Winooski 1922-2022 People, places, and changing community narratives - images from Winooski's 100 years as a city - Winooski Legacy Campaign
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Winooski
People, places, and changing community narratives
1922-2022
images from Winooski’s 100 years as a city
compiled by Dan Higgins
1
T
he images in this book cover the years 1922-2022. Prehistory of the region goes
much farther back then that, with archaeological evidence showing sporadic human
occupation over a span of 5000 years. Winooski gets its name from Abenaki groups
that camped below the falls at a place they named “winoskitegw,” meaning land of the
wild onion. Since colonial times the area has been defined by its location on the river with saw
mills, grist mills, lumber mills, and textile mills utilizing the falls for power to run machinery. By
the mid-19th century Winooski was home to some of the state’s largest and most innovative
manufacturing companies. It was in 1922, with manufacturing booming, that the decision was
made to separate the town from Colchester and for Winooski to become an independent city.
The social character of Winooski has been formed by the populations of people who flocked
here looking for work. Earliest immigrants came from Canada, bringing the French language that
is spoken by many residents of Winooski today. Others came from Ireland, Poland, Lebanon,
Syria, and assorted eastern European countries. They raised families, started schools, built
churches and social clubs, played sports, and introduced cultural traditions and cuisine from
places they had left behind. Winooski, more so than other Vermont towns, became known for
its mix of cultures and a rough working class reputation.
I arrived in 1969. The American Woolen Mills, which had employed over 3000 workers during
World War 2, had closed in 1954. The Porter Screen Company, once the leading manufacture
of screen doors in the world, closed in 1952. Fire in 1973 destroyed the Vermont Furniture
Company, eliminating many more manufacturing jobs. Large industrial spaces became vacant,
and Winooski saw an influx of artists and others taking advantage of space availability and low
rents. I found, in Winooski’s downtown diners, restaurants, and bars, a unique welcoming mix of
people who interacted regularly, played games, and shared stories.
With the economy decimated, a series of attempts were made by the city for reinventing the
downtown. An urban renewal project in 1973 demolished businesses and homes on the east
side of Main Street, disrupted social life, and caused many to move away. Urban renewal plans
at that time were to have torn down the buildings on the west side of Main Street, as well as the
mills and the Winooski Block.
East side of Main street, 1973
2
Fortunately, urban renewal policies lost favor in Washington and the funds dried up, replaced in
the 1980s by historic preservation grants. Buildings that a decade earlier were slated to be torn
down were now candidates for preservation and repurposing. The Colchester Mill was made into
apartments, the Porter Screen site converted into senior housing, and the Champlain Mill made
into office spaces and retail shops. On the urban renewal site, a vacant field since 1973, was built
a small shopping mall and large parking lot. There was also an imaginative proposal for covering
the town with a dome. By 2004 the downtown was again being reinvented, with construction
on the east side of Main Street of high-rise housing and commercial buildings surrounding a
municipal parking garage. The traffic roundabout was implemented to facilitate movement of
an estimated 40,000 cars that travel through the center of Winooski each day. In recent years
construction has continued throughout the city, consistent with a form-based master plan.
Winooski means different things to different people, depending on their experiences. One can
find a rich trove of stories inside Winooski’s 1.5 square miles. There are people who have lived
here their entire lives and have family members who worked in the mills. There are families
who’ve arrived as part of the Refuge Resettlement program, which since the 1990s has been
placing people first from Vietnam and Bosnia, and later from Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Nepal and
elsewhere, making Winooski’s population once again one of the most diverse in Vermont.
The school reports there are students from twenty-five different countries and over twenty
languages spoken. The town maintains a reputation in the area for hip restaurants, music
venues, and ethnic grocery stores. A major attraction is the 3-day annual Waking Windows
festival that sees musicians performing in most of the public spaces downtown.
This collection of photographs is by no means inclusive. I’ve favored images that include visual
cues about people and their identities. Many I have made over the years, asking groups to
collaborate with me to make a photograph that includes subject matter important to the group.
For earlier photographs I am indebted to the Winooski Historical Society and UVM special
collections, especially Prudence Doherty and Chris Burns, who helped me obtain digital files
of the work of LL McAllister and James Detore. Melvin Epstein allowed use of his picture of
Epstein’s market and several of the newer photographs were made by Paul Sarne. Where dates
are uncertain I have left them off or included question marks.
I’ve not followed a chronological order for the pictures, finding it more interesting to
occasionally show groups with similar social roles on the same page. Epstein’s market is gone, as
is Fiddleheads, but Winooski now has the A&A market and several Nepali grocery stores. Older
manufacturing spaces have been repurposed into other uses, while in the industrial park there
are new enterprises such as Twincraft which operates a soap and skin-care manufacturing site
with over 300 employees. Think what an adventure it would be to time travel and have a Coke
at Sulham’s Sweet Shop, or a beer at Simard’s Pool Room, or join the annual gatherings of the
Cooties and find out more about the focus of their organization.
Any of these images can be used to start a conversation. Show the book around. Ask someone
you don’t know if they can tell you something about one of the photographs. Best spots to meet
people are locations where they gather: social clubs, community centers, bars, laundromats,
churches, or waiting in line at the post office. Sometimes stories can be found as postings on
Front Porch Forum. What makes a community diverse is not just its collection of stories, but how
much sharing there is among residents of those stories. Exchanging stories is one of the best
ways of getting to know someone.
The Photo Lounge, P. O. Box 204, Winooski, VT 05404
©2022
3
Mill Workers 4
Star Bakery 1954?
Edelweiss Bakery 2003 Morning Light Bakery 2019
5
Papa Frank’s restaurant 1986
Dominic Franzi Winooski shoe repair 1983 PaM - Chick’s market 2013
6
Epstein’s Market date?
Fiddleheads market 1986 A&A Asian Market 2017
7
WHS Typing Class 1952 WHS Home Economics class 1952
Winooski High School Students 1952
8
Beverage Warehouse 1977 Winooski Taxi 1977
Nolin’s Trucking 1977
9
Nightly Bingo at Corporation Hall 1982
10Winooski
Winooski Senior Center 1977
Soeurs de La Providence 1977
11Sulham’s Sweet Shop 1945
Black Rose Cafe 1982 Scout & CO Coffee Shop 2017
12captioned as WHS first football team... date ?
WHS Cheerleaders 1977
13Clothing drive Winooski City Hall 1946
VFW auxillary piling presents 1942
14Clothing drive, Winooski Mutual Aid 2021
Winooski food shelf volunteers 2019
15May Crowning, St. Francis Church 1946
St. Stephen Church 1977
16Methodist Church congregation 1977
Nepali Church Congregation 2012
17RVA 1983 Henry’s Cafe 1982
Sloppy’s Corner Pub 1977
18Women’s shuffleboard team 1977
Camie’s Shoe shine parlor 1976
19Simard’s Pool Room 1940s
Wasilkowski’s dry goods and tobacco shop 1931
Carrie’s Sweet Shop 1944?
20Sneakers annual photo 1995
Sneakers Jazz Group 1987
21Burlington Daily News Boys 1942
Memorial School Safety Patrol 1977
22Hanson’s Clothing store 1982 Steve & Fred, Onion River cobblers 2013
George & Nick 1976
Jake 1976
23Twincraft Skincare Manufacturing 2021
Four Quarters Brewery 2019
24City Hall workers 1977 City clerk’s office, 2017
Friday morning Coffee Hour, the O’Brien Center 2017
25Alhasnawi Family 1996
Simon, Atem, Chol, Deng, & Panther 2002
26Ibrahim, Khadija & family 2006
Tran Family 1995
27WHS football team 1952 WHS Girl’s basketball team 1944
WHS soccer players 2021
28WHS After School Art Class 2020 WHS Peace Jam Multicultural Club 2012
Peace Jam
Multicultural
Club
2012
Tinker Tuesdays Winooski Library 2019
29New Americans Lunch & Learn
Winooski Senior Center 2017
Girl Scout Troop #30187 2017
30Essex Manufacturing outing 1950s?
Pirate Bingo, Winooski Senior Center 2019
31VFW Post#1767 2018
LUDO, Somali Bantu Community Center 2019
32Downtown Restaurants Cocktail Walk 2017
Operation Bloom, Richards Park 2017
33Winooski Public Works 2019
Winooski Public Works 1977
34Kell & Mahoney’s 1983 Winooski Fire Dpartment 2020
Winooski Fire Department 1977
35Farmers’ Market 2014 Post Office 2014
Winooski Historical Museum 2013 Winooski Library Friends 2014
36Trail Crew Volunteers 2018
Basketball players, O’Brien Center, 2019
37Stop the F-35 Protest Demonstration 2012
Missionary sisters of our lady of Africa 2018
38Rotary Park Demonstration welcoming refugees 2017
Nepali Dance Group 2018 O’Brien Center Community Gardens 2017
39Memorial Day at VFW 2021
Cooties, annual gathering, 115 West St 1944
40Myers Municipal Pool 2021
41Betsy Nolan & friends, “We Live in Winooski”, 2017
Waves of Adrenaline 2015 A2VT...”Winooki My Town” 2012
42Halloween Pumpkin Festival 2021
Video Links
“Winooski As It Was”
Social life in downtown Winooski, before Urban Renewal, took place in the many bars,
restaurants, and other working class establishments that lined both sides of Main Street.
Urban Renewal in the 1970s and redevelopment in the1980s disrupted social life, with
increased rents and the arrival of upscale businesses. The conversations in this video
reflect the inpact on residents of those changes. https://vimeo.com/91852119
“Posted in Winooski”
This video, by Meghan O’Rourke, follows Dan Higgins talking about the Front Porch Forum
exhibition where he collaborated with Winooski residents to make photographs that were
based on their FPF postings, giving a visual dimension to the internet-based community
conversation. https://vimeo.com/126802941
“What I like about Winooski”.
Conversations with young people at a Martin Luther King Day celebration talking about
Winooski as a welcoming community.
https://vimeo.com/117624439
The QR codes on the opposite page link to a video of Besty Nolan and friends singing a
verse of her song “We Live in Winooski” and to a video of A2VT singing their song
“Winooski My Town”.
43Meredith, Aisha, Craig, Maggie & Sarah 2021
PHOTO CREDITS
James Detore:
Pages: 4, 5 top, 14, 22 top, 31 top, 40 bottom
LL McAllister:
Pages: 8, 12 top, 16 top, 28 top
Paul Sarne:
Pages: 35 top right, 39 top, 40 top, 41, 43, 44 top
Dan Higgins:
Cover (Roundabout Fusion), Pages: 1, 2, 5 bottom, 6, 7 bottom, page 9, 10, 11, 12 bottom, 13
bottom, 15 bottom, 16 bottom, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 bottom, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 bottom, 29, 30,
31 bottom, 32, 33, 34, 35 top left and bottom, 36, 37, 38 bottom, 39 bottom, 42
Winooski Mutual Aid: page 15 top Melvin Epstein: page 7 top UVM Special Collections: page 13 top
Winooski Historical Society: page 20 Save Our Skies: page 38 top Edwill Brown: page 44 bottom
People awaiting “Sunday Special” 1925
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