A Short Hitch in Fitchburg

From Dave Brigham:

In the spring of 2022, a friend and I went to the Fitchburg Art Museum to see an exhibit called American Roadsides: Frank Armstrong's Photographic Legacy. I had never heard of Armstrong before stumbling across mention of the show, but I could tell from the write-up on the musuem's web site, that he was a kindred soul - and a quite talented one at that.

Check out the video below from Clark University, where Clark served as a photography professor from 1999 to 2021. In it, he talks about his photos and his approach to life. "Photography was the excuse," he says in the video. "I was really going out there to be in that country."

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit, which featured plenty of gorgeous images of the sort that I make of small towns and medium-sized cities alike. I totally connect with Armstrong's sentiment about using photography as an excuse to explore the world. I haven't traveled outside of the United States much, but I've made up for that a little bit by going on adventures in cities and towns in New England, largely in Greater Boston.

I had never been to the museum, nor to Fitchburg, so the opportunity to check out a new city while peeping some great art really appealed to me. After our museum visit, my friend and I went looking for a place to eat. We ended up at the Moran Square Diner, which looked amazing from the outside, and served good food in a hip atmosphere.

Ever since that trip, I'd wanted to get back to Fitchburg. In late September of 2025, I made that trip, and of course my first stop was the diner.

Below are a few images I made back in 2022:

How about that shiny enamel facade?! And the lettering for the name of the diner, and the remnant of what I imagine was once a very cool neon sign?!

Below is a shot of the interior:

LPs above the counter - never seen that before, and I loved it. Miles Davis, Real Estate and the Postal Service. Eclectic and smart choices. The owners, Brittany and Adam Willoughby, launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2021, looking to raise funds to restore the diner and add new features, such as a deck in front and a refurbished sign. "The diner was built in 1939 by The Worcester Lunch Car Company and has remained open until 2018 when it was permanently closed," the Kickstarter page indicated.

I knew none of this when I ate there; I'd just happened upon the place and insisted to my friend that we had to eat there.

I'm not sure what happened between my first visit to the diner and my second. This eatery is now known as Royal Chicken. Based on the menu available online, it appears to be a Middle Eastern affair.

Below are images I made in September 2025:

I was saddened to see the beautiful Moran Diner script sign covered up. This happens a lot with these historic diners, which change hands and names every so often. I didn't go inside. I hope the counter and booths are intact.

From there I headed west along Main Street. In relatively short order I walked past a trio of ghosts of retail past.

The top one looks like it says "MILLER'S." I found mention of Rome's on a Fitchburg-oriented Facebook group, but nothing about Miller's or a store called Lewis. I'm always happy to stumble across these old tile entryways.

Speaking of stumbling...let's check out the Rollstone Boulder!

I walked past all sorts of old buildings, some in good shape, others not, some with ground-floor tenants, others not. I checked out a ghost sign I'd learned about in my pre-search, but it was too faded to interest me. Then, at the top of the Upper Common, located in a showcase triangle where Main Street splits to the west of downtown, I spied a GIANT ROCK.

The Rollstone Boulder was "carried by the last glacier from Mt. Monadnock New Hampshire to the summit of the hill whose name commemorates it," according to a plaque on the big stone. Rollstone Hill is situated about three-quarters of a mile southwest of this spot.

The boulder "was for centuries a land mark to Indian and settler," the plaque's text continues. "Threatened with destruction by quarrying operations, it was saved by popular subscription, and reassembled here, 1929-1930."

I have to say I find that story fascinating and inspiring. The stone weighs 110 tons and is made of porphyritic granite.

A few doors down Main Street, heading west, I was taken by the groovy sign and sad facade for The Recovery Room.

The upholstery store has been closed for quite some time. I noticed the peaked roof sticking out above the brick building, but didn't think much about it. MACRIS tells us that the original part of this building dates to 1833 and was at its completion the city's first Baptist church.

On the side of the former house of worship is a cool old sign.

Littlehale + Fisher was a construction contractor. I'm not sure what years the company was in operation.

Around the corner, heading southeast on Main Street is another former church building.

Built in 1797 (!), this was Fitchburg's second meeting house. It was originally located near the corner of Main and Prospect streets, near where the Unitarian Church now is, according to MACRIS. "When the affairs of the church and town were divided, the meeting house was moved to its present location."

A few doors down, on the side of the historic Joslin House where both The Break Bicycle Shop and The Boulder Cafe (established in 1934) are located, is a massive promotional poster for the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, an annual bike race.

From Wikipedia: "The race was founded in Fitchburg...in 1960, as the Arthur M. Longsjo Jr. Memorial Bicycle Race, in memory of Fitchburg native and resident Art Longsjo. In 1956 Longsjo competed in the Winter Olympics as a speed skater and at the Summer Olympics as a cyclist, making him the first American to compete in Summer and Winter Olympic Games in one year. In 1958, Longsjo perished in a car crash in Vermont, while driving home after winning the 180-mile long Quebec-Montreal Road Race."

In 1991, "the race expanded to a four-day stage race format, which continued through 2010," Wikipedia continues. "Stages included a time trial, a circuit race on a 3-mile loop in the Fitchburg State University area, a road race in Princeton and Westminster that finished atop Mount Wachusett, and the traditional downtown Fitchburg criterium. As a stage race, the event was one of the largest pro-am bicycle stage races in the country and part of the various national calendar races of the period."

The race was canceled in 2011 and 2012, but revived in 2013. The final race was held in 2019.

At 781 Main Street is the Phoenix Building, a Renaissance Revival building completed in 1893 for the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Co.

Today, the building is occupied by the Fitchburg Historical Society.

Next door is the unusual-looking Proctor Block.

This building dates to 1832. It was designed in the Federal style, MACRIS indicates, but in the 1880s, a man named H.M. Francis remodeled it in the Victorian Eclectic mode. "[T]he only remaining features from the earlier design are the parapet end walls and the asymetrical bay spacing of the street level shops," MACRIS indicates. "The building maintains many character defining features of its Victorian Eclectic Style, including the decorative brick patterns, terra cotta panels and capitols, door transoms, parapet gable dormer, and the cast iron pilasters along the street level shop fronts. The building's main feature is the semicircular masonry opening in the center bay of the third story."

That semicircular opening sure is eye-catching. Prior to the remodeling, tenants included a grocer, a jeweler and a photography studio. More recent occupants included a pharmacy, a card shop and a tailor. Today, tenants include Grizz Gang Forever Studios, a music recording business.

At 721 Main Street is the Quinlan Building, which opened in 1913 (or 1929, depending on which source you check) with theater, commercial and office space.

The theater operated under at least a few names -- Saxony Theatre and Estre Cinema, per MACRIS -- over the years. Cinema Treasures indicates that it closed in the 1980s. Antiquity Echoes says there are 1,700 seats in the auditorium (click that link to see some photos from the now times as well as the past), and that in its heyday the theater featured films, live acts and musical performances.

Cinema Treasures indicates that Fitchburg State University purchased the building in 2018, and that the school began renovations in 2022 with the goal of turning it into a performing arts space. As you can see in the photo above, however, there is a sign under the marquee that indicates, as of late September 2025, CONSTRUCTION STARTING SOON.

In January 2023, the university received $2 million in federal funding "toward the development of a 'black box' theater to be constructed adjacent to the main theater building in the downtown performing arts center," according to this press release fron U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts. "The new construction will be used for university productions and the public, with the restoration of the historic theater to follow in a future phase of construction."

Fingers crossed.

Just up Main Street is what surely is one of the most beautiful buildings in Fitchburg.

In 1883, George Fay had this Victorian Gothic home built, after he had amassed a fortune through his investments in Massachusetts railroads, per MACRIS. "In 1894, [Fay], along with others, helped establish Burbank Hospital. When he died in 1895 his daughter, Lucy Fay, inherited the $100,000 home and several million dollars. With these funds Lucy helped Fitchburg working girls by providing room and board at several homes belonging to the Helping Hand Society for Working Girls."

Upon marrying and moving to California in 1910, she donated her home to the Park Club, of which her father had been a founding member. One stipulation was that the club change its name to the Fay Club. The stable was converted to a gymnasium.

The organization still exists, although it shut down in 2015, only to reopen the following year. From what I can gather at its web site, the club exists as a place for members to eat, drink and be merry. I suppose there may be charitable efforts made.

Across Main Street is the Classical Revival Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company building.

Currently home to Italian eatery Dario's Ristorante, this place dates to 1925 and "is the best example of Neo-Glassical architecture on Main St.," according to MACRIS. The company eventually was merged into Unitil Corp.

A few blocks east, on the north side of the street, is a fantastic former YMCA building.

Completed in 1894, the Y building was originally five stories, according to MACRIS, but two were removed at some point. The facility featured a boy's reading room, an association hall, a gymnasium and bowling alleys, MACRIS indicates. The building was later home to a branch of the Worcester County National Bank. I'm not sure if there are currently any tenants.

Next, I made a quick detour heading south on Putnam Street, and I'm glad I did.

I'm not sure the details of Putnam Street Lanes (how long it's been open, info about the building), but I'm glad it's still in business. Whenever I'm researching towns to explore, I look for diners, old theaters, ghost signs and bowling alleys first.

Speaking of ghost signs:

I passed plenty of old buildings along Main Street, but I only caught sight of one faded advertisement. Located on the side of the Coggshall and Carpenter Block, the sign is unreadable. If anyone can read it or knows the history, let me know.

As for the building, it dates to 1877. Tenants over the decades have included, according to MACRIS: Albee, Lyons & Company, which sold trunks, valises, & bags; LH Pratt & Co, watchmakers and jewelers; the tailor shop of Charles Clement and John Holland; a dry goods store known as Nichols & Frost; Royal Hat Co.; and many more. The upper floor was a hall used by various groups over the years, including Fitchburg Lodge of BPOE 847; the Spanish War Veterans; the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States; Lawrence Ayers Post 794 and the American Legion Post, Fitchburg No. 10.

Current tenants - I'm not sure.

After making that image, I scooted down Mill Street, a pedestrian-only way that skirts behind several Main Street buildings. The street was renovated and decorated by local artists in 2019. I dug the look of Eddy's Music.

I swung up Cushing Street and back to Main Street. The JL African/Caribbean Food Market is located in the Drury Building, at the corner of Blossom Street.

Fred Drury built this place in the 1920s to house his grocery store. Whelan Drug was in this space from the 1930s to 1960s, MACRIS indicates, while St. Paul Catholic Book and Film Center occupied the first floor later in that decade. Upstairs tenants, according to MACRIS, have included the Knight Templars Education Foundation; several attorneys; The Morrill Photography Studio; Fitchburg Conservatory of Music; American School of Music); Gagnon & Fitzpatrick real estate; The Pink Salon beauty Shop; Francis J O'Connell real estate; P Fusco, a music teacher.

My final stop was on Day Street - a former hotel and one-time mansion.

MACRIS doesn't have a lot to say: "Unique (to Fitchburg) row-houses along Cherry Street, and brick mansion and large hotel section along Day Street. Hotel Raymond, named after Raymond Dwyer, was for years most important hotel in town. Henry A. Hatch erected Mansard section along Cherry Street (by 1875)....Hatch ran a grocery business."

The Fitchburg Historical Society Facebook page offers some color commentary: "In the early 1900s the Hotel Raymond at 35-41 Day St. was owned and operated by J. Raymond Dwyer. Besides being the proprietor of the hotel, Dwyer was also in partnership with Andrew H.M.. Hawthorne in owning bowling alleys and pool tables at 16 Putnam St."

So the bowling alley mentioned above has been around for more than 100 years. That's cool to find out.

One more tidbit from that Facebook page: "The Hotel Raymond on Day Street was the playing site of one of the earliest nationally rated chess tournaments held in Fitchburg. The event was the 4th annual Central New England Open Chess Championship, sponsored by the Wachusett Chess Club of Fitchburg, the second-oldest chess club in Massachustts, and held in June 1965 in the hotel's ballroom."

These buildings are now apartments.

The Shire of Worcester, Part the Ninth

From Dave Brigham:

Often times when I post photos on Instagram that are also featured on this blog, people will ask me how was the food at the diner, or did I down a cold one at a dive bar, etc. Almost always I reply, "I didn't go inside." And that was the case with all of the buildings in today's latest Worcester post - save one. And I didn't check it out on the day I was exploring, but shortly after.

I made a long list of Worcester destinations some time ago (see the bottom of this post for links to the previous eight installments in this ongoing series). I flagged the area just east of Salisbury Pond, just west of Interstate 290 and a bit northeast of Worcester Polytechnic Institute for one reason...which I'll get to shortly.

The first site on this relatively short tour was the former Washburn & Moen cotton mill on Grove Street.

"The building was originally constructed as a three-story cotton mill in 1863 by the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, which grew to become the world’s leading manufacturer of barbed wire and other wire products during the second half of the 19th century," according to MACRIS. "A fourth story was added to the building between 1888 and 1892."

Founded in 1831, the company manufactured barbed wire, telegraph wire, piano wire, crinoline wire (for hoop skirts!), wire nails and other products. The company became part of U.S. Steel in the early 20th century.

Several businesses occupy the massive space today, including Safeway Luxury Transportation, Medi Tresse Worcester, some law offices, The Fix Burger Bar and Fuel America coffee house.

OK, let's get to, as Homer Simpson would say, the working overtime part.

I hope that sign lights up real purty at night time. If you walked or drove by that sign at the northern edge of the Washburn & Moen complex, you might take a quick look around and think, "Huh, cool sign. Too bad the diner's not around anymore." But you, thankfully, would be very wrong.

Walk east through the parking lot next to Safeway Luxury Transportation and the wonderful truth becomes more evident.

When I saw this compound on Google Street View many moons ago, I flipped out. Old signs, a diner, a big space built behind the diner - located in an industrial back parking lot. "What the hell is this place?" I wondered.

Ralph's Rock Diner is a singular food and entertainment destination, with a long history of feeding people's stomachs and souls. As you can see, this legendary joint started life as Chadwick Square Diner, and, according to MACRIS, may be the city's oldest existing diner. The Worcester Lunch Car Company built it in 1930; its production number is 660.

The eatery was originally located about a mile north on Grove Street. "During the 1960's and 1970's, the Chadwick Square Diner was operated by Ralph Dryden at another location, 1475 Main Street," according to MACRIS. "The diner returned to Grove Street, not far from its original site, in the late 1970's."

There is a medium-sized brick building extension of the diner, which I assume by the industrial look of it, is a former cotton mill structure. Ralph's web site says it has a "full bar and original lunch car vibes," so I assume the diner retains at least some of its 1930s charm. I also assume the diner was moved to this location with the precise idea of turning it into what it has become.

I made these photos on May 3 of this year, on my way back from a trip to Connecticut. As I was editing the photos from this jaunt, I looked up Ralph's Rock Diner online to see what it's all about. Checking the club's event calendar, I saw that on Friday, May 16, an artist named Arto Vaun was playing the club. I've been a fan of his for years, since seeing one of his bands play at a friend's party many years ago, so I decided I had to go.

I rallied my buddy who had hosted Vaun's band in the late '90s, and we drove out to Worcester on May 16. We didn't go into the diner, but instead straight to the bar at the back of the first floor. The place has a real roadhouse vibe, with pool tables, dim lighting, tattooed rockers hanging out, vintage movies playing on TVs above the bar.

My buddy Lee and I thoroughly enjoyed the wacky horror flick on the telly. I asked the bartender what is was.

"'Howling III,'" he replied. "The full title is 'Howling III: The Marsupials.'"

The three of us cracked up.

After one drink ('Gansett for me, inspired by the big sign on the exterior wall), we paid the cover charge and headed upstairs to the bar. I thought there were supposed to be four bands on the bill, and that Arto Vaun was playing second or third. But within about 15 minutes, he and his crew took to the stage and away we went.

(Arto Vaun, center, and his band.)

They sounded great, ripping through several new songs I didn't fully know, and many older ones that I did. The crowd at that point was pretty small -- a handful of older guys like Lee and me, and, I was happy to see, some younger, gothier folks. After the set, Lee called out to Arto, who was flabbergasted. "I saw you from the stage," he exclaimed. "And I said, 'Is that Lee?'"

The three of us chatted for a few minutes. Arto is a really nice guy in addition to being a talented singer, songwriter and guitarist.

Here's a taste of his music:

The interior of the bar, both upstairs and down, is a feast for the eyes.

I hope to get back to Ralph's, as it's a great venue. Maybe next time I'll try the food!

From Ralph's, I headed east to Prescott Street, and then north. I walked past several industrial properties. The first one that caught my eye was an older one-story brick buildling occupied by Harpers Payroll Services.

There's nothing particularly interesting about the building or the company. I just kinda liked the sign. The building dates to 1960, per the Worcester assessor.

The next building is a lot more, uh, interesting.

What I've dubbed the Silver Apple Building was built in 2005, according to the assessor's database. I'm not sure I believe that. Sometime between October 2017 and September 2019, per Google Street View, the building was renovated, going from a warehouse-style that looked like a barn and a house simultaneously, to its current incarnation, which gives one an industrial, space-age apple farm vibe.

It is occupied by an outfit called Workplace Resource, which, among other things, conducts office space planning and work station design and budgeting, per its web site.

Finally, a named building in a gritty part of the city, with a history tied to farming.

Located at 100 Prescott Street, this building, currently known as the Washburn Building, rose in 1874 and was leased at that point to the Ames Plow Company. The owner was Stephen Salisbury III, hence the "SS" carved into the plaque in the photo above. "The Ames Company continued manufacturing plows on Prescott Street until 1911 when this branch of the company was moved to South Pramingham, Mass.," according to MACRIS.

Current tenants include Coghlin Electrical Contractors, Washburn-Garfield, a process piping specialist that is a division of the Collins Companies, and Waites Industrial, another subsidiary of that firm.

Below are links to the previous eight installments in this Worcester series.

August 2, 2025, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Eighth"

July 19, 2025, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Seventh"

July 5, 2025, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Sixth"

November 16, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Fifth"

April 13, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Fourth"

February 10, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Third"

February 3, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Second"

January 27, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the First"

Walking Through My Old Man's Stomping Grounds, Part I

From Dave Brigham:

A child of the Great Depression, my dad moved around a bit in his early childhood, due to the fact that his father had lost his business. Eventually, the family settled in Springfield, Mass., where my dad spent his formative years. He went to his hometown school, Springfield College, and talked about the city on occasion when I was growing up, mentioning Indian motorcycles, which used to be manufactured there, and the invention of the game of basketball on his school's campus.

I visited the original Basketball Hall of Fame, which was on the college campus, when I was a kid. I also went to a cemetery in the city when my grandmother died in 1989. But other than that, I hadn't spent time there until the spring of 2014 (see April 14, 2014, "Coincidence?"). I finished that post with these words: "I hope to get back to Springfield in the near future to explore more cool buildings, and to learn a bit more about the city that helped shape the great man who was my father. Rest in peace, dad."

I made my initial visit to Hoop City just two weeks before my father passed away. I finally returned 11 years later, less than a week after my mother passed away. Springfield has taken some economic blows over the decades, but I found plenty of signs of life, as well as great old buildings, restaurants, bars, signs and more in the Metro Center area that I explored.

Located in the northwest quadrant of the city, near I-91 and the Connecticut River, Metro Center is the beating heart of Springfield, "with more than 60 clubs, restaurants, and bars — numerous festivals, cultural institutions, educational institutions, and significant historic sites," per Wikipedia.

As I often do, I researched online ahead of time to find a good starting point. The old Paramount Theater on Main Street fit the bill (but it is the final site in this post). Around the corner, on Lyman Street, hard by the railroad tracks serving Springfield Union Station, I happened upon what for me is a rare find: a lovely bit of novelty architecture.

A.W. Gifford, Inc., a full-service locksmith, has been in business since 1866. This building rose in 1950, but I haven't been able to find out anything about the architect. I wish more buildings had designs connected to their use.

A short distance away, heading northeast, is the Powers Block, which dates to 1873 and was built for the Powers Paper Company.

In more recent years, this complex was home to W.F. Young, which was founded in 1892 as a manufacturer of horse liniment. In the photo below, you can see the "W" of the company's name in the lower right corner.

W.F. Young is now located in neighboring East Longmeadow. The company's products include ones that provide wound care and joint support for horses, as well as snacks for cats and dogs.

I crossed Chestnut Street to get a shot of the very cool work of art someone created using elements of a ghost building.

These phantasms are working hard, lugging things up and down the stairs, imagining a time when the Collins Block was a busy warehouse of cotton waste for the E.F. Collins Company. The building dates to 1910, and is currently quite derelict. I haven't found out who painted this.

I made my way to Taylor Street, which parallels Lyman Street to the southeast. I shot the rear of the Baystate Corset Block, which was a mish-mash of paint colors and add-ons and industrial and restaurant space.

"This large block was built in 1874 to house two woodworking concerns," according to MACRIS. "P.P. Kellogg, who had bought the building five years earlier for his paper products business, built an addition along Taylor Street. Ten years later, Bay State Corset began manufacturing their 'women's and children's waists.' They remain located here through 1920.

"During its peak years, Bay State Corset Company produced 5,000 corsets daily," MACRIS continues. "The top floor was devoted to cutting rooms, the middle two floors to over 400 sewing machines run by young women workers. In all, 75 to 80 different styles of corset were produced. The firm was one of the largest makers of corsets on the continent and sold its goods to wholesalers and retailers nationwide."

I shot an old corset manufacturing building in Worcester back in late 2023, one of dozens that used to operate in that city (see February 3, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Second").

The old Baystate Corset Block is occupied in part by Smokey Joe's Cigar Lounge and CreepSheek Studio, which strives "to bring eclectic, whimsical, unapologetically acceptable out of the box beauty to Springfield."

As for the restaurant facade along Taylor Street, below, I guessed it was an Italian eatery.

I assumed it was closed, but the Internet tells me that 350 Grill Steakhouse is alive and well (unlike its main course - bada bing!). While there is Italian food on the menu, I wouldn't call it an Italian eatery.

Continuing southwest on Taylor Street, I came to the Stacy Building, which was built in 1893 for a company that manufactured and dealt in machinery and mill supplies, according to MACRIS. But there's more!

The Stacy Supply Co. leased out the upper two floors in the early days. According to MACRIS, one of the tenants was J. Frank Duryea, who, along with his brother, invented the first gasoline-powered automobile in the United States - right in this building!

After some initial work and testing, "Duryea decided to build a car 'with the Machinery (sic) well concealed in the body....Built with a 2 cylinder, 2 cycle motor, my (??) gear and clutch transmission giving 3 speeds and reverse, this vehicle had its first test on the top floor of the E.S. Stacy building late in 1894,'" according to MACRIS. "Tests were promising and after the engine was converted to four cycles, this was the car that J. Frank Duryea drove to win the Times-Herald race on Thanksgiving Day 1895 in Chicago. This was the first automobile race in America, and the Duryea entry was the only 'American made gasoline car to start.'"

Near Taylor Street's intersection with Main Street is a complex of old mill buildings that have been converted to the Silverbrick Lofts.

These buildings are part of the Powers Block complex mentioned above.

Across Main Street, at the corner of Worthington Street, is the Bowles Building, which houses a Springfield institution that I'll get to in a minute. Hold your horses!

This place dates to 1858 and has been "altered beyond recognition" and is known historically as the Fort Block, per MACRIS. The name comes from the site's history as the location of a fort built by John Pynchon in 1660 to protect townspeople during King Philip's War. The block was erected by Springfield's first insurance company, Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Co. Over the years, banks, newspapers and business schools occupied the space.

The upper floors have been vacant since 1997, and there is a redevelopment plan in the works (I think) for the 66,000-square-foot building, according to this Rebuild Springfield document. The plan is for the ground-floor retail to remain, and for the upper floors to be converted to office or residential use.

OK, let's get to that ground-floor retail/restaurant space, located on Fort Street.

Finally we arrive at a place where I know my dad spent time: Student Prince and the Fort.

Established in 1935, the Student Prince was originally smaller, with just a bar and space for booths, and a small collection of beer steins. In 1946, according to the eatery's web site, ownership added the dining room. Over the ensuing decades, the place grew into a local landmark and the stein collection grew to be one of the largest in the United States. Go to the Gallery page on the restaurant's web site to see the inside of this place, including some steins.

I don't recall my dad mentioning this place, but one of my cousins said she's sure that her dad and mine had been to the Student Prince over the years. It seems like an obvious Springfield College hangout.

I've been there twice. The first time was in 2010, the morning after seeing my favorite band, the Flaming Lips, at Mountain Park in nearby Holyoke. The second time was during the aforementioned trip to Springfield a few weeks before my dad passed by. I recall eating too many sausages and being completely floored by the stein collection.

At the end of Worthington Street, where it meets East Columbus Avenue, is a fantastic old building.

Known as the Homestead Building or the Phelps Publishing Company Building, this Romanesque Revival beauty dates to 1903. "The Homestead Building served as the general offices for the Phelps Publishing Company," according to MACRIS. "The company published a local weekly, the 'Springfield Homestead' and three other weeklies including the 'American Agriculturist of New York which enjoyed a wide rural circulation. In 1932 this building was taken over by the Blue Line Transportation Company and it was at this time the first floor facade was altered and an entrance was placed in the corner at the base of the tower."

Take note of the town crier blowing a bugle above the entrance to Noir, a nightclub that may no longer be in business.

At this point, I doubled back to Main Street, where I made some photos of the old Worthy Hotel, which I featured in my Springfield post from 2014.

This is a gorgeous building. I'd like to think my father went to an event of some sort here in his younger days, perhaps escorting a young woman from his high school or college. Built in 1895 as a six-story building, the hotel was raised by two stories in 1905, and then expanded into a neighboring office building four years later.

Now an apartment building, the Worthy has two ground-floor retail spaces. City Jake's Cafe has been in business for more than 30 years; Kim & Lee is a jewelry store that sells, among other things, gold teeth name plates.

Across a small plaza is the Fuller Block, a splendid Romanesque Revival building that dates to 1887, and which I didn't get the best photo of.

From MACRIS: "It was reported at the time of construction that the Fuller Block was the 'first to include every metropolitan convenience, passenger elevators, steam heat, a mail chute, running water in each suite of rooms.' It was also reported the first to have Georgian marble floors and wainscoting and a marble staircase. The building attracted a high class of tenants with two or three first quality clothiers on the first floors and several physicians on the upper floors."

All mod cons, as the Jam would say. Today's tenants include architecture and design firm Dennis Group.

I doubled back to Worthington Street, this time heading northeast. I was happy to see signs for Theodore's (Blues, Booze & BBQ) and Smith's Billiards. I'm guessing these businesses are related.

Theodore's has been in business for more than 30 years. Smith's traces its history back to 1902 as a billiard academy. They are located in Smith's Building, which was built in 1897 and was constructed in the Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne's styles, per MACRIS. From its first days until 1913, this block was occupied by McIntosh Shoe Company, which was "not only the oldest but the largest inland boot and shoe jobbing house in the New England States," per MACRIS.

In 1914, "Fred Smith moved his billiard parlor and bowling alleys to this block," MACRIS continues. "He had begun business in 1903 in the block next east of this one, and had acquired a number of pool and billiard tables from the 1905 St. Louis Exposition. In the new setting the second floor was utilized as a billiard parlor, and the upper floors for the bowling alley. Before World War II 'the center of candlepin bowling in Western Mass. was located in downtown Springfield in the upper three floors of the Smith Building.'"

Across Worthington Street is the King Block (on left).

Home to Offsite 2twenty2, this little building has a big history. Originally a five-story addition to the building just to its west, it was used by a wholesale and retail paper dealer when it was built in 1892, according to MACRIS. In 1900, George Hendee, a "national bicycling champion from 1882 until 1887," moved his bicycle manufacturing business to the fifth floor of the King Block.

"At this time Hendee was developing an interest in motorized bicycles. After meeting Oscar Hedstrom, an engine designer from Brooklyn, he decided to develop a motorcycle for general use. Within a year the first machine was completed and named the 'Indian Motocycle.' The year 1902 was the first quantity production year with 142 being produced."

Eventually, Hendee moved one block west, and then, as sales increased, took the company to Winchester Square, which is now known as Mason Square. I'm pretty sure that my dad grew up close to Mason Square, which is probably why he talked quite a bit about Indian Motorcycles when I was a kid.

Meanwhile, back at the King Block: it eventually became home to the John Boyle O'Reilly Club, "probably the largest and longest lasting Irish American social club in Springfield," according to MACRIS. The club was formally incorporated in 1933, and was located here until the late 1940s.

Next door is the Royce Block, which was most recently home to Dewey's Jazz Lounge. The venue closed in April.

This Italianate building rose in 1887 for Charles Royce's laundry business. The company moved to larger quarters by 1915, and this building was used as a hotel and boarding house for many years afterward.

This area of Metro Center is a prime destination for eating and entertainment, as you may have guessed. These places are equidistant from scores of vacant lots that were once factories of various sorts, and the MGM Springfield, a casino complex that opened in 2018. I will feature a few shots of the casino in a future post.

There are two cool murals along Worthington Street that really liven up the street.

This "Wizard of Oz" artwork made me chuckle. My dad, you see, acted in community theater for most of his life, and over the years he took on several roles in this play, from the Tin Man to the Wizard to an apple tree.

I believe this mural was painted as part of Springfield's City Mosaic initiative, which over the past two decades has completed multiple projects across the city.

Perhaps the most ambitious project is the recreation of a wall mural on the side of the Driscoll Building for the defunct Bloom's Photo Supply.

"Several years ago, [artist] John [Simpson] and I were approached by State Representative Sean Curran who thought it would be a great idea to paint a mural and restoration on a building on Worthington Street, whose wall faces the neighborhood which was once a thriving entertainment district," Evan Plotkin, a local businessman and board member of City Mosaic, says on the group's web page about this project.

Initially, the team rejected the idea of restoring the mural, which had faded quite a bit over the prior six decades. "After several meetings and listening to members of the Historical Commission, who spoke to us repeatedly and passionately about the intrinsic value of the old advertisements and the historic value they represented, we changed our minds," Plotkin said.

The restoration, unveiled in August 2022, is remarkable. It is vivid and bold and detailed and pays homage to many sectors of Springfield's past and present. "The wall is no longer a wall," Plotkin says. "It is a piece of art, and it is more than just art. It is a window to the past, a vibrant, colorful part of the present, and a bridge to the future."

Well said, and well done.

Simpson worked with at least two other artists, who are featured in a photo on the City Mosaid web site, but not named.

Below is a video of Plotkin, Simpson and others discussing the spark for the City Mosaic project.

We move from that big, beautiful mural to a smaller, but no less important one, painted on a shuttered watering hole tucked into an old train bridge that crosses Main Street near Union Station.

The Stone Wall Tavern opened in the 1940s, I believe, and closed for good several years ago. The building was originally a food shack for train workers according to the video below.

The tavern's name echoes with the name of the famous New York City gay bar that was the scene of a 1969 police raid in which bar patrons fought back, a watershed moment in the LGBTQ community (read all about it here). I mentioned the riot, and one of the prime instigators, in a well-after-the-fact post in February 2022 about a visit to NYC (see February 5, 2022, "New York Flashback: Views While Strolling and Shopping").

The Springfield tavern is so named because it is literally made of stone, and the back wall of the place is part of the stone bridge over Main Street. Still, it makes for a great symbiosis between the well-known historical event and a local group working to support LGBTQ youth. If I'd known the significance of the mural, I would've made better images of it. The work was painted as part of the Common Wealth Murals initiative, which "collaborates with communities to create powerful public art that honors histories, celebrates local heroes, and inspires bold visions of the future," according to the group's web site. Common Wealth partnered with Out Now, which calls itself "[t]he only queer youth organization in Springfield."

"The story of this mural, it's a comparison between the experience that queer youth have in school now, and then a radical reimagining of what school would look like if it was conducted in a way that was really supportive of queer youth," according to Britt Ruhe, director of Common Wealth Murals, in the video below.

The mural project was led by Mimi Ditkoff, working with members of Out Now. I will feature another of her murals in the next Springfield post.

Last, but not least, is the old theater I mentioned at the top of this post.

Located on the opposite corner of Main Street from the Stone Wall and known most recently as the Hippodrome, the theater opened as the Paramount in 1929, inside the former Massasoit Hotel. The hotel closed three years prior, and the space was converted to offices, according to this After the Final Curtain blog post.

The hotel opened in 1843 in a separate building on this location, I believe. The current building dates to 1857; it was substantially rebuilt in 1912, according to MACRIS. The hotel served as a stop on the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War, according to this article from the Springfield Museums.

The Paramount was a 3,200-seat theater offering movies, vaudeville acts and concerts, among other entertainment. By the mid-1960s, live concerts had become more popular for the theater. "In 1969, the Paramount closed for the first time," according to After the Final Curtain. "It reopened In 1975 and was renamed the Julia Sanderson Theater, after a Broadway actress from Springfield. Live shows continued at the theater until 1979, when it became a revival movie house, and its name was changed back to the Paramount. A new screen, and a speaker system taken from the recently closed Victory Theatre, were installed. It closed for a second time in 1986, but was used occasionally until 1999."

In December 2000, after spending $1.3 million to upgrade the facility, Paramount Realty Investment/Creative Theater Concepts reopened the space as the Hippodrome, a live entertainment and nightclub space, according to After the Final Curtain. "The Hippodrome was a popular nighttime downtown destination for most of the 2000s," After the Final Curtain indicates. "In 2011, it was purchased by the New England Farm Workers Council (NEFWC) for $1.7 million. They operated the theater sporadically until closing for good after a shooting in April 2015."

The NEFWC sold the theater for $750,000 to Sachdev Real Estate Development Inc., a Connecticut corporation based in Suffield, last September. I'm not sure whether a redevelopment plan has been unveiled. Let's hope for something great at this place that, let's face it, my dad probably visited at least once during his time living in Springfield.

(Entrance to the Massasoit Building. The plaque on the right indicates it was built in 1843, and restored in 1986.)

Make sure to check back for the second part of my Springfield expedition.