New Britain herald., 1914-05-15

NEW THfATfR ON SITE
 OF OLD IDMARk
Building Which Ifod On Nan
 Street Was Visited by Indians.

Another of New Britain's land marks has now passed out of ex- istence with the raging of~ the old wooden building adjoining the Hotel Bronson, just north of Hon. George M. Landers' Main street residence. These landmarks of 'ye olde time towne of New Britain" are fast pass ing out of being and it will be but a matter of a few years when the last of them will be but thing of the dim past
 Concerning the structure which P. s. McMahon has had demolished in or der to erect in it's stead a new mod ern and up-to-date motion picture house, there is history of interest to the public of the city. It was here that Darius Miller, the dean of New Britain's business men, first began ac-- tive business. --------
 Miller Opens Business.
 In 1850 MT. Miller, then young man but twenty years of age and in frail health, first opened up a dry goods store. At that time his was the only dry goods store in the city, all the other ventures in that line having met with signal failure. Young Mill Ter and Stephen Strickland went into partnership and conducted the store for three years, MT. Miller in the meantime recovering his health.
 Buys Out Strickland.
 
 and it's business, MT. Miller states, with twinkle in his eyes, that his partner did not do much work and after they had conducted the busi- ness for three years he decided that he wanted to go into business in block now occupied by the N. M. Cohen estate. MT. Strickland was op- posed to this change unless he should receive an additional salary for his services. As he didn't do any work, MT. Miller offered to buy out his in- terest in the store. His offer was ac- cepted and since then Mr. Miller has conducted his place alone.
 Was Visited By Indians.
 However, the old building that has just been razed has a history that ex- tends far beyond the early days of MT. Miller. One of it's first uses, as recalled by MT. Miller, is that in the old days Henry North used the build- ing as a place where he was wont to string beads. These beads he would import from abroad and after stringing them in the store he would sell them to the Indians who used to visit the place.
 Was Ladies' Seminary.
 Between the time that the place was used by MT: North and was oc- cupied by MT. Miller, it was used as a young ladies' seminary. MT. Miller, who remembers the school mistress we'll. having known her personally. says that he cannot recall her name, but remembers that she was "as nice an old lady as ever was."
 Following the years during which the structure was used by Miller and Strickland, the building has been oc- cupied by various and divers concegrs. It has been used as store, autofho- bile and bicycle shop, picture gallery, shooting gallery and many other forms of business house until MT. Me- Mahon decided to erect new theater in it's place. fNa sOther Old Places.
 Most of the old time land marks about the city have disappeared, but few are still left. The Lee place, across from St.. Mary's church, IS about 275 years old and has an ln- teresting> history, as had the Hotel Bassett. Although the front of this building isn comparatively new, in the rear is the original structure where a store used to be kept. In those days there was a path heading from about the corner of Mainsan& Myrtle streets Slater road and the mountains, and down this path the InaAens used to comexto visit the sstpr6sHnR make pur- chases and trades -.x ,9ss |xsrs1 Nj