100 Years Ago in Windham NH – W.S. Harris

A fireplace in a cottage on the North Shore of Cobbett’s Pond

WINDHAM, December 7. — Deer, which were often seen a few weeks ago, now appear quite scarce, much to the regret of hunters.

The last meeting of the Woman’s Club, held at the town hall December 1, was a notable one, the Derry Woman’s Club being invited, and 40 or more from there attending. Mrs. Annie P. Shepard, of Derry, president of the State Federation gave an interesting address on the statewide work. Other ladies from D.erry rendered musical slections. Mrs. Belle Harrington Hall, of Lowell, gave readings, her longest selection being Henry van Dyke’s beautiful story of “The Mansion.”

One of the town’s picturesque spots and natural curiosities which is not so well known as it should be, is a formation called by some the “Devil’s Den,” while to others it is known as the “Wolf’s Den.” It is located in the easterly part of town, perhaps a half mile northwest of Hamlin B. Sanford, near the road leading northwest towards Mitchell’s Pond and Windham Junction. Where an extemporized roadway curves around a bad hill on the highway is seen a bold ridge of granite of which great masses have become detached and slid down upon one another, some of them hanging as if about to topple over. Under these rock masses is a cave large enough to crawl into, and the rocks are fringed with green mosses and ferns and shaded by large trees, presenting a romantic picture. A short distance to the south of the main cave is a smaller den under the face of the cliff. This picturesque spot belongs to Mr. Searles and he has had the undergrowth cleared up, and the surroundings rendered more sightly, and no fences keep the public out. It is well worth the visit. (This spot must be located somewhere in the Castle Reach neighborhood. If anybody knows the whereabouts of “Devil’s Den” or has pictures, I would be most interested in hearing from them.)

WINDHAM, December 15.—Mail carrier Tellis R. Wells has a new auto

Fifty-three hunter’s licenses have been issued by the town clerk.

The private telephone company, which served the people of the central and western parts of town, has sold out to the New England Company, and the lines have been changed over. Subscribers in the central and northwestern parts are now on the Derry line, those at West Windham are connected with Nashua, and those in the South part with Salem. The cost is increased, but the service is better.

Howard C. Boyce, gate-tender at Windham Depot.

Horace C. Boyce the gate-tender at the Depot, in raising the snow laden gates Tuesday morning, by some mishap, broke one of the bones of his wrist.

The school at the Center, taught by Miss Faye A. Dame, will have a Christmas entertainment on Thursday evening. School will close Friday for two weeks. It takes some energy for Ethel Hawley to attend Pinkerton Academy in these short cold days. She lives five miles from Windham Depot, which point she has to reach before eight o’clock every morning, to go to Derry by train.

After a pleasant November, winter appears to have set in early. Tuesday morning found all out-doors decorated in true Christmas style, and the ground covered in six inches of heavy snow, which will make good sleighing when trodden. Now for the delights of the wood fire, of which Roland D. Sawyer writes so appreciatively. That is not a real fire which you cannot hear; as well as see and feel but only like ‘a painted ship upon a painted ocean.’ In building his Walden cabin, Thoreau says he, ‘lingered most about the fireplace, as the most vital part of the house.’ And when the second winter he substituted a stove for the open fire he felt as if he had lost a companion. In such weather as we are now having, it is true as he says, that ‘every man looks at his wood pile with a kind of affection.’ And speaking of some old stumps which he dug out of his bean-field the quaint hermit philosopher says ‘They warmed me twice, once when I was splitting them and again when they were on the fire. W.S.H.
Merry Christmas

The Death of William H. Armstrong

The Armstrong Homestead Windham NH

WINDHAM, November, 1915.— “In the death of William H. Armstrong, which occurred last Thursday, the 11th, the town has lost one of its old and well known residents and a representative of one of its early and prominent families. He was the son of John Davidson Armstrong, of Bedford, and was born in that town November 29, 1840, consequently he had nearly reached the age of 75 at the time of his death. In 1861 he married Elizabeth, the daughter of his cousin, Samuel Armstrong, and settled on the ancestral Armstrong farm here, which was thereafter his home. (Just to make clear, David Armstrong, was the first Armstrong on the property and he was the thrice great-grandfather of Elizabeth, who married her cousin William, who then took over the property.) The house built in 1762, according to Morrison’s history, has been changed but little from its original appearance. Besides farming, Mr. Armstrong for many years drove a butcher’s cart through town. Whenever a customer would chose an item from his cart, will would say, ‘Its delicious, I had some myself for breakfast.’ His size indicated he may have been telling the truth. He was of genial disposition and in his bluff way was a friend to all. In politics he was a staunch Democrat. Three sons and one daughter survive, all residing here. Urvin S., Eugene W., Almy A., and Edna M., who has been her father’s faithful house-keeper, his wife having died many years ago. The funeral on Sunday afternoon was attended by a large number of neighbors and townspeople. The service was conducted by Rev. A.L. Dunton.” The house is still standing on Londonderry Road.

A Blast from the Past: The North Shore Shopping Center

The North Shore Shopping Center opened in September of 1958. You might be wondering why a shopping center in Peabody, Massachusetts is relevant to Windham’s history. When it opened, North Shore was the only major shopping center, with first class stores, that could be easily reached by car from Windham, especially after Interstate 93 was built. If you grew up North of Boston in the 1960’s, I’m sure you’ll remember making shopping trips here. A trip in August, for school clothes, was always on the agenda and signaled that summer was almost over.

The major draw was the huge Jordan Marsh store which anchored the center along with Filenes. I always got Buster Brown shoes which meant my foot was measured with an x-ray fluoroscope machine, which was really neat, except that it probably caused cancer. The best part of the Jordan Marsh store was the top floor, because that was where the toy department was located. There was no such thing as Toys R Us back in the day. We always saw Santa there, because he was a first class type of Santa, and then we would stare endlessly at the model train display which was the centerpiece of the department. I got my first Lego set, which was brand new to America from Jordan Marsh. But the best thing about visiting Jordon Marsh, was that when you got through shopping, you could stop at the bakery and bring home a box of the most delicious blueberry muffins you ever tasted.

My family always preferred Filenes when shopping for clothes. And when I became an adult I always preferred the selection at Filenes better than either Jordan Marsh or Macy’s. North Shore began as an open air center and there was a grand staircase between Jordon’s and Filenes. You will probably also remember the wooden soldier’s that decorated the place during the holidays.

Of course, there were many other stores as well. One was S.S. Pierce, which had bright red and white stripes on their store-front. They were a Boston tradition with fancy canned goods and other food and liquor products. There was also the Windsor Button shop, yes woman needed a wide selection of buttons because many of them bought patterns from places like Vogue and actually sewed their own clothes. Brigham’s was there for lunch, ice cream or a Raspberry Lime Ricky. Kennedy’s was a nice men’s store where I got one of my first sport jacket. Others stores included Thom McCann shoes among others, Liggett-Rexall Drugstore, S.S Kresge, J.J. Newbury, Lauriat Books, Charles Sumner and a Stop and Shop.
There was also a Showcase Cinema, which was convenient, because the kids could be dropped off while their parents shopped. I cried through the shooting of “Old Yella” in that very theater. There was also a small amusement park called Kiddie Towne. In 2015, with online shopping growing, the question is if brick and mortar retail will even exist in a few years. I was thinking recently, how over the past 100 years, shopping has come full circle. We are back to a preference for “mail order” shopping like Sear Roebuck & Co. pioneered in 1894, only now we shop online rather than in a catalog.