GROTON IN THE 1920s: Buying Penny Candy At The Corner Store, Movies on Friday Nights, The Old Cracker Factory, Dr. Kilbourn's Hospital, Bywater's Blacksmith Shop, The Bandstand

A couple of months ago, Earnest Carkin gave the Herald's readers a glimpse into the Groton of his youth. Ernie was born and grew up in East Groton. But the hub of Town Life in those days, even for a boy from one of the outlying districts, was Main Street in Groton Center.

It was here that the Town's political, religious and social life came together, and it was here that most stores were located. Like other youngsters in his day, Ernie Carkin spent some time on Main Street, buying penny candy at the corner store, attending open air concerts, or going to the movies on Friday nights.

Ernie likes to remember Main Street as it looked when he was a boy. The original dirt roadway that had become Groton's Main Street was paved shortly after the First World War, though modern curbing was added later.

Tall English elms overarched the sidewalks and road. Most of them are gone, and the rest no doubt will disappear before the end of our century. Some maples still survive, but this is no longer the gracious, tree-lined street Ernie knew as a boy. Few people would have predicted, that traffic would one day become one of the Center's main problems.

When he was a boy an occasional horse and wagon or carriage might still be seen waiting patiently in front of the Inn or blacksmith shop in those days, the automobile had already replaced Dobbin as the preferred means of transportation. Service stations existed practically side-by-side with old livery stables.

Some public buildings looked pretty much as they do today, but a number of the businesses that gave the Center its sense of community are no longer here. Though a few stores have taken their place, some variety and much convenience have been lost, and a certain neighborly bustle seems to have been replaced by activity more and more tuned to rush hour traffic.

What was it like when the twentieth century and Ernie Carkin were young? With Ernie as our guide once again, let's take a ramble through the Groton Center of his childhood, paying special attention to businesses and public buildings along the way.

The Year is 1922, more than half a century ago.

A Barge on Skis?

Across Main Street, Horace Buckingham, whose family had once lived upstairs in the old parsonage, ran a taxi service. Horace Buckingham also drove the school bus through East Groton. It is said that he was so beloved by the children riding on his bus that not one ever misbehaved.

One of Mr. Buckingham's vehicles was a large, curtained "barge" with isinglass windows. This was converted in winter by inserting skis in place of the front wheels and a caterpillar over the two sets of rear wheels. This odd-looking vehicle was ready to go anywhere then. (Ed...so long as there was snow on the ground! Philip Buckingham repots that h is family still has the skis and caterpillar.)

On the northwest corner of Elm and Main Street, there was a big house which is no longer standing. This was the home of Inabelle Bartz, daughter of George Woods and sister to Mrs. Hattie Fitch. With her two daughters, Isabelle and Evelyn, Mrs. Bartz ran a small variety store and restaurant there.

A few doors down and across Elm Street, was the old cracker factory built by the Boynton family and run by them until 1921. A year later it was bought by Madigan and Whitney and run as a car dealership until 1970. (Ed. This is the property, now known as the Elm Street Garage, which was formally rezoned for business in January.) Next door, in a tiny house still standing, John Trane made and sold chicken pies.

Dr. Kilbourn's Hospital

Farther down Main Street, where the P&C is located now, was the hospital owned and operated by Dr. Arthur G. Kilbourn. Much local history attaches to this institution. Many present residents, I am told, were born, in Dr. Kilbourn's hospital. The building, which dated from the early 1800, was torn down n the 1960s to make room for the supermarket.

Bywater's Blacksmith Shop

Next to the hospital, on the site of what is now the Mobil Station, was Bywater's Blacksmith Shop. This was a wooden structure setting a little farther off the road than the Mobil station. Mr. Bywater used to shoe about half the horses in Groton, the other half being shod by Harry Flanders at his blacksmith shop in a building next to what is now the Electric Light Department offices on Station Avenue. The structure that now houses the Center Fire Station once served as the

Odd Fellows Hall.

Milo Shattuck's

Across the street from Bywater's Blacksmith Shop in the building which is now the Groton Package Store, was Milo Shattuck's. The store was owned by the heirs of Milo Shattuck at that time, being operated by Grant Shattuck, with the assistance of one employee, Wallace Bywater. Shattuck's was a combination grocery, hardware store - a general store, actually. In the early 1950s the building was turned counter-clockwise about 90 degrees, to make room for the Texaco Station that was built next to it; before that, the front doors faced the center of town.

Bandstand

On the little common between Main and Pleasant Streets there was a bandstand. It was a round structure, about 20 feet in diameter, with a cone-shaped roof. On an occasional Saturday night during the summer, the Groton Band used to hold forth and furnish the town with some much -appreciated entertainment. Also on this corner, there was, and still is, a granite watering trough. I believe now it has flowers planted in it in the summertime. H.P. Tainter and the Kitchener Bake Shop.

The Town Scales

Further out into the triangle made by this intersection of Main and Hollis, could be found the Town Scales. These were used for weighing loads of hay or stone or anything else that needed weighing by residents. The scales were maintained by the Town, under the care of the Sealer of Weights and Measures, who is still appointed by Selectmen.