why “bonnet” street?
On the oft-cited 1869 F.W. Beer’s
map this is called North Street; it
was changed to Bonnet Street in
the 1920s. When this area was first
settled, this was farmland owned
by Gilman Wilson, and it was a
part of town called Factory Point
(later renamed Manchester Center).
Bonnet Street was a node of industry
with small-scale, home-based
businesses.
No guessing is
required here—
it is called
Bonnet Street
because, as the
author Mary
Hard Bort,
in her book
Ad in The Manchester
Manchester—
Journal, October 28, 1875
Memories of
a Mountain Valley tells us, there
were three milliners on the street
at the end of the 19th century, plus
one hat maker, Carson Meacham.
The milliners were Minnie Cook,
Clara Hannaman, and Fanny Collins
Blackmer. In addition to bonnets,
the milliners made and embellished
all manner of fine accessories
with fancy feathers, artificial
flowers, ribbons, and beadwork for
fashionable women.
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The presence of the milliners, a
hatter, an early furniture store, many
small enterprises and professional
offices, and even apartments,
suggests that by 1900 things were
transitioning in Manchester from
labor-intensive manufacturing to a
more genteel kind of commerce, not
unlike what you see here today. In
1985, Bonnet Street was listed on the
Vermont Register of Historic Places.
–A.R
.
manchester life magazine 2019 105