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Will's Store, Chelsea |
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In 1870, Alonzo Powers leased the lower half of the store from P. C. Jones, who was to lay a new floor as part of the lease. Powers' endeavor as a grocer in this location was short-lived, for in 1872 P.C. Jones leased the first floor of the brick store to Amos R. and William F. Hood, father and son. The Hoods had been doing business for more than 30 years from the "Hood House", just north of the Chelsea Mills, where Mike and Diane Tullouch now live. The Hoods dealt in drugs, patent medicines, groceries and "Yankee notions". The lease included the hay scales, but reserved the south half of a finished room in the cellar "with right of ingress and egress." Also the lessee must not do anything to affect the insurance by making the risk more hazardous. On September 26, 1874 (Book 18, Page 240), the widow and daughter of Perley C. Jones, Carrie and Fanny, sold the store to the Hood Family. One-half interest went to Amos R. Hood and his son, William F. The other half interest went to Amos's other son, C. I. Hood of Lowell, Massachusetts, famous for his manufacture of "Hood's Sarsaparilla."
In 1875 four rooms on the second floor were leased to Hira L. Bixby, to be used as a studio. Bixby was born on the West Hill in 1833, and had gone to Burlington as a young man to serve a six-year apprenticeship in photography. Eventually he returned to his native town and in 1872 set up business on his own. His annual rent on his new studio was $75, and that same year a skylight was cut into the north side of the store roof and a large window, divided in the middle, with hinges on the outer edges, was installed beheath the skylight. Bixby continued business in this studio until his death in 1903. After Bixby's death Arthur Morey had a photo studio there. After the death of Amos Hood, his son William F. "Bill" Hood continued the druggist trade on the first floor of the brick building.
William F. Hood, who had run the drug store since 1872 and co-owned it since 1874, leased the store to Guy A. Buck in 1912. Hood reserved control of the upstairs tenement where A. H. Morey was operating a photographic studio much as Hira Bixby had done. Buck operated the drug store until 1923 when he moved his family to Northfield. Hood then leased his store to Archie and Lena Bailey, who moved to Chelsea from Burke, Vermont. Rental on the building was $125 a year with the reservation that the store might be sold with a month's notice. The Bailey family lived in the upstairs apartment. Although the store was threatened by the fire of April 1926, there was no damage to the contents. The store carried patent medicines, novelties, tobacco and ice cream. In one corner, Mrs. Bailey sold cards, gifts, needles, thread, ribbons, cloth, embroidery, crocheting and other handwork. In March 1940, the Bailey store was granted the first liquor license to sell beer and wine in Chelsea since the days of Prohibition.
On the morning of April 23, 1926, Chelsea's "Great Fire" began in the Betts' Garage, where the town garage now stands. It spread quickly and many buildings were totally destroyed. The Corwin store was a total loss. Hood's store, now rented by Archie and Lena Bailey, escaped the fire relatively unharmed.
In 1932 C. Fred Dickinson started as a clerk in the Oliver Burgess store, now owned by Ned and Beth Battey, the current home of the "Chelsea Animal Hospital". After the burning of the Corwin Store in 1926, the Burgess Store became the main grocery store in town and remained so throughout the 1930s and 40s. Fred worked at the Burgess IGA for twelve years, clerking for three different owners. In 1944 Archie Bailey was appointed local Postmaster and sold his stock of store goods that summer to Fred. Mrs. Bailey moved her stock into the former barbershiop just north of Laffley's garage. She added children's and women's dresses, sheets, pillow cases, towels, underwear and shower gifts. She remained in business there until November 1967, when she sold her business to Lois and Edgar Jackson, making forty-four years of doing business on Chelsea's Main Street.
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Fred took over the operation of the Bailey drug store, which was owned by his mother-in-law Gail Hood Helmer, and her brother Julian C. Hood. It had been difficult to buy ice cream during the war years so Fred immediately bought an ice cream making machine from Holdens of Barre. The machine made a batch of 1.5 gallons at a time. The Holdens told Fred that he would soon want a larger machine, and gave him the right to come back and trade up. They were right, and in March of 1945 Fred traded for a new machine that made a batch of 2.5 gallons at a time. This machine is still in use today. Over the years the reputation of Fred's many varieties of ice cream became widespread. The upstairs continued to be rented as living quarters.
