Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. In today’s world it’s a holiday filled with romance and love as shown through flowers, candy and a special dinner.
However, the origin of this day does not have romance associated with it. According to history it began as Saint Valentine’s Day and was added to the Catholic liturgical calendar in 500 AD. It was in commemoration of three martyred saints who were all named either Valentine or Valentinus. If you stretch your imagination a little you may find that one of the Valentines did have a slight connection to love. He was a priest who performed weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. It was felt that married men did not make good soldiers. Saint Valentine did not believe in that theory. He wore a ring with Cupid on it so soldiers would recognize him. There were no Valentine Day greeting cards back then but Saint Valentine handed out paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for God.
Fast forward to modern times and most of us had our first connection to Valentine’s Day at school. In the early grades at Christ the King School every student brought Valentine cards for their classmates. I remember the cards came in large packets and we put each student’s name on a card and signed it. They went into a big box in the classroom. There were sweet treats in the afternoon so we probably came home pretty “hyped up!”
For me Valentine’s Day always involved cake as my father’s birthday was on that day. Between home and school there was a lot of celebrating!
Back in yesteryear if adults wanted to give their sweetheart some special candy they probably paid a visit to Cinderella’s Sweets. It was located on the corner of Center Street and Wales Street. Candy was made fresh in the store. If you were walking by you could look in the window from the Wales Street side and watch the process. I remember that all the workers wore white from head to toe.
While researching the history of the store I found a Rutland Historical Society Quarterly publication written by Dave Zsido. He spent some time working there as an assistant candy maker in the early ‘60s. Thanks to Dave I learned many details about the store.
The owner of Cinderella Sweets was Nicholas Stergos. He opened the store in 1931. If you were a person who liked tradition you could get your sweetheart some delicious Valentine candy there for 40 years until it closed in 1971.
Some of the candy options offered were: soft cream candy, thin mints in a variety of flavors, French truffles and fudge. Nicholas’ companion, Helen King, was a fixture in the store. She was in charge of the hand dipped chocolates.
Another place to get candy was Fanny Farmer, which was located at the opposite end of Center Street on the corner of Merchants Row. The company began in Rochester, New York, in 1919. It started appearing in the Rutland City Directory in 1942. By the late ‘60s the store had moved across the street to the Rutland Shopping Plaza. It was still at this location when the final directory was printed in 1986. However, I don’t know the year when the store closed.
If someone wanted to express their love through flowers where could they shop for them? Unlike the candy stores the flower shops were not located downtown. In fact they were scattered throughout various parts of the city. Hunt’s Flowers was located at 127-131 Church St. The proprietor was Lawrence E. Hunt. Dick’s Flowers at 72 Park St. was another option for obtaining Valentine flowers. It was owned by Dick Chevalier. This address is presently the home of Garland’s Park Place Florist. Another option back in the ‘50s was Courcelle Flowers located at 12 Evergeen Ave. with Enos Courcelle as proprietor.
Moving into the ‘70s new options became available for flowers. Evelyn’s Florist on North Main Street and Flower Fashions on Cottage Street were popular places. Since Cottage Street is just off the major downtown section it was a handy spot for workers to select Valentine flowers on their way home.
I may have missed some of the florists but just those mentioned shows that stores offering flowers outnumbered the candy stores back in the day. Of course, if you came home with both flowers and candy your loved one was most likely a very happy recipient!
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner choose your favorite spot to shop for flowers and candy. Some day you will look back and remember the stores that had a role in making someone very happy!
Wishing you a Happy Valentines Day on February 14th!
