Rich History

Sprague has a very rich history as a major textile producing Town. Although the Town was an early New England settlement and at one time was even named Lord's Bridge, it's main fame came in the 1800's when it built a large textile producing mill located on the banks of the Shetucket River. The homes, all duplexes, were mill houses owned by the Baltic Mill Company. Everything and I mean everything was center around this livelyhood. It's population was mainly French Canadian and even today's Sprague still hold evidence of it's French Canadian roots as does many of the small surrounding towns. The village of Baltic was and still is the hub. "Back in the day," as the old timers would say, you did not have to leave the Town. They actually meant Baltic. It was self contained and had dance halls,a movie theater, markets, garages, a doctor, dry-goods stores, insurance offices and seventeen bars. Did I mention that the Town was and is about three-thousand in population and yes in its' heydey it had....seventeen bars! Of course it no longer has seventeen bars and it no longer looks like the booming Town of yesteryear. It has fallen into the category of a "vacant mill town." It is still quaint with its' mill houses and remnants of the former Baltic Mill which rises on the banks of the Shetucket like the Acrocpolis. Its' people are much more diverse than the original population but they are fierce in their loyalties to small town America. It is these people that over the course of my lifetime I learned to love and respect and yes miss. It is these people and their ancestors that make up the Town's rich history. These people were the heart beat and pulse of Fred's News. We laughed, cried, enjoyed each others stories and families to the point that all who patronized Fred's News became everyone's extended family.