A Taste of Gilchrist’s Department Store in Boston in 1963

Hello and LATE Happy New Year to all my fellow retro Boston loving friends!!!





Today’s update is based on a recent request from a valued friend & regular contributor to the blog...and I just love to get requests!!!

He has always wanted to know what Gilchrist’s Department Store in Boston was like during its heyday and what the floor directory would have looked like. He never had the wonderful privilege of shopping in the great old Boston store during those glory days and has always been curious about the way it would have looked back then. He knows quite well how it looks today (as the Corner Mall) and has contributed to the blog some amazing photos of the “just turned” 100 year-old landmark structure.

I did some digging...I just love to delve back in time...and have constructed a list of what would have been located on the various floors in the year 1963. Why 1963? It was 50 years ago and the Gilchrist Companyof Boston was really on a high as far as competing with the other Boston retailing giants of the day.

By 1963, Gilchrist’s had a healthy number of suburban branch locations and a warehouse outlet for large appliance and home furniture bargains.

I have included a wonderful artist’s rendition of the way the store looked in 1912 if you were looking up at it from the intersection of Winter and Washington Streets. I have put A, B and C on each of the three buildings that made up the entire store. This is way it was until it closed in late 1976.

The building with the “A” was one of the original Gilchrist Store buildings dating back to the early days of the store in the mid- 1800’s. The “C” building was added in the early 1900’s and joined with “A” in the rear to form an L-shape. The “B” building with 10 glorious floors was built and connected to the older structures in 1912. All this was done with the little E.B. Horn building tucked in the middle on Washington Street and never was it consumed by the growing Gilchrist’s!

The “C” building had extra floors added to match the “B” building a few years after 1912 and the store also had space in the rear and lower levels of the Orpheum Theatre building (and the old Music Hall structure previously).

The old “A” building was never topped with more floors but did house the famous bakery, home of the unique and highly celebrated almond macaroons.

The Marble Spa was in the rear portion of the joined buildings with a stairwell rising up to a doorway to Hamilton Place. Now the Food Court area of the Corner Mall is located (more or less) where the old Marble Spa was for many, many years.

Visitors today are always shocked when they enter from the Washington Street door in the “C” building and move towards the rear to the Food Court area ...they feel as if they have moved down into a basement area. The slope of Winter Street as it ascends to Park Street causes the rear of the Gilchrist’s buildings to be submerged...thus the street floor becomes more like a basement.

Today the space is all chopped up into various sectional areas and it’s hard to imagine the way it used to look unless you have a few old memories to guide you...and boy, my memories are getting very rusty!!!

The floor plan was pretty much a horseshoe shape on all the floors with two large banks of elevators on either side near the rear.

The street floor was very crowded and the busiest of all the floors of the store. Apart from the usual items seen on offer in most store street floors one must also note that the entire Men’s Department was located in the rear of the street floor as well as, for many years, all the major appliances. The larger electrical home appliances were sold upstairs on one of the upper floors for the early part of the 20th century but to keep pace with successful Jordan Marsh’s large display of street floor appliances in their famous Annex Building on Avon Street...they were moved downstairs and placed near the front of building “C” as you came in the doors from Washington Street.



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The store floor directory in 1963 looked a bit like this:



Sub- Basement: Heating and electrical power rooms for entire store



Basement: All bargain sales representing most upstairs departments except appliances, TV & stereo and furniture (the later three bargain items could be found in Gilchrist’s Warehouse Store)

***Also the staff-only stockrooms & sorting areas were down here





Street Floor: Cosmetics and toiletries, Women’s Hosiery, Women’s Gloves and Handbags, Large Appliances and TV & Stereo, Men’s Clothing , Shoes and Accessories (including older boys and teens), Sewing Center, Home Improvement Center, Notions, Silverware, Women’s Blouses and Shirts, Jewellery and Watches, Cameras, Stationery, Health & Beauty, Optical, Confectionery and a Small Book Selection

***Plus the Marble Spa and Bakery



Second Floor: Women’s Dresses, Women’s Sportswear, Women’s Coats, Deb Rendezvous (Female Teen Clothing and Accessories), Women’s Knitwear



Third Floor: Women’s Loungewear, Women’s Underwear and Foundations, Women’s Shoes, Beauty Salon, Women’s Lingerie and Sleepwear, Children’s Shoes, Women’s Shoes, Millenary, Fur Salon



Forth Floor: Children, Female Sub-Teens and Infant’s Clothing, Book Department, Luggage Department



Fifth Floor: Sheets, Blankets, Towels (Home Linens), Art Needlework (yarns-threads), Slipcovers, Domestics (Pillows, etc)



Sixth Floor: China and Fine Glassware, Housewares and Small Electrical Appliances, Outdoor Equipment (Mowers-Snow Blowers-Garden Sheds)



Seventh Floor: Mattresses-Bedding, Xmas Seasonal Toy Town and Trim –A-Tree, Home Furniture



Eighth Floor: Rugs and Floor Coverings



Ninth Floor: Home Furniture



Tenth Floor: Employment, Accounting, Security and other store offices &staff break rooms





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A sad note for those who have memories of the last years of the store in the mid-1970’s...the floor directory was altered significantly and at the very end (1976), only the first three floors were in use.



Enjoy this selection of Gilchrist’s ads from 1963 that represent some of the various items sold on each of the floors!!!



This past Xmas season brought 1000’s of hits to the blog and many new readers. I want to thank all of the new readers who have written to say hello and share your memories with me!

Much more to come in 2013...Stay tuned!



Plus the Jordan Marsh Memory Project keeps growing...I can’t wait to share the completed work with you all in the future. I am not rushing...heavens no!! Each time I think I have enough...more information surges forth. I look forward to more input from anyone with Jordan Marsh memories or memorabilia that they would like included in my project!!! There is always room for more! Come one, come all!!!



Thanks!!! Charles





charles65ofboston@yahoo.com



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Boston’s Bittersweet Christmas of 1942

Hello, My Fellow Retro Boston Lovers!




The holidays are once again upon us and I found myself considering just what year I should focus my attentions on for my annual Christmas update here on the retro Boston blog.

After a great deal of thinking and a few suggestions from loyal readers, I selected 1942. Not a very easy choice in many ways...yes, it was 70 years ago...but it was a very difficult and bittersweet holiday season for Boston.

Most of my readers will recall and understand fully why 1942 was such an emotional Christmas season for the Boston area...but for younger readers, I shall explain a bit about the situation dear old Boston found itself in from late November and on to the 25th of December.

The United States was now nearing the end of its first year directly involved in World War ll. Families all over Boston had loved ones far from home serving in the war in various capacities and many a holiday table would be minus one or more members thus making for great sadness and agonizing separation. This sadness became true grief for all too many families as those dreaded official telegrams arrived bringing news of death or missing in action.

Boston, like all of the rest of the USA, had rationing of many goods and supplies. Gasoline and home heating oil were severely cut down to the general public and this made for much less car travel and deliveries of all goods to stores were done much less often. The public was urged to walk, ride bicycles, use public transport and carry all goods home with you...don’t waste precious fuel became the rule to live by . All resources were being put into winning the war and each Bostonian needed to do their part in this huge task. Coupon books with sheets of stamps for various household staples and other essentials were issued to residents and were well in use by the Xmas season of 1942 and Boston was learning how to live by strict rations.

Scrimp and save...make do and mend...share and do more with less, much less. Boston was learning to be even thriftier than even those long Great Depression years had required.

This holiday season in Boston was a much darker one than normal for several key reasons. 1942 saw the introduction of dimout regulations and blackout air raid tests in the Boston area. Dimout meant that window shades must be pulled down (¾ of the way) in all homes and other buildings with little or no light showing by 5:45 pm each day. Early in the Xmas season it was announced that the outdoor lighting of trees and all other exterior holiday lighting were forbidden...imagine...and that included all window candles as well. The Boston stores had to go without the usual fancy buntings of colorful lit garlands and go with non-electrical means of festive decorations. The stores also had to shut off all display window lighting and shield any flood lighting so that at 5:45 each night...Boston should barley be visible from the surrounding ocean...it should be almost black. Street lamps, head lights on cars...you name it...special rules applied and had to be followed or fines were imposed by the local police or civil defence wardens.

Boston also had “blackouts” and that meant...black. When these air raids were done, Boston had to be as black as night. All lights went out and stayed out until an “all clear” sounded. Residents learned to listen for the tell-tale sound of the sirens...it would become part of life in the war years...and remains a very lasting memory for many. The streets had to be empty during any air raid style test and Bostonian’s learned to seek shelter in many public buildings if caught out and about and not safe at home when the siren sounded.

Massachusetts had its first state-wide blackout air raid test during the Christmas season of 1942 and it did quite well...if enemy forces had been lurking on the ocean off the coastline of Massachusetts, they might have had trouble seeing land during that short test.

Boston also was in a very solemn mood during the holidays of 1942 for another tragic reason.

The war was bad enough...but the tragedy that unfolded on the night of the 28th of November brought Boston to her knees.

The fire at the highly popular and very trendy Cocoanut Grove Nightclub in Boston struck down nearly 500 men and women, most under 35 years of age...words really fail me now. What does one say in the face of this scope of death and heartbreak?

Just a few days after a very quiet Thanksgiving, Boston found itself in shock and grief...what would have been the start to a war “enforced” greatly subdued holiday shopping period became a series of stories about those victims lost at the Cocoanut Grove that tore at Boston’s heart and soul.

The backlash right after the fire saw many local nightclubs being closed all around the city until each could be pronounced safe for the public. School decorations and trees were banned that year...as a precaution against accidental fires.

So Boston went into the holiday shopping season with a very heavy heart and in need of cheering.

The wonderful stores of retro Boston did what they did best...they responded to their customers with warmth, feeling and deep understanding.

Jolly Santa took a backseat to a more homespun, home centred Christmas. Gifts needed to be simple, inexpensive and from the heart. The stores pushed the sales of war bonds and stamps and offered an array of gifts for those in the armed services. They urged Boston to shop early and carry it all home. They even added more night shopping hours so that all those extra folks (mostly women) joining the workforce & war effort could shop after their shifts in all the Boston stores. Monday became a new shopping night as well as the traditional Wednesday...some stores did both...and a few were open each night until Christmas Eve.

So in the gloom of dimout regulations, 1942 Boston carried on and the great old stores met their wartime consumer needs with a warm smile and a cheery greeting.

Putting this salute and much deserved tribute together for Christmas in Boston 1942 was a great experience for me. I cried, I smiled and all those things my mother and dad said to me about the war years made a hell of a lot more sense and darn, I wish they could see this update today!

It’s so easy to think life is hard today...but when you think back to the events of that year in Boston during Christmas of 1942, you see a great deal of the true meaning of Christmas. It was all about coping, sharing and doing your part for the bigger picture. It meant opening your home, your heart and exposing yourself to shared joy and shared grief with those around you...even strangers.

So Boston, 70 years on...are you better or worse? Can these ads, images, articles and photos teach you anything today? I do hope so.

Thanks to all my readers. You make all my research and posting here on the blog so worthwhile!

Please enjoy this look back. Read the words, look at the photos, and note all the classic names of the wonderful stores and places now only alive in our memories.

I worked hard to select a patchwork quilt of memories from Christmas 1942 and I do pray that they bring to you a better understanding of “who we were” and “what we stood for” in those difficult war years.



A few notes:

The photo of the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub shows the new Broadway Lounge on November 24th...just days before the fire. I chose that as the only photo of the event. Many others are available that show the ruins after the tragedy...I wanted you to see what “was”...what made folks in 1942 say, “I’d love to go the Grove tonight”.

This horrific fire taught many, many lessons and fire safety and severe burn treatment have all grown because of that fateful night back in 1942.



Some store notes:



Many beloved store Xmas slogans were in use by 1942:


White’s: Make it a White Christmas

Kennedy’s: It’s A Gift

Gilchrist’s: Gilchrist Bell Ringers

Jordan Marsh: Joyous Merry Christmas

Special wartime slogans were put into use by some of the stores as well:


Filene’s: Make it a Red, White and Blue Christmas

Hovey’s: Christmas cheer means more this year

Jordan Marsh: Make it an American Christmas

Conrad’s: The Store of Useful Gifts

RH Stearns:  We’ll Keep Our Christmas Merry Still

And notice that the all the Boston stores remained closed the day after Xmas and delayed their BIG “After Christmas” sales until a few days later to save precious heating fuel!



The photo of Temple Place looking down towards Avon Street shows a great shot of the still rather new bridge that connected the Main Store of Jordan Marsh to the Annex on floors three to five. The bridge completed at the end of the 1930’s was a huge step forward for the store in creating a more unified feeling for the shoppers. The underground tunnel beneath Avon Street was all that had connected the store until that point. You will notice Jordan’s was so proud of the bridge it even featured as part of the holiday logo on some adverts.

Also note Gilchrist’s was very pleased to be celebrating its 100th Christmas in Boston!!

Please keep writing and sending me your Boston memories!!! The Jordan Marsh Memory Project of mine is well underway and my archives are bursting with all sorts of wonderful memorabilia in need of sorting and recording. Keep it coming!! I am always in need of more Jordan Marsh information and memories. Thanks to all of you who have contributed so far!





A Joyous Holiday Season To Each of You!!!


Charles:-)

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