Historical Column: Growing up in Thornton, Part 2

By LOUIS MCGOWAN

Johnston Historical Society

Last time in "Growing Up In Thornton," I looked back at my youth and how I and my friends spent our leisure time in the 1950s and early 1960s. This time we will look at some of the businesses and institutions that I remember in Thornton.

At the corner of Walnut and Plainfield streets was DiPrete's Hardware Store. Mr. and Mrs. DiPrete ran the store, a typical, small neighborhood hardware store. I remember them as being hardworking but not too friendly to the neighborhood kids. Some children reacted to this, as children are wont to do, by egging the side of their store on Halloween night. Next to their store was a hobby store that sold model kits and postage stamps to collectors. It is hard to imagine now, but in the 1950s there were a lot of neighborhood stamp stores around the state. There are almost none left now. I used to like to visit the store, but I didn't have much money to spend on stamps.

A couple of doors down was Pezza's Market, one of two small general grocery stores in the neighborhood. Pocasset Market was the other, only a block away at the corner of Maple Avenue and Plainfield Street. It would not seem that the neighborhood could support two grocery stores, but it did. Both stores had many loyal customers, some of them dating back to the Great Depression when stores like Pezza's made many friends by carrying the accounts of families that were short on money to make purchases. When customers were able to, they would square up their accounts, but I am sure that some bills never were paid. Both stores were family-run all the time that they operated and offered friendly, courteous service.

Pezza's Market in the 1950s was run by Larry Pezza and his sister, Margaret. My family moved back to Walnut Street in the late 1970s, and Larry and Margaret were still there. My children, Michael and Jennifer, still talk about going there to get candy from Margaret. Larry's father started the market in the 1930s but, alas, it is now closed.

The Pocasset Market was run by the Capobianco family and was bigger than Pezza's Market. As I remember, it had a couple of registers and a bigger selection of products. My mother bought meats there during my childhood. When Butch Steppo and I were 9 or 10 years old, we would go on our own to one of the markets to pick up things like bread or milk. There were no convenience stores then like Cumberland Farms, but gradually they replaced the small, family-run markets.

Across the street from our house on Walnut Street was a real, working dairy. The Brown family operated their "J.O. Brown Dairy" from a building in back of their house. John and Lilian Brown were the owners. We were fascinated by the operation of the different machines inside their small dairy building. They would use milk from nearby farms and process it for sale. They had a couple of delivery vans. I don't think that their business made it to 1960, a victim of large, modern milk companies. The dairy building still stands. The Browns built an in-ground pool on their property, which was unheard of in an old mill neighborhood at that time. They were very good about letting kids from the street swim in the pool, as long as we behaved, of course!

Just to the east of the last mill housing on Walnut Street was the Pocasset Social Club (a.k.a. the Pocasset Casino), which was built in the early 20th century by the Pocasset Worsted Mill for the use of its workers. The present building is the second on the site, replacing a wooden one that burned during World War II. It housed banquet rooms, two bowling alleys, pool tables and a stage for shows. The mill sold the building in the late 1920s to the Sons of Italy, who ran it as the Pocasset Casino until recent times. It is now a union hall. As kids we liked to play football on the lawn, but the club planted evergreen trees in the 1950s which stopped our football. Of course, all we had to do was go to the Pocasset Field, right in back of the club, but for some reason we liked the Casino lawn better. There were also outdoor bocce courts in the rear of the club.

Across the street from the social club was the mill superintendent's house. In the 1920s William Gill filled that position, but in the 1950s the house had no ties to the mill and was just another good-looking home.

On the south side of Plainfield Street again, and down at the river just east of the Pocasset Field was what we called the White Bridge. I think that the crossing is a very ancient site and was used in the 1950s for access to the farm that was across the river in Cranston. We never thought anything else of the bridge, but in later years I found more out about the site. The land on both sides of the river was owned in the early to mid-19th century by the Sprague family, whose textile empire was centered at the nearby Cranston Prints Works. Amasa Sprague often used the bridge here (an earlier vintage bridge) to cross over to his family land in Johnston. He unfortunately met his demise here on our side of the river, not far from the bridge. An Irish immigrant was hanged for the crime, but his conviction was based solely on circumstantial evidence and was probably influenced also by prejudice against the Irish. His hanging caused a furor in the state, and it was the last time that capital punishment was used in Rhode Island.

Between the two markets mentioned earlier was Fico's Barbershop. It was the only one in our neighborhood so everyone had his hair cut with Fico. It was a typical, old-fashioned barbershop – no fancy hair salon or anything like that. I remember the smelly stuff that Fico splashed on the customer's neck after he had shaved the area, and I remember the straight razor that he sharpened on the long leather strap. A man named Pat ran the shop for many years after Fico.

On the east side of Pocasset Street, which runs parallel to Walnut Street and Maple Avenue, is more mill housing. On the west side of Pocasset Street is the Pocasset Worsted Mill which dates to 1898. The Pocasset Worsted Company ran the mill from then until the mid-1930s when the Walter Marshall Spinning Company took over operations. It was still running in the 1950s, and we used to go to the mill office building where a small outlet was operated, selling sweaters and other products. Living in Pocasset village you were constantly reminded of the mill's influence. Everything in the village was there, either directly or indirectly, because of the mill – the housing, the sports field, the casino and even St. Bridget's Church, which all taken together were built to serve the workers' physical and spiritual needs. In the old days the mill maintained and lighted the streets and provided water and electricity for the houses from the mill's power source. Back then you knew who ran things.

St. Brigid's Church is located on the north side of Plainfield Street across from the topmost mill house on Pocasset Street. It dates back to 1915 and has served the Catholic community in the village since then. The Italian people of the neighborhood attended St. Rocco's Church on Atwood Avenue in Thornton. My memories of St. Brigid's are mainly from attending Mass there and the occasional function in the basement such as bingos or other events.

Farther down Plainfield Street on the south side of the road was Rosie's Snack Bar, a tiny establishment run by Rosie who served diner-type food at the few stools in front of the counter. My sister, Adrienne, said that they had killer meatball sandwiches for 25 cents. Later, the Fireman's Tap was in business here for a few years. Across the street was and is the Thornton Fire Station. In the 1950s it was all-volunteer. When a fire was called in, the siren would sound and hopefully enough volunteers would be available. I remember the cars roaring up our quiet little street in response. We were far enough away on Walnut Street so that it was a little hard to hear the siren. Eventually a siren was put on a telephone pole at the top of our street. Today, the station is closed, but until recently the station was staffed by full-time firefighters. The building is still owned by the Thornton Volunteers.

Back on the south side of Plainfield Street and a few doors down from Rosie's Snack Bar was Adam Macari's Funeral Home, the only one in Johnston at that time. The funeral home closed a number of years ago, and there has not been another one in the town since. A little further along the street was Little Rhody Hardware Store, which was run by the Mendozzi family, a prominent Italian-American family in the town. If I remember correctly, two of the brothers were school teachers in Johnston and one of them rose to become principal. In later years the Mendozzis added a gift shop to their business, which seemed to be quite successful. The building still stands, but the business has changed.

Across the street was a house with a storefront that sold candy to the neighborhood kids. This was in Aitchison Square, named for William Aitchison, a well-known early 20th-century businessman in Thornton. Until the final day of World War II a stone drinking fountain was located in the center of the square, but on that day over-zealous citizens lit a fire in the fountain and cracked it. Today the square is known as Firefighters' Square.

A little further along Plainfield Street, on the west side of the Pocasset River, was the old stone Brown Mill. It was named after the Brown family that built it, but was also called the White Mill in earlier times for its exterior color. In the 1950s Tabco Braid operated there, making braided rugs. It was operated by the Taraborelli family. It burned in the 1970s in a huge fire. Next door was and is the Bud Mullins Gas Station. Bud has been operating his station for over 50 years now. When we were kids, Butch Steppo and I played a pinball machine in the back room. I checked recently – the pinball machine is gone.

A couple of doors down on the same side was Thornton Electric Spa, run by the Butmarc family. They had a soda fountain out front and aisles filled with all kinds of great gadgets, toys, household supplies, etc. In the next block was the Myrtle Hall building where the Votolatos ran their weekly Swinghaven Canteen. It was a no-nonsense operation, but the kids had a ball there. The Votolatos also ran a movie theater in the same room in the 1940s. In the ’50s and ’60s they ran one in the Ferri Block on Atwood Avenue. Everyone in the village knew Mario and his wife, Ann. They have both passed on, but their daughter, Barbra, still runs ABC Flag in the Myrtle Hall Building.

The next building west of Myrtle Hall, just across Myrtle Ave., was the Collins Drug Store, run by four siblings. They had a great old soda fountain, and they never changed much in their store over the years. In the late 1990s their greeting cards were still in little bags in draws under the display and their cans of soda were still 35 cents. We loved to buy cherry Cokes at the fountain in the 1950s. Their store was torn down in 1997 to make way for a Walgreen Drug Store. A few doors down from Collins Drug Store was Gilbert Hartley's variety store and Providence Journal agency. I was one of the paper carriers for Gilbert in the 1950s. Paper delivery was different then. We made sure that every paper was inside the storm door and on Saturdays we stopped at each house to collect payment. Then we would walk to Hartley's, where Gilbert would total everything up on a little adding machine and give us our pay. Some of our money was naturally spent on candy in the store. In earlier times Gilbert's family ran the Victoria Mills on Mill Street.

Other establishments that I remember in Thornton on Plainfield Street were: a small Thornton Library on the ground floor of a tenement on the Cranston side; Mainelli's Spa, also on the Cranston side, where one could get a great sandwich, a magazine, or a loaf of bread (they closed a few years ago); and Golini's Drug Store, diagonally across from Collins Drug Store and on the Cranston side (the two drug stores made it into the 1990s, but Walgreens finally did them in). There were other businesses, of course, but none that I was familiar with.