Initially, my plan was to present the topics of the Pig's Ear Pub and the Golden Lemon Restaurant, along with a brief introduction referring to the real estate housing these two businesses. However, after researching the ownership history, the construction of the building, and the businesses that have operated there over the years, I decided to delve a bit deeper, and the story unfolded.
Early maps for the planned city of Holyoke omitted Newton and several other streets in the vicinity, such as Railroad Street (now Heritage Way) and Bond Street (now Nick Cosmos Way). These streets emerged on maps from the 1870s onward.
On February 4, 1875, the Holyoke Water Power Co. (HWP) sold a 5,250 square-foot parcel of land at the southeast corner of Appleton and Newton Streets to Jeremiah Shea. It is doubtful that Mr. Shea followed through with his ideas for the property, as it was sold back to HWP in May 1877.
On August 1, 1878, HWP sold the same parcel of land (without any buildings) to James Dougherty, who maintained ownership for the next 33 years. He was a well-known building contractor who had built the tenement on the southwest corner of this intersection. This was sold in 1899 to Kraig J. Yoerg and converted to Yoerg's Hotel, a building also known as "The Craig".
The deeds are shown below, and reading nineteenth-century cursive was a challenge, as handwriting is rarely seen in this keyboard-driven and voice recognition era.
The 1881 Bird's Eye View of Holyoke map and the Sanborn Map (Oct. 1884) both show a connected building at numbers 2, 4, 6, and 8 Newton Street. It was during Mr. Dougherty's ownership that the structures were erected. On September 30, 1878, the Springfield Republican reported that he was planning to build a three-story block with four tenements. When it was sold in 1911, it was identified as two stories.
Not much was discovered about the building in the latter nineteenth century, so it may have remained a tenement structure without storefronts.
It appears the origin of restaurant use started around 1906. Ads seeking kitchen and waitstaff help for the Hub Restaurant, located at 6 Newton Street, began appearing in the Holyoke Transcript that year. The restaurant was operated by J. Anthime Bourdon, who resided in the building.
In 1911, Mr. Dougherty sold the real estate to Michael J. Bowler, a well-known Holyoke entrepreneur. Mr. Bourdon continued to operate the Hub Restaurant at 6 Newton Street until about 1916. At 2 Newton Street, Alyre Couette ran a confectionery store.
In 1916, Mr. Bowler sold the building to Daniel M. Foley. In March 1917, Frank A. Foley sought a licence to sell alcoholic beverages at the Hub Restaurant. Around 1921, the restaurant moved to 8 1/2 Newton Street and was run by Odilia Dufresne and Theodore Kaiaffas. The Hub continued to operate until 1923. The space at 6 Newton Street was subsequently made available to the Newton Street Delicatessen.
Significant changes were on the horizon when the real estate was sold to Alderman William E. Bosworth Sr. in 1923. The story continues in the next blog installment.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Morning Union; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription), Price & Lee City Directories, Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Assessors' Office, City of Holyoke, Massachusetts
Registry of Deeds, Hampden County, Springfield, Massachusetts
The yellow line denotes the approximate location of the future Newton St.
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