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Transcript of Carol Lovell's remarks at the Perry House, April 6th, 2014, on the occasion of the kickoff of a year of celebration marking Stratford's 375th Anniversary.
"In 1983 Lovell Hardware, which used to be in Stratford Center, as you may know, celebrated 200 hundred years in business. At the end of the American Revolution, in 1783, that’s where it began. It closed in 1999 after 216 years. In the late 1800s, the L. H. Todd Company moved from East Broadway at the site of the former Center School location. It moved to Stratford Center.
In 1900, Rosella Todd Lovell asked her son, Harold C. Lovell, my father-in-law and Todd’s father, to run the failing business. As his first move, he introduced plumbing and heating to the ailing hardware business. Well, business started coming in from all over Fairfield County and L. H. Todd Company soon became the H. C. Lovell Company.
The Lovell Building’s (which you see now) construction was begun in 1919 and was completed in 1921; at which time the 3 story building was the largest in Stratford. And, Harold C. Lovell was the largest single taxpayer.
In 1979, there was a disastrous flood in Stratford Center and four feet of water covered the main floor of the H. C. Lovell Hardware Company. All of Stratford Center was “under water.” Two centuries of service to the community was cause for celebration in 1983. In 1999, Lovell Hardware Store closed; one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, hardware stores in the country".
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Video of Carol Lovell's April 6th, 2014 history of Lovell Hardware |
Click on any image below to enlarge
Letter from Governor O'Neill courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell on the occasion of Lovell Hardware's 200th Anniversary |
Harold C. Lovell, Sr., before sign was placed on former L.H. Todd Company c. 1900. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
Harold C. Lovell, Sr. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
State of Connecticut Proclamation courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell on the occasion of Lovell Hardware's 200th Anniversary |
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H. C. Lovell Company c. 1914. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
West side of Stratford Center pre-1919. Four structures were torn down to build the Lovell Building at 2419 Main Street.(Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
Lovell Hardware Ad courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell on the occasion of Lovell Hardware's 200th Anniversary |
July 30, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
July 11, 1919. Businesses across the street are David L. Lem Steam Laundry, F. L. Hanson Newsdealer, Stationer Confectionery, Bridgeport Post and Telegram. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
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August 12, 1919. Building straight ahead is the old H. C. Lovell Building. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
August 12, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
Rep. Rosa DeLauro honors Harold Lovell in the United States House of Representatives May 12, 1998 |
August 19, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
August 19, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
September 4, 1919. Bathtubs in the foreground are for the apartments on the 3rd floor. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
September 4, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
September 11, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
September 11, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
September 19, 1919. Stratford Fire Company No. 1 on the immediate right of the new Lovell Building. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
September 25, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
October 3, 1919. The T. Pardy Construction Company of Bridgeport is building the new Lovell Hardware Store. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
October 11, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
October 11, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
October 18, 1919. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
Lovell Hardware building as it looked when completed in 1919. The building contained 6 stores, offices, six apartments and a hall for the Cupheag Club. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Lewis Knapp) |
March 11, 1924. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
1924. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
1924. (Photo courtesy of the Stratford Historical Society and Carol Lovell) |
| Lewis Knapp, Town Historian, wrote of Harold Lovell in his history of Stratford, "In Pursuit of Paradise", the following in 1989: "Merchant, banker, town clerk, church leader, education leader, library leader, Harold C. Lovell was a man of his time. In 1940 he wrote: 'Things to think about: that the quality, not the quantity of its citizens makes a town; that town officials are not masters but servants of the people; that we have a historic beautiful town as our heritage and that our duty is to pass it on untarnished and improved in every way.'"
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