In 1977, Johnson's Bookstore in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, offered a selection of back issues of Keith's Magazine of Home Building in their secondhand book department, the multitudinous contents of which sprawled over the entire second floor. A browser's paradise. Most of these issues were from the early 1900s. Having developed an unexplained fascination for house floor plans, I purchased as many copies as my meager G. & C. Merriam salary would allow.
Johnson's closed in 1998, twenty years after I moved from Springfield to Oshkosh. (Not that the two events are in any way related.)
"Hell's Acres" chronicles the decline of downtown Springfield. Baystate West was still thriving when I lived in Springfield from 1976-1978, but I was also on hand for the closing of Forbes & Wallace's iconic downtown department store. And my Aunt Millie worked in rival Steiger's bridal department into the 1980s.
No comments:
Post a Comment