Brogan: A Time Capsule Of A Community!

When writing about the many small towns and communities throughout our Country during the 1950's and 1960's, there are often accusations that the writers are seeing reality through a veil or haze of nostalgia. "Nothing was quite that innocent" is an oft heard expression. It's not, however, that far from the truth in many instances.

Recently a friend, Jim Webber, sent me the link to a short film about Concord, New Hampshire. It was produced in the early years of the 1960's and as I watched it, I felt a rush of warm nostalgia as well as tears stinging my eyes. It brought back so many good memories of the city I grew up in and the history that our city by the Merrimack represented to thousands.

Here is the link to that film. If you're over 60, it'll immediately take you back in time. If you're younger, it's a wonderful bit of insight into a time that had much to offer and a city where we always felt safe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPTAGeNtZOE&feature=emb_logo

I loved seeing the State House before the dome was gilded. I also enjoyed seeing the tower that was a part of the State Library building. Memories of parks, events, sports, music, and some of the faces that were familiar in Concord. The board that stood in front of the State House Plaza proclaiming how many hundreds of days it had been since a violent crime had been perpetrated, made me recall how it was not unusual to go off for the day and leave your house unlocked, the windows open to bring in fresh air and not a fearful thought that something might happen. Neighbors looked out for neighbors.

The only thing I would have added to the film had I been asked to participate at the yime, while a grammar school student in Concord, would have been to include a drive down Concord's Main Street. Downtown Concord to my young eyes, represented something as fantastic as a trip to Oz. It was a place where anything was available and where all were welcomed.

On about a one mile stretch of North and South Main, you could buy virtually anything. From appliances (Sears) to jewelry (Ficketts, Elliots and Scott's), to candy (Granite State and Fannie Farmer), to bikes and skis (Ozzie Waite and Haggetts) to office supplies (Brown and Saltmarsh).

There were camera stores (Concord Camera and Dunlap Photo), Five and Dimes (Kresge, Newberry's and Woolworth's), Penny's, shoe stores, half a dozen pharmacies as well as more than 20 clothing stores for men, women and children. And that barely scratches the surface.

If you wanted to eat, every Five and Dime had a luncheon counter as did most of the drug stores. There was also Garbo's, The Pizza Center, Harry's Steak House, Charos Grille and the Endicott Grille, not to mention Star Hot Dog. Going downtown (or "downstreet" as some preferred to call it), was a full day adventure.

In the days before social media, you had only to walk down Main Street to see just about anyone that you might know. On Friday night when the stores were open until 9, traffic was bumper to bumper but you rarely heard an irritated driver toot their horn.

One block east of Main Street was the Capital Shopping Center where you would find Britts Department Store, Stop n' Shop, Emmons (later Howlands) and Week's Family Restaurant, home of the legendary "Weeksie Burger"!!

The police walked "the beat" and always had time to stop and chat with someone or answer a question or address a concern. We were all equals and all connected by our love and pleasure in being part of a community that we celebrated and that brought out the best in all of us.

It was real and it helped to define us and to instill in us a character and qualities that have remained. Thank you Concord for the many good memories and the future still ahead.