Brogan: The Heart Of A Community Are The People!

This picture was recently posted on the Facebook page, “I’m from Concord, NH and remember when…” and since that posting hundreds of individuals have stopped to comment or share their own special memories. The picture, taken nearly 50 years ago looking south on Main Street from the Merrimack County Savings Bank building, looks as familiar to many of us with roots in the community, as though it were taken last week.

The Facebook page started by Sean Gordon several years ago has nearly 6,000 followers and the postings are an endlessly fascinating look at Concord – then and now. It is much more than a walk down Memory Lane or a nostalgic glimpse into a world bathed in nostalgic warmth – a world that might or might not have really existed except in some Norman Rockwell painting.

It is instead the story of Concord as seen through the eyes of those who once lived here and still feel an indefinable connection to the city, as well as those, like myself, who continue to call Concord their home. It is casual observations by individuals who may have been simply passing through on their way to some other place, and its remarks by some who have only recently chosen to move here and seen the community through a different perspective.

The naysayers who publicly claimed that Concord was a “City in a Coma” have only to peruse the hundreds of postings on this Facebook page to know that nothing could be further from the truth. Growing up in Concord was an exhilarating experience filled with as many opportunities as you might choose to pursue. Concord had a great deal to offer and boredom was a word rarely used when discussing our home town.

Main Street and the surrounding streets were filled with an abundance of businesses, many owned by locals, who subscribed to the notion that they wanted to provide the best customer service and products for their customers. You knew the business owners and the staff and they were not content until you left the establishment completely satisfied. There was very little that you could not buy in downtown Concord. On Friday nights when all the businesses remained open until 9 PM, the area resembled a street fair as thousands converged to not only shop but to visit with friends and acquaintances.

It was those tireless merchants with names like Waite, Levensaler, Silverman, Rheingold, Vaeni, Fine, Emmons and so many others too numerous to list that created the bedrock of this community. Their work ethic was second to none and their legacy still hovers throughout the city, no matter the number of years that have passed and the changes that have come to the capitol city.

Give yourself a genuine holiday treat and check out the Facebook page. I promise it’ll make you realize just how remarkable this city was and continues to be.

In 2018 I’ll be working on what I hope will be a gift to my community in terms of providing an entertaining and historic look at one piece of what helped make Concord the best.

The movies played an enormous part in generating the economy (In early 1968 one film, “Valley of the Dolls” was seen by over 15,000 people in Concord – more than half the population at the time), as well as providing residents the opportunity to see a great line-up of films. My book on the history of the Concord Theatre, which operated on South Main Street from 1933 until 1994, will not only tell the story of that venue and the amazing lady who ran it for decades, but the role movies played in shaping our perspective of the world and bringing reality to us in many instances.

With the Concord Theatre on the verge of a re-birth, I hope to time the publication of this book with the re-opening of the Concord in 2019. Having been fortunate enough to work there for 27 years, I feel that I’d like to leave behind a story worth telling – a story that might inspire future generations or fill in the missing pieces for anyone who wasn’t there.

Concord audiences loved the movies. Whether it was the Capitol Theatre, the Concord, Cinema 93, the Star, Conn’s Theatre, the Palace, White’s Opera House, the Scenic, The Concord Drive-In or the Sky-Hi – in the days before the multiplex, it wasn’t unusual for 3-4,000 area residents to go out to the movies on a Saturday evening.

Enjoy all that Concord has to offer today but check-out what came before because it will only make you appreciate, more deeply, this lovely spot by the Merrimack.

Happy Holidays to all and may 2018 bring you peace and happiness.