Aerial view of Keene, NH in Mid 1980's (Large Images)

[TRJ22487]

I was at Fairfields repair center in Keene, NH yesterday when this amazing photo on the wall caught my eye.
They took it out of the glass for me and let me snap some photos of it
This is somewhere between 1983-1986 by my best guess


I was amazed when I saw the photo. I've lived in Keene for 15 years and visited it for 5 more before that. Our town looks NOTHING like this anymore.
Almost nothing in this photo remains the same today.
Even the roadways have been entirely redone.
This was the small, quiet, Keene I moved to so many years ago
THIS is New England to me.
The way Keene is today, IS NOT.







The parking lot in front of the IGA/Bradlees (now Shaws/Walmart) was entirely redone. There are tons of buildings where there was once nothing. The marshland at the top of the photo is now a massive plaza containing Price Chopper, Borders, Home Depot, Target, Circuit City (now closed) Olive Garden, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michael's, and much more. Yes, it was once just a natural marshland, no pavement or anything.


Bradlees/IGA roadsign (This plaza now uses a different location for the road sign, and 99 Restaurant uses this sign)



Not my photo, just to reiterate what the Keene Bradlees
Looked like from the front, before Olympia Sports (I estimate this pic is from '92)
You can tell from the aerial shot they replaced the sign itself
Somewhere between the late 80's/early 90's
The sign is Square on the aerial view from the 80's - It is still the Grant's sign (Grant's was original tennant - then Bradlees - now Walmart)
This picture comes from the early 90's and the sign is not square, they replaced it, or reshaped it
Regardless, as Walmart it looks entirely different from the outside
If you go up to Walmart today and look closely at the front wall
You can find the cracks where the Bradlees doors once were


This photo comes from the 1995 edition of the Monadnock Regional High School yearbook.
I copied this photo hastily with a digital camera in the school library back in 2004
I wish I could go back and take a clearer scan, this entire page had about 10 photos from
inside the Bradlees if I remember correctly


Mister Donut (Now Dunkin Donuts)


Kentucky Fried Chicken & Pizza Hut
(Demolished in late 90's, Now KFC/Taco Bell - different building w/ drivethru)
(Pizza Hut now Bentley's Roast Beef)


Papa Ginos (now Pizza Hut Italian Bistro)
- between this and now this has been many things, Einstein Bagel, Boston Market, Bickfords...


This tiny Sunoco stood until 2005 when it was remodeled for a bigger nicer store
The building is the same today, but the garage was all converted
to just being a normal convenience store,
and all logos and pumps have been updated


In this picture this bank is the New Hampshire Commonwealth Bank
This was Fleet Bank in the 1990's
Building heavily remodeled inside and out into Brooks in early 00's
Became Rite Aid in 2008


I'm not sure, but this looks like a bus stop?
I don't think there's ever been a bus stop there since I've lived there
I don't think it's anything to do with the bank
Look at the old school Keene P.O. leaving Mr. Donut!


The end of the Bradlees strip mall, now extends much further
to a Burger King/Beauty Nails and the parking spaces on that
side have all been wiped out. The building next to it was the original Keene Cinemas
the current location still has the same sign
This building is an Unos now. On the opposite side of that
building, across the street from Sunoco is a tiny Texaco building
There is no longer a gas station, or anything at all, there.


Top building was Kings department store and was a Mammoth Mart in the 60's
Lower building was Edwards Supermarket up to the early 90's
In the early 90's Kings got divided into what is now
Staples/TJ Maxx/Rent-A-Center
Edwards got divided into
CVS/The Toy Works
When CVS relocated, their lot was made larger to become Petco
Toy Works became K.B.Toys, then the location became smaller to size Petco, then shut down completely and sat Vacant until 2010 to become a Dollar Tree
Every summer there used to be a carnival in this parking lot
Up until about 1995, which included a ferris wheel


Fairfields Buick/Cadillac
We owe them this picture, this is the original location of Fairfields
This entire plaza and the roadways were entirely restructured
when Fairfields relocated.
This plaza is now an Applebees standing alone
On the opposite end is a strip of FYE (formerly Strawberrys) Curves (formerly Lindt) AutoZone, and Sullivan Tire


This was a Mobil gas station. The sign is facing perpendicular to our viewpoint
This building has been added onto on left side and now serves as the Armed Forces Recruiting Office
The section that is still there from the 80's is now Liberty Tax
Today the pumps are long gone and you can just swing through the parking lot


This was the indoor mini-golf course in Keene
The black and yellow road sign belonged to it
This is now Keene Cinemas, and it almost looks like it is being
converted to that in this photograph.
The Sherwin~Williams at the top is still there, but the building is different
A building was made in the 80's or 90's between SW and the golf course
It was originally Sears, and is now Toy City (relocated from Center of Keene)
The building at the bottom doesn't look a day different in 2009
It is the Department of Employment Security Building


This was in fact a Grossman's.
A VW dealership is in front of the hardware store.
There is no building here anymore, but it is still paved
The same dealership building is there today, but Mazda isntead of VW


No clue what on earth this is.
A photo hut? ATM? Absolutely no idea.
A Midas is here now, in a large building


I spotted this car accident in front of IGA/Bradlees
That's great!

[NJxxJon]

Quality post Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa+ !!! :tumble:

[XISMZERO]

In my "former life," I hung around Keene a lot on the weekends and never knew Pizza Hut (Bistro) was a Papa's and that DD was a Mister Donut. The "old" Pizza Hut pictured there looked like that until around 2007 (maybe) until it became reused by some BBQ joint.

Also, in that top picture, it's interesting to see that then undeveloped land that would eventually become an enormous Target/Home Depot/Price Chopper anchored mega shopping center.

Excellent pictures, I really appreciate them!

[TRJ22487]

Originally posted by XISMZERO
In my "former life," I hung around Keene a lot on the weekends and never knew Pizza Hut (Bistro) was a Papa's and that DD was a Mister Donut. The "old" Pizza Hut pictured there looked like that until around 2007 (maybe) until it became reused by some BBQ joint.

Also, in that top picture, it's interesting to see that then undeveloped land that would eventually become an enormous Target/Home Depot/Price Chopper anchored mega shopping center.

Excellent pictures, I really appreciate them!  

Yep, you are right about everything. I am a longtime resident of the Keene area...like I said I moved here in 1995. I know this town a little too well.
Good eye on the Target/Home Depot/Price Chopper deal, it was all wetland. It's almost unimaginable to think of Keene without all of those stores now.
I also think it's interesting to see Staples/TJMaxx/Rent-a-Center before it all got subdivided, same for Petco-Vacant. Everything looked like it was more as it was intended with the original facades and stuff. It all looks odd the way it's been updated in the 2000's.

Also if you know Keene, there is a road that lets you cut behind McDonalds and Wendy's (those would be to the right of Papa Gino's in this picture) to avoid traffic. That road did not exist back then. This road also allows easy access to the condos out back.

My last memory of getting a pizza at that Pizza Hut was 2005 me and my friends punctured our tire pulling out of the parking lot and broke down on the side of the road the way home.

I'd forgotten the KFC building used to be entirely different. It explains why the parking lot is so poorly designed today however, the original building was so small it fit the parking lot much better. Taco Bell used to be where Starbucks now is on West Street in Keene.

I'd also forgotten the roads flowing to and from Winchester st into the Bradlees plaza and especially the Toy Works plaza used to be entirely different. In this photo, it was possible to turn left from the Bradlees plaza, but today you must go right on Winchester street and find a way to loop around to hit the roundabout.

The way the road is now, there is a four way intersection next to what is Papa Ginos in this picture (now Pizza Hut). In this photo it is just grass where it is now road. The original road going into the Toy Works plaza is now just a small one way road flowing out, and is not the main road anymore. Everything in that entire area got restructured when the car dealership moved and Applebees and the former Strawberry's plaza was built

Ximzero, I noticed you also visited the East Swanzey Dunkin Donuts. I'm guessing at the time of this photo that Dunkin Donuts was still an A&W, and the gas station next to it (now T-Bird) was still Wilbur Bros. (to this day these still use the Wilbur Bros. carts in the store)

[Zayre88]

Is it possible that this building was a Grossman's ?

I recognized the the orange color scheme and shape of the pylon sign (same as this former Grossman's, now Aubuchon)

[TRJ22487]

Originally posted by Zayre88
Is it possible that this building was a Grossman's ?

I recognized the the orange color scheme and shape of the pylon sign (same as this former Grossman's, now Aubuchon)

You are right, someone at work said it was a Grossmans
I feel like it went on to be something else, but there isn't even a building there anymore
I do remember the building having this color scheme

[jmcnamara96]

you said the bank was a fleet before that it mite have been shawmut bank whitch was bought by fleet

[TRJ22487]

Here is another photo of the same plaza, but with a 90degree turn, and from the 1960's instead.
Grant's/IGA is on the right, as well as the original Keene Cinemas. Mr Donut, Texaco and the bank are at the mouth of the plaza. The standalone building at the bottom left was a drug store, and I believe that is where Supercuts/AT&T now is. The only difference is today the building is attached on both sides to form a strip mall.

[Retail_Boy]

Wow this is great.  I lived in Keene for 12 years.  We used to go shopping at Bradlees and I worked at Kmart.  Things sure have changed.  Thanks for posting this.

[C. Fontaine]

Wow, I never really connected this thread with the plaza I have been going to for almost two years now.  Since I moved to Northwestern MA I shop and dine at these stores often!  Amazing to see how it's changed!  No rotary!  There is also a closed free-standing Uno's that had a brief stint in the Walmart/Shaws plaza next to Burger King.

[TRJ22487]

Wow this is great.  I lived in Keene for 12 years.  We used to go shopping at Bradlees and I worked at Kmart.  Things sure have changed.  Thanks for posting this.

Hey no problem. That Kmart was the first place I was ever hired (Big K by then), and I know quite a few other people that once worked there.

However, none of them can answer this question for me.
WHAT SUPERMARKET WAS HERE BEFORE KMART?
This Kmart was built around 1994 (it forced the Rich's across the street out of business)
However the plaza is much older than that. Before Kmart there was a supermarket that was leveled in the early 90's
At the time the other Supermarkets in Keene were Sun Foods, IGA, and Edwards. Anyone know what the forth supermarket was, which was demolished for the Kmart plaza???
I have searched for years for info and come up with nothing

Wow, I never really connected this thread with the plaza I have been going to for almost two years now.  Since I moved to Northwestern MA I shop and dine at these stores often!  Amazing to see how it's changed!  No rotary!  There is also a closed free-standing Uno's that had a brief stint in the Walmart/Shaws plaza next to Burger King.

Yes, the former Uno's (built shortly after Walmart came in) is in the spot where the original Keene Cinemas was along with a very small Citgo station (all long before Burger King in Keene existed)

The rotary has only been there since 2005.
The construction that year was BRUTAL to get anywhere, but has helped Keene quite a bit.
Keene on a Friday afternoon meant literal gridlock before they finally fixed that section along with Main St. Main Street in Keene was a NIGHTMARE back when it was littered in traffic lights

[TRJ22487]

Same gas station in the 1980's and late 2000's.
You can see how the garage was changed to a mini-mart in 2004.
The very unfortunate thing with my 1980's photo
All of the gas station signs line up perfectly with the helicopter so that NONE of the signs or prices are viewable.

[TRJ22487]

I found 11 pictures from 1975 that blew my mind
Basically none of this is the same, though the Dunkin Donuts is still on West St!
These photos are such good quality they look like digital camera shots
But they are 35 years ago in a by-gone era.....

Amoco is now Cumberland Farms since at least the early 90's. The Gulf station was demolished long ago.
I'm not sure when the last time I saw an Amoco in New Hampshire even was...
Beyond that is City Tire (you can see the Goodyear sign) which still is in business today


Original Location of Toy City on Main St.


Main St. Funky sidewalks!! You can see Toy City and the Colonial Theater across the street


Lonnnnng gone restaurant and drug store...this is now Margarita's and Corner News


Store fronts above the apartments of Main St


Now D'Angelo's, Colony Mill in the background, over a decade BEFORE it became Colony Mill Marketplace. Vintage Dunkin Donuts, this DD is still there in 2010, remodeled a few times since


West St....wow...what a photo. This Texaco was there for decades, though certainly not with that logo
Around 2006 it became a Planet Gas, and is now a Mobil.
The original location of T-Bird is in this photo, a small self serve, as well as the old Shell, Robo-Wash, and Colony Mill


I believe that's the Ashuelot River, Colony Mill in the background


Original location of Sears on the roundabout on Main St


Other side of the Main St roundabout. This is the area Lucca's Cafe is now


This place as been too many things to possibly list! At the moment of all things, it is a retro clothing store

[TRJ22487]

More from 1975

Grossman's & Some restaurant& VW Dealership
Grossman's demolished in late 90's, Restaurant demolished in 80's (flat lot in my 80's aerial)
Radio Shack built where the restaurant was in early 90's
Mount Monadnock is in the background of both photos



Here is the aerial shot in the 80's of both Grossman's and the VW Dealership. (reverse angle)
The building of the dealership is still the same today.

[Zayre88]

Amazing stuff TRJ22487

[gu4ever]

West St....wow...what a photo. This Texaco was there for decades, though certainly not with that logo
Around 2006 it became a Planet Gas, and is now a Lukoil.
The original location of T-Bird is in this photo, a small self serve, as well as the old Shell, Robo-Wash, and Colony Mill

Nice picture of west st. As I was checking out the Texaco sign I just happened to notice the grocery store sign in the background...
It's a classic Grand Union sign!!

[TRJ22487]

Is that what that logo is?? No kidding! I had no idea Keene ever had a Grand Union!!

And now as soon as you say that, I suddenly realize there is more to this picture than I originally realized
Grand Union IS in this picture!
It's the building on the very left, half the logo got left in the picture.
On the far right, you can barely make out the other road sign at the corner of the intersection
This is the Blockbuster Video plaza!! No wonder the parking lot is so huge, it used to be a supermarket!
In my time here it's been a very dead plaza, and I always thought the parking lot was unusually big
I had absolutely no idea, but now I totally understand. Back then you must have entered the plaza
from Ashuelot Street (since the road sign is past Texaco), which you can still do, but it's not the most convenient way
I took these pictures earlier in 2010 before Blockbuster shut down


So this building is in fact a subdivided Grand Union!
Check out the marks/labelscars on the side of the building

In the picture from the 70's, you can see a sign that has left a labelscar to this day!
I never remember this building having a shingled facade
I would have to judge this location closed in the early 1980's
It was definitely subdivided by the time I moved to Keene in 1995.
This is something about Keene I absolutely never realized, in talking with long time residents nobody
ever brought up a Grand Union. Thank you for pointing out that logo.

[TRJ_22487]

Defunct places even are on Google Maps now

This FYE closed in 2009, sat vacant for a year, and recently opened as a Five Guys Burgers and Fries
It was originally a Strawberries up until 2006 when the strip was built in the early 90's
In the background you can see K.B. Toy Works while it was still vacant. Google must have captured in early 2009.
This plaza now stands is where the small white building, \/ right there, was. Never been able to figure out if that was a little bank, or what..




Also this (Picture from 2007 - Toy Works replaced by Dollar Tree)

Was this in the 1980's. MAN I miss those old facades this plaza once had!

Kings Department store was Staples to Rent-a-Center and Edward's grocery store was Petco/Toy Works before subdivision. Petco was a CVS in the 1990's before the West Street standalone building was built in 2000/2001. Toy Works became smaller, giving space to Petco when they took on the K.B name around 2000.

[TRJ_22487]

This vintage Pepsi trailer appeared about a week ago and I instantly fell in love with it.
I did a bit of research and this is the 1977 style of Pepsi trailer, but in such good condition it is likely from the 80's.
It seems Tire Warehouse is using the trailer, but it looks absolutely perfect next to the shut down Sunoco station
This Sunoco was one of three vintage Sunoco's in Keene, but was the only one to never be updated in the early 2000's
It finally closed around 2006-2007 but still sits vacant with the pumps still standing
I went down and shot these photos this morning. If not for my clothing and of course the cars, you'd think this was a 30 year old photo

(modify: as of 2012, this Sunoco no longer has any logos on the building and both signs are removed. The Tire Wirehouse sign is totally different now too. The Pepsi trailer is long gone)

[videogamer75]

Wow, before I read what you wrote I thought those pictures were taken in the 80s.

[Zayre88]

Nice pictures.  This is the older Sunoco logo.  It's still used by Sunoco stations in Canada.

And there is an old Gulf station down that same road

[dorry]

What a wonderful photo.Thanks for uploading it.

[TRJ_22487]

Here is the former Kmart (as Big-Kmart), built in 1995 after demolition of supermarket. Its grand opening brought a near immediate closing of Rich's Department store directly across the street. Big-K closed/converted to Sears in 2005. In the 1990's there was a McDonald's Express in the strip next to the Garden Shop that was closed by 1997 or so. There was never a Little Caesars inside, but there was a free standing Little Caesars/Grease Lightning at the entrance of the plaza next to Walgreen's that is now a Pizza Pi/Valvoline (as seen in this aerial shot)
This Sears was one of two NH locations closed in early 2012, and will now be vacant.
(Edit: This location is to become a Kohl's, possibly in 2013)

[TRJ_22487]

Great photo I found of Main Street in the Mid 80's.

[danfifepsu]

Here is the former Kmart (as Big-Kmart), built in 1995 after demolition of supermarket. Its grand opening brought a near immediate closing of Rich's Department store directly across the street. Big-K closed/converted to Sears in 2005. In the 1990's there was a McDonald's Express in the strip next to the Garden Shop that was closed by 1997 or so. There was never a Little Caesars inside, but there was a free standing Little Caesars/Grease Lightning at the entrance of the plaza next to Walgreen's that is now a Pizza Pi/Valvoline (as seen in this aerial shot)
This Sears was one of two NH locations closed in early 2012, and will now be vacant.
(Edit: This location is to become a Kohl's, possibly in 2013)

the whole Rich's chain closed 1 yr after Kmart came. Why did it take till 1995 for Kmart to get to Keene? te one in Lebanon is 20 yrs older. and the one in Keene was the last one in NH.

[TRJ_22487]

I'm not sure what took so long for K-Mart to come into Keene. I guess it was just getting a location to open up. Bradlees was the main store in town for many, many years and everyone was fine with it. The former Kings Department Store probably wouldn't have been big enough, the parking lot would have been too small for a K-mart, and became TJMaxx & Staples instead. The Rich's in Keene was still open when K-mart came to Keene, but not for long at all. Even though the Keene K-Mart opened in 1995 it truly looked identical to the West Lebanon location on the inside other than the Keene entrance was in the corner and Keene never had a K-Mart Cafe to my memory. The floor was in better shape but that's about it.

[TRJ_22487]

I reuploaded this photo just to get rid of the watermarks that Photobucket has added to everything. If you open the photo to full size, you can move around the image pretty nicely.

[BillyGr]

This was the indoor mini-golf course in Keene
The black and yellow road sign belonged to it
This is now Keene Cinemas, and it almost looks like it is being
converted to that in this photograph.
The Sherwin~Williams at the top is still there, but the building is different
A building was made in the 80's or 90's between SW and the golf course
It was originally Sears, and is now Toy City (relocated from Center of Keene)
The building at the bottom doesn't look a day different in 2009
It is the Department of Employment Security Building

Looking at that "top" building, it looks to me (though not very clear) to be a Montgomery Wards sign on the left, with Automotive Center written towards the right?

I know we had one of those here in NY at one time (that building was demolished many years ago) - it was basically a catalog store (small display area and you could order items to be delivered for you to pick up) and then had the auto service garage attached, rather than a more common Wards store - probably in areas that they didn't feel large enough for a full fledged store.

[TRJ_22487]

No that is still the Sherwin-Williams to this day, one of the only things in this picture that has not changed
The main difference is that the building is no longer freestanding, by the early 90s it was attached to the movie theater and store being built in this aerial



This is the corner part that isn't constructed in the aerial yet, the Sherwin-Williams is to the left, and Keene Cinemas to the right
This Toy City store was a Sears Hardware in the 1990s

[Jennifer_dances]

They should bring Puppa Gino's back to Keene tbh