Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1886Woodstock, Vermont | in
Founder | Frank Henry Gillingham |
Headquarters | 16 Elm Street, Woodstock, Vermont , United States |
Key people | Jireh S. Billings |
Website | www |
F. H. Gillingham & Sons | |
Coordinates | 43°37′32″N72°31′09″W / 43.6255494°N 72.5192811°W |
Part of | Woodstock Village Historic District (ID73000274) |
Designated CP | January 22, 1973 |
F. H. Gillingham & Sons is a historic general store in Woodstock, Vermont. Specializing in retail and mail order, the company was established in 1886, and is operated by the Billings family. [1] [2]
Founded in 1886, F. H. Gillingham & Sons remains in its original building at 16 Elm Street in Woodstock. [2] It is the oldest, same-family operated general store in Vermont. [3] It has partnered with local cheesemakers and other farmers to help promote and distribute Vermont products. [4] [5]
Frank Henry Gillingham, who worked as clerk in a general store in the building, purchased the store with a partner in 1884. By 1886, he bought out his partner and renamed the operation F. H. Gillingham's General Store. He expanded the store to use the entire building by around 1900. Today, the store maintains an appearance of an old-fashioned general store, with creaky wood floors and 8,000 square feet of rooms. [6]
The store has been a popular tourist destination for several decades and has been featured in many New England, and national publications. [7] [6]
The Billings branch of the family bought the business during the 1970s; prior to that, the line of succession was from F. H. to his two sons to a grandson-in-law. [6]
The three-story brick Federal-style building was constructed in 1810 by Sylvester Edson and Titus Hutchinson. The first floor was used for a mercantile operated by Edson and Hutchinson's law office. The Vermont State Bank occupied the second story. It passed through a succession of owners over several decades and held various stores, including a livery. [6]
The building is within the boundaries of the Woodstock Village Historic District, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since January 22, 1973. [8] [9]
Chelsea is a town in and the shire town of Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,233 at the 2020 census.
Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to:
Woodstock is an incorporated village located within the town of Woodstock in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 900.
Woodstock is the shire town of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock.
Frederick H. Billings was an American lawyer, financier, and politician. He is known for his legal work on land claims during the early years of California's statehood and his presidency of the Northern Pacific Railway from 1879 to 1881.
A general merchant store is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general goods. The store carries routine stock and obtains special orders from warehouses. It differs from a convenience store or corner shop in that it will be the main shop for the community rather than a convenient supplement.
Franklin Swift Billings was an American businessman and politician from Woodstock, Vermont. He served as the 54th lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1923 to 1925 and as the 60th governor of Vermont from 1925 to 1927.
The S. H. Kress and Co. Building is a historic 1928 building in Tampa, Florida, United States. It was part of the S. H. Kress & Co. "five and dime" department store chain. The store closed in 1981, and has since remained vacant. on April 7, 1983, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The Woodstock Railway was an intrastate railroad in southeastern Vermont. It ran from White River Junction, Vermont to Woodstock, Vermont, a distance of approximately 14 miles (23 km).
The George Perkins Marsh Boyhood Home, also known as the Marsh-Billings House or Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion, is the architectural centerpiece of Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, a National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont, United States. The house, built in 1805 and enlarged several times, is historically significant as the boyhood home of George Perkins Marsh (1801–1882), an early conservationist, and as the home later in the 19th century of Frederick H. Billings (1823–1890), a businessman and philanthropist who was a cofounder of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It is also architecturally significant as a high-quality example of Queen Anne architecture, alterations and enlargements commissioned by Billings and designed by Henry Hudson Holley. The house and its surrounding gardens were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967. The 550-acre (220 ha) estate on which it stands was given by Mary French Rockefeller and Laurance Rockefeller to the people of the United States in 1992.
Franklin Swift Billings Jr. was an American politician and judge from the state of Vermont. Billings served as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives, Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont.
The First Congregational Church of Woodstock, Vermont is an active Congregational church in Woodstock, Vermont. The original building was constructed in 1807. It acquired a bell produced by Paul Revere. The building was rebuilt in 1890.
The Charles A. Barber Farmstead is a historic farmstead outside Lily, South Dakota. It consists of a complex of twelve buildings, including a house which was built in 1900 by the original homesteader, Charles Barber. The house is a fairly typical American Foursquare structure, which reached its present configuration by enlargement in 1914. Also included in the farmstead are an 1895 barn built by Berber, and several granaries moved to the property in the 1950s.
Hale Brothers Department Store, was a department store headquartered in Sacramento, California, with branches throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Charles Marsh Law Office is a historic building at 72 Hartland Hill Road in Woodstock, Vermont. Now a private residence, this moved and altered structure, built about 1797, is the oldest surviving example of a detached law office in the state. It was built for lawyer Charles Marsh, and is where his sons George Perkins Marsh and Lyndon Arnold Marsh trained for and/or practiced law. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Mount Tom is a small peak, standing at 1357 feet, located in the town of Woodstock, Vermont. It is a part of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. The peak has a multitude of hiking, running, and Nordic skiing trails, and has many sites dedicated to the national park. Standing in the middle of Woodstock, Vermont, the peak also is host to many annual town events, including the Road to the Pogue Race. Visible from the top are sights such as the village of Woodstock, the sister peak of Mount Tom, the Ottauquechee River, U.S. Route 4, and many neighboring mountains.
The Willard Manufacturing Company Building is a historic factory building at 25 Stowell Street in the city of St. Albans, Vermont. Built in 1896, the building saw industrial uses continuously until 2006, retaining many original early period features. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Franklin Noble Billings was a Vermont businessman and merchant. A member of the prominent Billings family, he was notable for his investment stakes and management roles in several Vermont businesses. He was the father of Governor Franklin S. Billings and grandfather of Judge Franklin S. Billings Jr. In addition, he was the brother of Frederick H. Billings, uncle of Mary Billings French, and grand-uncle of Mary French Rockefeller.
A. D. Strickland Store, also known as Bryant's Store, Dawnville General Merchandise Storekeeper, and J.R. Anderson Store; is a historical building and former rural country store located at 1385 Dawnville Road in Dalton, Georgia and built c.1878. These types of rural country general stores were once common and an important part of the social history of Georgia. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since May 10, 2005.
Caspiana Plantation Store is an American historic building and a former plantation store built in 1906, located at 1300 Texas Street in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The store served as part of the crop-lien system, during the time of sharecropping which impacted the lives of many African American workers.