is Alpha Restaurant Equipment, which has been in business for more than 30 years.

The company, which also sells pizza ovens, is located in a circa-1925 building known historically as the Charles E. Mattson Company Building and Warehouse. The company operated a furniture store. There is a ghost sign on the west-facing exterior wall for another that business, which featured Oakland stoves and ranges.

On the north-facing wall is another ghost sign, this one advertising a local store, I believe.

Thanks to someone on Waymarking with either a keener eye or more patient research skills than I have, I learned that this sign says: "Bay State Tobacco / Gilman & Moffett / Esta Lee Candies."

I headed north on Millbury to check out a few bars.

Meservey's Harding Rock Cafe appears to be closed. I wanted to get closer to check it out, but was wary of a few sketchy characters hanging out front. The sign features a dart board, an 8 ball and a couple clinking glasses.

The 9ines Neighborhood Bar is definitely open, and is located in what is known as the Manning Block, which dates to 1890. The Blackstone Canal once flowed directly behind this area, where Harding Street is now located.

Steel & Wire, which gives a nod to long-gone Worcester manufacturer American Steel & Wire Co., replaced Nick's, a longstanding bar and cabaret that was "a beloved bar [that was] a second home to for (sic) the city's poets, comedians and musicians," according to this Patch article from March 31, 2022.

The building is known as the Dulligan Block, and dates to 1899.

From there, I drove up Cambridge Street, parked and checked out a nice mill complex.

The sign is for Lundquist Tool Manufacturing Co., which is now known as Lutco.

Lutco makes semi-precision bearings and custom metal solutions. This complex dates to 1890 and is known historically as the Prentice Brothers Machine / Powell Planer Company, per MACRIS. The common name is Crompton Loom Works.

From MACRIS: "The group of industrial buildings at 665-677 Cambridge Street took shape slowly throughout the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth century on land owned by George Crompton, and played an important role in the industrial development of the area. The oldest portion of the building is No. 665 Cambridge Street, which was built in 1890 as a factory for the Powell Planer Company and Prentice Brothers Machinists. By 1896, the Crompton Loom Works, owners of the land, had constructed the three-story building at 667-677 Cambridge Street. Throughout the early twentieth century, the buildings were expanded, and occupants included Crompton Loom Works, R.L. Morgan Co. Motor Trucks, and Reed Prentice Company. An immense warehouse was added in the mid-twentieth century (Castle Metals)...."

In addition to Lutco, other tenants include wholesale countertop sellers Raphael Stone and Ray's Hot Rod Garage, seen below.

The company has been in business since 1962, I believe.

That's all for now folks!