State Line House

In 1896, the Springfield Street Railway Company began trolley service down Longmeadow Street to the Connecticut state line. At the state line, you could pick up a streetcar run by the Hartford Street Railway Company and continue your journey through Connecticut to Thompsonville, East Windsor, Hartford, and beyond. The two companies agreed to build a transfer station at the south end of Longmeadow Street. The State Line House transfer station was to contain a waiting room and the second floor was to be devoted to tenements (rooms) for street railway employees. The 1910 map of Longmeadow shows the transfer station as well as a trolley hangar that was located just north of the State Line House.

The 1900 U.S. Census lists seven single men employed as either conductors or motormen by the Electric Railway Co. who boarded at the State Line House. William Sullivan was the proprietor. Other boarders included his brother, John Sullivan, and four members of the St. Denis family. Minnie St. Denis and her children (Josephine, Napoleon, and Mary) had emigrated from French Canada 2 years before. Minnie was the cook and John, Josephine, and Napoleon were table waiters for the restaurant at the State Line House. In addition to the restaurant, the waiting room also had a fruit stand and confectionary. 

1900 US Census (Longmeadow, MA)

In 1901, the two street railway companies merged, becoming the Hartford and Springfield Street Railway. The State Line House continued as a trolley stop and commercial establishment, but it ceased to be a boarding house for railway employees. William Donnelley was the proprietor of the State Line House in 1905 and, starting in 1910, James J. Sharkey was the proprietor.

Mr. Sharkey was the last proprietor and he named it for himself –“Sharkey’s State Line House”. Sharkey’s was known for its hot dogs and it was said that many people traveled the trolley just to get one. And, as more and more automobiles shared the roads with trolleys and horses, Sharkey’s started selling Socony motor gasoline in 1916.

By 1919, Mr. Sharkey had opened up the Dance Palace on the grounds of Sharkey’s. A.J. Giaconia, the manager of the Dance Palace, gave dance lessons and organized events and fundraisers.

John Sharkey died in 1925 and in 1933 the town sold the property at a Tax Collector’s Sale for nonpayment of taxes. Sharkey’s State Line House and Dance Palace are now gone, but we can still fill our tanks and buy food at the state line where they used to stand – at the Pride station.

Sources: Longmeadow Historical Society archives 1900 U.S. Federal Census 1910 map of Town of Longmeadow 1901/1905 Street Directory Springfield Republican: Nov. 11, 1896; April 11, 1912; Feb. 17, 1925; Sept. 13, 1933 Springfield Daily News: July 31, 1912; Aug. 11, 1916; Nov. 22, 1919

Connecticut Trolley Museum

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, Board member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published August 6, 2020

A Dip in the "Hat Tub"

Do these hot summer days have you wishing to cool off with a nice bath? Well how would you feel about these two bathing options from Longmeadow Historical Society's Collection at the Storrs House Museum?

In the days before central air and rotating electric fans, your options for keeping cool were rather limited! And washing off at the end of a long, hot day was hardly refreshing.

Consider this mid-19th "hat tub," so named for its resemblance to a gentleman's hat if you flipped it over. It would have been perfect for a standing bath, but certainly not a long, casual soak. You would stand in the middle and let the soapy water run down into the base of the tub. When finished, you could pour out the dirty water from the spout. The flat surface is not for sitting--it's for your pitcher of water and soap!

Or this pretty English pearlware pitcher and washbowl set (c. 1820-1840) for your bed chamber? The bowl fits within a hole in the top of the washstand made to hold it. Add clean, cool water and freshen up with a linen towel.

Domestic arts expert and Hartford resident Catherine Beecher proclaimed in her 1869 book, The American Woman's Home, bathing to be necessary for maintain one's health, but it needn't be done by immersing ones "whole person" in a large tub: "A wet towel, applied every morning to the skin, followed by friction in pure air, is all that is absolutely needed."

Similarly, Lydia Marie Child in her Family Nurse: A Companion to the American Frugal Housewife recommended that a person should, "Wash your whole person thoroughly once or twice a week; and wash yourself with a coarse crash towel, or brush, till the surface glows. ..If done at night, it is apt to induce refreshing sleep." Refreshing indeed!

Contributed by Melissa M. Cybulski, Board member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published July 30, 2020

Irinda Colton (1803-1870)

This History Note introduces us to an 1820's shopkeeper, Irinda Colton, of Longmeadow. She operated her own shop on State Street in Springfield. Love coming across stories of entrepreneurial women like Irinda from so long ago!

Irinda Colton was born in Longmeadow in 1803 to Ebenezer and Phebe Barton Colton, one of 12 children. As an 11-year-old girl, she completed the sampler pictured below (notice her name and age at the bottom).

She became a milliner, or hat maker, and opened a shop in Springfield on State Street "opposite the Armory" with Hannah Booth in 1827. Her shop advertised "Millinery, of the most approved taste and fashion, Among which are,

"Leghorns, black and white,

Sattins, different colors,

Florences do,

Sarsenets do,

Gro de Naps do,

French and Lisse Crapes do,

Fancy, Barage and Cashmere Hdkfs,

Swiss and Mull Muslins,

Brown Cambrick,

Work'd Caps, Capes and Collars,

Thread, Bobbinet and Thule Laces,

Ribbons, a variety,

Hair Puffs and Ringlets,

Head Flowers and Wreaths,

Ostrich Plumes, Gimps, Cords, &c."

Imagine how fashionable the ladies of the area would look with these options!

When she died in Wilbraham in 1870 of typhoid fever, she left an inventory of goods from her business.

Contributed by Betsy McKee, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published July 23, 2020