Mr. Ellwood Dinsmore
1899-1984       

         (The gas pump shows 13 gallons for $6.05)

Ellwood was the brother of Hellen Hayes, another famous person in Bartlett history.  Here is Ellwood Dinsmore at his Sunoco gas station in Bartlett, N.H. in 1972. At the time of this photo Ellwood had owned the gas station for 48 years.  Ellwood worked for the Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division for 50 years and 5 months. He was a mechanic working out of the Bartlett yard.

Ellwood was known as the "One Man Wrecking Crew"; Ellwood operated the Towns only Wrecker Service, towing crashed up cars or pulling folks out of a ditch. As a morbid past-time some folks would go to the side of his garage, where he put the crashed cars that had been involved in accidents, to view the damage and possible blood.

He remembers when 10 to 12 trains passed through Bartlett every day. At the end of his retirement he saw only 2 trains a day pass through Bartlett.

He was asked once "What was the most severe condition you ever worked under?". Ellwood answered..."Back in mid winter of 1954 I went up to the Willey Brook Trestle to take a side rod off a steam engine. The Wind was blowing a gale, and we were in the middle of the trestle, someone went to the Willey Section house to see what the temperature was...it was 48 below ZERO!".

Ellwood's Sunoco gas station and garage is (was) located directly across the street from todays Bart's Deli. He and his second wife, Ruth, lived in the rooms above the garage.  Before Bart's Deli there was a Restaurant called Hansel and Gretel in the same location.  When Ruth saw what a great business they did in their restaurant she decided she should have a restaurant also and built the small building on the east side of the garage. (It's behind Ellwood in the picture) . It only operated a couple of years under her management.  It later became The Copper Kettle operated by Elaine MacManus. 

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Ellwood and his buddies were often found working on various mechanical jobs in the garage. Ellwood had an impressive collection of swear words and phrases and a voice loud enough that his verbiage could often be easily heard from quite a distance.  Us youngsters hung around at times to learn new expressions with which to entertain our friends.  

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Ellwood was known for his willingness to help folks in any way he could regardless of weather or circumstances.