This is the history of the last of the six storefronts at the former retail building, known as the Cleary Estate at 1739-1747 Northampton Street.
For the first thirty years, from 1924 to 1954, 1747 Northampton Street was home to three confectionery stores. Holyoke had many confectioners' shops in the late 19th to mid-20th century. There were over 90 confectionery shops listed in Holyoke in the 1925 Holyoke City Directory.
A typical confectionery store would usually stock a wide variety of sweets and feature a soda fountain, where ice cream treats and sweet beverages were served to seated customers. There would be a social element with customers seated side by side along the soda bar. Also available were a choice of sodas or pop, made by mixing syrups with carbonated water. A luncheonette could also be available. Some of the shops would also sell fruits and vegetables.
Starting in 1924, confectioner Attilio J. Magliola opened his shop at 1747 Northampton Street. Mr Magliola's parents, Secondino and Secondina Magliola, operated the Secondino confectionery shops at 522 South Bridge Street and later 456 High Street. Attilio Magliola worked in the business along with his parents. His Northampton Street shop operated from 1924 to 1929. In 1931, he changed his business direction and was shown as Holyoke's only dealer of Patent and Proprietary medicines.
In 1930, the Boggio Brothers were the next to operate a confectionery store in this location. Guido Boggio previously worked at Caesar Equi's confectionery shop, located at 485 Dwight Street. Mr. Boggio's Northampton Street store continued until 1939, when it closed. He was subsequently employed as a machine operator by the American Bosch Company in Springfield.
The final confectionery store to operate at this address was the Ridgewood Spa, owned by Paul Pappas in 1940 and then by Henry Kelliher from 1942 and 1943.
In October 1943, Roland T. Desrochers purchased the business, which the family operated from 1945 to 1952. He bought the Ridgewood Spa and had his sights set on helping his four sons establish their own businesses.
Roland Theophile Desrochers, born in 1897, arrived from Canada and was educated in the Holyoke School System. He went on to work at Lyman Mills and later with the Holyoke Street Railway as a trolley conductor. From 1923 until his retirement, which occurred more than 40 years later, he was an ice cream route salesman for Dietz and Glessman at 77 Meadow Street in Holyoke. He stored his truck at his home at 7 Alderman Street. At the same time, he was helping out at the Ridgewood Spa, and two other spas he purchased in 1946.
Given his aptitude for operating a spa, he purchased two more spas for his sons. One was Bottonis, also known as Bruno's, located at 1515 Dwight Street, which was purchased in 1946. The other was Bouchard's at 237 East Dwight Street, also purchased in 1946, and sold in 1948, when it became too much to handle three locations.
Ferdinand S. Stawarz took over ownership of the Ridgewood Spa from 1953 to 1954. There was plenty of ownership transition over Ridgewood Spa's 15 years.
So what happened after 1954? The topic of the final tenants at 1747 Northampton Street, Tonelli's Restaurant, and Ridgewood Caterers was covered in my blog dated September 7, 2025.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; publication dates and pages are shown.
Price & Lee, City of Holyoke (Massachusetts) City Directories
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