Concord is a city on the rise, with a new downtown and lots of plans in the works. But what about it’s past? Monitor columnist Ray Duckler wanted to tap into Concord’s collective memory to find the places, people and institutions that will live on forever. So he contacted a Facegroup group called “I’m from Concord NH & remember when…” More than 800 comments later, he got his answer, and then some. Do you want to share memories of your favorite place with our readers? If so, send us a letter, and make sure to keep it to no more than 50 words.
Edwin and Jeanette Bisson began baking donuts in a back room of their apartment at 13 Bacon Street in the early 1950s.
They sold them from their front door and built a small customer base. Then they moved their business out of their home in 1954, shortened Jeanette’s name for the slender T-shaped sign high above West Street, and a tasty legend was born.
Janet’s Donuts were so delicious that when I delved into Concord’s past two weeks ago seeking your favorite old institutions and childhood memories, the bakery that closed 30 years ago rose above all others like dough in a warm oven.
Not the city’s ball fields or playgrounds, not its bike trails or schools, not its movie theaters or candy shops.
Janet’s Donuts.
Remember?
“They were handmade,” said Alfred Bisson, 81, who took over his father’s business in the 1970s before selling it to his brother in the 1980s. “No prepared mix whatsoever. Dad’s homemade formula. He experimented and experimented. He was a baker all his life. He was a cook in the Army and Navy.”
And an important piece of Concord’s history. Edwin’s grandson, Tom Bisson of Concord, worked at the business after his father had taken ownership. Janet’s opened at 2 a.m., six days a week. While attending Concord High, Tom woke up early.
“Dad would say if we needed money, come in and earn it,” said Tom, 53, a detailer at Key Collision in Concord. “We would go at 1 in the morning as kids and help him make donuts.”
Later, when Tom worked at a car dealership and then a grocery store, he’d stop by Janet’s first and pick up a few dozen donuts for his colleagues.
“They’d be gone in a heartbeat,” Tom told me.
The strange hours meant lights beaming from the shop’s two windows and front door, the smell of donuts floating down the street.
It meant cops stopping by during their graveyard shift, a line forming before 2 a.m. so donuts could be bought fresh from the oven, and customers coming from as far away as Arizona.
“It was a hectic job but it was a good one,” Alfred Bisson told me. “People seemed to enjoy it.”
The shop closed for good around 1989, Alfred Bisson estimated, a few years after he’d sold the business to his brother.
“When you work 14-hour days six nights a week for 32 years, it kind of wears on you,” Alfred said.
His donuts, however, live on in the hearts of the city. When told his family’s business got more attention than anyone or anything, Tom Bisson told me, “That’s cool, really good. I like that.”
Said his father, “Something must have been done right.”
These donuts were considered so delicious that Troy Osgood said this when word surfaced on Facebook that I wanted to document nostalgic feelings around here: “Damn you for making me remember Janet’s Donuts. The best donuts I have ever had. Nothing comes close.”
Added Jim Peale via Facebook, “Just about anyone over 60 who grew up in Concord will swoon at the mere mention of Janet’s.”
The final voting, in fact, wasn’t even close when readers affiliated with a Facebook group called “I’m from Concord NH & remember when…” answered my post from Aug.14.
More than 800 comments related to the good old days poured in. You recalled parks and games and stores and shops. You remembered ice cream and candy and roast beef and pizza.
But Janet’s more than doubled any other shop, activity or landmark, with the Highway Hotel and its tradition of hosting proms finishing second. My totals were incomplete simply because I couldn’t read all the responses in time to make deadline.
Opinions were still being emailed on Friday morning, 11 days after my initial post on Facebook, and support for Janet’s just kept coming.
“Janet’s Donuts were awesome,” Pamela Hargraves wrote. “Still haven’t found anything that measures up to them.”
“Yes, I remember the smell of Janet’s Donuts coming through my bedroom window early in the morning,” added Mary Seymour.
The following is a list of other comments I received. Concord, apparently, loves to rewind.
Carlyn Howard Grossaint: “Rollins Park had an area where there were cattails and enough water to support toads. I use to take my bike that had a basket on the front that held my mom’s mason jars as I would go and collect pollywogs.” Also, “How about Dew Drop Inn? Good ice cream.”
Bob Marchand: “Don-Lyns roast beef. It was just south of the Concord Theater on South Main.”
Dolores Flanders: “You of course must include the Heights. We were an isolated group up there on ‘Burglar’s Island.’ There was a skating rink on Canterbury Road, flooded by the city, first kid there turned on the light, last one to leave turned it off. We had the biggest July 4th celebrations, parade with prizes for best float/costume, pool games, games in the field, food and a band concert! Trick or treat from Airport Road to East Side Drive with pillowcases. So much fun.”
Paul Cross: “A more subtle location was Mrs. Sawyer’s (4th grade, Conant School) house on Long Pond where she taught dancing – fox trot, waltz, classic dances. Classes were in the basement. She was a blessing in young children’s lives.”
Mary Knee: “The nuns (at Sacred Heart) were a little brutal in grades 1 through 8. We had the nice nuns and the Attila nuns. My brothers called them Ninja nuns. The boys got clappers across their wrist. At times they’d get their heads bounced against the blackboard for being naughty. The girls mostly got a ruler across the back of their legs.”
Diane LeBrun Thompson: “How about Mrs. Demers? She taught dance in her home in the South End, off of South St. My mom made our costumes. I still remember her house and her basement studio.”
Moe Blake: “Joe’s Barbershop (South Street), where I went to get haircuts. He used to have a sign with a hippy with long hair and it stated, ‘Keep America Beautiful. Get a haircut.’ ”
Jackie Call Allin: “George’s barbershop on Washington Street. My dad and brother Doug went there.”
Brenda Woodfin Thomas: “I remember Dan, Dan, the Ice Cream Man, who used to come to White’s Park in his ice cream truck for the men’s baseball games.”
Cheryl Serard Herrington: “How many went to Music Camp at the West Street Ward House? I have such great memories.”
Karen McCrea Moody “My father, William McCrea, was the head chef at the Highway Hotel for 22-plus years.”
Deborah Prescott: “What about the drive-in theater?”
Jeff Smith: “We would all gather at (White) Park and have enough kids for seven on a side at any time. We had pick-up teams and if there weren’t enough kids playing and you hit the ball to the opposite field you were out.”
Linda Brodeur Parsons: “Home delivery of baked goods from Cushman’s Bakery.”
Josh Webb: “Pitchfork Records in all its various locations. From LPs to cassettes to CDs and back to LPs again.”
Amy Boyd Guillou: “The air-raid siren that went off every Saturday at noontime on the Heights.”
Gary Duffett: “School Street Lanes was a great candlepin bowling spot, 10 lanes underneath Evans Printing. The owner was Rocco Ceriello, a world championship candlepin bowler. I had a part-time job there while going to (Concord High School).”
Rob Pierce: “Highway Hotel, everyone had their senior prom (levy) there.”
Deidre Morin: “McKenzie’s Ice Cream Parlor on the corner of School Street and Main Street.”
Raymond Lassonde: “The Peanut Festival. It marked the end of summer and thoughts of returning back to school, and walking Spring Street back to Kimball School. We never needed an adult to accompany us. Parents just let us go. Nothing to fear. I remember, someone had a peach tree on Washington Street, which on occasion, I would help myself to. This was back in the 60s.”
Deborah Simpson: “Woolworth’s, the creaky wooden floors and the soda fountain.”
Joan Batchelder Young: “Dancing at YMCA Wednesday afternoon and Friday night.”
Wendy Ann Foster: “The tunnels under the city. They were still open when I was a kid. They were fun and a bit scary.”
Barb Higgins: “Whites Park giant games of chase and kick the can.”
Tania Belanger: “There was always Yowza. The man who walked all around Concord saying, ‘Yowza!’ to anyone and everyone.”
Larry Braley: “Concord Drive-In Theater. Another Concord landmark in the past. Many Many trunks of cars filled with us kids. Coolers of beer. Steamy car windows. Lots of noise coming from just inside of the trees. Oh yes, and also great movies.”
Steve Rule: “Star Theater and the hot dog place next door.”
Claire Piroso Bragg: “I remember evening concerts and even an elephant – maybe a little circus? – at the park in Fosterville. I learned to swim at the pool there.”
Brain Barker: “Don’t forget Everett Arena, Saturday night with the Eastern Olympics.”
Ray Dennis: “Saturday night hockey when Berlin or Canada came down the cops were in the building (Everett Arena) because of fights.”
Cheryl Stevenson Heins: “How many went parking, and where was your favorite spot? Anyone willing to admit?”
Tim Andrews: “Worked at Cumberland Farms on the North End and Mr. Grocers on Washington Street.”
Jonathan N. Moore: “Garbo’s grinders. Roland de Lapoine, (Concord High) French teacher.”
PJ Sisk: “Musn’t forget Dr. Greens, North Main Street.”
Mary McGahan: “The Concord Commercial College that was on the third floor above the Puritan Restaurant. My dad Thomas A. McGahan owned the school. There are many of us who graduated from the school who have stayed, worked and raised families in our wonderful Concord.”