History Surrounds Us!

History Surrounds Us! by Rich Hedin

You would think that a relatively simple assignment asked of me by the President of the Auburn Historical Society and Museum, Sari Bitticks, to take a picture of a historical object would be an easy and yes, simple task to accomplish, but it was not meant to be:

The business that started about 30 years ago, Pools & Cues & Spas, Too, located at the corner of Southbridge and West Streets in West Auburn was said, by some, to hold a small secret: a sign giving directions to the old Auburn Airport. My task was to locate that sign and photograph it. When I arrived at that location I was given the opportunity to speak directly to the co-owner, Chris Melanson. He was a most pleasant and history-oriented young man; however, he knew nothing of a sign concerning the Auburn Airport. Instead, he showed me an old horseshoe placed above the front door of this building by a woman whose name he had forgotten. Apparently, the horseshoe was placed there many years ago by the former, and perhaps, original owner of the building.

He was told by her that it was either her father or grandfather who had put it there as a symbol of good luck for his new business adventure and insisted that it stay untouched in that location, for when she drives by she feels a touch of nostalgia for the business and her relatives that owned and operated that store.

Now, we need to solve the “mystery” of the original owner and, therefore, the horseshoe…this is just a speculative remembrance by me: as I think back, my parents and grandparents lived not too far from this area, Albert Street. My grandfather had a farm there with a variety of animals…I seem to remember that the original business was a feed store for the cows and other animals that were in this very rural part of West Auburn. As I was told, one of the Cronins owned that feed business, for back in the late 1920s and 1930s the Cronins owned the land in back of this store and had a considerable number of cattle that were grazing in the fields. To check more deeply into this story, I contacted Tim Cronin who kindly gave me the chronological ownership of this building. It was first owned by Goldstien and Gurwirtz who sold heavy equipment like tractors and supplies; then it was rented to the Cushman’s Bakery Company, and with their small black and white trucks, they would deliver baked goods to stores and homes in this rural part of West Auburn: I remember Cushman’s coming to our home at 16 Albert Street; then, James Cronin, Tim’s uncle bought the building. He was a cattle dealer, and his cattle roamed in the back of this store. So, it seems to make sense…that would solve the mystery of the original store and the presence of the horseshoe; it probably was given as a good luck symbol for this new Cronin endeavor. And, perhaps the woman who so cherishes that horseshoe today is, indeed, one of the family members who owned the feed store and the significance of that symbol: the old weather-beaten horseshoe! Later Jim Cronin sold the building to the Elks, who currently own the property where Pools & Cues & Spas, Too conducts its business out of this rather historic building!