Digging Into Gardner

From Dave Brigham:

The first time I was in downtown Gardner, Mass., was in the mid-'80s when my car broke down. The night before, my friend Jim and I had seen R.E.M. in Boston and stayed at his family's home in Somerville, Mass. As we made our way north back to the campus of Keene State, my car conked out along Route 140.

We got a tow to a service station downtown and discovered, much to our excitement, that we could grab a bus nearby that would take us to Keene. A hippie dude who lived in our on-campus house was sleeping on this bus, which I found terribly amusing. I'm sure we spoke to him, but all these years later I can't recall where he was coming from. Probably a Dead show.

While I've passed through the small Worcester County city plenty of times since, heading up and back to Keene, I hadn't checked out downtown since the time my old Dodge Aspen fell ill. So on a recent trip back from jamming with the Slade Wiggins Band, I swung through Gardner to make some photos.

The first place I saw was O'Neil's Bicycle Shop on Main Street.

I love this sign! From what I can tell, O'Neil's has been in business for at least 44 years.

Right next door is the Blue Moon Diner, which looks amazing for 75 years old, don'tcha think?

Built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company in 1949 and originally located in Winchendon, Mass., and known as the Miss Toy Town Diner, the eatery has been in Gardner since 1954, according to Wikipedia. "A wood frame addition to the east provides space for the kitchen and additional table space."

"The diner, which has seen a succession of owners, was restored in 1984, and is the only diner in Gardner," according to Wikipedia. "The diner was used as a scene in the movie 'School Ties' featuring Brendan Fraser. In the movie the name of the diner was changed to Skip's Diner."

A few doors down, heading, north, I spied an old tile entryway for Gardner Appliance.

The store was in business from 1950 to 2000, I believe. The space is now occupied by Crown Fried Chicken.

Steps away is the Paramount Cafe, which has been in business for decades and is a no-nonsense joint from what I've seen of people's reviews online.

At the top of Main Street, where it meets Pleasant Street, are three buildings that once comprised the Goodnow-Pearson department store. I only shot a tile entrance, one of two.

Opened in 1899, Goodnow-Pearson over the years sold men's, women's and children's clothing; shoes; furniture; kitchen goods; and much more. The store closed in late 1987 or early 1988. "Through the 1990s, the Chinese restaurant Mythical China opened there before it was destroyed by a suspicious fire in 1999," according to this article from The Gardner News. "Ten years later in 2009, the building was revamped into the Greenwood Luxury Apartments. Once again, the block became a showpiece of downtown Gardner as it had been nearly a century earlier. In 2012, Patti Bergstrom moved The Velvet Goose from its spot on Parker Street to 24 Main St. after water damage forced her to move from her previous location." The Velvet Goose has been selling children's and women's clothing for nearly 40 years.

Standing in front of The Velvet Goose, you see two nice older buildings across the way on Pleasant Street.

Parker House of Pizza, on the right, is located in a building known historically as Davis' Brick Block, according to MACRIS. "The Davis Block, has the rectangular facade, corbelled roofline, patterned brick work, and labeled segmented arched window caps that are characteristic of much late 19th century commercial building," MACRIS indicates. "Built at a time when West Gardner Square was just being developed as a commercial area, the actual building is lower than it appears to be. The three-story facade hides a two-and-a-half-story gable front building behind it."

As you can see in my photo, at some point since the MACRIS write-up, the three-story facade was removed to reveal the building's true look.

On the left in the photo above is the First National Bank building, which was built in 1923. The bank was organized in 1864 and incorporated in 1865.

Rounding the bend onto Central Street, the old journalist in me had to stop and appreciate the Gardner News building.

Established in 1869, the Gardner News is a daily newspaper (save Sunday) serving northwest Worcester County. The building was completed in 1906, and was [d]esigned to resemble an old English printing shop," per MACRIS, and features "sixteen-inch brick walls and hard maple floors throughout."

A little further northeast, at the corner of Central and Pine streets, is the Carbone Block.

Currently home to the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center, the building was built in 1900 by brothers Michael and Louis Carbone, who owned a confectionery store here, per MACRIS. "The upstairs consisted of the Grange Hall, Red Men's Hall, and the shop of Louis Sonese, clothier," MACRIS continues.

On the side of the Carbone Block is a nice ghost sign for Pillsbury's Best all-purpose flour.

I doubled back, crossed Pleasant Street and headed west down Parker Street. There I saw the Ryan Brothers Block.

Built in 1895 in what MACRIS calls a Utilitarian Victorian style, the Ryan Bros. building was originally occupied by the brothers' boot and shoe store, Robichaud and Mountain clothing store, and Gardner Hardware Company, per MACRIS. "The rear basement was used for the Ryan Brothers' undertaking rooms and the shop of a plumber. On the second floor were an ice cream parlor, club rooms, and the shops of a tailor, a milliner, and a dressmaker. The third floor was devoted to a large meeting hall and a lodge room, banquet hall, and kitchen."

Today, the storefronts on the ground floor appear to have been converted to apartments. I'm assuming there are apartments or offices in the upper floors.

Not far away is Lakin's, which has been selling children's fine apparel since 1935.

The store is located in what is known as the Robichaud Block, which rose in 1915. MACRIS calls its style Polychrome Classical. The building was originally used by Robichaud & Mountain Clothiers, Smith & Leavitt Jewelers and T.T. Greenwood and Son Furniture. By 1930, an outlet of the J.J. Newberry retail chain had taken over much of the space.

In the second photo, you'll see the word "WINCHESTER" in the tile entryway. Lakin's is located in the space previously occupied by the Winchester Specialty Shop, which sold women's clothing.

Continuing west, I dug the sign for Straightaway Records.

Across the street from the record store is Beauregard Liquors, which has a nice sign and appears to have been in business for quite some time. In between the two is a small island of land with both a statue honoring veterans of the Spanish-American War and a plaque memorializing those who lost their lives in the explosion of the USS Maine in Cuba in 1898, which led to the U.S. involvement in the war.

According to this article from The Gardner News, "the tablet and statue were both cast from metal recovered from that ill-fated ship."

In February of this year, I wrote about another tribute to the USS Maine, located in Woburn (see February 24, 2024, "Woo Woo! It's Woburn Time").

At Parker Street's intersection with Main and Pleasant stands the Garbose Building, which dates to 1883. I took a photo of the busted-up tile entryway.

The Colonial Revival building was originally known as the Garland Building, after the pharmacist who kept a store on the ground floor. In succeeding years, this place was known as the Ryan Building and the Liggett Building. The Garbose brothers -- Abe and Samuel -- ran a clothing store here.

I walked past the First National Bank building on Pleasant Street, and felt the need to make a photo of the Salem Coin Shop, which is located in the forrmer bank building.

I'm unsure whether Salem Coin is in business, as I can't find a listing online. There is a Gardner Coins and Cards listed in the city, and in the 2018 Google Street View image of this sign, it reads "Gardner Coin Shop."

Right next to the coin shop, I saw an old facade for a J.C. Penney department store, something I'd never spotted before on my various excursions.

To be honest, I forgot that J.C. Penney was still a going concern, seeing as how the chain filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 and closed hundreds of stores. But there are still 659 stores across the country.

The one in Gardner opened in 1925 or 1926, about two dozen years after the department store chain was founded.

From Wikipedia: "In 1898, [James Cash] Penney went to work for Thomas Callahan and Guy Johnson, who owned dry goods stores called Golden Rule stores in Colorado and Wyoming. In 1899, Callahan sent Penney to Evanston, Wyoming, to work with Johnson in another Golden Rule store. Callahan and Johnson asked Penney to join them in opening a new Golden Rule store.

"Using money from savings and a loan, Penney joined the partnership and moved with his wife and infant son to Kemmerer, Wyoming, to start his own store. Penney opened the store on April 14, 1902. He participated in the creation of two more stores and purchased full interest in all three locations when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907. In 1909, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks and railroads. By 1912, Penney had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913, all stores were consolidated under the J. C. Penney banner....In 1913, the company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company....In 1914, the headquarters was moved to New York City to simplify buying, financing, and transportation of goods."

At its peak in 1973, the company operated 2,053 stores, living up to the motto seen on this facade, "A Nationwide Institution" (see photo below). The Gardner store was in business until sometime in the 1970s, per MACRIS.

My final stop was Brian's Bowlaway on Main Street.

(Bad side of the sign.)

(Good side of the sign.)

The bowling alley has been in operation under its current name since 1989, according to this 123 Main Street USA blog post (I love the idea behind this blog: "Actual businesses. Different cities. Same all-American address."). The kegling joint has been here since at least the 1970s, and probably much earlier.

That's all, folks!