Archive Record
Metadata
Catalog Number |
BUS 1100.09 |
Title |
Winchester Business Records |
Collection |
Business and Industry |
Object Name |
Records |
Date |
1725-1996 |
Scope & Content |
The bulk of this collection consists of papers that were formerly held by the Winchester Historical Society. The collection includes leaflets, advertisements, newspaper clippings, and other business materials relating to several businesses in Winchester. The businesses represented in this collection include the Winchester Cooperative Bank, the Winchester National Bank, the Winchester Savings Bank, the Black Horse Tavern, Horace Ford Restaurant, the Winchester Brick Company, and the Winchester Theatre, among others. |
Admin/Biographical History |
The Winchester Savings Bank was the first bank in Winchester, chartered in 1871. Its building on Mt. Vernon Street survives as the Northmark Bank. The Winchester Co-operative Bank was incorporated in 1893. As it grew it moved into the Lane Building on Church Street and, in 1931, moved into its own building next to it. The Middlesex County National Bank was instituted in 1897and reorganized in 1913 as the Winchester Trust. It occupied a new building on Church Street across from Waterfield Road (then Common Street), later used by BayBank and (as of 2016) Bank of America. The Winchester National Bank was chartered in 1918 and began business in the Lane Block on Church Street; in 1925 it purchased the block. The Shawmut Bank later occupied the building. The Black Horse Tavern, also used as a private home, dates to the 18th century. The building was torn down in the late 19th century Horace (Hod) Ford (1897-1977) was a Major League Baseball player who opened a restaurant in Winchester after retiring from the game. He played for the Boston Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Brooklyn Robins, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals between 1919 and 1933. After retiring as a professional, he played with amateur Winchester teams. The McKay Metallic Fastener Company built a new plant in Winchester on 15 acres near the Aberjona River between Swanton and Cross streets (site of the current Transfer Station) in 1893. Just six years after the factory was built, the McKay Company merged with the Goodyear Machinery Company and Consolidated Hand Lasting Machine Company to form the United Shoe Machinery Company. The Winchester factory became known as the McKay division of USM. After a massive new plant opened in Beverly, the McKay business transferred there. Due to an immediate shortage of space, USM used the Winchester building through 1906. It was later sold to the Puffer company for the manufacture of soda fountains. The Winchester Brick Company was originally owned by John J. Gallagher of Milton (d. 1945). The plant was probably built about 1920. The plant manufactured sand-lime brick. The company also had properties, sources for sand, in Burlington and Woburn. The Winchester Laundry was established in 1898 in a little building on Converse Place, replaced in 1912 by a brick and concrete building, now an office building known as the Mill Pond Building. Incorporated in 1906, the business acquired branches in other communities and became, in 1926, New England Laundries, Inc. The Winchester Theatre was built in 1937 following a controversy, which started in 1918, over the suitability of having a movie theatre in the town. The turning point came in 1934, when Albert J. Locatelli bought property on Main Street and proposed to convert the buildings into a complex of stores and a movie house. He applied for a film license from the Board of Selectmen, who said they would only grant a license after an affirmative vote of Town Meeting. When Town Meeting voted no, the pro-movie group went the route of a referendum. On April 16, 1935, Winchester residents overturned the negative Town Meeting vote. Locatelli again applied for a license, but the issue dragged on. Saying it would be unwise to act hastily when questions of town planning were involved, the selectmen turned for advice to the Planning Board, which undertook consideration of several issues. In February 1936, Locatelli gave up and built the Locatelli block without a theater. That October, the first license to show moving pictures in Winchester was granted to E. M. Loew, whose chain built a brick colonial structure on the old Whitney Mill site on Main Street (now site of the Winchester Savings Bank). The gala premiere was held in December 1937. |
Copyrights |
Permission to publish material from this collection is subject to approval by the Town of Winchester. |
Finding Aids |
A finding aid with detailed information about the contents of the collection is available. Contact the Archives for a copy. |
Subjects |
Advertisements Business & finance Business enterprises Business people Deeds Industry Theaters |
Search Terms |
Atlantic Telegraph Company Black Horse Tavern Board of Selectmen Church and Lane Church Street Guild, Church, and Co. House of Edison Light Lane Building Main Street McKay Metallic Fastener Company MIll Pond Building New England Laundries New England Telephone and Telegraph Company Northmark Bank Shawmut Bank Telephone Exchange Town Meeting United Shoe Machinery Company United States Postal Service Whitney Mill Winchester Brick Company Winchester Laundry Winchester National Bank Winchester Post Office Winchester Savings Bank Winchester Telegraph Office Winchester Theatre |
People |
Ayer, Thomas Prentiss Bailey, L. Brown, George P. Cutter, William R. Ford, Horace Holt, Horace Lindley, William W. B. Locatelli, Albert Pento, Louis Richardson, Nathaniel Sanderson, Edmund Stone, Ella Twombly, Helen M. Whitney, Joel M. |
Containers |
Banks - Winchester Cooperative Banks - Winchester National Banks - Winchester National Banks - WInchester Savings Banks - Middlesex County National Bank Black Horse Tavern McKay Metallic Fastener Company Post Office Winchester Brick Company Winchester/New England Laundry Winchester Theatre Utilities Horace Ford Restaurant Kelley and Hawes Church and Lane & Guild, Church & Co. Sanderson Whitney Machine Co. Lindley Silk "Factory" L. Bailey |