The Barnard Block
Built in 1910, the Barnard
Block created a sense of architectural continuity on
the east side of Main Street. Owner Henry Barnard
was descended from one of the first families to
settle in Andover. His family had been successful
in business for decades. Barnard’s father Jacob
established a family empire that began as a shoe
shop in the National Bank building in 1856. In 1883,
Jacob built the Barnard building on the corner of
Barnard and Main, and another shop at 19 Barnard
Street. By the turn of the 20th century, Jacob
Barnard had over 200 hundred employees engaged in
various businesses.
 The construction of the
Barnard Block meant the demolition of several iconic
Main Street buildings of the 19th century, most
significantly the Wakefield Provisioners shop on the
corner of Park and Main, originally built as a
private home in 1800. A small hotel and a plumbing
supply company building were also torn down.
(Stables that had been attached to the hotel
survived until the 1980s.) While the old buildings
had a level of aged character, they were widely
varied in style and at a century or more old, past
their most useful years. Henry Barnard created the
Barnard Block to be a central and uniform location
for all variety of businesses.
 Early Barnard Block tenants
included Holts Pharmacy (which moved from quarters
below the Baptist Church); Andover Furniture, which
occupied a large portion of the upper floor; and
Buchan’s and Francis Furniture downstairs. Other
well known tenants to the building included the
First National Store, Irma Beene’s Ladies’ Shop,
Crowley’s Pharmacy (later Lowe's, then Dalton’s,
then Hughes’ Pharmacy) Coles Hardware, and Ford’s
Bakery, later to become Ford’s Coffee Shop.
Milton Cole of Cole’s
Hardware purchased the building in 1970. He sold the
building and the hardware store to William Scanlon
in 1984. In 1982, the Barnard Block was placed on
the National Register of Historic Places.
The image below shows
the stretch of Main Street now occupied by the
Barnard block, circa 1905, just before the buildings were
demolished. Note the sign for the stable to the
rear.
Images from the Andover Historical Society collection, #1989.571, 1996.51.8, 1998.98
The Merchant’s Building
 Built as the ‘K & D Block’ in 1928, 66-68 Main Street was soon re-christened the
‘Merchant’s Block’ has been the home of several well remembered Andover
businesses.
Hartigan’s Drug Store
occupied the corner store front from 1924 to 1978.
Temple Electric and Radio Shop’s neon Philco sign
hung above the door to the upstairs shops. The
storefront at 68 Main Street is perhaps best known
as the home of the Andover Co-Op Food Store.
Originally only two
addresses wide, the building has been remodeled and
added on to several times, and now extends to 70 and
72 Main Street as well.
Image from the Andover Historical Society collection,
#1989.830
NEXT: The Co-op - A store run
by shoppers, for shoppers |
