Southbridge is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Although Southbridge has a city form of government, it is legally known as the Town of Southbridge. The city has a total area of 20.9 square miles (54 km2), of which 20.4 square miles (53 km2) is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2), or 2.40%, is water. Southbridge is drained by the Quinebaug River.
Southbridge was formed out of portions of three of its neighboring towns: Sturbridge to the west, Charlton to the north, and Dudley to the east. The other neighboring town is Woodstock, Connecticut to the south.
Southbridge has a long history of manufacturing optical products, earning it the unofficial title “Eye of the Commonwealth”, in reference to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
By the early 1960s, the mill town had a movie theatre, an AM radio station (WESO), and an airport. New immigrants from Puerto Rico, Laos, and Vietnam began arriving in the 1970s and 1980s, and the town now has a significant Hispanic and Puerto Rican population.
These vintage photos from dickwhitney were taken by Don Whitney that show the inside of stores in Southbridge, Massachusetts in 1953 and 1954.
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| 1953 in Foley’s News – Ammidown Building on Main St (Now Savers Coop) |
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| 1953 in Foley’s News – Ammidown Building on Main St (Now Savers Coop) |
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| Woolworths Dept Store, Main St, Southbridge |
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| Paquette Stationery, Main St, Southbridge |
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| First National Grocery Store, Main St, Southbridge |
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