Picture Windsor Locks - Then And Now

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — For today's look back into Windsor Locks history, we delve into the pages of the 1981 Windsor Locks High School yearbook, The Herald. Among the sponsors who advertised that year was the Howard Johnson's Conference Center, just off Interstate 91 at 383 South Center Street.

According to town property records, the hotel was constructed in 1971. For many years, it was home to Howard Johnson's, a restaurant founded in 1925 in Quincy, Mass. which grew into the largest restaurant chain in the U.S., with over 1,000 locations through the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in 1954, motor lodges also became part of the Howard Jonson's brand, eventually topping 500 hotels and motels in the country.

Business began to drop off in the late 1970s, and the restaurants and motor lodges began to close. By 2016, just one HoJo's restaurant remained in Lake George, N.Y. The hotel and motel portion of the business is owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and has about 300 locations.

It is uncertain exactly when Howard Johnson's left Windsor Locks, but since its demise, a seemingly endless streams of motels have occupied the South Center Street facility. The site is currently operating under the name Ramada By Wyndham.

Here is a more contemporary view of the property, taken this week by yours truly.

Do you have a photo of an old Windsor Locks business which no longer exists, to which you own the copyright, and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

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