Billerica Center Shops
Billerica Center Shops
| Buildings | 3, built 1915 to 1947
420 428 Boston Rd |
| Tenants | |
|
E. E. Gray Co. (1927 - 1929)
Woodside's Drug Store (1927 - 1947) Billerica Hardware Store (1929 - 1929) McCormack's Drug Store (1947 - 1974) Billerica Market (1954 - 1970) Fago Stores (1954 - 1957) Dave's Spaghetti House (1963 - 1970) Center Cafe (1965 - 1993) Mack's Bakery (1965 - 1965) Dave's Sub Shop (1971 - 1976) Gloria Food Store (1973 - 1983) Cobbler Shop (1983 - 1989) Checkmate Pizza (1989 - 1989) One Stop Market (1989 - 1995) Athletic Sports (1993 - 2011) Mangia Mangia Gourmet Pizza (1993 - 1995) Coffee Emporium (2000 - 2009) Natural Nail Salon (2003 - 2014) Shoe and Leather Repair (2003 - 2013) Tri-Town Driver Education (2003 - 2020) Peter's Hair Salon Tan & Spa (2007 - 2013) Burns & Egan Realty Group (2008 - 2019) Liberty Bell Roast Beef & Seafood (2010 - ????) Sweet Liberty (2012 - 2014) Beleza Studio (2016 - 2020) Queens Nails (2020 - ????) The Shop Barbers (2024 - ????) |
|
The southern section of the building was built around 1915. In 1924, the E.E. Gray Company purchased the lot at the corner from Emily Viola Allen and moved the house to build the northern section. E.E. Gray Co. was a grocery chain from Boston in the early part of the 20th century and opened a location in the righthand bay of the building. Edward A. Woodside opened a pharmacy in the bay right on the corner. In January 1947, Frank Cohen formed the "Billerica Associates" company and purchased both buildings. He combined the two with a new bay. A few months later, Henry J. McCormack signed the lease for a pharmacy and drug store, taking over Woodside's. McCormack would later buy the building in 1961. At some point, he moved his Rexall Drug Store to the middle bay and Gloria Food Store took the corner bay.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 21, 1916 | Warranty Deed | Jennie S. Tyler of Billerica, widow of Dr. John Bennett Tyler | J. Edward Allen of Billerica | 1916: Allen buys the corner where the south block of shops stood by about 1915 | 565/189 |
Dated December 1916, a year after Dr. Tyler's death. For one dollar and other valuable considerations, "a certain tract or parcel of land situated in said Billerica containing an acre of land, more or less, located in the centre of said Billerica nearly opposite the Unitarian Church", bounded by the Andover and Tewksbury Road, "land formerly of Lyman Haynes, but now by land supposed to be of the Estate of Warren Evans, now deceased", J. F. Bruce and the Boston and Lowell Road, reciting the whole chain back to Mary Hanson Mitchell's deed to Albert C. Lane in 1888, subject to the $5,000 Lowell Institution for Savings mortgage, which Allen assumed. Allen gave Mrs. Tyler a mortgage back (Book 565, page 191), discharged in 1922.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 4, 1922 | Executrix's Deed | Emily V. Allen of Billerica, executrix of the will of Joseph Edward Allen, by license of the Probate Court | Mabel O. McQuade of Lowell | 1922: the south block of shops is sold off as its own lot | 670/487 |
Dated Oct. 21, 1922, under a license of the Middlesex Probate Court of Oct. 17, 1922 (the will of J. Edward Allen, Middlesex Probate No. 134289). For $2,500, the land "on the easterly side of Boston Road and southerly from Andover Street", beginning at Boston Road "at a drill hole at land now or once of Jasper F. Bruce", 44 feet on the road by 108 feet deep, 4,749 square feet, "shown on a plan entitled 'Plan of Land in Billerica surveyed for James J. Norton, surveyed August 30, 1922, Henry O. Brooks C.E.'". This split the south part of the old hotel lot, with the block of stores built about 1915, from the corner.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 4, 1922 | Quitclaim | Emily V. Allen of Billerica, unmarried | Mabel O. McQuade of Lowell | 1922: strip added to the south shop lot | 670/488 |
Dated Oct. 21, 1922. A strip 12 feet wide and 93 feet deep on the easterly side of Boston Road, next north of the executrix's lot, on the James J. Norton plan of Aug. 30, 1922 revised Oct. 10, 1922. "For my title see will of Joseph Edward Allen, Middlesex Probate Records #134289."
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 28, 1923 | Quitclaim | Mabel O. McQuade of Lowell (John F. McQuade releasing curtesy) | Idella L. Norton of Lowell | 1923: the south block of shops passes to Idella L. Norton | 699/367 |
Dated Nov. 28, 1923. The two parcels on "the easterly side of Boston Road and southerly from Andover Street", the 4,749 square foot lot from the drill hole at Jasper F. Bruce's land and the 12-foot strip north of it, both on the "Plan of Land in Billerica surveyed for James J. Norton" (Aug. 30, 1922, revised Oct. 10, 1922), "conveyed to me by Emily V. Allen, Executrix" in Book 670, pages 487 and 488, subject to a $6,500 mortgage to the City Institution for Savings. McQuade, a Norton daughter, had taken title for the family.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| October 8, 1924 | Quitclaim | E. Viola Allen (Emily V. Allen) of Billerica, widow | Gray Realty Company, Inc., of Boston | 1924: Gray Realty buys the corner and builds the north block of shops | 713/401 |
Dated Oct. 7, 1924. "The land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon", 170.92 feet on Andover Road, a 34.04-foot curve at the corner, and 74.25 feet on Boston Road to Mabel O. McQuade, then behind the McQuade lot "to an elm tree at land now or formerly of J. F. Bruce", east "along a stone wall" 135.42 feet and back by Mitchell land to Andover Road, 30,507 square feet, "shown on a plan by Whitman and Howard, Civil Engineers, dated September 1924" (Plan Book 45, Plan 40), part subject to a $4,500 mortgage to the Central Savings Bank of Lowell. Gray Realty, the property arm of the E. E. Gray grocery chain, moved the Lane house back to face Andover Road and built the north section of the shops on the corner.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| December 15, 1933 | Quitclaim | Idella L. Norton of Lowell (James J. Norton releasing curtesy) | James J. Norton, Idella L. Norton and Grace I. Norton, joint tenants | 1933: Norton family transfer of the south block | 835/320 |
Dated Dec. 14, 1933. Five parcels, three in Lowell and, as the Fourth and Fifth Parcels, the 4,749 square foot lot "on the easterly side of Boston Road and southerly from Andover Street" and the 12-foot strip on the 1922 Norton plan, "Being the same premises conveyed to me by deed of Mabel O. McQuade dated November 28, 1923 ... Book 699, Page 367". A family transfer into joint tenancy.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| March 25, 1938 | Quitclaim | James J. Norton and Grace I. Norton of Lowell | Grace I. Norton, Alice E. Erikson, Hazel N. Donahue and Mabel O. McQuade, joint tenants | 1938: the south block passes to the Norton daughters | 911/225 |
Dated March 25, 1938, for less than $100. The same five parcels, the Billerica Fourth and Fifth Parcels being the south store lot on Boston Road and the 12-foot strip on the 1922 Norton plan, "conveyed to James J. Norton et als, by deed of Idella L. Norton dated December 14, 1933". The Norton daughters took the property in joint tenancy.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| 1946 | Quitclaim | Grace N. King (formerly Grace I. Norton), Alice E. Erikson, Hazel N. Donahue and Mabel O. McQuade, with their husbands | Frank Cohen of Billerica | 1946: Frank Cohen buys the south block | 1040/341 |
Dated March 7, 1946. "A certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated on the easterly side of Boston Road and southerly from Andover Street", from the drill hole at Jasper F. Bruce's land 93 feet east, 56 feet north, 93 feet west and 56 feet along Boston Road, 5,208 square feet, on the 1922 Norton plan, "Being the same premises conveyed to us by James J. Norton and Grace I. Norton by deed dated March 25, 1938". This is the south store block, which Cohen joined to the corner block in 1946-47.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 18, 1946 | Discharge of Mortgage | Union National Bank of Lowell | Frank Cohen of Billerica | 1946: discharge of the mortgage on the south block | 1057/170 |
Dated and recorded Nov. 18, 1946, minutes before the Gray Realty deed. The bank acknowledges satisfaction of "a mortgage from Frank Cohen to it dated April 1, 1946", given on the south store lot he had bought of the Norton heirs, clearing the way for a single new mortgage on the whole corner.
Related:
|
|||||
| November 18, 1946 | Quitclaim | Gray Realty Company, Inc., of Boston, by Alton F. Tupper, treasurer | Frank Cohen of Billerica | 1946: Frank Cohen buys the corner block from Gray Realty | 1057/170 |
Dated Nov. 15, 1946, recorded Nov. 18, 1946 (Book 1057, pages 170-172). "The land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon, being the same premises shown on a plan by Whitman and Howard, Civil Engineers, dated September 1924 ... Plan Book 45, Plan 40", 30,507 square feet with the same metes as the 1924 deed, "Being the same premises conveyed to the grantor by deed of E. Viola Allen ... Book 713, Page 401". The $44 in revenue stamps implies a price of about $40,000. With the Norton heirs' south lot, this reunited the old hotel lot under one owner for the first time since 1922.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 18, 1946 | Mortgage | Frank Cohen of Billerica | Union National Bank of Lowell | 1946: mortgage financing the joined block | 1057/172 |
Dated Nov. 18, 1946. For $40,000 at four per cent, $626 a month for six years, first "the land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon, situated on the easterly side of Billerica Road and the southerly side of Andover Road", 35,715 square feet on the 1922 Norton and 1924 Whitman and Howard plans, conveyed by the King deed and the Gray Realty deed "to be recorded simultaneously herewith", and second four lots in Pinehurst Manor on Boston Road. The 1947 deed to Billerica Associates was made subject to it.
Title from:
|
|||||
| January 10, 1947 | Quitclaim | Frank Cohen of Billerica | Billerica Associates, Inc., of Billerica | 1947: the south block passes to Billerica Associates | 1060/395 |
Signed in December 1946, recorded Jan. 10, 1947. "The land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon, situated on the easterly side of Boston Road and the southerly side of Andover Road", 130.25 feet on Boston Road, a 34.04-foot curve at the corner and 170.92 feet on Andover Road, east by Moses C. Mitchell 195.40 feet and south by Jasper F. Bruce 228.42 feet, 35,715 square feet, shown on the 1922 Norton plan (Plan Book 41, Plan 78) and the 1924 Whitman and Howard plan (Plan Book 45, Plan 40), "conveyed to me by two deeds, one from Grace N. King and others dated March 7, 1946 ... Book 1040 page 341, and the other from Gray Realty Company, Inc., dated November 15, 1946". Cohen's company joined the two stores into one block; it also took lots in Pinehurst Manor.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 10, 1961 | Deed | Billerica Associates, Inc., by Mary Cohen, treasurer | Henry J. McCormack of Winchester | 1961: McCormack buys the block; later owners to the present summarized here | 1536/256 |
The stockholders' vote of Nov. 9, 1961 (recorded Nov. 10) and the deed after it. For $80,000, by assuming the Central Savings Bank mortgage of Oct. 3, 1958 ($55,104.35 still due) and the balance in cash, "the land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon, situated on the easterly side of Boston Road and the southerly side of Andover Road", 35,715 square feet on Plan Book 41, Plan 78 and Plan Book 45, Plan 40. McCormack, the druggist who had leased the corner store since 1947, divided it in December 1961 into Lots A and B ("Subdivision plan of land in Billerica, owned by Henry J. McCormack", Emmons and Fleming, Plan Book 97, Plan 42), put it in a family trust in 1962, and in March 1975 sold Lots A and B (20,758 and 10,584 square feet) for $135,000 to a private owner. After a family transfer in 1987 the property was sold in 1998 for $310,000 to MAD Realty Trust, which holds it today.
Title from:
|
|||||
Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.