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Ethnicities:
165 Lakeview Avenue
Early name(s):
Current name:
McCluskey Grocery
Nadeau Grocery
Korzeniewski Meats/Provisions/Grocery
Costello Drugstore
Vacant, most recently a private residence
This address in Centralville provided shelter and business
success for two
Irish families
(father and son)
and two Polish
families (father
and son-in-law)
but little luck to a
French-Canadian
printer and a
Polish
blacksmith. The
segregation of
business and
residence from
Yankees is
interesting.
The building
Irish
FrenchCanadian
Polish
1
The McCluskey Family and Grocery
The Richard and Margaret McCluskey family arrived in
America about 1847. It’s uncertain whether the parents
brought their children to the new world or whether the
children (aged 33 to 13) brought their parents. The US
Federal Census shows Richard in Dracut in 1850. (This
might well have been Centralville since that part of
Lowell was annexed from Dracut in 1851.) Richard was
70 and Margaret was 65. Even then, Richard claimed no
occupation so it’s uncertain whether he was the one with
the energy to immigrate. Two children lived with them at
the time, John and Ann, but we know there were at least
four older siblings – Patrick, Michael, Dennis, and
Margaret. When Michael got married in 1853, he was a
farmer so it’s reasonable to assume that the home in
Dracut was close to a farm or that they had lived on a
farm in Ireland. 2
Figure 1. 165 Lakeview Avenue
This three story, wood-frame building probably
replaced an early building between about 1900. It
contained a commercial space on the first floor (left
entrance above, 165) and apartments on the upper
two floors (right entrance, 161). It has been
reconverted to all residential.
1
The building address was originally 77 River Street. About 1890 River Street was renamed Lakeview Avenue (possibly to match the name of
the street when it crossed the town line into Dracut, as is now the case). The building’s address was then 77 Lakeview Avenue until the
renumbering of many town streets only a little later in 1894. It then became 161 and 165 Lakeview Avenue, 161 being the entrance to the upstairs
residences and 165 being the commercial space on the main floor.
2
Census 1850, Dracut, MA, Roll M432_322 p.287 shows Richard, wife Margaret, daughter Ann, and Son John. The younger Margaret’ death
certificate lists her parents as Richard and Margaret, both born in Ireland. (Mass Vital Record 1841-1910 Lowell at NEHGS online Vol. 55 p.
369.Certificate). She also shows up living with the family in the 1870 and 1880. Upon Michael’s wedding in 1853, he declared his parents were
Richard and Margaret (Mass Vital Record Lowell 1841-1910 at NEHGS online (Vol. 70 p.162). Dennis lived with John off an on for many years;
in the 1880 Census, he was recorded as John’s brother (Census 1880 (Lowell, ED454 p.7). Patrick’s death certificate in 1849 declared Richard
and Margaret as parents (Mass. Vital Records to 1850 Lowell, at NEHGS online, Vol. 4, p.192).
Lowell National Historical Park
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165 Lakeview Avenue
By 1853 the family moved to the center of Lowell (indeed, on
Centre Street, just off Center Street), but soon moved just
across the bridge in what then became Centralville.
John, born in 1837, was the youngest. He spent his teens
working as a laborer in Dracut and then went to work in the
mills when his family moved to Lowell. In 1864 he went into
business by himself as a grocer at 11 River Street, about 200
feet from where they lived, in Brown’s Court, just off Bridge
Street. There were very few grocers in Centralville at the time,
three on Bridge Street and one meat market on River Street.
Being early in the market didn’t help, however, and in 1865 he
was back in the mills for another five years. 3
Ethnicity and Enterprise
The address of their house, 5 Brown’s Court, wasn’t ever an
official city street, but just one of six entrances to two facing
Richard McCluskey
(Ireland 1780-1870 Lowell)
Mrs. Margaret McCluskey
(Ireland 1789-1878 Lowell)
-McCluskey, Patrick
(Ireland 1814-1849)
-McCluskey, Michael
(Ireland 1818-)
+McNamara, Catherine
(Ireland 1818) m 1853
-McCluskey, Dennis
(Ireland 1826-1902 Lowell)
-McCluskey, Margaret,, (2)
(Ireland 1832-1908 Lowell)
-McCluskey, Ann
(Ireland 1835-1864 Lowell)
+Callahan, Charles
(Ireland 1836-) m. 1860
-McCluskey, John
(Ireland 1837-1920 Lowell)
+Owens, Mary
(Ireland 1838-) m. 1867
-McCluskey, Margaret, J (MA 1869-)
-McCluskey, Michael, J
(MA 1869-)
-McCluskey, James, J
(MA 1872-1894 Lowell)
-McCluskey, Richard, J (MA 1873-1929 Lowell)
+ Lee, Mary, A
(1893 MA-) m 1922
-McCluskey, Mary, M (MA 1923-)
-McCluskey, Kathleen (MA 1926-)
-McCluskey, Richard,, (2) (MA 1927-)
The address of their house, 5 Brown’s Court, wasn’t ever an
official city street, but just one of six entrances to two buildings
along River Street. (See the map from 1924 in Figure 6.
Those in bold are followed in the story; those in gray
Brown’s Court is just below the “A” in Lakeview “Avenue”.)
married a McCluskey.
Across the courtyard at Brown’s Court were members of the
Callahan clan, a huge family whose first members moved to Lowell in Figure 2. The McCluskey Family
the early 1850s, about the same time as the McCluskeys. By 1860 they
had arrived in force – there were twenty separate households of Callahans in Lowell. How many were related to
each other, we’ll never know but, in 1866, three of the six apartments at Brown’s Court were occupied by
Callahans. 4 Not surprisingly, the two families became close. In 1860, Ann McCluskey married Charles 5 Callahan
who lived at 2 Brown’s Court.
Just four years after the marriage, 6 Ann, like brother Patrick in 1849, died of consumption but the relationship
between the brothers-in-law would last. Like most others, Charles had started out in the mills. In 1868, he opened
his own grocery on Bridge and River and soon moved to a storefront in a building complex at 42-52 River. Over the
years, many of the storefronts in that building hosted his grocer store and he would eventually own it all. 7
John became a clerk for Charles in 1870 and stayed until 1880 when he started his own grocery just a block and a
half away. They remained competitors until about 1885 when Charles left the grocery business.
The competition probably did not hurt their friendship. One of the surprising things to us in the supermarket age is
the number of grocery stores in pre-refrigeration days. Before Charles left his grocery store, two other Callahans
were running their own groceries nearby. Grocery stores occupied thirteen addresses within three blocks of each
other on River Street, Coburn Street, and Bridge Street between 1880 and 1885 (see Figure 3. ).
In 1868 John McCluskey married Irish immigrant Mary Owens, daughter of James and Margaret. 8 There were
several Owens families living in the River Street area, including a widowed Margaret in Brown’s Court, but we’re
not sure if that is Mary’s mother. 9 If so, it would be the second time a McCluskey found a bride in that courtyard.
The in-laws stayed close. Andrew Owens, likely a nephew of Mary, lived with the McCluskeys and clerked in the
store from at least 1880 to 1886. Margaret (Mary’s sister) lived with the McCluskeys from 1894 to 1899.
3
4
Lowell City Directory for 1853, 1858, 1860, 1864, 1865, 1868, 1869.
City Directory 1866.
5
There were four Charles Callahans in the 1860 Census, three adults. Keeping them straight is a challenge. Two others joined soon and four adult
Charles Callahans appeared in the 1880 City Directory in Centralville, three of them in Brown’s Court, the other a half mile away – and he’s the
Charles of interest, who previously lived in Brown’s Court.
6
For the marriage, see Mass Vital Record 1841-1910 Lowell at NEHGS online (Vol.136 p.107) 12Jun1860. Vol.136 p.107 has the death record.
Charles later married Bridget Mullen (Lowell Vital Records, Marriages, Microfiche H21).
7
Lowell Atlas 1879, plate O shows C. Callahan as the owner of the buildings at 42-52 River Street and the lot immediately behind it facing on
Front Street. See Figure 3.
8
Lowell Vital Records, marriages: V209 p184, microfiche 1869 H19
9
Census 1880, Lowell Roll T9-544 p. 42 at 4 Brown’s Ct., born 1820 in Ireland, widow. One negative indicator is that she has a 28 year old
daughter named Mary living with her (raising the question of two daughters with the same first name). She lived in a house at 29 Front Street,
immediately behind Brown’s court in the City Directories for 1883, 1884, and 1886.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
When the McCluskeys moved to Methuen Street, in 1910 Margaret and another of Mary’s sisters, the widow Bridget
Riley, lived next door. In 1920 (after Margaret died), Bridget moved in with the McCluskeys.10
River Street, Coburn Street, Front Street (left to right)
Bridge Street
113
Charles Maloney (I2)
61
Cullen & McQuillen (I?)
77B
Eacott Brothers ( Henry & Benjamin) (E)
97
John Moran (I)
64
William Courtney (I)
81B
Daniel Stickney & Frederick A Spofford (Y)
94
Frank Joyce (I)
42-50
Charles Callahan(I)
95B
John Kingsbury & Frank Strout (Y)
2C
John F Callahan (I)
1F
John Brady (I)
103B
Miller Brothers (Henry & William) (Y)
84
James Kenyon (I)
17
John Burke (I)
77
John McCluskey (I)
The ovals show the addresses used as grocery or provisions stores in 1880. The address with “C” is on Coburn Street, the one
with F is on Front Street, those with “B” are on Bridge Street, and the rest are on River Street (now renamed to Lakeview Avenue
and renumbered). There were also (not shown) a fruit store (66 Bridge), a bakery (73 River), and a fish store (73 Bridge).
Parentheses following a name contain ethnicity: (I)rish, (Y)ankee, (E)nglish; “I2” indicates second generation (born in US, parents
born in Ireland) and “I?” means a guess based on similar names. Blue ovals are Yankees, red are immigrants.
Figure 3. Grocery stores on Coburn, River, and Bridge Streets, 1880 11 .
10
See City Directories for Andrew 1880-1886; Margaret in 1894, 1899, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1915; Bridget Riley in 1910, 1911, 1915, 1917. For
Bridget and Margaret living together, see Census 1910, Lowell, Roll T624_599, p.10A ED836. Bridget is in the 1920 Census living with John,
Roll T625_710 p1A ED559.
11
The map is adapted from the Lowell Atlas of 1879. The stores are listed in the Lowell City Directory under either Groceries or Provisions.
What make a store one or the other is unclear, although a provisions store apparently has meat as a major feature. Several store paid to be listed in
the directory under both headings and many listed under provisions have advertisements stating they have groceries.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
John and Mary McCluskey had three children named, traditionally, after their grandparents: Margaret J (1869),
James J (1872), and Richard J (1873). 12 John did well with the store and was able to send all three to college.
Margaret followed one of the few paths available for ambitious, single women at the time by becoming a teacher at
the Lakeview Avenue Primary School. It was less than a half-mile from the family home, still above the store. By
the time she was twenty-five she was an assistant principal and ten years later, in 1904, became principal for the
next thirty years. 13 James attended Holy Cross in Worcester, an expensive private school. Almost at the end of his
senior year in 1894, he died, tragically, as the result of a knee operation in pre-asepsis medicine days. 14
We don’t know if James’ death was the reason, but John soon retired from the store. 15 In his place, his second son,
Richard J, who had served as a clerk in the store at least as early as 1894, became the proprietor. We’ll come back to
him shortly.
John McCluskey was a long resident of Centralville and when he died in 1920 he was remembered as “…one of the
leaders in the development of that section of the city.” He was a very religious man and was proud of meeting the
famous Reverend Theobald Mathew on his visit to Lowell in 1855. Mathew was an Irish priest who was founder of
the Temperance Society who toured the US speaking on “The Pledge” and who apparently had quite an effect on the
eighteen-year old John. McCluskey had already been living in Centralville for thirty years when the Archdiocese
declared it to be a parish in 1884. He had already seen his two boys through the St Patrick’s Boys Academy in
Lowell center but he helped formulate plans for the new St Michael’s church, including suggesting that the Fourth
Street Engine House could be used for services until the building was finished. He continued a high level of
participation by becoming the first president of the Holy Name Society (the pre-eminent social group in a parish at
the time) and was clearly a friend of the parish priests. 16 In 1908, a large group of parishioners gathered to honor the
pastor on the occasion of twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination and McCluskey was to be the presenter of a
significant cash gift for the occasion (most of which would be used to buy bells for the church). Unfortunately, John
was called away during the celebration because of the death of his sister, Margaret, who had been living with or near
him since their arrival in this country. 17 Fortunately, an old friend, Charles Callahan, was also on hand and stepped
in to deliver the speech John had written. 18
Returning to the last chapter of the McCluskey story, youngest son Richard attended Holy Cross like his older
brother James and he graduated before taking over the store about 1896. He had family help with the store; from
1900 to 1903 John W. McCluskey clerked in the store. 19 Richard was just as successful as his father, if not more so.
Even before the age of thirty, he was elected to the board of aldermen in the city in 1901 and 1902.
12
For the family, see, for example, Census 1880, ED454 p.7. The 1900 Census, T623 659 p 3A ED776, lists a “Michael J McCluskey”, age
thirty, born November 1869, living with the family, recorded as a son. However, mother Mary recorded that she had had three children in her life,
of which two were still alive, ruling out this Michael. In addition, daughter Margaret is recorded in Mass Vital Records as being born December
1869, making the “son” relation dubious. He is likely one of many nephews; he was working as a grocery clerk (presumably at John’s store) and
found it convenient to live at the store.
13
14
Margaret is in the City Directory alphabetic listings as well as in the schools section for the years indicated.
Lowell Daily Sun, Tuesday, April 17, 1894.
15
He no longer appears as proprietor in the City Directories as of the 1899 edition (which was published with data from 1898), when he was 62
years old. He does describe himself as a “Grocery Proprietor” in the 1900 Census (ibid) at the same time as his son, Richard, is listed as
proprietor in the City Directory.
16
Lowell Sun, Monday Nov 1, 1920, p. 14, obituary.
17
The funeral for Margaret at St. Michael’s was well attended out of respect for John. Two nephews from Lawrence, Patrick and John were
bearers. Nephew Patrick was probably the son of Patrick, Richard’s son (Margaret’s brother). It is uncertain where this John McCluskey fits. For
Margaret’s death and funeral notices, see Lowell Sun, Sunday, 6Jan1908 and 7Jan1908, p.4. Interestingly, a Michael McCluskey was sexton at
St. Michael’s at the time of the funeral. He was born in 1847 and declared on two Census records (for example, Census 1900: Lowell Ward 6
Roll T623 660 p.7A ED805) that he immigrated in 1868 so he’s not a descendent of the original Richard. He seldom lived more than a few blocks
from John McCluskey after showing up in Lowell; he first appears in 1872 getting married and is in the City Directories from 1880 until his death
in 1916.
18
Lowell Sun, Monday, 6Jan1908, p. 8.
19
John W. was the son of Michael McCluskey, the sexton, mentioned in a previous footnote. After high school, he started his business career as a
printer and then a packer for a medicine company before coming to work for Richard. After Richard closed his store, John W opened his own
grocery store at 421 Bridge Street 1904-1905 then at 18 Stanley in 1906. After that he moved to Worcester.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
A grocery store, however, doesn’t hold the interest of a highly educated,
ambitious, second-generation son for long. It had served his father well and
did well for him, too, until 1903, when decided to attend medical school.
Richard not only stopped producing income but attending medical required
greatly increased outgo. That probably wasn’t a problem after twenty-three
years of the family’s commercial success. Even though he stayed retired,
John had invested in a rental property within shouting distance store at 45
Front Street 21 and, of course, Margaret became principal of her school at
this time so she was also able to contribute to the family coffers. A sign of
affluence is the family move to a larger house a half mile north, at 246
Methuen Street, allowing them to also rent the upper floors of the store
building.
Richard was away for six years, attending Columbia Medical School, one
of the more prestigious schools in the country, then staying in New York
City to intern. He returned to Lowell to set up private practice in 1910 and
quickly became active in the community and the state.
Like his father, Richard was very involved with the church, joining the
Holy Name Society, the Knights of Columbus, the Fourth Degree Knights
of Columbus, and the Holy Cross Alumni Association. He was an active
speaker at meetings for the Federation of Catholic Societies. When a street
next to Lowell’s town hall was renamed the “Cardinal O’Connell
Parkway” (in honor of a man who was born and raised in Lowell and who
became Cardinal of Boston in 1911), he was the chief marshal of the
dedication parade.
Figure 4. Richard J. McCluskey 20
In addition to his individual practice, Richard became a staff member of St. John’s Hospital in Lowell and met his
wife there. Mary Lee was born in Lowell in 1893, making her twenty years younger than Richard. Her parents were
Herbert, a machinist of Yankee stock, born in Potsdam, New York; and Mary Hayes, a weaver in the cotton mills,
born in England. Mary at seventeen years old worked in the mills while living in Tewksbury, saving her money for a
more ambitious career. In 1915-1917, she underwent nursing training at St. John’s Hospital, living at the hospital.
After graduation in 1918 her parents moved back to Lowell and they lived together near the hospital for two years.
In 1920, Mary became a private nurse for Richard J. McCluskey and boarded at his home on Methuen Street. In
1922, the forty-nine year old doctor who had dedicated his life to his career and his family (his father had died just
two years before) married the 29 year old nurse. They quickly had three children. 22
Richard’s sister, Margaret J, the principal, was still living at the 246 Methuen Street home. His obituary mentions
that the siblings were very close and dedicated to each other. Given these strong family ties, it is fortunate that the
two years that Mary boarded with them before marriage showed compatibility between the two strong women.
Margaret continued living there after the wedding, even though she had inherited the house next door where her
aunts (Bridget and Margaret) had lived. Later, even after Richard died, the two women continued living together.
Life was good for the middle-aged doctor. Like most physicians he was a member of several professional
organizations, the North Middlesex Medical Society, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Massachusetts
Society of Physiotherapy. It’s not surprising that he was as successful in the larger sphere outside his practice,
getting elected as Secretary for the Physiotherapy group. 23
20
21
Lowell Sun obituary, May 27, 1927.
Lowell Atlas, 1896, Plate 22.
22
See Mass Vital Record 1841-1910 Lowell at NEHGS online, V407 p143, for Herbert Lee’s marriage to Mary Hayes13Feb1890. Mary A’s
birth record is in Vol. 431 p.252, 22Oct1893. See Census records from 1900-1930 for the family; for example, 1910, Tewksbury MA Roll
T624_606 p.5A ED1027. Mary and her father can be followed in the City Directories from 1915 to at least 1933. Mary and Richard declared their
marriage intention in a Lowell newspaper on 7Oct1922, indexed at the CLH Genealogy pages. The couple’s first daughter, Mary M McCluskey,
is in the CLH birth index as born on 20Nov1923. The 1930 Census shows the other children living with widow Mary A and sister-in-law
Margaret -- Lowell Roll: 921 p12A ED115.
23
Details of Richard’s medical career and involvement with religious organizations can be found in his obituary in the Lowell Sun May 27, 1927.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
Two years after getting married, Richard took his wife, his infant daughter, and his sister to Europe. He indulged his
religious enthusiasm by visiting the shrine at Lourdes and gave stereopticon lectures on it upon returning home. The
family visited Ireland, land of his forebears, no doubt meeting many relatives before returning from Cobh, the port
of city Cork. 24
Richard J McCluskey died suddenly at his home Saturday evening, May 25, 1929, at the age of fifty-five, after
spending the afternoon at his office. He was committed to his profession and, like his father, was strongly dedicated
to family and church.
The Nadeau and Czekanski Groceries
The year the McCluskeys gave up their store, the grocery business in the neighborhood was even more crowded than
when John started. In 1903, if you started from 96 Lakeview (the site of Charles Callahan’s first store), a two minute
walk either way (about five hundred feet) would take you to nineteen grocery stores, fifty percent more than there
were in 1880. (The stores and their owners are plotted on a map in Figure 5. Of course, Centralville had a larger
population than before, as shown by the buildup on the 1903 map, but another trend was significant. It is no surprise
that there were stores run by Yankees (5) and by immigrants: from England (1), Scotland (1), and Ireland (10,
including 4 second generation). However, Two French-Canadian stores were new to the mix: the Malo Brothers
(Alfred and Maxime) and Trefflé Lacombe. “Little Canada” had previously expanded from downtown Lowell to
cross the river at the Aiken Street Bridge, a half mile west of the Bridge Street bridge, and now was spilling over
into the Irish enclave on the east end of Lakeview Avenue.
The McCluskey building (now with address 165 Lakeview on the renamed and renumbered street) didn’t come back
into use as a store immediately after closing as a grocery in 1903, although it was probably rented to boarders from
the start. In 1906, Louise Nadeau, a young French-Canadian who had been living down the block with her family
was a boarder. Her father, Pierre Nadeau, was born in French-speaking Canada in 1855 and brought his family to
this country in the 1880s. Several other Nadeau families appeared about the same time, probably relatives. Pierre
lived in Centralville on Front Street and Lakeview Avenue from at least 1894 and he had regular work as a baker
until 1901, after which he returned to the mills. His oldest son, Camille, born in 1876, was working as a printer by
1898 and in 1901 struck out on his own, starting a grocery store on Tucker Street, in the heart of Little Canada. In
1906 he moved his grocery back across the river to 165 Lakeview Avenue, to the storefront where his sister Louise
was living and where many of the rest of the family soon moved. Camille’s attempt at entrepreneurship ended after
only two more years and he returned to work as a printer in1908. 25
The restocked store at 165 Lakeview Avenue was taken over for a year by Anton Czekanski in 1909, a Polish
immigrant who arrived in 1902 and who, except for this one year, worked as a blacksmith or other type of laborer at
least until 1922. 26
The Korzeniewski Grocery and the Kosztyla/Costello Pharmacy
Czekanski's timing was bad. Another Polish immigrant had started a grocery store specializing in meat at 169
Lakeview, right next door. After Czekanski failed, Josef Adam Korzeniewski bought the 161-165 Lakeview
building and ran a grocery store there for 21 years. Korzeniewski was born in Poland in 1874 and immigrated to the
United States in 1903, probably with a brother, Blazej, settling in St Louis, Missouri. His wife Amelia (Berlach)
joined him in St. Louis in 1904, bringing her six children, four of whom were from a previous marriage. 27
24
The trip to Lourdes and lectures are mentioned in his obituary, op. cit. The entry back into the U.S. is in Ancestry.com’s New York Passenger
Lists 1820-1957, Year 1924, roll T715_3536, ship Franconia from Cobh to NYC, arriving 8Sep1924.
25
The Nadeau family is in the U.S. Census for Lowell, Ward1 Roll T623_660 ED776 p12a. See the Lowell City Directories for the years
mentioned.
26
Czekanski arrived in 1903 according to the New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Roll T715_311 p.41. He had last lived in Austria and was
going to his brother’s home in Chicopee, MA. He appears in the U.S. Census of 1910 for Lowell, Ward 6 ED863 p26A as a 35-year-old, born in
Austria-Poland, working in the mills, living at 71 Front Street, one block from the grocery store. See also the Lowell City Directories 1902-1922.
27
A 28-year-old Blazej Korzeniewski arrived in Boston from Liverpool 25Mar1907 on the ship Cymric; online Boston Passenger Lists, 18201943, Roll 105 p51 image 36. His passage was paid for by his brother and he had previously lived in the US from 1903-1906 at 1431 N 10th St,
St Louis, MO, his current destination. Adam’s father was later proven to have the same name, so it seems likely that this Blazej was a son. He
seems to disappear after this arrival, not showing up in the census in 1910 in St. Louis or elsewhere. Emilia Korzeniewski is in the Baltimore
Passenger Lists, 1820-1948, Roll 43 p101. She was entering the US on the ship Brandenberg from Bremen to Baltimore on 22Sep1904 with six
children, all surnamed Korzeniewski, even the ones who later used their Weiser names. Five of those children’s names and birthdates match those
Lowell National Historical Park
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
Coburn Street
Lakeview Avenue
Bridge Street
54C (40)
James H Riley (I)
247 (115)
John J McCann (I2)
325B (71)
Frank R Strout (Y)
33C (21?)
Peter H Mawn (I)
165 (77)
Richard J McCluskey (I2)
335B (79)
George E Hurd (Y)
19-25C (13?)
John H Burke (I)
124 (64)
Trefflé Lacombe (F)
348B (96)
Thomas F McSorley (I)
28C (20)
Sarah A Blanchflower (E)
96 (50)
Burns Brothers: James A, John
F, Thomas T (I2)
373B
John M Kingsbury (Y)
90 (40)
Austin F Kennedy (I2)
380B
Archibald J Keith (S)
57 (27)
John Burke (I)
381B
(103)
Herbert W Locke (Y)
24 (14)
John J Meagher (I)
401 (105)
Clarence E Stevens (Y)
13 (7?)
Malo Brothers: Alfred, Maxime
(F)
The ovals show the addresses used as grocery or provisions stores in 1902. Addresses with “C” are on Coburn Street, those with
“B” are on Bridge Street, and the rest are on Lakeview Avenue. Lakeview was renamed from River Street and all three streets
were renumbered. In the table, a number in parentheses is old address; in some cases it’s what the address would have been
had there been a building; in other cases, the building were totally rebuilt. Several addresses had no building in 1879: 373, 380,
381, 401 Bridge Street; 34 Coburn. Not included are a fruit store, a bakery and two fish stores. Parentheses following a name
contain ethnicity: (I)rish, (E)nglish (F)rench Canadian, (S)cottish, (Y)ankee,; “I2” indicates second generation (born in US, parents
born in Ireland). Blue ovals are Yankees, red are immigrants.
Figure 5. Grocery stores on Coburn, Lakeview, and Bridge Streets, 1903 28
in Lowell, leaving little doubt that this is the same family. Her destination was husband Adam Korzeniewski at 1206 N 3 St, St Louis, MO. Adam
Korzeniewski doesn’t show up in the Lowell City Directory until 1908 but there’s no other evidence of any Korzeniewskis in St. Louis.
28
Lowell City Directory, 1902. The map is adapted from the Lowell Atlas of 1896.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
Adam, as he was known most of his life, moved to Lowell in 1908,
immediately opened a butcher/provisions shop at 169 Lakeview Avenue, and
lived nearby with his family in a tenement at 9 Coburn Street. 29 He
evidently prospered for within two years he purchased the building at 161165 Lakeview Avenue, as well as a farm in Dracut Center. He raised his own
livestock on the farm and operated a small slaughterhouse, the meat from
which he sold in his Lakeview Avenue shop. 30 In 1910 he and his family
were living at 165 Lakeview. In addition to Adam and Amelia, the
household included their daughter Sophie, born in Poland in 1900; their son
Roman, born in Poland in 1901; a stepson named Oswald Weiser, born in
Poland in 1892, working for his step-father as a sausage maker; and two
stepdaughters, Mildred Weiser, born in Poland in 1893, working as a housekeeper, and Annie Weiser, born in
Poland in 1897. 31
Through the 1910s, stepson Oswald Weiser continued working in Korzeniewski’s butcher shop, although by 1916
he had moved into a house on Front Street. 32 He was listed as a musician in the 1920 city directory, married by
1921, and departed Lowell for Detroit, Michigan. 33 By 1920 the household at 165 Lakeview included a boarder,
Joseph Urban, a twenty-five year old Polish émigré who worked for Korzeniewski. 34
A significant addition to the house in 1920 was daughter Sophie’s new husband, Ludwik V. Kosztyla, born 1888 in
Massachusetts of Polish parents, Josef and Marya. Josef had immigrated from Austrian Poland in 1895 and worked
in the mills or the machine shops supplying the mills his whole life. Even in 1900 Josef occasionally called himself
Joseph Costello, anglicizing his name to be an already common name in Lowell. His son Ludwik became Louis,
then Leo Costello. 35
Joining the household in the early 1920s was Blazej Korzeniewski, father of Adam. Blazej, born in Poland in 1840,
had participated in the Polish Insurrection of 1863, an uprising against Tsarist rule. 36 In 1912 he moved to the
United States to join Adam, two other sons, Stefan and Ignacy, and a daughter, Franciszka. (Franciszka married
Wladyslaw Sperling, who worked as a machinist. 37 They lived near the Korzeniewski residence on West “L”
Street. 38 ) Blazej worked at the grocery store occasionally and lived with either Adam or Franciszka until his death in
1934.
Adam was active in the Polish community. For about 1925-1945 he served as president of Group 745 of the Lowell
Chapter of the Polish National Alliance, whose meeting hall was on Coburn Street, across the road from his shop
and residence at 165 Lakeview. 39 Across Lakeview lived Emil Banas, a fellow Pole, with whom Adam was friends
29
Page 889 of the 1909 Lowell City Directory has an ad for “A. Korzeniewski, Dealer in Groceries, Provisions, Meats and Sausage, Mfg.” Most
of the time thereafter, the store was described as a grocery but Adam often described himself a butcher or as running a butcher shop.
30
“J. Adam Korzeniewski,” Lowell Sunday Telegram, February 17, 1908. Korzeniewski was also called Joseph Adam. For more information,
see his obituary in the Lowell Sun, March 7, 1954.
31
32
33
34
U.S. Census, 1910, Lowell, Massachusetts, microfilm roll #600A, p. 148A, ED 863.
City directory, 1916.
City directory, 1920 & 1921.
U.S. Census, 1920, Lowell, Massachusetts, microfilm roll #712A, p. 109A, ED 220. Kosztyla was later anglicized to Costello.
35
U.S. Census 1900, Lowell, Ward 2, Roll T623_660, ED782 p.7A. Josef continued reporting his son in the City Directory after his marriage and
departure even though Leo was also reporting himself. The directory publishers didn’t catch on, to the confusion of future researchers. Even
though he reported himself as a completely anglicized Joseph Costello, until Josef died in 1935 he reported his son as Ludwik K Kosztyla or
Kostyta, even though he gave the Lakeview address for him.
36
The Polish community still remembered this event and honored Blazej Korzeniewski for it. He received flowers from the Polish Consul
General in New York, forty Polish veterans marched at his funeral, his bearers were Legionnaires, and he received a volley of shots over his
gravesite. Lowell Courier-Citizen obituary, March 26, 1934.
37
38
Ibid
City directory, 1921. Also see obituary of Franciszka Sperling in the Lowell Sun, March 30, 1954.
39
Lowell Sun, “Adam Korzeniewski Heads Polish Alliance for 15th Time” Jan 11, 1939, p. 5. Also see obituary, Lowell Sun, March 7, 1954,
which gives the figure of twenty years.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
and who also served as an officer in the Polish National Alliance group. (See the entry for 172 Lakeview Avenue for
more on Emil Banas.) Adam served as pallbearer at the funeral of Anna Banas, Emil’s wife. 40
Adam Korzeniewski continued to
operate his store until 1930. He
was obviously successful,
investing in at least two other
properties, a rooming house just
down the street on Lakeview and
another on Front Street. 41 His
son, Roman, worked as a clerk in
his father’s store throughout the
1920s and one might have
thought that when his father
retired, Raymond would have
taken over the store. However
Leo, even before he married
Sophie in 1920, had apprenticed
as a pharmacist beginning in
1916 at Ray Webster’s Drug
Store on Bridge Street. (See the
entry for 401 Bridge Street for
more on Ray Webster.) After
eleven years there, in 1928 Leo
opened his own drug store at 245
Gorham Street 42 , about a mile away, and obviously impressed his father-in-law with his business skills. Adam
retired as a grocer after 1930 and the store became the Leo Costello Drug Store, with Adam as a clerk. Leo kept the
two stores for a couple of years but in 1934 sold the Gorham Street store and concentrated on Lakeview.
By 1930, the ethnicity of the neighborhood had changed radically. The Irish were gone, with few commercial
establishments and no grocery stores. French-Canadians never made much headway, staying to the west in
Centralville. Seven stores on Lakeview Avenue and Coburn Street were run by Polish immigrants. Bridge Street had
two stores run by Russian Jews. A significant non-ethnic force had arrived, the corporate grocery store. There were
five in the area we’ve been following on the maps, one on Coburn and four on Bridge. See Figure 6. Grocery stores
on Coburn, Lakeview, and Bridge Streets, 1930.
In the meantime, Roman had changed his name to Raymond Adams, possibly at the instigation of his wife Vera
(Gerry), whose Yankee credentials were sullied only by an Irish grandfather. 43 It's not certain what the family
dynamic was in 1931, but Raymond moved out of 161/165 Lakeview Avenue and Leo took over the store space. Did
Leo gain favored status because he was successful with the drug store so he was given the 165 Lakeview storefront,
prompting Raymond to move away and start his own? Or did they all agree to let Leo take the store instead of
traveling to Gorham Street every day (only a mile) and have Raymond carry on the family grocery nearby?
Whatever the case, Ray moved in with his in-laws on Hampshire Street a few blocks north and started his own
grocery store in 1931. This store was at 247 Lakeview, a block down from his father’s store and the site of a grocery
for at least fifty years (Irish, then Scottish, then Irish), which means it had been a competitor of his father’s since the
beginning.
40
41
42
Lowell Courier-Citizen, July 11, 1933, p. 11.
Lowell Atlas 1936
Leo took it over from Joseph T Lantagne, second generation French-Canadian, who in turn had taken it over from Irish owners.
43
U.S. Census, 1930, Lowell ED9-79 Sheet18A serial p.57. Her parents were Lewis S and Alice F (Hands). She was born in Massachusetts in
1910. Her father and his parents were born in Maine; her mother and mother’s mother were born in Massachusetts but her mother’s father was
born in Ireland.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
Apparently Vera died in 1936 because Ray alone moved back to the upper floors of his father’s building in 1937. 44
At about the same time, he moved his grocery store to 329 Bridge (site of a long time Yankee grocery and a prime
location just off the bridge) and started calling it Adams Market. After two years living back home, Raymond
disappeared from Lowell between 1939 and 1943; one is tempted to think of World War II service in Poland,
inspired by his grandfather, although he was thirty-eight years old by now, usually past fighting age. Adam came out
of retirement and ran Adams Market from 1939-1949. 45
In 1942 Leo Costello closed up his drugstore at 165 Lakeview and purchased another drugstore in a prime location,
305 Bridge, keeping the previous name, Noonan’s Drugstore. 46 This address was two buildings down from Adams
Market and was on the corner of Bridge and First Streets, the first intersection coming off the bridge over the river.
Raymond came back to Lowell in 1944 with a new wife, Rita B, and started working as a meat cutter in the Acre
while living on Worthen Street. A year later, Ray and Rita moved back to live on Lakeview and the Costellos moved
out, first to 38 Methuen Street, still in Centralville, and later to 31 Hoyt in southeast Lowell. Leo kept the Noonan
Drugstore until he died in 1954.
Adam retired a second time in 1950 at age 76 and Raymond became proprietor of Adam’s Market again. Adam,
even though retired, was clearly the heart of the enterprise. Raymond kept it going only one year after Adam’s death
in 1954. Starting in 1955 he was employed as a meat cutter and his wife Rita worked a wage-earning job at
Symphonics, a manufacturer of electrical goods and record players. They later moved to Rea Street, on the far
southeast part of town only three blocks away from his widowed sister, Sophie. 47
The commercial space at 165 Lakeview that had served the McCluskey, Korzeniewski, and Costello families from
1880 to 1942 was vacant. It remained so until the mid 1960s when Dick’s Linoleum Service, owned by Richard A.
Cayer, moved in to the building; Cayer also lived upstairs48 . Cayer’s business lasted at this location into the 1980s.
Since then the commercial space has been unused. The building has been taken by the city for taxes and is currently
vacant.
Grocery stores and Ethnicity in Lower Centralville
It’s interesting to divide the micro-neighborhood shown on the maps in this story into two parts: west of Bridge
Street for a few blocks, which we will call West-Centralville; Bridge Street and east, which we will call EastCentralville. (The area east of, but not including, Bridge Street later became known as Chapel Hill.) No stores
showed up east of Bridge Street – it stayed residential. Over the 65 years of this story, there was an extremely strong
separation of Yankees and immigrants between these two areas.
When John McCluskey first tried the grocery business (1864) there were only four other grocery stores within three
blocks: one on River Street, run by an Irishman, and three on Bridge Street, all run by Yankees. 49 Fourteen years
later, 1880, Figure 3. shows eleven shops in West-Centralville, all run by Irishmen and four shops in EastCentralville, three run by Yankees and one by an immigrant (an Englishman).
Twenty-three years later in 1904, the last year the McCluskeys ran the store, is shown in Figure 5. There were
twelve stores in West-Centralville, all run by immigrants or second-generation (nine Irish, two French-Canadian,
and one English). East-Centralville had seven stores, five Yankees and two immigrants (an Irishman and a
Scotsman).
44
According the Lowell City Directories, Ray and Vera had lived with Vera’s parents since they were married, most recently at 32 Second Street
and Vera was listed as his wife. In 1937 he was back on Lakeview and Vera’s parents Lewis S and Alice F Gerry were living alone.
45
46
47
48
Address and occupations for all the years mentioned in the last several paragraphs are in the Lowell City Directories for those years.
William H. Noonan was the son of Irish immigrants and had run this store since at least 1909.
City directories, 1944-1957, 1964.
City directories, 1964, 1970 & 1981.
49
The city directory for 1864-1865 did not have a listing of businesses so it’s practically impossible to be certain of all the grocery and
provisions stores for that year. The next directory, 1866, had a business listing with four grocers in the neighborhood: William Courtney
Provisions [Irish], 49 River Street; Robert Read & Son Grocery [Yankee], 30 Bridge Street [this was before Bridge Street’s first renumbering —
it was near Third Street]; Alpheus G Wing Provisions [Yankee], Bridge corner of Second; Daniel Stickney and Frederick A Spofford Grocery
[both Yankees], Bridge corner of Third. Tracking these back to 1864, all appeared at the same places. Similarly, the 1861 directory had a business
listing with five grocers. Again, tracking those names forward, Read and Wing were the only two who were still grocers in 1864.
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165 Lakeview Avenue
Ethnicity and Enterprise
Coburn Street
Lakeview Avenue
Bridge Street
43C
Max Rindler (P)
165
J Adam Korzeniewsi (P)
312B
Vermont Tea & Butter Co.
392B
Grand Union Tea Co.
32C
John Stepien (P
143
John Stefan (P)
315B
Samuel Klegerman (JR)
405B
First National Store
25C
A & P Company
102
Pawel Zolkos (P)
329B
Frank R Strout & Son (Y)
408B
Cloverdale Co.
101
Hypolite Pater (P)
370B
Benjamin & Herman
Gordon (JR)
411B
A & P Company
18
Jan Lawrynowicz (P)
373B
Fred S Kingsbury (Y)
The ovals show the addresses used as grocery or provisions stores in 1930. Addresses with “C” are on Coburn Street, those with
“B” are on Bridge Street, and the rest are on Lakeview Avenue. Parentheses following a name contain ethnicity: (P)olish, (JR)
Jewish-Russian, (Y)ankee. Blue ovals are Yankees, red are immigrants, yellow are chain stores (no local owner).
Figure 6. Grocery stores on Coburn, Lakeview, and Bridge Streets, 1930 50
Moving ahead another twenty-six years to 1930, the last year Adam Korzeniewski had a grocery store on Lakeview,
the neighborhood is shown in Figure 6. There were seven locally-owned stores in West-Centralville, all run by
Polish immigrants. There were four locally-owned store in East-Centralville, two run by immigrants (both RussianJewish) and two by Yankees. (An indicator of future change in 1930 was the appearance of corporate chain stores,
one on Coburn and five on Bridge Street. Chain stores are not owned by the people who manage them. Chain stores
and the Depression reduced the number of locally owned stores significantly. By 1938 there were only eight stores,
three immigrant, one Yankee, and four chain. 51 )
50
Lowell City Directory, 1930. The map is adapted from the Lowell Atlas of 1924.
51
The immigrants and Yankees are people we’ve seen already: John Stepien on Coburn, Jan Lawrynowicz on Lakeview, Raymond Adams on
Bridge, and Fred Kingsbury on Bridge. The four chain stores were on Bridge Street, the same as those from 1930 except Cloverdale.
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Ethnicity and Enterprise
The East-Centralville/Yankee vs. West-Centralville/immigrant store separation was complete in 1864, almost
perfect in 1880, only slightly more broken in 1903, and complete again in 1930. Few immigrant stores moved onto
Bridge Street and no Yankees moved west. Living quarters were also segregated. In the 4 specific years covered
over 66 years, there were 50 locally owned stores, 37 by immigrants (32 in West-Centralville and 5 on Bridge
Street) and 13 by Yankees (all on Bridge Street). No Yankees owned a store in West-Centralville and only one
Yankee owner lived there. Of the 5 immigrants who had stores on Bridge, only one lived in East-Centralville. Two
of the three East-Centralville owners who lived in West-Centralville were immigrants. 52 See Figure 7. Separation of
Immigrants and Yankees in lower Centralville.
In this micro-neighborhood and at this time, Yankees just didn’t mix with immigrants.
West-Centralville
East-Centralville
Elsewhere
Owned
Store in
East
West
East
Elsewhere
1
5
2
2
3
13
1
17
Owner lived
Owned
Store in
West
West
East
Immigrants
32
29
5
Yankees
0
Owner lived
This table summarizes the location of stores and residences for immigrants and Yankees. West-Centralville is west of Bridge Street.
East-Centralville is on or east of Bridge Street. Elsewhere is someplace not in Centralville. There were a total of 50 stores, 32 in the
West and 18 in the East.
There were eight stores that had two owners and one that had 3. Each owner’s choice of residence is counted separately so there
are 60 residence choices.
Figure 7. Separation of Immigrants and Yankees in lower Centralville.
52
There is a small amount of overlap in counting owners in the four years. John McCluskey, of course, appears twice (by design) as does one
other Irishman and two Yankees. There are also three instances of father/son combinations in separate years in the same store. In all cases, the
residence of each owner was never the same for the different years so the choices are still significant.
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