Upper Bartlett Village in the mid 1950's. The outline of the Thermostat Factory is visible behind the cloud of smoke. Photo courtesy Alan Eliason.
FOR THOSE NOT ACQUAINTED WITH BARTLETT, The Town is divided into several sub-communities and areas that in their entirety are The Town of Bartlett.
The map shows the distinctive neighborhoods. Beginning at the west is The Upper Village, which is most notable for the Josiah Bartlett School. Glen is the central part of the town centering on the junction of Routes 16 & 302. Glen has several subsections, primarily Cooks Crossing (some refer to it as sucker brook) which is the upper section of the West Side Road. Goodrich Falls is the northern area that abuts the Town of Jackson. Jericho is located about a mile west of the Junction of Route 16 & 302 and it encompasses the Rocky Branch area. Intervale is the eastern part of Town beginning at about the junction of Rte 16A Resort Loop and ending at the Scenic Vista and the North Conway Town line. The westerly side of Hurricane Mountain Road up into Kearsarge is also part of Bartlett.
Long before Attitash, there were very popular ski runs on Bear Mountain. This photo 1941 looks north towards Mt Washington.The Village was also home to Stanton Slopes, with a rope tow. It operated in the 40's and 50's. It was located in the cleared area about in the center of this picture. For a very good article about all the bartlett Ski Businesses in the early days, go to http://www.skimuseum.org
Bartlett, NH Tavern Fire, Apr 1879
THE BARTLETT FIRE.----Our Conway correspondent writes that the loss to Mr. N. T. Stillings of Bartlett, whose tavern stand and out-buildings were destroyed by fire on the 3d, is $5000, with no insurance. The loss will be a heavy one to Mr. S., whose popular tavern and stage lines were so well known among the pilgrims to "the Switzerland of America." The fire is thought to have originated from a defective chimney. The family of Mr. S, was away at the time of the fire.
The New Hampshire Patriot,
Concord, NH 13 Apr 1879
George Chappee, Tinker Ainsworth, Jimmy Clemons, with a not too happy looking deer. This house is on River Street near the VFW hall. Photo Courtesy of Maureen Hussey
The Village was once dominated by the Railroad and most of the residents depended on it for their livelihood. The Village in those days had several restaurants, bars, a movie theatre, hotel and lodgings, a hardware store, several grocery stores and many other commercial activities. By contrast, it is a relatively peaceful village today.
G.K. Howard Hardware Store, also on Albany Avenue. Later it was The Thermostat Factory. Going up Albany Ave towards Bear Notch Road it was just across the tracks on the left. Today there are some condo type units in the same spot.
There was a building just before the tracks on the right that housed Wimpy Thurston's Grocery Store, later operated by the Jacobson's. The building looked similar to the GK howard Store but without the dormers. Today that site is an empty lot adjacent to the former Garland Inn, and as of 2019 the Hodgkins residence.
1951; Hanging out at the GK Howard Store are Vin at back left, Bucky (Rogerson?) front left, Peggy and Neal Trecarten.
Granville K. Howard, Prominent Bartlett Resident Dies
In the passing of Granville K. Howard on Nov. 17 at his home after a brief illness, Bartlett has lost one of its outstanding citizens. Born in Hartford, Vt., in 1864, he was graduated from Dartmouth in the class of 1886 and always kept up his interests in the activities of the college. In 1887 he married Nellie Bailey of Landgrove, Vt., and two years later he moved to Bartlett. From that time until his retirement in 1946 he was active in business, conducting a general store. In 1912 he built the Howard Hotel, which is now known as Bartlett Hotel. Mr. Howard held many town offices, having served as selectman and as a member of the school board. He was instrumental in forming the Bartlett Water Precinct of which he was treasurer for 51 years. Always interested in the welfare of the town, one of his last acts was to give a plot of land opposite the hotel for a public park. For many years he was active in Osceola Lodge, I. O. O. F., and was recently awarded his 50 year pin. His counsel and guidance will be missed by the many people who always found him a friend in time of need. Funeral services were held on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. at the Bartlett Congregational Church.-
The Reporter,
Thursday, November 24, 1949 -pg 1
Across the Street from G.K HOWARD'S STORE IS THE BOOKER BUILDING ON ALBANY AVENUE. It housed Garland's Store, a Barbershop operated by Claude Dearborn. The Post Office was there until it moved down the street next door to Franklin George's "What Not Shop" by the Park. No Date was provided but probably in the 1945-1955 range. Garlands was a drug store, but also sold clothing, footwear and hardware. It was later operated by Joe Briggs. Arlene Hamel and another lady had a restaurant there as did Henrietta Trecarten and Evelyn Tibbets at a later date. There was also a Bakery on the lower level. If you knew of Stan Smearer and Jenny Sweeney, among others, lived in the apartments upstairs.
This picture shows the old General Thermostat Corp Building which was owned by a Mr Frank Reingruber. He lived on the upper floor. He had patented several various forms of thermostats from 1945 to 1971. He probably employed about 30 people. His building was the former G.K. Howard Store. He operated there from the early 1950's to the early 1960's. This editor does not know where he went after his factory closed however he had another thermostat patent approved in 1971,
The backside of this July 1957 card is addressed to Mr Russ Hosmer in Wilmerding Penn. and the writer is one Alan T. There is mention of the Edaville Railroad and it sounds like Alan T was a scout looking for old railroad equipment to buy. Not that it has any bearing, but Wilmerding is home to the George Westinghouse Mansion.
1983 Bartlett Village, School in foreground, Bartlett Hotel left side:
Ed Pettengill: "I found this on the internet...it said Bartlett NH Aerial photo circa 1983...based on the new wing on the school, and the school bus parked by the garage, that's accurate within a year. The new wing was built around 1980 - I was in eighth grade when they were building it - so that's the oldest the picture could be. If anyone has pictures of Bartlett from either the Bear Notch overlooks, Attitash, or Cave Mountain or Hart's ledge, please post them. Those pictures of Bartlett from overhead are great".
Editors Note, this is a
Roger Marcoux Photo
This picture shows Mountain Home when the Nutes owned it and operated a large farm extending westward to Silver Springs, Eastward to about where The Bartlett Inn is located today and Northward to the Saco River. They catered to guests who wanted to stay on a working farm for the summer.
This picture shows the Nutes standing in front of their farmhouse. The notation on the back of the card is shown below.
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