The Spencers of ‘Spencer’s Corner’, Centerbrook

It was early in the year of 1866, and the two young Connecticut business partners, Daniel Wilson “Wils” Spencer and Giles Bushnell, were on the horns of a dilemma. The Civil War was over and business at their little general store in the busy industrial village of Centerbrook had fallen off as the war “boom” lost steam. The two young men in their 20s, realized that now the business would not support them both – it was plain that one partner would have to buy out the other. Spencer and Bushnell, both sons of Westbrook, each prepared a bid for the other, and they got together in January to present them; Spencer’s bid was the highest, and he was allowed to buy out his friend and partner.

Not long after, “Wils” Spencer opened his doors as the sole proprietor of Spencer’s Store selling “general merchandise,” which meant just about everything, from groceries and sundries to feed and grain. Through the next 83 years, there would be a Spencer behind the counter of the establishment on the corner of Main Street and the Westbrook Road. Over that time, Spencer’s Store would become Centerbrook’s civic center and the Spencer family its leading citizens.

Some lives run in fits and starts. “Wils” Spencer was guided by destiny to his role as storekeeper and community leader. Born in 1841, he worked as a teenager at the store he would eventually own when it was run by Alexander Pratt early in the 1860s. (The building’s actual age is uncertain; it was constructed by Charles Nott, who died in 1860.) The energetic young man grew into the business and, when Pratt died in 1862 at age 36, the store was available and Spencer’s path lay open.

As Spencer’s Store, the establishment drew a steady stream of Centerbrook housewives, farmers, businessmen and youngsters with a penny to spend. Ivoryton, with its busy ivory factory, provided more customers and more trade, and, after the Panic of 1873, business took off. The roof over the store was raised to make a full two stories and the attic was converted to a stock room. Feed and grain were kept in a newly raised shed (that later became a garage). An addition was built for horses and the family cow.

Along the way, Spencer’s Store became Centerbrook’s hub, home to two vital institutions; it was the post office (with “Wils” as postmaster) and the stage stop. Travelers, businessmen, the local kids and dogs (and the town loafers) were always on hand when the stage came rumbling up the Westbrook Road, stopping in front of the store to drop off mail, the latest newspapers and gossip. In 1885, after living above the store for 20 years, Mrs. Spencer finally got the home she had likely longed for, a fine Victorian house built next door, facing Main Street (her old home later became a barber shop). By 1900, as one newspaper reporter wrote, Spencer’s Store enjoyed “a very large patronage … several assistants are required in his establishment and two delivery boys kept busy.”[1]

One of those delivery boys was the Spencer’s son, James. Following in his father’s footsteps, as sons often did back then, he went to work at age 16 driving the horse-drawn delivery wagon – and spent the next 58 years at the store, working until he passed away in 1946. “Wils” died in 1917, but Spencer’s Store remained, and James shaped the business to fit the new 20th century. As the small, local farms disappeared, he dropped feed and grain from his inventory. As the population grew and new construction took off, he sold more hardware and less “general merchandise.” The advent of the automobile (and the Shoreline Electric Railway’s trolley) put the horse and wagon out to pasture. “Tin Lizzies and other motor cars were numerous enough in Essex … to warrant discontinuing delivery service,” relative Huldah Spencer wrote.

James Spencer enjoyed life at the big Victorian house, and photos show his son, Daniel Wilson II, playing with friends in a backyard with a sweeping lawn and big shade trees. James hosted a military-style “field day” for the kids, providing mock weapons – wooden rifles and a cannon – which he made himself. Another series of photographs from the collections of Essex Historical Society shows him putting up an elaborate martin house in the big backyard. James’ death in 1946 ended the Spencers’ direct involvement with the store. Daniel Spencer leased the building over the years. Harry Lindgren of Ivoryton, who had worked for James Spencer, ran the business for a decade as the Centerbrook Store. Two other businesses followed, but they proved unsuccessful. Many factors contributed to their demise; easy transportation, the growth of shopping centers and chain stores and even the fast-food phenomenon. People just didn’t have to rely on their local stores anymore. Alexander Pratt’s old building was razed during the week of August 20th in 1986 and a  chapter of local life faded into history. The Spencer’s Corner business mall now occupies the site.

[1] From “an old book printed early in this [20th] century”; Huldah G. Spencer

SOURCES: Newspaper articles from the collections of Essex Historical Society: Huldah G. Spencer, 1966; “New Era” article in 1946; “Hartford Courant” article, 1966.