The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/author/lester-smith/page/11/)
Residents may recall that a few years ago a FOR SALE sign was set on the front lawn of Webster Bank, next door to the Kent Memorial Library. Webster had been renting out space that the bank didn’t need, as branch banks don’t need the space for other functions that the former Suffield Savings Bank had enjoyed.
When this reporter stopped by Goodyear Farms to see what was going on at that cluster of greenhouses at 676 Mountain Road, he met Allen Clark, who explained that this location is actually part of a local agricultural conglomerate called Clark Farms, Inc. In addition to the greenhouses in Suffield, the family enterprise owns and farms considerable acreage in four towns and two states and operates a popular eatery and farm stand in Granby.
For several years there has been talk of expanding the music rooms at Suffield Middle School, especially to provide better space for the band to practice. Interest in music as an extra-curricular activity has increased tremendously in recent years, particularly in band.
There were a few things yet to do, but they weren’t expected to interfere with Town departments moving back into the renovated Town Hall after the furniture is delivered. At the January 21 Permanent Building Commission (PBC) meeting, there was a general feeling of satisfaction, and the Certificate of Acceptance by the Building Inspector was expected soon after.
It was a long, complicated story. The elementary school built on Bridge Street in 1924 to serve children who lived near the Town Center had been closed in 2004 when it was no longer needed.
Remember the big project in 2012, when Eversource built a new, very high voltage power line next to the old line across West Suffield they had installed in the 1930s? The new project was completed in early 2013.
When Gov. Lamont announced that oldsters 75 and up would soon be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, this reporter, who qualifies with almost two decades to spare, began asking when.
The State Department of Transportation’s project updating the traffic signals in the town center resumed in late January when an “above ground” crew from NY Conn, the DOT’s contractor, came to continue the work their “in-ground” crew had done in late September through October.
But it isn’t a full branch office. This is a drive-up ATM installation for Chase Bank on the edge of the Suffield Village parking lot off Bridge Street.
It was a number of years ago that Robert Baker, who started Baker Nurseries in 1956, began to end production on various parcels of land in Suffield. The business had grown nationally, with divisions in several states across the country.