Remembering the debut of Manchester’s iconic 1000 Elm St. tower

Very few people are still around who remember the excitement in downtown Manchester in the spring of 1972, when the Hampshire Plaza opened at 1000 Elm St. The debut of a modern highrise office building on the site of former storefronts was a very big deal, and this is the 50th anniversary of the event.

1000 Elm St., then known as Hampshire Plaza and now Brady-Sullivan Plaza, is a unique building, with the elevator lobbies and restrooms on each floor having windows. This is because, reportedly, the plans for the building were taken from one that was significantly larger, so the cutoff in size sliced into the lobby and restrooms.

Public Service of New Hampshire, Merchants Savings Bank and Merchants National Bank were recruited to occupy most of the floors and the ground floor of the tower portion of the project. PSNH had a showroom on the first floor, and the banks shared a major lobby. In the mall, a number of retail establishments opened, including Lynch’s Department Store, Milton’s Men’s Store, restaurants and other businesses. On the plaza outside were unique orange discs on posts, soon dubbed the “popsicles,” which were kind of a trademark of the development.

Mother’s Day weekend of 1972 was spent by many families moving their families into the project, which was to open the day after, on May 15. The families of the law firm for which I have worked since then, Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, spent that weekend moving the firm from the Amoskeag Building at the corner of Hanover and Elm streets to the new complex’s 18th floor. Totally by coincidence, I came to work the day the firm opened in Hampshire Plaza as a summer associate after my second year at law school.

That first week, clients of the firm, family members, members of the bench and bar came to receptions and looked at the offices, which then were dramatically new for those practicing law in New Hampshire. Some were in awe, some thought the firm had lost its collective mind, and all were impressed by the modern offices. Perhaps the most supportive comment came from the legendary Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Kenison, who told John J. Sheehan that this move was the best statement of confidence in the future of a firm and the practice of law in New Hampshire possible.

Since then, Merchants Savings Bank became Numerica Bank and moved across the street and ultimately went out of business. Merchants National Bank became First NH Bank, and then Citizens Bank, and moved down the street to the Amoskeag Building before departing that building, and PSNH, now Eversource, moved to the Millyard, leaving Sheehan Phinney as the only original tenant still in the iconic building, which its current owners have announced is going to house apartments as well as offices.

And, if anyone is watching, James Q. Shirley, in 1972 a first-year associate at the firm, and this writer are the only two people who were working at that first day and still are working in the building.

History is worth highlighting, and is important to understand.

Brad Cook is a Manchester attorney. The views expressed in this column are his own. He can be reached at bradfordcook01@gmail.com.