Portland...  On the Move |
Issue 69 ~ News from your
Town Hall ~ October 1999
| Downtown Festival a great success; Special Recycling Program for Small Businesses; Police Merger; Nuclear Emergency Drill; and more... |
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Halloween Irish immigrants in America switched over from turnips to pumpkins, which were more plentiful in the New World.
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27% knock on wood. 13% are unnerved if a black cat crosses their path. 12% would never walk under a ladder. 11% believe they'll have bad luck is they break mirror. 9% fear the number 13. 2% believe in lucky clothing. 1% pick up pennies in hopes of having good luck. Columbus Day
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By: Doris Sherrow Portland Country Market In the late 1700s, quarry owner Timothy Russell built himself a large, comfortable colonial-style house on the lot where Portland Country Market now stands. Russell's property included a profitable indenture with an early quarry company - an 1819 lease gave him $10 for each square rod of property quarried behind the house. When he died in 1840, the house descended to his son, Daniel. In 1862, Civil War troops were sent off from the Russells' place. Rev. Samuel Emory of Trinity Church recorded in his diary for August 25: "Officiated as chaplain in front of Mr. Russell's for the company raised here, about to leave for New Haven… Presented swords to the volunteer company at the picnic in Mr. Russell's grounds, and made a speech with fear and trembling." When Daniel Russell died in 1869, his occupation was listed as "care of his own finances," which entailed some $300,000 in land, buildings and quarry stocks, equivalent to over $20,000,000 today. The house passed to his son Frederick, who had been living there with his young family for several years. Frederick eventually moved out of town, and the house became quarry housing. Toward the end of its days, it was a boarding house called the "Portland House." In 1929, fire raged through the building, gutting the interior. Soon after, Timothy Russell's grand house was razed. At this point, the property was acquired by Morris Joseloff and his associates. Joseloff had emigrated from Russia in 1900. With his brothers, he founded Economy Grocery, which merged with First National Stores in the early 1900s. He made tremendous profits, which he plowed back into his adopted country. He donated millions to Brandeis University, Yale School of Medicine, Wadsworth Athenium, and the Joseloff Gallery of Art at the University of Hartford. In various towns around Connecticut, Joseloff and company typically bought up a parcel of land in the town center and set up a supermarket on the site. The vacant lot at 272 Main was ideal. A deed from April 14, 1931, mentions "a one-story building" on the lot - the new supermarket. |
From 1931 until 1957, First National Stores operated from this site, although in its first decades, it shared the building with at least two other businesses. Wannerstrom's appliance store occupied the 30 feet at the end closest to the bridge, and the Conklin Pharmacy occupied the northernmost 20 or 30 feet. The grocery store had made the middle section. A tavern and a dry cleaners also occupied various corners of the building at one time or another. In 1957, First National moved to Marlborough Street, to what we identify today as the Tri-Town Plaza. For a year or so, the building at 272 Main stood vacant, until Don Demar, a 26 year old who was running a small market in Hartford, contacted Joseloff's company. Demar had little capital to sink into the store, but Joseloff seems to have liked his style, and offered him generous terms. Don started up the Portland Supermarket on July 17, 1957. He fondly remembers Joseloff's combination of extraordinary business sense and rare generosity. Until 1961, Fire Company #1's second firehouse, a small gambrel-roofed house-like structure built in 1923, stood neatly between what was long Brownstone Pharmacy and the supermarket. People had fewer cars, and more people walked to the grocery store, so the front spaces were enough in the 1940s and 50s! In 1961, the town took down the firehouse, and parking behind the store was opened up. (A 1980s beautification effort threatened to make those front spaces into three slots of parallel parking; the will of the people prevailed, however, and kept this supermarket as wonderfully convenient as it is!) Don admits to putting up the unique tower/bird condo on the south side of the front. "It was a 60s thing…" he says, somewhat ruefully. Recently I watched Katie, a young neighbor, showing her toddler the cute birdies up in their many nests in the tower. Almost certainly, her own mother, Mary Ann, must have shown little Katie the cute birdies up in their nests, some twenty or thirty bird-generations ago! Of such stuff are traditions made! In 1983, Don sold the supermarket to Warren Carlson, the current owner. Carlson's son, Warren Jr. ("J.R."), came home from vacation that year to discover that he was no longer running his dad's store in Meriden. He'd been switched to the new one in Portland! Sixteen years later, he's still at it, coordinating the millions of demands and needs and mix-ups involved in feeding much of Portland. About the business, standing like David amidst the Super-Goliaths, he says: "It gets harder every year…" Down cellar on the plywoond walls are hundreds of signatures. Kids who worked in the store over the decades signed their names, and usually a date. And somehow, that sums it up. This little supermarket is about people, about a more human scale of life. Not some site-leveling behemoth, controlled by out-of-state or even foreign interests. It's about seeing your neighbor when you run down for a loaf of bread. Saying "hi" to your son's friend as she works the register. The birds in the condo hope we keep it that way. |
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Lately I've noticed a recurrent theme poking through the highlights of the evening news.
Human vulnerability.
We find it easy to feel secure and comfortable in the civilized world we live in. Our days are more or less routine. When we want excitement, we go on vacations, or to the movies, or compete in sports. As long as we are healthy and our jobs are secure, the paychecks keep coming. There are annoyances, like traffic jams, selfish drivers, and Washington politics, but they don't overtly threaten us. |
We have been powerless to stop the razing of tropical rain forests, despite all the warnings given to us by leading scientists. The possibility of a small comet colliding with the earth was given much publicity on the silver screen some months ago. Talk about helpless! We act as if air and water pollution is under control - yet asthma is on the increase, and new diseases, like fibromyalgia, are probably pollution-related It's not just nature we have to watch out for. American terrorists bomb a federal building, killing hundreds. Children shoot children in school. A madman sprays bullets in a child care center. Road rage results in shooting. We see unbelievable torture and mass killings in Yugoslavia and Timor. We tell ourselves that such things could never happen here. Hopefully that is true. But it is wrong to think that, given the chance, some of our own citizens would not participate in barbarous mass killings. We are not immune from the angry and the ignorant, the government haters, religious or social fanatics, people arming themselves for civil war. And then there's Y2K. Global problems of unimaginable scale were predicted, but now seem under control. We feel safe once again, thanks to quick action and sufficient foresight. But what if no one warned us? What if other threats are coming that we are completely unaware of? Humanity has faced many threats during its time. War. Pestilence. Famine. Draught. Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Hurricanes. The living bury the dead, cities are rebuilt, and life goes on. Perhaps it's good to feel secure while clinging to our illusions. Paranoia and pessimism is nothing more than a living death. Nevertheless, a certain awareness of our vulnerability is essential. It helps us realize how precious life is, how the living moment should not be wasted. It also encourages a healthy degree of caution. We don't have all the answers. Technology offers us wonderful tools, but the quality of our lives still depends on the decisions we make, the relationships we foster, the values we believe in. Computer games and sitcoms, addictive as they are, do not relieve us of the responsibility of living wisely. Indeed, our present-day culture of distraction might be even more damaging to the actual requirements of living than all the other threats combined. |
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Education First Day Jitters By: John Sieller On September 1st, we welcomed 131 new third grade children for their first day at Gildersleeve School. Up to this day in their lives, the only school they truly knew was Valley View. On this day, with so many unfamiliar people and surroundings, the boys and girls appeared happy yet nervous. Internally, their feelings of anticipation and excitement must have been almost overwhelming. Their biggest fear was the possibility of getting lost on the way to the bathroom and never being found. A great deal of their excitement came from seeing all their "old" friends in a new school building, while being led around a "huge" new school by their new teacher and introduced to an entirely new group of educators.Many outwardly enthusiastic parents probably harbored some of the same anxious thoughts as they watched their "little treasures" climb quickly into the bus or as they dropped them off at the entrance to Gildersleeve. Picturing their children in a school that wasn't Valley View was difficult. Yet, few could probably remember their own first day of third grade (or any other grade), even if challanged to do so. For example: · What memories do you have of your third grade? · Do you remember your teacher's name? Can you recall what he or she looked like? If you had to guess his or her age, how old do you think he or she was at the time? · What do you think was most important to you when you were in third grade? Our six grade teachers also had their own case of the first day jitters, and most, if not all, would testify to a restless night's sleep. Each having worked for several weeks in August in preparation for this day, their anticipation was at a high point. By far, for most teachers, however, the first day of school is a spectacular gift. It is as exciting and vibrant as the first day of spring, offering endless opportunities to "start off fresh" - a chance to begin the process of cultivating young minds and guiding boundless energy. What a shame that everyone in America can't have these same feelings of excitement and exhilaration each September. Everyone could then enjoy a "second springtime" each year. |
Board of Education The Education Advocacy Committee of the Portland Parent/Teacher Organization is pleased to be sponsoring Meet the Candidates Night on Monday, October 18, from 7:00-9:00 PM at Valley View School. River of Hope If you have a story to tell or an item to loan, please contact Alison Guinness at 860-873-9304, or Bob Farwell at the Museum at 860-767-8269 |
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