New Haven Museum: the Department store and New England

NEW HAVEN - At one time the words "Meet me at the clock”  were "understood by New Haveners as meeting at the corner of Chapel and Temple streets, the main entrance to Malley’s department store and the location of the store’s clock," according to a release by the New Haven Museum.

"Department stores were more than just landmarks, they shaped a way of life in the city," the statement said. "Shartenberg’s, Malley’s and Gamble Desmond once dominated the streetscape along Chapel Street—until redevelopment came to the city, as it did throughout New England, in the middle of the 20^th century."

So, as part of the Museum’s 150^th Anniversary lecture series, at 5:30 p.m. April 4,  Richard Longstreth, professor of American Studies and director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at George Washington University, presents “The Department Store Transformed: New England 1950-1970,” the statement said. 

"In his lecture, Longstreth will explore ways in which department stores sought to

reinvent themselves after WWII in order to remain competitive amid the rise of national chain stores and a customer base ever more removed from the traditional city center. In particular, he will focus on Hartford’s G. Fox and New Haven’s Church Street redevelopment area," the statement said.

In photos: Top, Aerial view of Church Street Project, May 1964. Collection of New Haven Museum and Models & rendering of Front Block Complex, 1964. Collection of New Haven Museum.

Editor's note: All information and the photo in this post were contributed.