HILLTOWN HISTORY Blue Door Tea Shop: Alice Ladeux of Charleston, NC opened the
elegant Blue Door Tea Shop on Route 20 in 1924 with partner Louise Pratt. Charles Cooper installed the tea shop sign, a full-size blue door, at the entrance of the long driveway leading up to the shop. Operating from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year, the shop served luncheons and tea and offered a variety of lovely gifts. It was popular with the visiting parents of girls from the Springfield area who attended the YWCA summer camp at Brookside Lodge. The tea shop closed in 1929.

Chester businesses were many and varied in the 1930s and 1940s. Gleaned from advertisements of the day: Byron Pease ran a livery business, Raymond Hathaway sold meats, W.W. Pratt sold wood, Wilcutts ran a grocery store where Smithies Café was later located and a Mr. Quigley was a contractor. “Pop” Sherlaw and Elmer Day did painting and wallpapering.  Jeweler and clock repairer John Arthur Smithies kept the railroad men’s watches synchronized with regular checkups, Martha Ledwell drove the school bus for many years and also ran a taxi service in town, Mike Dunn and Bill Stevens ran local dairy farms, Dunn on the Blandford Road and Stevens on upper Middlefield Street. (Mike Dunn and his horse and buggy were a regular sight in downtown Chester.) Ray Wheeler started selling Standard Oil in the 1920s. Roy Wheeler took over the oil company which was later run by his son Leland and now by Leland and his son Mark. Louis Giovanelli had a trucking business. Anita Dorie ran a millinery shop upstairs from Kabatchnick’s and Mrs. B.E. Murtagh sold lingerie and children’s clothes. Grace Earle gave piano lessons in her students’ homes.  For many years, Aldo Bizzozero and his mother ran an ice cream shop on Route 20 not far from the Maple Street Bridge. Eventually, the store was sold to a Mr. Frederickson, an artist and antiques dealer.  A sampling of licenses issued by the town for the year 1939 reflects the varied businesses thriving in town at that time. They are as follows: Alcoholic Beverages and Common Victuallers: Wildcat Springs, Smithies Café, Chester Inn, Petrides Sunshine Restaurant and Package Store. Chester Historical Society.

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