LOOKING NORTH in Wakefield Square as the clouds of war descended upon the world in 1941. Anchor stores at the time were F.W. Woolworth and the Colonial Spa on the west side of Main Street and the First National supermarket on the east side. A portion of the sign for Smith’s Drug Store can be seen above the truck that is angle-parked on the right. Other signs of the time are a hanging sign for the “Wake Spa,” on the right, advertising Bay State Ice Cream. The sign for the old Princess Theatre hangs on the corner of Princess Street. Note that the town had not quite completed the transition to angle parking, with a mix of parallel parking and angle parking seen in the photo. The steeple of the old First Baptist Church is ever-present in the distance.
