Friendly Ghosts

I don’t have anything profound to say about these photos. They just make me happy.  But by seeing the pictures, we get to remember – and we get to learn to see familiar places in unfamiliar ways.

Every once in a while I come across a cluster of pictures of the same place, taken at different times. This time, I have several pictures of the same place, taken at almost the same time. But that doesn’t mean that the pictures show the same things (lucky for me!) 

The location is the corner of Highland Avenue and West Street. Needham Heights Square did not get photographed nearly as often as Needham Center Square. But when it did, it was almost always the same view.

Since I live in the Heights, this scene is very familiar to me. This is what it looks like today – a continuous brick façade all the way from CareWell on the West Street corner to Trader Joe’s near the Mellen Street corner. (and thank you, Google friends!)

When I moved here in 1991, it was quite different, with Calvert’s dominating both sides of the intersection. Calvert’s took the whole block to the west, from West Street up to Citizen’s Bank. Moving east past Calvert’s in the direction of Mark Lee Road there was Mayfair Cleaners, someplace where I bought ice cream (in/near the Town Pizza location?), a coffee shop in the old Venus Nails location (which no one remembers but me), and of course, Harvey Tabachnik’s Needham Heights Pharmacy.

The pictures for today’s story, however, are from a much earlier date – between 1940 and 1950. The one-story block on this site was built around 1938, when Carter’s (who owned the block) tore down the old Victorian Bemis building and built the row of storefronts. The structure is still there, though its nice fluted Deco façade is now covered with the bricks. 

I have three pictures, and I am not sure of their exact chronological order, though they are not very far apart. In this first picture (above), you are standing on Heights Common. The near-corner store is a drug store – probably Kinne’s, which also had a store downtown. Next door (behind that car) is the Heights Post Office. The next one I can’t identify, and next to that one is the Norfolk Trust Company Bank (with the perpendicular sign). Last awning in the row is E.E. Calvert’s in its first storefront location. The tower beyond Calvert’s is the old Heights Fire Station, in that location from 1885 to 1948, when it moved down the block to Webster Street. The white building peeking out from the trees is a bank; it was built in 1906 by William Carter as the first Needham Public Library, but when the town built the current Library building in 1915, Carter turned it into offices, and later leased it out. It was on that site until at least 1948.

The next picture is virtually identical, but a much clearer print. The corner store is the J.A. Holden Electric Company. The Post Office is still there, as is the unidentified store (the sign says “Something Express Agency”). Kinne’s Drug Store is there, but not on the corner as in the previous picture. The Norfolk Trust storefront seems to be empty, but Calvert’s is there, as are the Heights Fire Station and the former Library/bank building. And that car. Is that the same car?

This one is dated 1942. It is taken from the opposite angle, so we have a better view of the Calvert’s end of the block. E.E. Calvert’s (“Dry Goods & Hosiery. Carter’s Underwear. Gifts – Cards”) still has that single narrow storefront. The snowy driveway at the right edge is the driveway of the fire station. The Norfolk Trust Bank, Kinne’s Pharmacy, and the Express Agency are all there. I don’t see the Post Office sign on the window, but the PO was there until at least 1948. The corner store is not Holden’s Electric, but I can’t read the name on the awning. And the car. Damn! Is that the same one again, or did they all just look the same? Also, it is wartime – there is a young man in a Navy uniform in front of Kinne’s and an Emergency First Aid Station marker with a red cross on the light pole.

One other thing to notice in this picture is the store across West Street – the current location of Starbuck’s. That building extended down West Street, halfway to Hunnewell Street. It was built that way in the 1870s, and the West Street part was a row of attached double houses. These lasted until the 1950s or 1960s; they were torn down and the space used for the parking lot. The two double houses between the parking lot and the Hunnewell corner are the survivors of this row. The steeple in the background was the original Methodist Church building.

Fast-forward a few years, to the early-mid 1950s. Calvert’s has expanded to take over the bank and pharmacy storefronts. The Express Agency is still in its old place (same sign). The Post Office location was taken by Manter’s Pharmacy. Manter’s bought out Kinne’s Needham Heights location in 1946. A few years after this picture, Manter’s would move to larger digs on the next corner (Starbuck’s).

Over the next 40 years, Calvert’s would expand to take in the whole block, as well as the opposite (Starbuck’s) corner. Calvert’s was not actually owned by Carter’s – it was a privately-owned store, though a large part of its merchandise was from the Carter Company. Whole generations of Needham youngsters grew up wearing Carter’s underwear seconds (with defects varying from unnoticeable to outrageous, but always a great price). When I moved to Needham, anytime I told someone where I lived the first thing they would say is “You live near Calvert’s!” And indeed, I spent a lot of time (and money) there. Sadly, the store’s expansion to three locations became too much of a burden, and it closed in 1995.

That all, folks. I don’t have anything profound to say about these photos. Just that it makes me happy to see them. Retail establishments are buffeted by all sorts of economic and social forces, so the streetscape will change. Some changes are improvements (the Library, the Fire Station) and others are not (Calvert’s – sob!) By seeing the pictures, we get to remember – or learn. They are shadows of our past, strange but also familiar, like a gathering of friendly ghosts.