The Middlebury General Store – Part I

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Left to right, John Delaney and Antonio Ferrante stand in front of their store at Judd’s Corner, probably in the late 1920s. One car looks to be a 1920 Ford T (“Doctor’s Coupe”) and the other one ca. 1920-1923 Ford truck or a late 1920s Durant truck. Note the Post Office on the right-hand side of the store. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

In New England rural life, the general, or country, store served as a major fount of current news, education, gossip and, of course, household goods. The Middlebury General Store apparently existed before Middlebury’s inception in 1807. As early as 1806, a notice appeared in the Connecticut Journal announcing formation of a new country store, “Bradley & Munson,” which would take the place of the store formerly occupied by Samuel Smith and located near the Meeting House in Middlebury.

The meeting house, of course, was the Congregational Church, which stood at what was at that time the important crossroads in town. That’s where most general stores were found, especially during their heyday from 1820 to 1860. A Wall Street Journal article (Jenni Avins, “Reviving the General Store,” January 10, 2014), cited the existing Colebrook, Conn., General Store (among the six oldest in New England) as a prime example of this type of store.

Today, the Four Corners Store is our largest and oldest general store, but the Pies and Pints Restaurant building serves as a reminder of days gone by. The current restaurant sits on the footprint of the general store that stood there since the early 1900s. That general store, in turn, had been moved from the Green down West Street about 1907 to make way for Westover School.

The store had several owners; originally called Scott’s Store, it later became Bissell’s Store when it was owned by Arthur Willis Bissell (1856-1942) and Anna Alura (Waters) (1858-1949) Bissell. Next, it became the Bronson and Waters General Store and then the Ferrante and Delaney General Store. The U.S. Post Office also was located in the building, but both were completely destroyed by fire in 1946 and replaced by the current building.

Frederick George Scott (1833-1901) and his wife, Martha (Newton) Scott (1939-1901), operated the general store and post office on the Green for many years. Fred served as postmaster for over 30 years in addition to town clerk and representative to the General Assembly in 1893. They operated the general store from approximately the 1870s probably into the 1890s.

By 1900, the store had passed to the Bissells. However, by 1910 the Bissell family had relocated to Morris to run a general store there, probably because they had suffered the loss of a precious daughter, Katharine, in a 1905 swimming accident.

As of 1910, the store had changed hands to Wheaton Andrews Bronson (1870-1935) and Frank Alex Waters (1874-1960), the nephew of Arthur and Anna Bissell. The newspaper announcement of the wedding of Frank and Helen Rex Bronson in 1901 listed him as a “salesman at the store of Miller & Peck Company,” which had given him experience in managing a retail store.

Wheaton is famous because his wife, Delia Bronson, is known to so many Middleburians as a teacher, police officer, 4-H Club founder, librarian and historian, among other accomplishments. Frank A. Waters served as the town’s postmaster as well as a merchant, but by 1920 was running his own lumber mill, and the store passed to Antonio John Ferrante (1892-1948) and John Henry Delaney (1896-1957).

The Middlebury Historical Society building on Library Road will be open for guests Sunday, May 27, one hour before and one hour after the 5 p.m. Memorial Day parade. Light refreshments will be served, and tours of the building will be offered.

Bob Rafford is the Middlebury Historical Society president and Middlebury’s municipal historian. To join or contact the society, visit MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or call Bob at 203-206-4717.