Strolling Through Stoneham

From Dave Brigham:

I worked in Stoneham, Mass., in the mid-'90s, but I hadn't been through the small town north of Boston in quite a few years before my recent visits. Known best, perhaps, as the hometown of Nancy Kerrigan -- who once almost ran me over in her large SUV as I was innocently leaving work one day -- Stoneham was settled by colonists in 1634 and was originally part of Charlestown.

My first visit -- during which I walked along Main Street, between Elm and Summer streets, with a few side streets tossed in for good measure -- took place on Saturday, October 28, on what turned out to be the town's Halloween Stroll. The downtown area was mobbed by families strolling from business to business to get treats, celebrating on the town common with games, crafts and other activities, and otherwise having a blast getting into the spooky spirit.

As much fun as it was to see people living it up on a beautiful fall day, I felt uncomfortable trying to make photos of cool old buildings, signs and storefronts with kids swarming all around and parents wondering whether I was a perv. I managed to get plenty of shots, but felt the need to return on a quieter day.

Here's what I found, starting on the east side of Main Street, near the intersection with Montvale Avenue.

City Cycle, located in a circa-1880 building, has been in business for more than 60 years. A family-owned outfit, the store sells bikes of all sorts, along with accessories. In addition, City Cycle sells ski and snowboard equipment and accessories, and offers service and repair, to boot.

I love the shop's sign, especially the gnarly part at the top.

Next door, heading south, is Round's Hardware, which has been in business here for many years.

This old brick building has an interesting back story. According to MACRIS, it was built in 1883 as a roller skating rink. Two years later, the Town of Stoneham purchased the building and used it as an armory for Company H 6th Regiment of the Stoneham Light Infantry. The town's assessor says this building dates to 1913, so perhaps it underwent a renovation at that time. I'm not sure how long it has served as a retail store.

Cater-cornered from the old armory, on the west side of Main Street, on the corner of Montvale Avenue, is a wonderful clapboard retail/office building that dates to 1890, according to the assessor.

I figured MACRIS would have a write-up on this place, but I was wrong. Still, I found an important nugget of information with the indirect help of the database. MACRIS had info about a double house located next door to the building in question, which mentioned that it was located near the E.L. Patch Company complex (which I will talk about below). A Google search for the company led me to a 1903 map of this area indicating that at that time the beautiful building in my photo was the town's Red Men's Hall.

I've written about this organization a few times on the blog (see January 13, 2024, "Malden? Karl Malden? No, the Other One" and August 7, 2022, "A Nice Walk in Natick Center, Part I"). Here's the boilerplate, from Wikipedia: "The Improved Order of Red Men is a fraternal organization established in North America in 1834. It claims direct descent from the colonial era Sons of Liberty. Their rituals and regalia are modeled after those assumed by men of the era to be used by Native Americans. Despite the name, the order was formed solely by, and for, white men. This whites-only rule was part of their bylaws until 1974, when the all-white clause was eliminated. Their current position is that they are now open to people of all ethnic backgrounds."

The organization is still active in many states, and includes a women's auxiliary, The Degree of Pocahontas. The Stoneham council is now located on Franklin Street, seen below.

A few doors away, heading due south, is the Cleveland Building, the front-facing tenant of which is Pignone's Cafe, in business since 2007. Built in 1985, the rather non-descript, mixed-use building has historic value only to me and a handful of people I worked with in the mid- to late-'90s. This, you see, was the hallowed home of Digital Music Network, Inc., which did business as Webnoize.

I started working (well, volunteering) here in 1995, writing CD reviews and articles in the evenings after my day job as a proofreader at an accounting firm. In 1997, I quit that job and started full-time at Webnoize, although I was working for stock, not money, initially. The company developed an excellent reputation as one of the first online outlets covering the convergence of the music industry and the Internet. Before its demise in late 2001, Webnoize was covering the music, movie and gaming industries, producing highly regarded research into trends of entertainment online, and running conferences in L.A. and New York.

Eventually the company moved to better space outside Central Square in Cambridge (which I mention in my post from June 17, 2023, "Cambridgeport, Part I: MIT/Biotechs/Nuclear Reactor/and Maybe Death Rays"). In mid-November of 2001, things went to shit and everybody lost their jobs. That was the last "real" job I had.

Continuing south along Main Street, we come to #367, home to Curtain Time, which for more than 40 years has sold window coverings and interior decor in a circa-1910 building.

The other half of this address was most recently occupied by Smokey's Longhorn Cafe.

This building was approved for redevelopment in late 2022, with a plan calling for ground-floor retail space with nine apartments above.

I'm going to ping-pong my way along Main Street for a little bit. Across from Curtain Time is one of only a few survivors of mid-19th century Central Square, according to MACRIS.

Built around 1850, this Greek Revival building may have originally been a dry goods or other retail store, according to MACRIS. Current occupants are Stoneham Barber Shop and the Helaine Marie hair salon.

Looming next to this quaint little place is 380-82 Main Street, which dates to 1865 and is home to Ceramica Paint Studio and The Stones Common House & Kitchen. The building is seen in the photo below, at left.

The building in the foreground above is the Dow Block, a Second Empire beauty dating to 1864.

Located in the heart of Central Square, fronted nicely by the small but picturesque Buckley Park, the Dow Block "is the most important of the three major mid-late 19th century commercial blocks which define...Central Square; the others are the Chase Block and the Odd Fellows Building," per MACRIS. "The Dow Block achieves this stature through its early date, the quality and integrity of its Second Empire style design, and its key location at the intersection of Main and Central Streets."

In addition to store and office space at the time of its construction, the Dow also housed a post office and a public library. Tenants today include J&B Butcher, The Energy Barre and Rang Indian Bistro.

In a building just to the north of the Dow Block, along Centeral Street, I liked the facade and sign for A & K Jewelers, which was established in 1949.

The Chase Brothers Block is due west across Main Street from the Dow Block, and it, too, is an impressive slab of a building.

Built in 1874, this Italianate building is quite handsome. "It was built by local businessmen in the grocery business," according to MACRIS. "It has housed small shoe manufacturing concerns, banks, shops and offices." Today tenants include Firicano Boxing and Fitness Center and Serenity In the City, a salon and spa.

The third of the major mid-late 19th century buildings is the Odd Fellows Building, at the corner of Central and Franklin streets.

"The Odd Fellows Building [compares] favorably to the Chase and Dow Blocks, but [it is] unfortunately stuccoed-over," according to MACRIS. "[It] follows the mansard-roof tradition of other important local buildings of the period. The third-story dormers are the best conserved feature, each with a triangular pedimented lintel, and small brackets."

Stoneham's Odd Fellows "comprised several fraternal orders, including the Columbian Lodge, Columbian Encampment, Daughters of Rebekah, and Canton Fells," per MACRIS. "Many businesses have occupied the first level, including William Walker's Grocery and the Charles Currier Drugstore." The building, which dates to 1868, is currently home to Christine's Sweet Shoppe, Oro Salon & Spa and Gianna's Bridal & Boutique.

Across Central and Main streets from the Odd Fellows building, the Stoneham Theatre dates to 1917 and is today home to the Greater Boston Stage Company. In business since 2000, the not-for-profit GBSC produces around half a dozen shows each year ("Dial M for Murder" and "Guys and Dolls" are among this year's productions) and offers year-round training and performance opportunities to students in grades 1-12.

From MACRIS: "The Stoneham Theatre originally provided space for vadeville [sic] acts, lectures, and plays. One of the first attractions was 'Wanda's Trained Seals.'" Eventually, like most theaters, the Stoneham began showing silent films and, of course, talkies.

"The theatre was renovated to accomodate [sic] the technology of sound and to place a new screen at the front of the stage," MACRIS continues. "Vaudeville was not abandoned, but reserved for special holidays. Eventually, however, the cost of bringing performers to the Stoneham Theatre became prohibitive, and 'Amateur Nights' took the place of live acts."

(That is one helluva tile entryway!)

The yellow building next to the theater, shown below, is home to Evergreen Florists, which has been in business for more than four decades.

The building dates to 1870, and is known as the Dr. A. H. Cowdrey House and Office, per MACRIS. Next door is another old home that was converted to a business.

The Hill House also rose in 1870, and over the years has housed several restaurants and bakeries, including the Sidney Hill Store, according to MACRIS. The old home's most recent tenant was Melissa's Main Street Bistro, which is now closed.

Continuing south on the west side of Main Street, we come to the imposing Petrillo Building.

This building isn't old -- it rose in 2013 -- but the dedication plaque near the front entrance is a nice touch. The building is dedicated to Aquilino Petrillo, an Italian immigrant who founded Petrillo & Son Corp., a masonry, landscaping and site work company. Petrillo was a "devoted husband, father, brother, uncle, nonno and friend to many....He loved his craft and built things with pride."

At the corner of Maple and Main streets is a rather boring sign that I'm guessing used to be a lot cooler.

According to Google Street View, the sign has looked like this since at least 2007. The building housing DB Mart and Center Beverage dates to 1928, per the assessor's database. I'm guessing the arrow used to light up and perhaps once had the name of another business on it.

Across from the beverage center, there stands the largest relic of Stoneham's shoe manufacturing history.

You wouldn't guess to look at this place, which is known as the Residences at Stoneham Square, that it was once the hub of shoe manufacturing in Stoneham. "This was reputed to be one of the first shoe factories in the U.S. to employ steam power for labor-saving purposes," according to this National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Stoneham. The building dates to 1858, and was much more elaborate before being converted first to a furniture store (Love's) and then to condominiums.

I've come across a few "shoe towns" over my years of exploring in Massachusetts -- Hudson and Marlborough -- but had no idea before exploring Stoneham that it was also on this list.

"In 1837, Stoneham earned its reputation as a 'Shoe Town' when its workforce of 297 men and 180 women produced 380,000 pairs of shoes, the largest output in Middlesex County," according to this Stoneham Chamber of Commerce article. "Throughout the 19th century, Stoneham’s industrial base continued to expand. Hand labor in shoe factories was replaced by machinery in large establishments such as that of John Hill & Co....By 1850, more than half of the businesses in Stoneham were shoe making enterprises. Related businesses in the leather industry such as the Tidd Tannery, also flourished."

Below is a photo from MACRIS showing what the building looked like when was occupied by Love's Furniture.

Quite a difference, eh?

The building below, which is sited just south of the Residences at Stoneham Square, dates to around 1912, and I believe was also part of the old shoe factory.

This building is currently home to an office of Astound Broadband, and perhaps other businesses.

Continuing south along Main Street, I was charmed by the First Baptist Church at the corner of Hancock and Main streets.

MACRIS can tell you about it much better than I can (What else is new?): "Constructed in 1892, it is more complex in plan and massing than its predecessors and combines bricks and shingles in its construction. In general, the first story is brick, while the gabled areas and the tower are shingled. The main body of the church is rectangular with two cross gables facing east toward Main Street and a two-story tower projecting out between them. The gables contain arched, stained glass windows and decorative corbeled courses."

The First Baptist congregation built the Queen Anne-style church after having used a chapel on Common Street for more than two decades, per MACRIS.

I was sad to see that an ice cream joint I remembered from my days working in Stoneham, located diagonally across from the church, on the east side of Main Street, was long gone.

The condos in the photo above were completed in 2020. They stand on the site the Dairy Dome once occupied (here's a fan appreciation blog post). From 1980 to 2016, the Dairy Dome was an institution in Stoneham, serving up ice cream cones, Sundaes, frappes, you name it. As if that's not a cool enough history to this plot of land, the ice creamery was located in a former Colonial Beacon gas station.

(The Dairy Dome in its heyday, courtesy of Google Street View's wayback machine.)

I wrote about Colonial Beacon gas stations in my post about Woburn (see February 24, 2024, "Woo Woo! It's Woburn Time"). From MACRIS: "The Neo-classical Colonial Beacon gas station is a well preserved example of early 20th-century, automobile-related commercial architecture....These were designed as flagship stations for the company by the architectural firm of Coolidge and Carlson of Boston."

Other than the one in Woburn, only two others survive, one in Malden and the other in Boston, as of this writing.

As I wrote in my Woburn piece, "According to MACRIS, Clifford Leonard, one of the owners of Beacon Oil Company, convinced his partners to build Colonial filling stations. 'His reasoning was to market these stations as facsimiles of the Bulfinch State House in Boston. The State House served as the centerpiece of the 'Hub' of Boston, and Leonard wanted to have his gasoline station equated with this popular image.'"

Across Main Street from the old Dairy Dome site, I found a nice sign memorializing the old Stoneham Telephone Exchange, which once stood where now there are condos and a few businesses in a building that rose in 2019 and 2020.

Per the sign: "In 1915-16, New England Telephone & Telegraph constructed a building on this site to house telephone equipment and operators....At a 1937 Open House, it was reported that the telephone operators handled an average of 13,000 calls per day." A staff of nineteen women worked here at that point. By 1961 the site was handling 75-85,000 calls per day. In 1961, NETT built a new facility in Wakefield, and shuttered this building.

"The building was purchased by Stoneham Lodge 2211 B.P.O. Elks and used from 1962-2017, when they merged with the Woburn Lodge of Elks. It was razed in 2019."

My walk's southern point was Nutnapat Aroy Thai, an eatery with a great sign.

Built around 1925, this one-story, four-storefront building is known, according to MACRIS, as the Crown Cash Register Block. I haven't found much information about Crown Cash Register. Evidently the company was based in this building, and was a wholesale dealer in cash registers and related supplies. The company is registered to a private address in Stoneham.

Across Main Street, at the corner of Summer Street, is the tandem of Andrea's Pizza and Convenient Store. The building dates to 1962.

The local chain also has storefronts in Woburn, Winchester and North Reading.

On the side of the convenient store is a great Boston sports-themed mural.

The artist goes by Jet, and can be found online here.

After wrapping up this part of Main Street, I ventured off to several places east and north of Andrea's. After absorbing so much great late-19th- and early-20th-century architecture, I was happy to see something a little bit different.

Located at 15 Dale Court, the Boys & Girls Club of Stoneham & Wakefield has been serving youths and teens for more than 50 years. The lodge-style building dates to the early 1960s.

At the corner of Franklin and Pine streets is the old Boston and Maine Railroad depot.

Built in 1895, "This station replaced a gambrel-roofed frame structure...which was constructed when the Boston & Maine (then Boston & Lowell) tracks reached the Franklin Street depot in 1863, two years after the construction of the Farm Hill station," according to MACRIS. "Located adjacent to Central Square, the [1895] railroad station served to reinforce its position as Stoneham's commercial, institutional and industrial center."

After admiring the nicely restored depot, which is occupied by the Stoneham Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union, I glanced south down Pine Street, where something caught my eye.

The sign is missing an "I"; this is the Marconi Club (aka the Marconi Mutual Benefit Society). This is a private club that offers event space and makes charitable donations. I'm not sure whether it is named for Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor and electrical engineer who is credited as being the inventor of radio.

West-northwest of the Marconi Club, along Franklin Street, I found a cool car inside the circa-1920 building at #41.

That's a Studebaker Lark VI inside of Dynasty Auto Tops & Upholstery, which moved from this location to Saugus, and has been in business for more than 30 years.

I was a little confused about seeing an H&R Block Income Tax sign above a door near the rear of the old upholstery shop.

On Pleasant Street, I spied the Old Burying Ground, which was established in 1726 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

From MACRIS: "Inside the Old Burying Ground are nearly 500 head and foot stones arranged largely in rows of individual graves. The oldest markers are constructed of slate, and have been intricately carved by known artisans, including the Lamson shop (Charlestown), Isaac Newton Stone (Harvard), Isaac Fletcher (Lawrence), David Nichols (Lowell) and Bolduc & White (Lawrence). Images on the stones include winged skulls, winged cherubs, weeping willow branches, and draped pedestaled urns. Later markers (dating to the mid and late 19th century) are constructed of marble and display Victorian era imagery."

Steps aways from the cemetery is Pleasant Street Crossing, which I was pleasantly (see what I did there?) surprised by as I strolled along the Tri-Community Greenway where Pleasant and Spring streets meet.

Surprisingly, MACRIS hasn't written anything up about this place. According to this Facebook page for the property, Pleasant Street Crossing was originally a factory. "This 1850's landmark has been renovated into loft-style space with its exposed wood beams and duct work, original radius curve walls preserved and a nod towards its industrial past. High ceilings, and lots of natural lighting make these spaces a unique offering in this market."

This is commercial space, however, not residential. Tenants include Natural Food Exchange, Nouvelle Eglise Evangelique Du Mont Des Oliviers (New England Church of Mount Olives) and Boston Networks, among others.

I love the look of this place, but there is definitely work to be done, at least on the exterior.

A short distance away from the old factory, on William Street, is the Stoneham Historical Society, which is located in a cool old building with an interesting background.

From MACRIS: "This building was built by Oliver H. Marston to house packaging machinery invented by A.W. Souther. Souther, a machinist and inventor, devised a machine to fold the packages used for headache powders. The headache remedies were obtained from the Patch Pharmaceutical Company whose offices were on Fulton (later Montvale) Avenue. This building was probably one of the earliest reinforced concrete structures in Stoneham."

I will cover the Patch Company below.

The old packaging building dates to 1913, and was in more recent years used as the Spanish War Hall, according to the historical society's web site. Veterans of the Spanish-American War used the building as their quarters. They deeded the building to the historical society in 1958.

At the rear of the historical society's property is the Peter Doucette Ten-Footer Shoe Shop, aka the Museum of Shoe Industry.

"This 10 x 10-foot square building is a well preserved example of a kind of shop used by many shoemakers in the late 18th to mid 19th centuries," according to MACRIS. "In Stoneham during the 19th century there were many such shops scattered throughout the town. Usually, the owner-shoemaker worked alone or with family members. Materials could be stored in the 'attic.' Inside the shoe museum are found tools typical of the trade: shoe lasts, wooden forms, a shoe bench, lap stone, shoe hammer, awls, wooden pegs, skivers, edgers, pincers, a rolling machine and sewing machine."

Due west of the restored shoe shop, across Main Street and along Montvale Avenue, is the former E.L. Patch Company complex.

Once again, I was surprised to find the MACRIS cupboard entirely bare of any information about this former pharmaceutical manufacturing operation founded by Edgar L. Patch. I was thankful to find other online sources, such as this web site that has published an eight-page document, Patchwork, that the company published in 1938 in recognition of its 50-year anniversary. "In the early days a large number of crude drugs were ground," according to Patchwork. "Most of the pharmaceutical preparations then in vogue were manufactured. Along with these, chemicals and essential oils were sold."

Judging from a photo in Patchwork, the complex appears to have been larger than the buildings seen above, which are now apartments. The Stoneham Historical Society indicates that Patch "was a major employer of the town in the first half of the century." I'm not sure when the company went out businesses/moved/merged. To see photos of the company's products and read comments from people related to the Patch family, check out this web site.

Heading north on Main Street, past Round's Hardware and City Cycle, I found a two more sites of interest.

The H.P. Smith Monument Company building dates to 1963, while the firm has been in business since 1876.

I was bummed that Hago Harrington's Miniature Golf, which opened in 1952 along Main Street/Route 28, was no longer in business.

I didn't even know about this place on my initial visit, which took place just a few days after the course closed, according to Hago's Facebook page. By the time of my return in early February, the sign was gone and the small course looked pretty sad.

The owners sold off pieces of the course, likely including the sign. The Facebook page indicates that the decision to close was not their choice. One source online indicated that the Ford Motor Co. purchased the property. Stoneham Ford is right up the street. On the day I stopped by the old course, the adjacent parking lot was filled with new Ford pickups.

So who was the mini golf course's namesake? Leland "Hago" Harrington played hockey at Melrose High School and joined the United States American Hockey Association's Boston Unicorn at age 19. In 1925, he signed a contract with the Boston Bruins. He went on to play with many other teams, including the Montreal Canadiens, in his career. He passed away in 1959, just seven years after opening the business.

For a review of the course, complete with photos and short videos, check out this Mass Mini Golf page.