Responses to  JANUARY 2 News Letter
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Randles Garage – current home of Subway and Schoolhouse Pizza. Someone told me that in the early 1950’s Ken Randles used his car as a bus to pick up students on SchoolHouse Hill. George MacArthur ran it after Ken. It was a car dealership too. Dodge? Pontiac? It was a Dodge dealership in the 68-72 timeframe. I can't remember the owner, but Martin Hunt and Larry Sordiff worked there.
Corner South Park and East Main:
Southwest corner - after the Red Brick Hotel was torn down (1965?) I think there was an Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) station there. Was something else there before Cumberland Farms took over? When did Cumbies move in anyway? I don't remember an ARCO station. I believe the hotel was torn down and Marty Smith's Sunoco was built

Corner of South Park and Spring Street – Ken Keys had a station there. Can’t remember if he built it or what kind of gas. Stevens & Sons run a Citgo station there now. It was a Gulf Station.

Corner West Main and North Union – there was a Flying A station there but I don’t remember who ran it. After the pumps were removed they still did repairs in the garage. There was a used car dealer there after that. Martin Hunt ran a Mobil Station there in the Late 60's to Early 70's. I pumped gas there after school and on weekends. On Sundays I was the only person on duty. (twelve years old).

 

I remember Joe's Garage on the corner of North Union and Main. Can't remember if he sold gas. Joe and Nancy Voermann were great friends of my parents.

Bell & Costello sold Chevy's & Texaco gas. There was a "little old lady" who lived on the East End of town that drove an early model Chevy 2-door hardtop roadster. I was told it was a gift from her father when she graduated from high school in the mid to late 20s and that she only drove it once or twice a week to pick up groceries. Any other errand, she walked. I do know it was a very low mileage car as I was hanging around Costello's when she brought it in for a 12K mile service. The best part of Costello's was all the really neat old cars they had stored along the back wall. My favorite was the 1912? Cadillac as per Mr. Costello, it was the very first car ever sold with a self-starter instead of a crank.
 
Directly behind B&Cs across the creek was a 2-story cinder block building that had a body shop on the first floor. Access was by a dead-end dirt road that ran North between the east side of B &Cs and a Victorian-era 4-story wood apartment building. I do know that at one time the basement of that building was used as a body shop. Auto access was from the creek-side though a number of normal sliding garage doors. Used to play in there and remember well the Dupont paint sample books sitting on the shelves and the assorted colors on the floor, walls and ceiling from over sprays. Have no idea who ran it when it was a body shop. Place did have an office on Main Street which at one time my parent rented only that portion to use to display appliances and as an office which is why I knew the apartment building quite well.

After a fire in the shoe shop below the American Legion Hall across the street (50 or 51 perhaps), my parents bought it, undid the damage to the shoe shop and moved. My folks sold the store in '60 which later became the "Lamp Lighter Restaurant."

The creek was crossed by telephone pole and plank bridge. No idea who owned the cinder block bldg or if it was ever open. Just remember seeing cars in there though the windows. May well have been over-flow space for Costello's.

To the right side of the dirt road on the same north side of the creek as the cinder block garage was a long closed fix-it shop. All I can remember about it was that it had two store windows crammed to gills with assorted fans, toasters, electric space heaters, and just about every other small appliance that had ever existed up to that time, all coved with thick dust. Even then I thought it was a rather poor location for a store of any kind which probably explains the state of its wares.
 
Moore's sold Plymouth, Chryslers & Gulf gas. Serviced cars and had a body shop as well as a tow-truck service. Used to play in the wrecks they stored until the insurance company and owners came to an agreement. Some Moore's ended up fixing, some ended up being hauled off to ????