The Greek Hotel

By Gordon Harris on July 3, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

The home of J. J. Goodhue at the corner of Market Street and Saltonstall Streets is shown in the 1872 Ipswich village map, and in the 1884 village map, but the 1910 village map identifies it as the Greek Hotel, which operated a coffee shop on its main floor.

Closeup from the 1910 Ipswich village map

In 1868, as the Ipswich Mills was established by Amos Lawrence, the company removed the former home of Michael Newman on the southeast corner of Market and Saltonstall Streets and built a “fine mansion” for the use of its superintendent, Mr. Goodhue. The building was sold to James J. Goodrich only two years later. After quickly changing hands twice, it came into the possession of Yorick G. Hurd, MD. Hurd was elected State Senator in 1866, and in the same year was the master of the House of Correction (the Ipswich Jail).

By 1905 the house was owned by the widow of George R. Bancroft. In the 1910 Census forms, George H. Haskell is listed as Head of Household at 44 Market St, with his wife and two sons. Haskell owned a grocery on Market St., and is also listed as an owner of the Lord-Sullivan-Haskell house next door, still standing. Mr. Haskell died in 1921, and his wife Katherine in 1935. The 1910 Census forms show that many families of Greek immigrants who arrived in the Ipswich Mills lived in the upstairs floors of houses all along Market St. It is clearly visible in a 1913 photo of the Ipswich Mills Strike and appears to already be in use as a boarding house. By 1940, the house was gone and the lot became the site of the first of three diners at that location.

Greek Hotel Ipswich — The building at 44 Market St can be seen in the distance in this old photo of the Ipswich Depot, taken before 1900.

Saltonstall St. in the 1884 Ipswich Birds Eye map — Closeup from the 1884 Ipswich Birdseye map. The diner was located at the corner of Market and Saltonstall Street where the Victorian-appearing “Greek Hotel” was located. Saltonstall was known as Winter St. at that time. On the other side of the intersection, the Christian Wainwright house is circled, and the Whipple House (marked 19) is behind it. Across Market St. is the Ipswich Depot, and in the background you see the Ipswich Mills.

Ipswich Mill Strike 1913 — The “Greek Hotel” is on the left in this 1913 photo of Market and Saltonstall Streets during the Ipswich Mills Strike.

The first of three diners on the lot was opened by the Galanis Family at Depot Square in Ipswich in 1940, and was replaced by a larger diner in 1947, and again in 1954. The diner was moved from Depot Square in 1967 to Peabody and then to its current location on Rt. 1 in Rowley, The Agawam Diner is still operated as a family business, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Shown below are photos of the three successive diners that replaced the Bancroft house. The 1847 Lord-Sullivan house and the Victorian Bailey house on the left in the photo are still standing. Read the complete story of the Agawam Diner.