Program: A Photographic Tour of Western Massachusetts Libraries

A photographic tour of hill town libraries in western Massachusetts, including Colrain’s Griswold Memorial Library, and histories of some will be the topic of a program following the August meeting of the Colrain Historical Society Thursday, August 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Joan McQuade’s barn, 7 Main Road, across from the Pitt House.

 Residents of Rowe, Carlos and Kathy Heiligmann spent five years driving their 1947 Desoto over the highways and byways of western Massachusetts in search of its eclectic collection of public libraries. Carlos, who worked for ten years as an industrial engineer at Kendall Mills in Colrain, created a photographic record of libraries in 112 towns and cities from the Berkshires to Worcester, while Kathy compiled little-known historical facts related to many local libraries.They will share their photographs and personal observations from this unique journey of discovery.

 A meeting of the historical society will precede the program at 7:00 p.m. Both are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For information call Belden at 624-3453.

The Heiligmann’s book, Public Libraries in Western Massachusetts: A Photographic Essay, is available to borrow or read at some Western Massachusetts public libraries: http://bark.cwmars.org/eg/opac/record/4314979

Colrain’s Griswoldville Memorial Library photographs in the Heiligmann’s book.

Program: Fischlein’s Store in Shattuckville

Ray’s Market sign on the south end of the building, April 2019.

For 40 years, beginning in 1953, if you lived in Shattuckville, perhaps you picked up your mail at Ray’s Market and bought an excellent steak he had butchered, some bread, maybe some candy for your daughter, and chatted with neighbors in the store that stood on the west bank of the North River by the old iron bridge. If you lived, say, on Wilson Hill, you might have regular deliveries from the store by a Fischlein son or high school student. Before Ray and Irene Fischlein bought that store it had had a succession of owners stretching back to the original Shattuck and had served a population that for decades perhaps depended on it because they had no cars.

 The Colrain Historical Society will focus on Fischlein’s store and the community it served in a program Thursday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m., in Joan McQuade’s barn at 7 Main Road, Colrain.

 The program, which is free and open to the public, will follow a meeting at 7:00 p.m. when we’ll have an update on the Pitt House property and the Arthur Smith Covered Bridge.

 For further information call Belden at 624-3453

Early July 2019. The sign has been removed from the end of the building and donated to the Colrain Historical Society by the Fischlein family.

Ray and Irene Fischlein pose near the store entrance, late 1980s or early 1990s.

Ray Fischlein trims a steak at the store’s butcher counter.