New Canaan Now & Then: The Thrift Shop

2 Locust Ave.

The next time you are waiting at the light on Locust Avenue take a minute to consider the interesting history of the building that currently houses the New Canaan Thrift Shop.

This clapboard Greek revival home was built in 1840 by Joseph Scofield. Scofield purchased the property, “75 feet from the highway,” from Seymour Comstock for $150. Scofield, a prohibitionist, leased the two-story house to the Young Men’s Total Abstinence Society (later known as the Friendship Division of the Sons of Temperance). Unfortunately, Scofield had limited success with prohibition.  The upper floor of 2 Locust Avenue was used as a dance floor and boasted a vaulted ceiling that was painted to resemble the night sky. The lower level of the building served as a storage annex for Comstock and J.N. Hall merchandisers and then as storage for shoe making materials. Scofield sold the house on April 1, 1856 to Russell L. Hall for $$1000.

Hall’s ownership of 2 Locust Avenue was notorious, as his profession was both a furniture dealer and an undertaker. He used the lower floor for casket storage and as a morgue. Bodies were not yet embalmed but were packed in ice in an oversized zinc coffin on site. When embalming became a standard practice, his brother, Charles W. Hall, became a licensed embalmer; but there were many clients that still insisted on ice. In 1898, press representatives reported that Susan Anderson and a hired hand were murdered and the bodies were viewed at the “old morgue”, making front pages news in area newspapers. The reputation of the building suffered from its commercial use and it remained mostly vacant from 1911 to 1920, but was often broken into by children who claimed the house was haunted. On December 7, 1920, Hall transferred the residence to his son, Lewis C. Hall for $1. The younger Hall sold the building within the year (September 17, 1920) to Louis Lipman, who used the “old morgue” as a furniture warehouse.

Lipman sold the building to the Veterans Club on June 12, 1928 for $4500. It was remodeled by local New Canaanite Ernest Greene at a cost of $6500 (A handwritten letter from Ernest dated March 23, 1948, that is in the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society’s archives, provides evidence of this figure, although Landmarks of New Canaan puts the figure at $7600). Greene’s renovation included a kitchen in the basement, a lounge on the ground floor, and a meeting hall above. The only changes to this structure over the years have been the small addition in 1964 on the east side of the first floor that houses a small workroom where incoming donations are sorted and the cement block room at the rear that was constructed in 1973. The Veterans Club provided their own flair by adding the World War I captured howitzer as a memorial as seen in the early photo. The howitzer came to life for one last midnight celebration shot before it vanished in the World War II scrap metal drive in 1942. The VFW and their new joint owners, the American Legion Post No. 30, rented out their meeting hall to many organizations such as the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), the Fairfield County League of Women Voters, The Jewish Congregation of New Canaan and Boy Scout Troop No. 11. No doubt the good reputation of the building was restored by servicing so many prominent community organizations.

On October 1, 1946 the Veterans Club sold the building to Joseph T. Kulka for $14,000 when it moved to South Avenue. Mr. Kulka and his wife, Helen, occupied an apartment on the second floor and made use of the lower levels for their businesses.  Helen operated a hair salon and Joseph hoped to operate a frozen food delivery business but it failed after six months. In 1953, he sold the building to the Visiting Nurse and Hospice of Fairfield County.

The VNH used the space to the New Canaan Thrift Shop, which had already been in business in New Canaan for 23 years before moving to Locust Avenue. The VNH was able to secure this building through the generous support of Stanton Griffis and the Griffis Foundation, which provided an interest free loan to make this purchase. The New Canaan Thrift Shop, a staple in our community for decades, has benefited from many of the New Canaanites who helped to preserve this building and to improve its exterior for all that pass through our town. In 1988, the VNA landscape authorities spearheaded the idea of a small garden with a bench, just north of the building on the Main/Locust corner and relied on many local vendors who contributed labor and materials. In November 1994 the building was again improved when the exterior was painted from yellow to the more appropriate color scheme for an 1840 Greek Revival Era: gray with light beige trim, a dark green door and window accents, and a light blue porch ceiling. The thrift shop is currently managed by Ulrike Bell and run by a team of dedicated volunteers. In January 2021, the Visiting Nurse and Hospice became a part of Waveny Lifecare Network.

“New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society.