Old Cornell's Film Footage
This video contains film shot in the mid-1930's and mid-1940's showing the old Cornell's Hardware building. The first portion of the video has footage from the 1930's showing Lake Avenue, the old store delivery van, and shoveling out after a snowstorm. The middle portion of the video is film of the store fire on March 10 1946. The final portion of the video shows the building after the fire in March 1946. There is film of the burned-out shell of the building followed by the beginning of the reconstruction project.
Irene Theodore Heinstein recalls the Cornell's fire:
I was a 7-1/2 year old child the day of the fire in March 1946. Since 1930 my father, Thomas Theodore, had been the proprietor of "Theodore's Luncheonette" at 111 Lake Ave, in the building adjoining Cornell's, at the corner of Lake Ave and Main St. The Post Office was also in that building. I spent quite a bit of time in the luncheonette and was there when the fire broke out. I managed to find a place outside where I could watch. My father kept the fire fighters supplied with coffee and food which made me very proud. My father and the Fix family were friends as well as business neighbors and he was deeply emotional about their loss. I too liked the Fix family very much. The fire was, naturally, shocking to me. That whole neighborhood was a wonderful, friendly place and the loss of Cornell's was a big blow in every way. Their reopening put everything in place again.
