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    Derry Revisited
    Derry Revisited
    Derry Revisited
    Ebook189 pages1 hour

    Derry Revisited

    By Richard Holmes and William Dugan

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    In 1719, sixteen families left Ireland for America and founded a community called Nutfield, which evolved into modern Derry. For centuries, Derry retained its small-town character, but the 1963 opening of Interstate 93 changed the town forever. Within a decade, its population doubled. Derry is now the state s most populous town. This charming collection of over two hundred photographs presents Derry in its quieter years, when trolleys crisscrossed the town, most of the men worked in shoe factories, and traffic on Broadway stopped each morning as the Hood cows crossed to their pasture. For many older residents, these images will bring back a flood of memories. Newcomers will better understand the traditions that helped shape the town. Derry Revisited evokes a sense of expanded pride in the heritage of Derry.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateApr 20, 2005
    ISBN9781439616109
    Derry Revisited
    Author

    Richard Holmes

    Richard Holmes was one of Britain’s most distinguished and eminent military historians and broadcasters. He was the author of many best-selling and widely acclaimed books including Redcoat, Tommy, Marlborough and Wellington, and famous for his BBC series. He served in the Territorial Army, and was Colonel of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment from 1999 to 2007. Richard Holmes died suddenly in April 2011 from pneumonia. He had been suffering from non-Hodgkins’ Lymphoma.

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      Book preview

      Derry Revisited - Richard Holmes

      companies.

      INTRODUCTION

      In 1719, a pioneer band of 16 families left Londonderry, Northern Ireland, to seek freedom in America. Led by their Presbyterian pastor Rev. James MacGregor, they founded their colony deep in the untracked wilderness on the crest of East Derry Hill. Originally, the grant of 114 square miles was called Londonderry. The section called Derry was the site of the first settlement and broke away in 1827 to form its own town.

      Derry remained primarily an agricultural community until 1849, when the railroad came to town. Soon, shoe factories began to employ the majority of men and women. Derry remained a shoe town for nearly a century. Another large local employer was the H. P. Hood dairy company. The Great Depression hit industrial Derry very hard. By the mid-20th century, most of the shoe factories had closed. The 1960 federal census reported that the town’s population was in decline for the first time in memory.

      The construction of interstate highway Route 93 in 1963 changed Derry forever. The townspeople suddenly had an easy commute to the factories and office parks in Massachusetts. Thousands of families left the urban life to settle in the suburban green of Derry. Within a decade of the highway’s opening, the population of our town doubled, then doubled again. Today, Derry’s population is nearly five times what it was only 40 years before. We are now the largest town in the state and are only surpassed in population size by the cities of Manchester, Nashua, and Concord.

      This book will present images of daily life in Derry before the recent years of change. Within these pages, the trolley still runs down Broadway; most of our adults are employed in the sprawling shoe factories; boys wear knickers, and girls, long dresses. The Hood cows are seen grazing in their East Broadway pasture, the traffic circle has not been built. Here, Derry has one traffic light, and the Beaver Lake Pavilion is Derry’s place to be on a hot summer’s day.

      It is our hope that through this book the older residents will enjoy reliving their past. We hope that these pictures will help make the newer residents aware of the traditions and events that shaped the modern town. Perhaps, by appreciating what we were, future generations will be more proactive in pursuing a path of conservation and preservation. There is still much in Derry that can and must be protected from the bulldozers of ill-conceived progress and poorly planned change.

      —Richard Holmes and William Dugan

      In addition to picnics, baseball games, and church socials, there was always a parade for Old Home Week. Shown here c. 1910, Derry’s Improved Order of Redmen marches down Broadway in ceremonial regalia. (Allen photograph.)

      One

      LAKES AND PONDS

      The north end of Beaver Lake was still very rural in 1907. The horse and wagon is likely that of R. N. Richardson, who hired photographer J. W. Bowley to record this scene. Richardson published the picture in Tsienneto, a promotional booklet about the area.

      The Madden family operated this icehouse on Beaver Lake from 1910 to 1922. The conveyor belt on the right side of the building was used to move fresh-cut blocks of ice into the building. In 1953, Albert Gallien opened this area of the shorefront as a public beach. It is now a townowned park.

      Desire Bellavance built the Pine Top Lodge on Beaver Lake as a restaurant and hotel c. 1919. Guests could rent horses and ponies by the hour. The lodge was destroyed by fire in 1932.

      A popular way to spend a summer’s day was to rent a canoe at the Beaver Lake Pavilion and paddle on Beaver Lake. This 1920s photograph shows Jim Comeau’s armada. In addition to swimming and paddling, visitors to the pavilion could see a movie for a dime and go dancing for a quarter.

      James Comeau, who lived in this Caribbean-style bungalow on the right, managed the Beaver Lake Pavilion. In the years when he did not win the contract to run the pavilion, Comeau operated a swimming area and snack bar from his home. Comeau is seen here standing in front of his home.

      Among the attractions offered at the Beaver Lake Pavilion was a small zoo. Seen here is manager James Comeau with the deer he bought from Corbin Park in 1907. In addition, his menagerie included ducks, turkeys, and a dancing bear cub.

      North Shore Road began to be developed during the

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