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| Hanscom Hall on the right (can't see the roof on this photo) just beyond the fruit trees. It appears that this may have been the opening day for the new Wolters building where all the cars are parked in front. In January 1911 a fire destroyed many of Talent's businesses on Wagner Ave. The Wolters store replaced the burnt buildings and was made of concrete so it wouldn't burn down. [Photo courtesy of Jerry McGrew] |
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| The Hanscom Hall used to be a two story building until a fire destroyed the upper story. Fire sometime around 1912.[Photo courtesy of Jerry McGrew] |
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| When Hanscom Hall had seen better days and before it's restoration. [Talent Historical Society photo] |
Hanscom
Hall
by
Jan Wright
Located
at 201 Talent Avenue, Hanscom Hall was built in 1906 on property
owned by Daniel and Charles Hanscom. The other buildings built that
same year in Talent, a hotel, meat market, opera house, and livery
stable are all gone but Hanscom Hall remains. It has retained the
name of the original owners though it has changed hands many times
and been used in many different ways including a confectionary and
ice cream parlor, a meeting place for Methodists and the Odd Fellows,
a restaurant, a second hand store, a grocery, an antique shop, a
pottery studio, and today as The Total Picture.
Perhaps
best remembered as the Talent Cafe, it was operated by Lilah Parker
and Marie Long after WWII through the early 1970s. They offered
simple but hardy meals in their well-known restaurant. People from
all over the valley, notably the Shakespearean actors from Ashland,
came to eat there. Customers had to eat everything off their plates
to earn desert.
In 1996 when the building was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places, it was not known that the the original construction
was two-stories high. The photograph featured with this article
proves that the structure had an upper floor and a staircase on the
North side. The fire so damaged the top story that it has been a 1 ½
story building ever since.
When
the picture was taken, the building belonged to the Wolters family
and it was one of their descendants (Jerry McGrew) who had the
photograph and shared it with the author. Jerry did not have any idea
that the picture was so historically valuable or that it was even
taken in Talent. The photograph serves as a reminder to save and
share old photos with the Talent Historical Society – your building
or home could be featured next in this series of articles !
