caption, page 2:

 

Finished

Members of O.K.C. Painting stand in front of the repainted Boxcar Museum in Putnam. Left to right: Mike Shong, owner Obie Hewitt, Marshall Lambert,  and Matthew Shong. Linda Lemmon photo.

 

Boxcar

museum's

fresh face

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

PUTNAM — As it was for the Alden children in The Boxcar Children book series, good things happen by happenstance.

In the Boxcar series, written by Putnam native Gertrude Chandler Warner, the right people appeared and help.

And so it is with the Boxcar museum, on the railroad tracks adjacent to Union Square.

The museum, housed in an old boxcar, was in need of some TLC. 

Obie Hewitt of O.K.C. Painting, who worked with one of the museum’s supporters, offered to paint the boxcar museum. He asked Sherwin Williams in Putnam to donate the paint and the caulk needed for the project. Sherwin Williams donated caulk and 5 gallons of an antique red paint. 

June 30 O.K.C. Painting started at 6:30 a.m. and to maintain the antique feel of the boxcar, used clear caulking first and then followed with two coats of the antique red paint. 

“It’d been quite a while since any painting had been done,” Hewitt said.

In addition, Hewitt’s company offered to install the new air conditioner in the museum.

Not only did the company paint the boxcar and install the AC, they also painted the sign post for the museum and painted the picket fence at the entrance to the museum. 

Hewitt said they fixed a few of the pickets and he then asked a friend to reproduce a picket.

 

 

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. — bankESB, the tradename for Easthampton Savings Bank, recently completed its acquisition of Citizens National Bancorp, Inc. (CNB), the holding company for The Citizens National Bank.

Following completion of the merger bankESB will have consolidated assets of nearly $1.4 billion and a branch network of 15 full-service offices.  

Matthew S. Sosik, bankESB president and CEO, said “Our merger brings together two financially sound and community-minded banks to create an even stronger company to serve our customers’ financial needs. We are very excited about the future and we’re certain that the Windham County communities will be too.”  All offices of Citizens National will remain open and will operate under the CNB tradename.  “Our present customers will see the same familiar faces at all of the same branch locations. Customers will begin to see many enhanced products and services over time,” said Sosik.  

Sosik added that CNB retained the local talent of VP Jo-Ann Chenail and SVP Shawn McNerney. “Jo-Ann will continue to manage the retail and branch operations of CNB as she has done successfully for years and Shawn will continue to serve as CNB’s senior commercial lender.  Both Shawn and Jo-Ann are well known and well respected members of the community and are excellent bankers,” said Sosik.

 

 

Then

This is a photo of Providence Street looking east from St. Mary's Church, taken around 920. From 1840 the north end of Putnam was called Rhodesville. The tenement house on the left held Massey's Clothing Store on the street level (currently the VFW Hall). The fourth building on the left (formerly Labonte-Mercik) housed the Canadian Athletic Club on the second floor. St. Jean the Baptist Hall, right, occupied the space where St. Mary's Circle of Fun is now held. The next building on the right burned as a result of an alleged and bizarre love triangle. Information from the Aspinock Historical Society.

 

& Now

This is the same area today.