Picture Enfield - Then and Now

ENFIELD, CT — Today's installment of this weekly Enfield history series, courtesy of the Facebook group Picture Enfield, shows a mid-1970s view of the center portion of the Elm Plaza at 95 Elm Street.

In deference to my advanced age, I cannot make out the names on some of the signs, but clearly visible are a fabric and yarn shop whose name escapes me at the moment, Country Drug, Nugent's, Leo's Shoes and Lewis Men's Shop, which appears to be having a going out of business sale. Also painfully obvious is the former Enfield location of the dreaded Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles, also known as the VWHD (Vast Wasteland of Human Desolation), where even then, you could be expected to wait up to eight days in line, or at the very least, when your number finally came up, the sole clerk on duty would break for lunch.

Not pictured are the anchor stores, Food Mart to the west and Grant's to the east. The shopping center itself was more commonly known as the Grant's Plaza, then the Caldor Plaza, and currently the Kohl's Plaza, though its official name remains the Elm Plaza.

The strip mall currently houses, among others, such businesses as Kohl's, Best Buy, Chicago Sam's, Sally Beauty Supply and Enfield's Discount Wines & Liquors. Here is how it appears today, courtesy of Google Maps.

Last week's trivia answer:
Last week's trivia question was, "What was the original site of Asnuntuck Community College?" The answer: the former North School at 51 College Street in Thompsonville, where it operated in its inaugural year of 1972-73 prior to moving to a warehouse building at 111 Phoenix Avenue (home of the current Enfield Superior Court). The college moved to its present location at 170 Elm Street, site of the former Kosciuszko Junior High School, in 1983.

This week's trivia question:
Which original member of the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame's charter class is still actively, and successfully, coaching today? Post the answer in the comments section below, or on the Enfield Patch Facebook page.

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