Picture Windsor Locks - Then And Now

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — The latest installment of this pictorial history series takes us back more than six decades, to the 1960 edition of the Windsor Locks High School yearbook, The Herald. Among the advertisements is one for a former mainstay of Main Street: Charland's Pharmacy.

Located at 74 Main Street, the pharmacy opened in 1957 by Raymond Charland and his wife Matilda, a cosmetician better known as "Tilly." The store was among more than 10,000 in the country to carry the Rexall brand name. Of particular interest is the old-fashioned phone number: NA 3-3047.

The store operated for about 15 years before closing during the redevelopment of Main Street in the early 1970s. Raymond Charland passed away in January 1989, and Tilly lived to age 90 before passing away in 2006.

A small strip plaza called Waterside Village occupies the space on which Charland's had stood. Here is a 2019 view of the site, courtesy of Google Maps.

Do you have a photo of an old Windsor Locks business which no longer exists, to which you own the copyright, and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

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