‘The Tale of A Tremendous Trifle’ • 290 Pratt Street, New Departure Part 2
Editor's note: This story (updated 2019) now appears at https://www.moodogpress.com/2019/01/inside-architecture-explorations-ball-bearings-adapt-and-change-ingenuity/.
A New Departure booklet (1944) held by the University of Michigan and digitized by Google gives a view back into what took place here and how human efforts around the clock literally turned the tide of World War II. Ball bearings in varying sizes and specifications rolled out to help fight a war that preserved lives, kept freedom. But all that has passed; yet the legacy built by the industry stands strong in this building that fronts Pratt Street in Meriden, Connecticut.
An excerpt:
A medium plain – to go – at The Little Rendezvous. CB/MDP
The Little Rendezvous, now owned by Steve Chehotsky – who worked for the previous owner Paul Bernier for 10-plus years – the tradition continues. Go ahead and lift a slice. Slightly blackened, crisp crusted and topped with savory sauce, sprinkled with parmesan. A mouth-watering pie enclosed in the white cardboard box sealed with paper tape is perfection. While there, ask to see the small side door once used by those shift workers to pick up their orders decades ago.
High School, Meriden, Conn. is printed on this old postcard. The building was re-used as Washington Middle School, then demolished. Part of an upcoming story in a series of explorations around Connecticut connecting past, present, and future. Technology, business, aviation, innovation – all converge in sometimes unexpected ways. From a local perspective, ties to the world revealed.
For part one of the story, visit this link. For permission to re-print story series, contact our publisher.