A Stroll Around East Longmeadow Center
by Bill Dusty
Last week I took a stroll around the center of East Longmeadow. I managed to snap a few photos before a rain shower sent me into a Starbucks for cover….
This ballpark is located on the Maple Street & Shaker Road junction (parking is on Shaker Road). The field doubles as the locale for the annual 4th of July Carnival that visits the town. This site is also prone to flooding – a few years back, after a particularly bad week of rainstorms that flooded many places in the region, I saw some teenagers playing catch with a football in knee-deep floodwaters here.
Just across the street from the ballpark is De Nardo’s Restaurant. When I used to work in East Longmeadow, De Nardo’s was one of our regular dinner-time takeout spots.
The East Longmeadow Public Library on Maple Street. Since I’m around the area quite often, I usually do much of my studying here.
This plaza is a new addition to the center of East Longmeadow. It’s located between the junctions of Maple and North Main Streets.
The venerable Rocky’s hardware store serves as the anchor on the North Main Street side of the plaza. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong on this, but I believe I was once told the owner of Rocky’s owns the entire plaza.
East Longmeadow Town Hall. Since I lived so close to the state border as a kid, I would get two fishing licenses – one from Somers for Connecticut fishing, and another from here for my Massachusetts expeditions.
The famous (or infamous) rotary at the center of East Longmeadow, looking southeast from North Main Street (Rte. 83 is directly ahead, left of the church and going up the hill). The rotary has been the location of more than its share of car accidents. There are still those folks who travel it, though, who insist the rotary is perfectly fine – since they themselves have never had a problem. But statistics do not lie: Channel 22 News reported back in April of 2009 that from 2003 to 2005 there were approximately 150 accidents here – and that was after stop signs were installed at the Main Street and Somers Road (Rte. 83) entrances to the rotary.
The intersection of Maple Street and Shaker Road (right) going into the rotary (left). Some of the more dramatic accidents have occurred here, as cars entering the rotary from Maple Street (your view) occasionally assume they are at a four-way stop. But the folks leaving the rotary (going left-to-right) actually do not have a stop sign. A couple years back I witnessed a rather jarring accident where a car had moved ahead from his Maple Street stop and was loudly broadsided by a car exiting the rotary. Man, there is nothing like the sound of two tons of car slapping into another two tons of car. A sign inside the rotary that reads “Dangerous Intersection” is there for a reason….
Romito & Sons is located at a former bank building. I believe that shortly after Bank of America bought out Fleet Bank, the building closed. (The signs you see are actually for an ATM booth currently located at the building.) Before it was Fleet Bank it was BayBank, and before that it was the old Valley Bank, where I got my very first checking account as a teenager growing up in Somers, Connecticut. Romito’s actually moved into this building from a spot across the street at the Rocky’s plaza, where it had been for many, many years.
Stacy’s Cleaners has been a fixture at the center of East Longmeadow since long before I can remember.
Alas, nothing lasts forever. The old B & B Market closed at this building some years ago after a couple generations (at least) of serving the community. It is now the site of the Fusion Cafe.
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Posted by Bill Dusty
on May 20th, 2009 and filed under Springfield.
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There’s actually a Facebook group for the East Longmeadow Rotary.