Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Atkinson's Grocery Store, 1912

Description

"Ira Atkinson owned Atkinson's grocery and grain store located in the 1890s at 470 Main Street. According to an advertisement in the publication Representative Business Men of Wakefield, published in the late 1890s, Ira Atkinson opened the store in 1874. It also noted that the store was one of the 'oldest and most complete of its kind in Wakefield', and that Atkinson had three assistants. Atkinson dealt in 'groceries of all kinds, flour and grain, choice teas, coffees, spices, etc.', and was 'in a position to supply these commodities in any desired quantity and bottom prices to both large and small buyers.' The store occupied a space of 100' x 25' with a storeroom that enabled Atkinson to carry a large and complete stock of the items mentioned, 'together with others of minor importance.' The ad also boasted that Atkinson guaranteed everything he sold and 'always paid once hundred cents on the dollar'. Among the items sold was Butterine a name for margarine that was most often made from animal fat such as pork lard or beef tallow. When first introduced in England in 1869, it was called butterine until the late 1880s. The use of the word 'butterine' continued longer in America. Note the wooden barrels and scales throughout the store, as well as the grinder."

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2011

Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

1912

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Stores, retail

Atkinson's Grocery Store (Wakefield, Mass.)

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture: b & w

Extent

30 x 17 cm.