tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post3355359797690150969..comments2024-03-28T09:03:48.593-04:00Comments on BSO: Pictorial Parade 2009Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900475514170268904noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post-81312267813392846502009-09-27T11:45:48.985-04:002009-09-27T11:45:48.985-04:00Yes it said "X-Tra" Bottling" I bel...Yes it said "X-Tra" Bottling" I believe Herman Minckly owned it. It was a silver cement block building. The Mincklys were the same ones that that owned Minkleys Pig Farm where St Catherines Church is on Parker St. What a smell that used to be! And behind H.O.T. (if it's still there) used to be the 16 acres Riding Stable.<br /><br />Shoprite was behind the original Kappys on Boston Rd in that shopping center. All the R. M. Sullivan Drivers used to cash our checks there on Friday nights, go next door to some topless bar and have a couple of beers before going home.<br /><br />And old Pop Warner, whom the Warner School was named after on the corner of Parker & Boston Rd once told me that when he was a boy he could walk from 16 acres to Chicopee and never leave his Fathers land. His son Charlie was terminal manager at R.M. Sullivan when I worked there.<br /> <br />Howard Johnsons was where Applebees is now, on the corner of Boston Rd and Parker, on the S.W. corner. Even had an orange roof. I had a bank that looked just like it as a kid that my mother's mother bought me.<br /><br />I am old enough to remember the horses pulling the garbage wagons in E Spfld . I lived there until I was 8 years old. (60 Years ago). In Winter, they would also pick up the ashes from the coal furnace and spread on the State St Hill cobblestones in place of salt or sand. I remember the coalman, Uncle Steve the Oilman, The Ragman, The Bread Man, The Milkman, The Scissor Sharpener, the Fruit and Veggie vendor with the pushcarts in Summer, the Laundryman, but not the "Yeastman" that my Grandmother used to talk about. <br /><br />And later on, the Soda Man, The Ice-cream Man, and the TV Repairman. We used to have a lot of people come to the house at one time in history!<br /><br />I would make a safe bet to say that the last 100 years have brought the most significant changes ever.LRnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post-57264793587051350462009-09-27T11:40:31.264-04:002009-09-27T11:40:31.264-04:00Yes you are right, it was Shoprite! The brain cell...Yes you are right, it was Shoprite! The brain cells are fading....Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10900475514170268904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post-19909458311558611882009-09-26T17:20:07.228-04:002009-09-26T17:20:07.228-04:00Tom...wasn't that picture (where you say used ...Tom...wasn't that picture (where you say used to be Stop and Shop)where Shoprite used to stand?<br />LR...the bottling plant you mention with the moxie sign...was that Xtra bottling?sodafixerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09731653984709675068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post-31336860753794212782009-09-26T16:19:59.217-04:002009-09-26T16:19:59.217-04:00It was Towers Dept Store. (Where Stop & Shop i...It was Towers Dept Store. (Where Stop & Shop is) I used to plow the parking lot. Do you remember the houses along Boston Rd on the same side of the street going toward Wilbraham? They sat on a small hill. I only remember that because I was one of the truckers that hauld the hill away to Indian Orchard. We dumped it on another hill up behind the A&P. <br /><br />Across the street, before you were born, before Eastfield mall was built was cooks camps a tourist court. Going toward Wilbraham once again, about where Friendlys Restarant is, was another place with tourist cabins, made out of Fancy Concrete Blocks and a few 8 X 25' to 35' trailer homes. Going back west was a bottleing plant, (Moxie Sign out front) and "Popes Market (fruit & veggies) where they sold "statues" of every kind imaginable. <br /><br />Lots of changes since I traveled that road every day to High School at Trade from Wilbraham with my Father. He would drop me off at Trade on his way to Mass Mutual.LRnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post-12342787822106469392009-09-26T13:59:20.350-04:002009-09-26T13:59:20.350-04:00Great pictures Tom!Great pictures Tom!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com