Local newspapers in January, 1989 told of the sudden death of Iva L. (Handy) Adlington at her home in Prescott, Arizona. She had lived in Saugus for many years and maintained friendship with local residents for years after she moved to Arizona.

Mrs. Adlington was a school teacher in different towns and in the 1930’s she taught in Hampton Institute which was an unusual thing to do in those days because it was a Black school in a Southern state and white Northerners were not always welcomed with open arms there in those days. Marion Starkey, the well known Saugus writer taught there at the same time-but that’s another story.

Mrs. Adlington was an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Saugus Center, was active in Campfire Girls and helped establish the Saugus League of Women Voters. Of special interest to me is the fact that she served on the board of then First Ironworks Association for several years.

In the mid-Eighties, Mrs. Adlington wrote me the following letter so that I could share with my .
readers a photograph and a little information of her husband’s hardware store which stood for many years in Saugus Center.

Here is the letter:

Dear Dick:
His picture of the old W.D.Adlington Hardware Store at 319 Central Street, was taken by a hardware salesman years ago, probably in the mid 1940’s. He wanted a picture of it for himself and promised to send one to Pa which he did. It had been in a bureau drawer for safe keeping ever since. I know there are still people who remember the store and Pa and would like to see the picture.

As in Mrs. Woodbury’s old Dry Goods Store a couple of blocks down the street, on the same side, there were thousands of items in a small space. Both stores were known for the honesty and integrity of their owners. They were dedicated to serving the customer; no item too small! I know that Pa would go into Boston on his day off to get a ten cent package for a customer.

He always loved the store. He had built his business at 310 Central and moved his part of it, hardware, across Monument Square from the old church building where he and his cousin Bill Tilden were in partnership. Bill had the grocery part, as I remember hearing.

During the Depression, business fell far below what it had been, but the store continued on a much smaller scale until it was bought (with the name and good will) by George Burnham for his younger brother Charlie. The understanding was that Pa would stay on for a while to help Charlie make the adjustment to hardware from the Oriental rug business he had had. So for a long time after the sale, W.D. Adlington was still a part of the store.

Later Red Bicknell bought the store, after Charlie Burnham died. It is now the Doc Pepper T.V. Service Inc.(written in 1985)

Sincerely yours,
Iva Adlington
(daughter-in-law of W.D. and Ida Adlington)

Last week I discussed the Heritage Quilt made by the Hammersmith Quilter’s Guild in 1987. This week we present two more blocks from this quilt which is still on display in Saugus Town Hall. The first one depicts the old stone schoolhouse-the area’s first which stood for many years on the hill overlooking Washington Square in East Saugus. It was built in 1806 and was also used for Methodist player meetings. It was demolished several years later when the Mansfield School was built.

The second quilt block shows a trolley car but I’m not sure what area in Saugus the Block represents. Our older residents can remember when the town was served by different trolley routes which connected Saugus Center, Cliftondale and East Saugus and allowed residents to travel to Malden and Lynn as well.