burton bromley

Burton Bromley by Lake Paran c1900, with straw hat
Burton Bromley in the woods 1902, with bowler.

In 1967, Burton Bromley, a village native and lifelong resident, penned recollections of North Bennington in the early 20th century. His account here contains lively detail and wry comment on daily life in the village in those years.


Things and Happenings I Remember In and Around North Bennington

By Burton L. Bromley

There was a time when five trains from the north and five from the south stopped at the North Bennington Railroad Station every 24 hours. These were all met by a train from Bennington called “the branch.” In the afternoon there were through trains from New York City to Montreal, and from Montreal to New York City. Two of the cars would be filled with passengers bound for Bennington. A platform in front of the station reached from the Main Street sidewalk to twenty feet east of the station and was usually crowded with people. Horse and carriages would be drawn up waiting for passengers. Besides two waiting rooms, one for men and one for women, the station held several offices. The paymaster for the Rutland Railroad, G.W. Shaw, had his office upstairs. He was a fancy ice skater, and later became village postmaster. The round-trip ticket from North Bennington to Bennington was 25 cents, while the round trip from North Bennington to Troy was $1.44. 

In February of 1897 the first trolley car left North Bennington for Bennington. The fare was 10 cents each way. Beginning at 6:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night a trolley left North Bennington for Bennington every half hour. The trolley line was discontinued after the flood of 1927.

Across from the station was a four-story hotel owned and run by Patrick McCarthy, who, later on, held the position of postmaster. The lower floor of the hotel was a grocery store.  In the back was a large barn and livery stable.

Lake Paran, which was called the Big Pond in those days, was a busy place both summer and winter. When the skating was good there would be from 100 to 150 skaters there on the weekend.  The Reverend Peck, Congregational minister, always brought a chair fitted with runners in which he pushed his wife around the pond.

Where the coal sheds are now located on the eastern bank the pond there was a fine boathouse. Several boats owned by the McCulloughs, Jennings and Houghtons, among others, were stored there. Five or six boats might be on the pond at one time. In those days the men and boys did their swimming in the nude.

When the ice on the pond was 14 inches to 16 inches thick the ice-cutting began. Blocks or cakes of ice weighing from 150 to 200 pounds were cut by hand with a saw, then hauled across Welling Field ballground to an icehouse on Mechanic Street, and packed in sawdust. In summer the cakes were cut into smaller pieces and delivered to homes twice a week. About 2500 of these blocks were cut each winter.

On the land where the Post Office now stands was a large, two-story building. On the first floor was a grocery and drug store, on the second floor were the Masons’ rooms. This burned in 1889. Sam Watson, a village character, was the nozzle man for the fire company. While fighting this fire he was in a dangerous place on a high ladder. Several men asked him to come down, but it did no good. His wife, an onlooker, was asked to see what she could do.. She replied, “Never mind, he has a good life insurance.”

The town pump which furnished water to 20 or 25 families was in the center of Lincoln Square. Almost any time of day or evening someone was at the pump with his pail. I never heard of the well going dry.

The day after the fire I had a bad toothache and my mother took me to Dr. Newton’s office in the cobblestone house on Main Street. Teeth were rarely filled in those days, so he decided my tooth should come out. My mother asked him if it would hurt and he replied, ‘If it doesn’t I won’t charge you anything.” It must have hurt because he charged 25 cents.

Sam Watson’s hobby was giving everyone in the village a nickname: Molasses-foot Hawkes, Duke Wardell, Squash Houghton, Hippy Allen, Pretty Rosie. The White brothers he called Itchie, Scratchy, Sammie, Joey and Jelly.

When Peter Panos first came to North Bennington he had a small store where the post office now stands called the Pink Tea. One evening when the train from the south stopped at the station, some of the boys fastened a rope to one end of his shop and the other to the train. Fortunately the rope broke, or else Pete would probably be making sandwiches in Rutland instead of where he is now.

Fred Welling’s grandfather was called the Village Father.  It is interesting that Fred followed in his footsteps and is also called by that name.

Only one brand of cigarettes was sold in the stores. These, called Sweet Capitols, were ten for 5 cents. Later, another brand was sold, twenty for 5 cents. You rarely saw a man smoking a cigarette and never a woman.  Most men smoked pipes or chewed tobacco.

Any evening if you saw a man going down the street with a bag on his back you knew that there was going to be a rooster fight.

The boys’ pranks were never done on Halloween as they are nowadays. They went out on the eve of July 4th. They tipped over every outhouse or privy in the village that wasn’t nailed down. They once took a wagon to the school, took it apart, carried the pieces to the top floor and put it back together again. The Reverend Peck owned a cow and Duke Wardell, a horse. On July 4th when Mr. Peck went out to milk the cow there was a horse in its stall. The cow was in Duke’s barn with a horse collar around its neck.

On Main Street near the station was a drugstore, across the street was a bakery, in Fred Simmons’ house was a dressmaker’s shop. In the Nowak home and the cobblestone house were doctors’ offices. Willis’ Garage was the site of the Simmons Boiler Factory. The brick, three-story building was built by H.C. Simmons and housed stores and a post office. A central telephone office and drugstore were in the Babcock house. The Morse building held a printing office and barbershop. In 1894 and 1895 the village newspaper was called the Vermont Echo. Later it was named the North Bennington Times. I have one of these papers.

The Panos building, built by F. L. Bottom, was a grocery store. Col. Bottom, brother of Fred, worked in the store. One time a customer went into the store for a quart of oysters, which were kept in a jar in the cellar. When the Colonel looked into the jar the oysters must have looked a little thick, for he hollered up the stairs and asked Fred how much water should he put in the oysters.

Each Saturday morning a handbill was placed on the doorstep of every home in the village advertising the Saturday night specials at F.L. Bottom’s store. A couple of these were 3 pounds of round steak for 25 cents, quart of oysters for 40¢, 1 lb. of butter for 20 cents and 1 quart of peanuts for 10 cents. 

The farmers generally brought their grain to be ground on Saturday during the winter. As this would take most of the day, they would sit around the stove, heated by corncobs, and eat their lunches of crackers and cheese.

The First National Bank entrance was on the east end of the building, facing Main Street. There were two men on the staff. A small room off the lobby was furnished with a few chairs and a table. Each morning a daily paper was placed on the table and anyone was welcome to drop in and read it; a good many did.

Across from the bank was the Paran Creek Hotel, a four-story structure with a livery stable in back where several coaches were stored. These coaches were like our sedans, with glass windows and doors, the seats facing, and the driver would sit on the outside, high up in front. These coaches were used mostly for funerals.

A doctor’s office was in the Brundage house, a drygoods store in Clark Green’s, another doctor’s office in Dwyers’. The Armstrong house was a boarding house, later a doctor’s office. Corcoran’s housed a lawyer’s office with a clothing store in the basement. In the Mattison home was a tin shop. On the corner of Main Street and West, was a large building containing a residence, a laundry, a harness shop, a barbershop and a poolroom in the basement. The barber was a Negro fellow who wore a straw hat all the year, summer and winter, indoors and out.

The mill was run by waterpower. If the water in the millpond ran out before the grinding was finished, a man from the Stark Paper Co. was sent up to the lake to open the gates to let out enough water to finish the day’s grinding.

The Ryan house was built by Sam Watson for a residence and fruit market. Powers Market was originally a grocery store, and the post office was located there at one time. J.O. Bangs was postmaster and grocery clerk. The post office boxes were the call type, so when someone asked for their mail, the postmaster might be in the cellar getting fish out of a barrel. When Bangs came upstairs and gave out the mail it would be well scented. When the Democrats came into power the post office was moved to the west end of the bank.

Going south from Powers Market were a bicycle shop, fruit market and shoe store. Percey’s was a grocery store owned and operated by Charles and George Houghton.

The town pump which furnished water to 20 or 25 families was in the center of Lincoln Square. Almost any time of day or evening someone was at the pump with his pail. I never heard of the well going dry.

The Cushman factory was originally just the stone building on Water Street. This was owned by Jennings and was vacant for several years. The insurance company required a watchman through the night. There was a bell in the north end of the mill whose bell rope reached down to the second floor to a small room heated by a stove in winter. The watchman’s job was to ring out the hours: from 7 o’clock at night to 7 o’clock in the morning. One watchman, named Hunt, was a greasy-looking man with a large stomach. He always wore the same vest. There was so much food dribbled on the front of it that when he wasn’t wearing it he kept it in the cellar where it was cool.

After it became too dark to practice the boys would congregate on the green near the village water pump and sing old songs. They knew about ten songs and when they finished they went along home. By the end of the summer nearly everyone in town was familiar with those songs.

H.T. Cushman started business in 1886 making hat racks and novelties in a shop east of the old stone gristmill on Prospect Street. This burned in 1889, was built up at once where business continued until 1892 when it was moved to the stone mill on Water Street. From novelties they turned to making Mission furniture, then smoker stands. In 1933 the making of colonial furniture was started and this continued under the Cushman name until 1964 when the business was sold, thus completing a family business which lasted 78 years.

From the former Catholic Church on Water Street, which burned, to the Cushman shipping room, there were twelve houses owned by the Cushman Company. Only three remain.

Where the new firehouse now stands was a stone gristmill owned by Dayton Colvin. The farmers generally brought their grain to be ground on Saturday during the winter. As this would take most of the day, they would sit around the stove, heated by corncobs, and eat their lunches of crackers and cheese. Sim Dean, the miller, was from Shaftsbury. During the summer he would bring a jug of cider with him each day, which he put in the stove for safekeeping. This stove I now own, having been given to me by J. Edward White, last owner of the gristmill.

The grain was ground between two round disc-like stones about one foot thick and four to five feet in diameter. The bottom stone was stationary, the top one revolved on a spindle. The bottom stone was rough and had small grooves from the center to the outside. The grain was fed from the top, went between the stones to be ground and worked its way through the grooves to the outside of the stones where it was caught in containers. 

The mill was run by waterpower. If the water in the millpond ran out before the grinding was finished, a man from the Stark Paper Co. was sent up to the lake to open the gates to let out enough water to finish the day’s grinding. When the millstones became too smooth for grinding the grain, the top one was raised up and the bottom one was roughed up with a hammer and chisel by the miller. This would take several days and would be done at least once a year.

In the cellar of the mill was the village jail with one bunk, no lights, no heat, and. water leaking through the wall from the pond.

Andrew Nash, the local blacksmith, located his business in the old firehouse until he built the building now used by the school behind Powers Market. When he moved, his old shop was converted to a firehouse which served this community for over 50 years. The firefighting equipment consisted of a pumper, which required 12 to 15 men to operate, a hose cart, hose and ladders. The fire alarm was the paper mill whistle. When there was no steam the church bells served as the alarm.

The streets were lighted by kerosene lamps on posts. Just enough kerosene was put in at night to last until daylight. On moonlit nights the lamps were not lighted. A boy with a cart, can of kerosene and a small ladder lighted the lamps.

The owners of the first autos were H.C. White, H.C. Simmons, George Houghton and Will Cushman.  The Simmons car was a steamer, single-seater, steered by a handle. When Will Cushman took a trip as far as Hoosick Falls the horses at the factory were standing by waiting for the call to go draw the car back home.

There were about fifteen families in the village who owned a cow. The cows were pastured in Welling Field. In the early evening you would see the local boys leading their cows home through the village to be milked.

On Bank Street on the location of the Colvin grocery store was a half-mile racetrack. The owners of racehorses were H.C. White, H.C. Simmons, Hippy Allen, J.D. Mattison, Dr. Smith and S. Church. After this racetrack was closed a fairground was built in 1892 on the George Elwell property on George Street.

There was a grandstand, judges’ stand, several barns, two of which still stand. Horse races, bicycle races and peg races were held there. The best bicycle riders in our village were Harry Mattison and Harry White. When there were no races the basement of the grandstand was used for poker playing and cockfighting. Any evening if you saw a man going down the street with a bag on his back you knew that there was going to be a rooster fight.

South of the coal sheds on Depot Street was the Unity Collar Shop, built in 1898, burned in 1902. About 125 were employed there, mostly women and girls. The basement held the laundry, first floor the stock room, second floor the machine room and office. A Mattison boy working in the stock room was asked by a lady how to get to the office. He told her to go to the elevator room and take the elevator. She opened the door he indicated and walked into the toilet. When she came out, the boy was gone.

The wealthier families in the village had coach horses and carriages which they drove about in. On summer days the carriage top was folded back and the ladies carried 12-15 inch parasols, just large enough to shade their eyes from the sun. The coachmen were dressed in livery and high white hats, and sat on the outside, well up in front.

For a number of years the village had a band and concerts were held weekly in the summer. There was a bandstand in the park where the entire village turned out for the concerts, going quietly home after it was over.

The village had a fine ball team with all local players. Games were played each Saturday during summer, the players practicing two evenings a week. After it became too dark to practice the boys would congregate on the green near the village water pump and sing old songs. They knew about ten songs and when they finished they went along home. By the end of the summer nearly everyone in town was familiar with those songs.

A normal work week was 60 hours, 7 o’clock in the morning to 6 o’clock at night, six days a week. From the first of June to the first of September people had Saturday afternoons off, otherwise who would have gone to the ballgames?

The young people’s sport on winter evenings was coasting down Prospect or West street hills on sleds called “travices,” which would hold six or seven people. Starting from Jennings Gate the ride would end near Wardell’s tin shop, or starting from the top of West Street the ride would near the firehouse. For the ride down Prospect Street two men with lanterns would stand at the turn in the road near Mechanic Street and at the bottom of the hill to signal when the road was clear of teams. When the Signal came that all was clear the five or six travices would take off, one after another, followed by fellows on single sleds.

On the present site of The Vermont Tissue Co. in Paper Mill Village was a pulp mill. Spruce logs were cut on Glastenbury Mountain, then dragged down the mountain by horses, loaded on wagons and brought to the mill, a distance of about ten miles. The logs were three to four feet in length. The bark was peeled off by hand with a drawshave and burned in the furnace. The logs were ground into pulp, which was then taken to the Stark Paper Mills in North Bennington and Sodom and made into wallpaper. After the pulp mill burned, another mill was built which manufactured wood novelties. Later when this burned the

North Bennington firemen dragged the pumper and hose cart to the fire, a distance of two miles.

A large house across the street from the mill was the home of C.W. Roberts, owner of the pulp mill. East of his house was a grocery store. These also were burned at different times.

The building once occupied by Elwell’s Hardware store was once a sterescope factory run by H.S. Walbridge, then a brush factory run by Johnson, then a sawmill run by George Elwell, the grandfather of the above Elwell. 

Bernard Whitman’s Feed Store was built for a soap factory, The North Bennington Soap Co. Built by some Bennington men, it was not a success, and ever after was used for storage by different local companies.

At the rear of every church there was a horse shed large enough for 12 to 15 horses. There were also horse sheds next to Powers Market, and. the old grist mill, and one at each of the livery stables. These were used by anyone driving in the village.  There were no parking meters.

There were about fifteen families in the village who owned a cow. The cows were pastured in Welling Field. In the early evening you would see the local boys leading their cows home through the village to be milked. The cows were kept in the barns overnight, milked in the morning and then returned to the pasture. It wasn’t until after cows were no longer pastured there that the trees and shrubs grew up. In the old days the field was clear, open pasture.

Read Burton Bromley on working for 56 years at Cushman Manufacturing Co.

Burton Bromley’s essays and the many photos on this site from Mr. Bromley’s collection were contributed by Norton Kennedy.