Happy Mothers Day!

This window is a 1957 display for Mothers Day. This display revolves around popular gift items found throughout the Lingerie department on the second floor.  Chiffon peignoir sets, house coats, silk underpinnings, and stockings were what most mothers wanted to receive on their special day. Notice the large oversized book made into a shelving display holding various perfumes (Shalimar, White Shoulders, Lily of the Valley) worn during the 1950's

To all of the mothers who have done so much for us over the years, I hope that you all have an amazing day!  We wouldn't be here with you.

Recent Denholm and McKay aquisitions

I am always on the hunt for items relating to the Denholm and McKay Company.  Here are a few items that I have purchased or received as gifts within the past 6 months.  I am really building up the collection and I thank all of you who have reached out to me with items that you have found.  A reminder, please do not throw any Denholms memorabilia away!  I will save it and hopefully one day be able to showcase my collection for all of you to see.

Denholms tie from my dear friend Pat

An early 1881 almanac from the store

Backside of almanac

Early 1900's silver polish envelope

a book of poems to read during afternoon tea

Pricing ticket from my friend Kathy

Advertising flyer

Denholms box from my dear friend Pat

Happy Easter

I just wanted to wish everyone the very best for the Easter Holiday.

Easter shopping 1965

"Spring comes to Denholms first" reads the copy in this window display from 1965.  The display revolved around navy suits and coordinating hats, but the real focus was on the shoe assortment by "Foot Flairs"(which was a vendor sold in the women's shoe salon on the first floor).  I love the hand-painted image of the tree on plexiglass, and the scatter gravel used on the floor, and of course, the vintage mannequins. 

 

 Today virtually no one buys a new outfit or shoes to celebrate the Easter holiday, but back in the day, Easter would come second to Christmas for apparel sales.  

One more week till spring, and enough time to do your Easter shopping!

Best,

Chris

Worcester's first escalators

   Fifty years ago Denholms installed the first set of escalators in the city of Worcester.  Denholms was late on installing these and had plans to do so in the 1940's. With World War II going on, and plans for a facade change, the new mode of transportation would be put on hold until the 1960's.

Second floor

   In 1963 harry Wolf (President of Denholms) met with the Otis escalator company and came up with a plan to retrofit the 1880's building with two separate sets of escalators.  The plans called for a narrow glass enclosed escalator with hand screened baroque detailing on the side panels.  These escalators were custom designed for Denholms and are the only ones in existence in the United States to this day.  By the early 1960's, customers were still relying on the 8 banks of elevators of numerous staircases to access the upper floors.  The new escalators (or "Escal-Aires" as they were known for their light and airy design) would allow for up to 5,000 shoppers to reach floors 1-5 in an average of two and a half minutes.  The sixth floor and basement still required elevator or stairs to access.

Eric Hallback Display Director with Denholms shoppers

  As many people have commented, these were their first ride on an escalator and memories of gliding through the upper floors were memorable to this day.

  The escalators are still in use at the Denholm building and I encourage people to go in and have a ride.  It is one of the last things remaining of the glory days of shopping downtown.

Reminder for Denholms presentation at the Worcester Historical Museum

Denholms: Worcester's Premier Department Store

History / Heritage - Lecture/Discussion

Thursday, January 16, 2014
7:00 PM-8:00 PM

Fletcher Auditorium

6:30 PM - Museum doors open
7:00 PM - Lecture

By 1961,things were looking brighter for Denholm & McKay Company Denholms was a full-service store and wanted to keep shoppers in the building as long as they could, wrote Christopher Sawyer and Patricia Wolf in their 2011 history.

Join Sawyer, Denholms historian and collector of Denholms memorabilia, as he shares stories and images of the stores expansion to High Street, the introduction of the Escal-Aires, reorganized and expanded departments, and retail as theater. Join him as we relive the 1960s glory days of Denholmsand the other great stores which populated an exciting downtown.

While Denholms was the leader of the Worcester downtown area and the grande dame of Main Street there were many stores featuring the latest in fashion and housewares. Bring your downtown shopping memories to share and any pictures for the Museum to be scanned and added into the collection (originals will be returned to you.

Cost: Free with museum admission

Public Woo Card: Swipe for Woo Points
College Woo Card: Swipe for Woo Points

Suggested Audiences: Elders, Adult, College, High School

E-mail: info@worcesterhistory.net
Phone: 508-753-8278

When downtown meant Christmas

 I was so thrilled to see this post from the New England Historical Society on the web.  It mention's Denholms as well as a host of other stores, and the significance that they all played in heralding in the Christmas season with lights, decorations, and elaborate window displays.  Gone are the days of these big downtown anchors, but it sure would be great if Denholms tree of lights could shine again our our downtown.
 Check out the link below and see if you can remember any of these former stores.

 http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/downtown-department-stores-meant-christmas/

Denholms animated windows

  I was sent this photo by one of the former display managers from Denholms.  It shows the animated windows all dressed up for the holidays.  He stated that he believed it was taken around 1965....
  So many people have memories of walking the store windows as a child and being mesmerized by the animated figures and twinkling lights in stores such as Denholms, Filene's, and Barnard's.  It is such a shame that more stores and building don't dress up their storefronts in downtown to rekindle the sparkle that it once had.

  I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, and best wishes to you all.

Denholms at Christmas time

   With today being "Black Friday", I wanted to share a few images of what Denholms looked like during the Christmas season.   We are all familiar with the lit tree on the front of the building, but the High street entrance got dressed up as well.  The above photo is from 1965 with the live trees placed above the entrance.
   I also wanted to share an ad that I found showcasing holiday attire that was popular that year from the After Five shop on the third floor.

 

   I will be at the building for a couple of days this week installing a new trim package to the Main Street windows.  I look forward to sharing them with you all in the near future.

Till then, all my best to you all, and keep the memories coming...I love to hear them!

40 years since the closing

Telegram and Gazette archives

It is hard to believe, but it will be 40 years that Denholms vacated the downtown Worcester building that it occupied for over 100 years.  On November 26th, 1973 the legendary Main Street store held its last sale, and closed on Wednesday-Thanksgiving Eve.  The photo above was from the Telegram and Gazette archives and shows the vacant display windows with store closing signs.  Denholms succumbed to poor miss management in its final years, and it was one of the first major retailers to close up shop.  

As the Telegram website reads..."Gone but not forgotten".

1871-1973

Remembering Worcester

Recently I have found myself very interested in some online groups and websites that I thought you all might like as well.

The first is on Facebook, and is a group called-
Your probably from Worcester if...  This is a great site and allows members to post their own recollection of all things Worcester.  Watch out though, it can be addictive.
Your probably from Worcester if...

The second is a historical website of vintage pictures from the turn of the century till the early 1970's.  Denholms was recently featured on the site!
The website is Shorpy Historical Photo Archives
http://www.shorpy.com/

Courtesy of The Hack Attack blog

The last is a photo gallery by the Worcester Historical Museum on Tumblr and it features mainly archival images of Worcester during its heyday.
http://worcesterhistory.tumblr.com/

I hope that you enjoy these as much as I do.

Back to School in 1964

Today's post takes us back to the year 1964 as the summer was winding down, and students were preparing to head off to college.

   The window display above featured the talented illustration work of Emil Grilli who was Denholms primary in house illustrator and sign painter.  Grilli also did work for various other retailers in Worcester such as Barnards, and Ware Pratt.
   Back then most stores had all of their signage painted by hand or used a printing machine to make the various sale and sizing signage (usually 5x7").  The role of the in house illustrator would be to paint out the larger signs used in window display (called copy strips), floor advertisements, directional signage, as well as props for the windows and interiors.  This is an art form that has long since passed with the invention of larger screen printing machines, as well as vinyl letters applied to the glass. 
  Mr. Grilli was a talented commercial artist, sign painter and sculpture, and his work is still collected by admirers of his talent.

Till the next quick post, I hope that you enjoy the rest of your summer!
  

Retro Charge Cards

Today many of us carry around a host of charge cards which fill up our wallets.  The cards nowadays are 2"x 3 1/2" plastic cards which all of us are familiar with.  Before the early 1970's charge cards were small metal cards which employees would insert into a charge press with carbon paper to make an imprint.  In today's post I have a few examples of old Denholms charges along with the respective case for carrying them.  Do you remember these?

 

And when the billing time came due, you probably received one of these in the mail. 

Updated windows at the Denholm

This week I took a few days and updated the center bank of windows.  Aside from doing the displays, I washed the glass both inside and out, re-glazed all of the main windows ( a goal of mine for two years to prevent exhaust from entering the displays), as well as touching up all of the chipping paint around the window sashes.  All in a labor of love for me, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  The Denholm building will be a part of an upcoming tour titled "Around the Common" which will highlight the significant buildings surrounding the common.  This is being held by Preservation Worcester and should take place around September.  I feel that it is so important to have displays in some of these older buildings as it gives a bit of life and excitement to the street-scape.

 

Window #1 is for Worcester Community Action Council and is made up of painters tape found at your local hardware store.  I did this in a graphic pattern which mimics the logo the council uses.

Window #2 is for Worcester Electronics repair and is based off of the new "Windows 8" operating system.  The montage is made up of brightly colored paper, images of computer electronics, as well as glittered paper for sparkle.  The large TV in the photo will be playing a power point presentation of the repairs that can be done at this location.

Window #3 is for Dress For Success and is a paper sculpture made up of 2,000 dyed water cooler cups hung on brightly colored yarn in a semi circular formation.  the mannequin also received an updated look of brightly colored pants, a taupe silk top, and printed scarf which works back to the overall color scheme.

Until the next Denholms post, I thank you all for reading my blog and remembering a building that is very important to me.
All my best,
Chris

Happy Mothers Day

I just wanted to wish all of the mothers out there who inspire and guide us on a daily basis a wonderful and well deserved Mothers Day.

This photograph is of my mother during a Denholms fashion show in 1966 on the third floor.

A vintage Denholms find

Vintage DG Williams mannequin from Denholms

Recently I was so lucky to find a vintage Denholms mannequin.  She is from the vendor D.G Williams who was the premier mannequin manufacturer during the 50's and 60's.  Denholms bought a large lot of these mannequins to be used in the better Dress department as well as the Salisbury shop.  I am having her fully restored to save into my collection as well as a possible use in an upcoming exhibit. 

Her original face

same mannequin in original form

 These are the proper arms which I am having put back onto her, as well as recreating the auburn 1960's hairstyle and stiff buckram lashes.

Mannequins from the DG Williams collection showcased at Denholms

Adel Rootstein mannequins at Ralph Lauren

 Many people don't realize how much body styles change in mannequins over the years.  The vintage DG Williams is 5'7" tall and her measurements are 32"26"32".  The mannequins I presently work with are from Adel Rootstein and they run 5'11-6' tall and they are 34"27"34". 

If anyone knows of the wearabouts of any Denholms mannequins or fixtures from either the Worcester of Auburn store, Please let me know.
Best,
Christopher

Upcoming Denholms Presentation reminder

I am thrilled to be partnering with Preservation Worcester to hold a lecture and slide show to help educate and hopefully restore what was once Worcesters largest and most beloved store.

The event begins at the 484 entrance where I will speak to my restoration efforts to help beautify the building,then the group with ride the original escalators up to the third floor where the presentation will be held.

Date- Wednesday March 20th 5:30 pm
Lecture starts at 5:45 pm at the United Way office on the third floor.

The Denholms book will be available to purchase at the event (cash or check only).
Reservations are suggested but not required.  Call 508-754-8760 or email valerie.ostrander@preservationworcester.com

The Blizzard of 1961 in downtown Worcester

   With all of the snow we have received lately I wanted to take everyone back to an early snowstorm in Worcester's history. The Blizzard of 1961 took place on Sunday December 24th and dropped over two feet of new snow on top of an existing snow pack.

  The photo above was taken in front of the former Filene's department store on Main Street looking North. The lights of Denholms Christmas tree are still twinkling in the snow filed street.

  Here is another view of Denholms taken on the West side artery near the parking deck.  In the background you can see the former YWCA, as well as St.Paul's cathedral, and the girls trade school on the right.
   I want to thank a very kind gentleman who gave me these pictures when I was at the Denholm building last year.

Denholms Varsity shop

I wanted to forward to all of you an interesting article which was brought to my attention.  This is for an olive green tweed sport-coat bought at Denholms Varsity Shop during the early 1960's.

  The Varsity shop catered towards a younger man (primarily going to collage or landing their first job).  The department offered everyday "prep" items such as khaki overcoats, slim fitting suits and sport-coats, as well a complete array of oxford shirts and pencil ties.

The Varsity shop was situated on the third floor in the Chatham Building after the High Street renovations in 1964. The department was appointed with wide pine paneled walls and vintage carriage sconces (as seen in this photo).

 Here is a link to the post  http://www.theweejun.com /denholms Varsity shop
as well as I link which I have bookmarked on the main page to an amazing blog dedicated to the history of department stores.  Please check it out and scroll by state to see Denholms as well as hundreds of other department stores. the department store museum.blogspot.com/2010 denholm-and-mckay-co-worcester.html

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone the very best for the holiday season.  I thank you for stopping by and reading my blog.  Hopefully with all of the terrible events going on in the world these days, a trip back in time can take you away... even for a moment.  
All my best to you all.
Chris

Denholms book Kindle edition

Amazon.com is now selling the Kindle edition for the Denholms book!  Even though I am old fashioned and still prefer a paperback, times are changing and more people are reading on their tablets or Kindles.  Here is the link to purchase if you are interested. 
http://www.amazon.com/Denholms

Denholms holiday windows

This week the Denholm Building received a holiday touch to update the present windows.  As part of the downtown initiative to get retailers and other businesses to beautify their buildings, a contest was set up named "Let There Be Light".  I think it is such a great idea to help foster a brighter appearance to the landscape of the central core of Worcester.  The general public is available to vote for the best holiday windows, within a few themes.

Voting will begin with paper ballots available at each location.  For the Denholm building the ballots are on the first floor at the Post office entrance.
Ballots are also available at the main location of city hall.  You can also go to http://www.facebook.com/WorcesterEventsTheCreativeCity and cast a vote there after December 1st.

Regardless of the winners, it is so nice to see people interested in Downtown.

Here are the windows and a brief movie of the Denholm installation.

 

 

 

Let There Be Light

The Denholm building with be a contributor to the "LetThere Be Light" initiative to help beautify the storefronts and buildings of the downtown area and help foster a more vibrant Main Street.  The display will go up promptly after Thanksgiving and will consist of 1,000 lights and the existing paper sculpture.  Voting will begin after November 30th and I will post photos on this blog if you can't get out to see it.  I hope that you all like the final result!

A Tribute to Josephine Carbone

Josephine Carbone

We all have that special someone in our lives.  A person who helped form us and influence us in a positive manner.  For me that person was my grandmother who the public knew as Josephine or "Jo" Carbone.  To me, she was a larger than life person, part Auntie Mame, part Diana Vreeland. As a child growing up, I was so lucky to live next door to her.  Many, many days were spent at her house doing daily shopping, rearranging her house, and simply talking on the couch.  My favorite stories were those of her early days in the field of retail, and her days spent at Denholms.  She talked about the past, ...and of Denholms like that of a long lost friend who she wished to revisit.  She reminisced about her 25 year span at Denholms and how her career changed over the years.  Her favorite years were the 1960's, " fashion was changing,everything seemed new again" she would remark. And she was right, the 1960's were the pinnacle of her career.  She had just been promoted to buyer of all of women's ready-to-wear after Elsie McCarthy's retirement.  This afforded her more opportunities to travel the world and purchase imported sweaters, blouses, etc... for the store, as well as hold in house fashion shows where she would do the commentary which would help educate the customers towards the new trends, silhouettes, and color pallet of each season.  She also enjoyed her time spent with the fashion advisory board which was made up of young high school and college students training under her and other managers at Denholms.

  As her career grew, so did her responsibilities with the store.  Within the next few years she would be promoted to Divisional Merchandise Manager responsible over all of the women's, children's, and mens departments.  Unfortunately she did not get more than a few years into her new title before the store changed hands and ultimately closed. 

left to right- Lucy Lonergan, Clarisse Morrisey, Edith Thomas, Jo Carbone, Lillian MacNeil at Elsie McCarthy's retirement party 1961

In her office on Chatham 3

Photo taken on the third floor in the Dress department

Leaving work by the High street entrance

My Grandmother with Marion Freedman, Taken at my grandmothers going away party at Denholms

  Personally I want to thank my grandmother for influencing and inspiring me to this day.  My passion for Denholms is directly related to her days spent there.  Whenever I go into the building and escalate up to the third floor I always think of her walking around in high heels, conducting business and decked out in the latest fashions. My love of Denholms was spawned from my grandmother, and in my heart, both she and the store will live on  forever.