FROM THE NEWSLETTER

Private Calman Colodny was just twenty-four in February 1919 when he traveled from his Army base in Florida to visit his uncle Leon Colodny in Newport, VT. By April, Calman was honorably discharged from the Army and moving to White River Junction. In May 1919, Calman and his brother Abraham, known as Harry, opened a clothing store in the Adams Block. They called the business the Surprise Store and stocked it with quality clothing from wholesalers in Boston and New York.

Calman and Harry had learned the clothing business from their uncle Leon who had several successful stores under the name American Clothing Company. Calman had spent time there as a clerk. Uncle Leon Colodny was an experienced clothing buyer and his former partner, Robert Kamber, owned a large wholesale clothing company in New York City.

Things happened fast for Calman and Harry Colodny. Born in a town called Kozhan-Gorodok in what is now Belarus, they migrated to the United States around 1910. Both served overseas in the U.S. Army during World War I and Harry had been wounded. After the war, they immediately went into business.

During the first year, the young partners made monthly buying trips to New York and Boston. In 1920, Harry went back to Kozhan-Gorodok and brought his parents to the United States. The elder Colodnys looked for a home in Vermont but settled in Springfield, MA. In October 1921, The Landmark reported that Calman and Harry were visiting their parents in Springfield for the Jewish high holidays. Perhaps this was when Calman met nineteen year-old Rose Cooley who had migrated to the United States from what is now Russia and then lived in Springfield. Calman and Rose were married in Springfield on March 31, 1922.

Following a wedding trip to New York City, Philadelphia, and Atlantic City, Calman and Rose Colodny returned to White River Junction and settled for a short time in the Junction House. Calman became sole proprietor of the Surprise Store when Harry sold his share of the business and moved to Burlington where he opened a store called Colodny Brothers on Church Street.

The Surprise Store, which offered fashionable clothing and shoes at reasonable prices, enjoyed great success. Calman and Rose became active in the community and learned to speak English without an accent. The family moved into a house on Hillcrest Terrace where they welcomed a daughter named Sylvia in 1924.

As a veteran, Calman became active in Hartford Post 26 of the American Legion and eventually served as commander. He also joined the Hartford Lodge of B.P.O.E., the United Brotherhood lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Cascadnac Chapter, Royal Arch Masons.

Rose Colodny was active in the American Legion Auxiliary and served for a time as the director of the organization’s chapter of the Fédération Interalliée Des Anciens Combattants. In English, this is Interallied Federation of War Veterans Organisations or F.I.D.A.C. Founded in France after World War I, F.I.D.A.C. promoted peace and international understanding among allied nations until it was disbanded during World War II. Rose Colodny spoke at many community meetings and special events about the work of this international federation to prevent another world war.

In April 1926, Calman Colodny purchased the Civil War era Grover Building on South Main Street in White River Junction with plans to tear it down and rebuild. In December 1926, Calman and Rose had a second daughter they named Charlotte. The new Colodny Building, with a distinctive art deco façade, opened on April 14, 1927. It was an ornate buff-colored brick building with bronze-framed display windows and the words COLODNY BUILDING across the front. The Surprise Department Store filled the first floor and basement while the second and third floors had professional spaces.

Men’s and women’s clothing each occupied half of the first floor while the basement was devoted to children’s clothing and toys. Calman Colodny ran the store while engaging with the community. When Hartford High School won the state basketball championship in 1929, Calman presented the players with neckties emblazoned with HHS.
In 1935, Rose Colodny was in charge of golf at the V.A. and Auxiliary Convention in White River Junction. In May, she gave birth to a son named Charles. When Howard Pease died in 1935, Calman informed The Landmark that Howard had quietly paid the Surprise Store for clothing for children from Hartford and Wilder.

In September 1936, Rose Colodny was severely injured in an automobile accident in Meriden, CT caused by a careless motorist. After convalescing at home, she returned to a standing ovation at the V.A. Auxiliary meeting in December, and friends threw a surprise party that month in her honor.

Oldest daughter Sylvia Colodny became an accomplished pianist and excelled at typing and shorthand. She graduated from Hartford High School in 1942 and took a job with the local U.S. Office of Price Administration where she monitored wartime pricing of essential foods and commodities.

An exceptional student, Charlotte Colodny was elected president of the American Legion Auxiliary Juniors in 1941 and graduated from high school in 1944. In the fall, she left for college in Massachusetts. Also in 1944, Rose was voted second vice president of the American Legion Auxiliary.

As World War II ended in 1945, the Surprise Department Store celebrated its twenty-sixth anniversary. But Calman Colodny suddenly died on June 3, 1945 and the future of his family and their popular store became uncertain. The Landmark reported that Calman died in a V.A. hospital in Northampton, MA after an illness of several months. Few people knew his death was alcohol related. Calman Colodny’s funeral and burial took place in Springfield, MA.

Rose Colodny had not been active in the family business, but she quickly grasped the challenge, rallied her employees, and carried on. In an interview with the Hartford Historical Society in 2005, Sylvia Colodny recalled that her mother did everything at the store including managing staff, keeping accounts, and maintaining inventory through buying trips to New York and Boston. She had a loyal and capable staff including Doris Mock, Ruth Keefe, Helen Fortier, Rachel Eastman, and Clifford Valley Sr. and Jr.

Rose also continued to serve in the American Legion Auxiliary and was elected as an alternate delegate to the Department Convention in Montpelier in August, 1945. That same month, adventurous Sylvia Colodny enrolled in flying lessons.

In 1948, Rose Colodny married Sam Bresky, an immigrant from Poland who she met while visiting family in Springfield, MA. Sam offered to help Rose run the business, but she insisted on retaining control. In 1949, Sylvia started working at the store as Rose continued to run the business from her small office at the top of the stairs.

When Sam died in 1955, Rose and Sylvia continued to live together on Hillcrest Terrace. Sylvia never married. Both women were petite, smart, outgoing, and independent with lively senses of humor.

After college, Charlotte Colodny moved to New York City and found work at an advertising agency. She visited White River Junction frequently and always considered it home. Charlotte married in 1966 and entered a New York hospital in 1967 to have her first child. After giving birth to a daughter named Cynthia, Charlotte suddenly died of an aneurism.

Sylvia Colodny was close to her sister, and she and her mother were devastated. They had long since welcomed Charlotte’s husband Paul into the family and now they did the same for Charlotte’s daughter Cindy and her younger half-sister Jill.

Family members told Cindy about her mother. “Charlotte was full of life, she was beautiful, and she was always the life of the party,” Cindy says. Cindy and her family visited White River Junction frequently and they usually went straight to the Surprise Store where Rose let Cindy and her sister pick out an item of clothing or piece of jewelry.

“Grandma Rose was the sweetest person,” Cindy says. “She was like love itself.” When someone in town needed clothing, Rose gave it to them on credit, knowing these bills might not be repaid. Rose loved animals and always had a dog.

When her mother died in 1982, Sylvia jumped into the breach just as Rose had in 1945. Sylvia told the Hartford Historical Society that her mother never showed her how to run the business, but she was determined and showed a natural aptitude.

“I was devastated by Rose’s death,” said Cindy. “You know how there are people you just want to spend time with? That’s how I felt about Grandma Rose. Most women lie about their age, but Grandma Rose used to joke around and add a few years so people would say how good she looked. She was amazing and strong.”

“Aunt Sylvia was the one who let us do mischievous things like put M&Ms in the blender,” Cindy recalled. “Sylvia was a character and smoked like a chimney. She had a business head just like Grandma Rose did. She was adventurous and liked to tease. She had lots of friends, including some from elementary school that she kept in touch with until the end.”

For Sylvia’s eightieth birthday, Cindy threw a surprise party at Crossroads Café, which was one of her aunt’s favorite restaurants. Sylvia greeted many of the patrons and staff before noticing a table filled with friends, gifts, and decorations.

Charles Colodny, youngest child of Calman and Rose, was gifted in mathematics as a student but little is known about him as an adult. The Barre Daily Times notes that he, “made the most improvement” during a sojourn at Camp Billings on Lake Fairlee in 1942. He participated in local wrestling and boxing events, and regularly visited relatives in Springfield, MA as late as 1946. At some point, however, Charles was diagnosed with mental illness and committed to Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury where he lived until his death in 1989.

Sylvia Colodny ran the Surprise Store for ten years before a changing business climate led her to sell the building to the Vermont Housing Authority in 1992. Department store chains entered the Upper Valley starting with J.C. Penney in 1969, and Walmart opened in West Lebanon in 1993.

With help from the town of Hartford and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Colodny Building was refurbished and apartments were offered on the second and third floors. In 2004, the Center for Cartoon Studies moved into the historic first floor and basement.

In 2003, Sylvia was hospitalized with a brain tumor, but she regained her health and continued an active life on Hillcrest Terrace until passing away in 2009 at age eighty-four. Cindy recalled that Sylvia’s hair remained naturally dark brown until the end.

Standing outside the Colodny Building today, one can imagine the height of Hartford elegance in the 1920s. The graceful wavelike pattern on the wall above the display windows contrasts with the sober bank building next door. The building preserves the memory of a capable and determined family.

The Colodnys were among the only Jews in Hartford, and the store was one of the few local businesses run by women in the mid-twentieth Century. Cindy says, “I don’t think they ever felt different for being Jewish.”

The Colodny family left an indelible mark on the town as it evolved from Victorian times to the modern era, and their inspiring story is a rich part of Hartford’s history.