100Th Anniversary Celebration
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Circa 1920 2011 100th Anniversary Celebration Week of June 6-11 A special tribute highlighting Towle’s Hardware’s 100th birthday and historic Dixfield community over the past 100 years. Today’s Towles Advertising Supplement to the Sun Journal, Rumford Falls Times, Franklin Journal and the Livermore Falls Advertiser, Wednesday, June 1, 2011 Wednesday, Advertiser, Falls Journal and the Livermore Franklin Times, Falls Rumford the Sun Journal, to Advertising Supplement Corner of Weld & Main Street The new Towle’s Hardware & Lumber Co. and Towle’s Corner Store & Kitchen C. H. Towle, the man behind 100 years of Towle’s Hardware By Michael Charles Towle on the west side of Weld Street. shop,referred to as “the back who died in 1973. Mrs. Newman There was a row of shed roof Grandson of C. H. Towle Stanley was an avid fisherman. shop.” The new building was was the sister of Alice Towle. garages at the rear of the building He invented the “Rangeley divided in two, with the display that at one time had been used by When Charlie opened the store Charles Hershel Towle was born Spinner” lure, had a fish, the area in front near the street, and the National House for horse “Coregonus Stanleyi” named the back part of the new building he sold glass, dog food, stalls and then by the August 20, 1877 in East Dixfield, John Deere tractors, Maine, the son of John Jackson after him, and was one of the first as a warehouse. Stanley Hotel to store fish commissioners in the state c a st i ron stoves, the cars of those Towle, Jr. and Mary Frances The back shop was used as an ga s a nd elec t r ic Holman. He married Alice Lucas of Maine. Upon his retirement, spending the night. he sold the business to Albion area to replace window glass r e f r i g e r a t o r s , The middle garage on September 12, 1910 in Canton, and fabricate stove pipe and roof p a i nt , l u m b e r, Maine. They purchased the Billy Stockbridge who moved it to had a basement the east side of Weld Street and jacks as needed. When Dad was S t a n l e y t o o l s , area that housed a Mitchell place on Main Street a youngster, he used to take naps h a r d w a r e a n d in Dixfield and settled into the opened it as a hardware store. In sawdust-fired, hot air 1911, C. H. Towle purchased the at the store on a pile of horse gasoline. Turpentine heating plant to prevent farm house. Today, this is the blankets on the bottom shelf of w a s s o l d f r o m a site of the Dixfield Village Stockbridge Hardware Store and the cars in these garages from opened C. H. Towle’s Hardware. one of the display racks. 55-gallon drum. The customer freezing in cold weather. When Green, next door to the Dixfield brought his own can or bottle to Historical Society. My grandmother, Alice Towle, John Towle was a boy, his job In the early 1920s, he moved be filled. Glass came in wooden was to shovel in the hardwood the old building back from the was a graduate of Farmington crates which, being frugal, A tackle and bicycle shop, owned Normal School and taught school sawdust and keep the furnace by Henry O. Stanley, was located street and built a new building, Charlie dismantled and used to running. using the old bike shop as a work in a one-room schoolhouse. build the storage bins for bulk When the store opened, she garden seeds. Nails came in In the early 1940s, the warehouse became the bookkeeper. 50-pound kegs and were stored in space was converted to an Events on Monday The second floor of the building nail bins and sold by the pound. expanded display area, and had two apartments. The front These nail and seed bins are still storage was relocated to the • First 50 customers get a free jar opener. apartment was occupied by Miss in use in the store today. basement. Again in the early • 10 a.m. True Value 100-year plaque presentation. Mabel Nancy Towle, Charlie’s 1960s, the back shop was This building was the first and converted to display and a • 50/50 raffle continues, $1/each, $5/arm-length; proceeds to sister, who never married. She only building in Dixfield to have new and smaller back shop benefit local organizations and projects. worked for years for a Mrs. an elevator going from the second Roberts and returned to Dixfield was constructed. About this • Antique, restored delivery truck on display courtesy of Mike floor down to the first and down to take care of her mother, Mrs. time, stove pipe was no longer Towle; 1929 AA Ford with 188A rack body. again to the basement. It was fabricated on site so the new Mary Frances Holman Towle, operated by hand, using a rope • Refreshments available in hardware store. until her death on March 24, 1924. and smaller back shop became a to pull it up and let it down. Butch receiving area. • Double points on rewards cards at Towle’s Corner Store. After the death of her mother, and I used it to move spool wood • Continuously running slide show at the hardware store Mabel remained in Dixfield and from the basement to the second By now John was running the prepared by Donna, Deb, and Chip Towle. moved into the front apartment floor for the Round Oak cast iron store and Charlie was retired. kitchen stoves. It was also our job A lumber shed was built in the • Register for free drawings of four grand prizes: $100 gift over Towle’s Hardware. She to move all paint shipments to 1950s with construction starting certificate to Towle’s Corner Store; Paint for a room, ceiling worked as the desk clerk at the the basement on that elevator. It and wall, up to four gallons of Dutch Boy; The famous Rockwell Stanley Hotel for many years did save a lot of wear and tear on Jawhorse; 12 ft. x 12 ft. house-style shelter King shed. until her death on May 10, 1971. The rear apartment was occupied our backs. 100 years by Mrs. Blanche Lucas Newman, page 3 ‰ CONGRATULATIONS Towle’s Hardware Congratulations Towle’s Hardware 100 Yea Congratulations! rs On 100 Years In Business Dixfield’s Economic RANDY’S BLOUIN’S AUTO REPAIRS Development Council Siding & Roofing Thanks the Towle Family for Specializing In: 100 YEARS Randy Cochran Radiators & General Repairs of service, vision and committment 562-7210 P.O. Box 649 • 8 Main St., Dixfield ME 04224 • 562-4921 to the Town of Dixfield and 614 Main Street, Dixfield The River Valley Areas Congratulations To Towle’s Hardware SmartCare Physical Therapy Congratulations & Thank You for the Great Service! 100 Years! LAUREN HEBERT, DPT, OCS From all of us at Doctor of Physical Therapy P.O. Box 220 Craig & Becky Coulthard, Owners Route 4, Turner NAPLES STORAGE 94 Weld Street [email protected] 207-225-5355 654 River Road, Mexico Dixfield, ME 04224 454 River Rd., Mexico 207-364-7665 207-364-3725 TEL. 207-562-8048 www.smartcarept.com 2 towle’s 100th anniversary Advertising Supplement, Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine, Wednesday, June 1, 2011 our house. When the telephone 100 years building was torn down, a Mobil from page 2 Gas Station was constructed and managed by Herschel G. Nash. in the spring. I remember my Between the Mobil station and Events on Tuesday grandfather, Charlie, laying out the store was a restaurant, The • First 50 customers get a free, green tote bag. the position of the holes for the Blue Bird, originally Marion • 50/50 raffle continues, $1/each, $5/arm-length; cedar poles and then building Harlow Tribou’s Gift Shop. This proceeds to benefit local organizations and projects. a small fire at each location so was where the band stand used • Antique, restored delivery truck on display courtesy of the ground would thaw and the to be. Down Main Street from the Mike Towle; 1929 AA Ford with 188A rack body. holes could be dug. Every time a telephone office and gas station lumber shipment was received was the Knox Garage, the local • Double points on rewards cards at Towle’s Corner Store. from a lumber company (Starbird Ford dealership. • Continuously running slide show at the hardware store Lumber in Strong, Maine comes prepared by Donna, Deb, and Chip Towle. to mind) Butch and I had to stack When I was in high school, Elgin it in the new shed with stickers Rafuse ran a Gulf Gas Station • Register for free drawings of four grand prizes: $100 between each row so it would dry there, and he and his wife lived gift certificate to Towle’s Corner Store; Paint for a room, straight, hopefully. upstairs. Just up Weld Street ceiling and wall, up to four gallons of Dutch Boy; The John Towle, son of Charles, was the from Towle’s Hardware was the famous Rockwell Jawhorse; 12 ft. x 12 ft. house-style shelter King shed. John added another addition to second generation to run Towle’s Rumford Falls Light and Power the store with a full cement-block Hardware Store. (1932 high school photo) Building, originally Randall’s basement and more display area Law Office and then Art’s Barber on the main floor.