Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 X State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested - Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National - Local government Register - University - designated a National Historic Landmark _ Other - recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page 1 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Ted's Diner Milford (Worcester Co.), MA 7. Description Ted's Diner, 67 Main Street, Milford (1920s) was manufactured by Jerry O'Mahony, Inc. of Elizabeth, New Jersey. One of the earliest extant diners in Massachusetts, Ted's is unusual for its double-width form. The diner is located on Route 16, a major regional artery, at the northeastern end of Milford's historic town center and downtown business district. The diner is situated at the sidewalk on a level lot. There is limited on-site parking. The prefabricated portion of Ted's Diner is nine bays across with a center entry, and approximately two bays deep.
The foundation is brick and concrete, the barrel roof is clad with asphalt shingles, and the exterior is clad with red porcelain enamel panels. The center entry contains a steel-paneled pocket door, and windows contain wood single-hung sash. A pair of small transom windows with curved tops survives in the barrel end at the west (left) side of the diner; these windows are no longer visible, however, from the interior. In addition to signage on the porcelain enamel panels, there is a metal rooftop sign spanning the façade that reads TED'S DINER. This sign displays several holes that suggest the presence of neon tubing at one time. There is no neon on the diner at present. The internally lit box sign on a pole at the sidewalk is not historic, and for the purpose of this nomination is a noncontributing object.
The prefabricated diner currently is grafted onto the front of the late 19"-century, two-story, side-gabled house at 67 Main Street, though its physical connection to the house is not immediately apparent when the diner is viewed from the street. As late as 1931, the diner and the house were detached buildings. The diner's attachment to the house has allowed for the creation of an expanded seating area at the diner's eastern end, as well as a large kitchen at the center that greatly exceeds the capacity of the behind-the-counter grill and food prep area in the prefabricated diner. An entrance adjacent to the eastern wall of the prefabricated diner provides access to the expanded seating area.
(See Statement of Significance for further information on the evolution of the physical connection between the prefabricated diner and the house.) Given the house's role in the expansion of the diner's operations during the period of significance, the house is considered a contributing building for the purpose of this nomination. On the interior, Ted's Diner displays an L-shaped seating area that encompasses the prefabricated section and extends into the eastern end of the house. The prefabricated diner has a counter that extends two-thirds of the length of the interior (from west to east) and booth seating at the eastern end. There are twelve steel counter stools clad with porcelain enamel in red and white; the four booths are upholstered with vinyl.
While the grill and some food preparation activities still occur in the back bar area, the diner has a large rear kitchen that is located on the first floor of the attached house and is accessible through a center entry behind the counter. The tiling of the walls, floor, and back bar in the prefabricated diner is executed in white and black. Sheet tile has been applied to the counter apron and back bar, and vinyl tiles to the floor. The counter surface is a replacement plastic laminate. Laminate also has been applied to the broad curved ceiling, the inside of the steel pocket door, and the walls above the tiling (from the windows upward). At the northeastern end of the prefabricated diner, the seating area extends two bays into the first floor of the attached house. This area provides table seating, and displays sheet tile on the walls and vinyl tile on the floor.
Beyond (north of) the seating area are the restrooms, which are located in a rear addition to the house. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7/8 Page 2/1 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Ted's Diner Milford (Worcester Co.), MA Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are recorded on the nominated property, it is possible that sites are present. Two sites are recorded in the general area (within one mile) of the diner. In general, however, environmental characteristics of the property, especially its distance over 1000 feet from the nearest wetlands, are not locationally favorable for most types of the Charles River drainage.
Given the above information, the small size (less than one acre) of the parcel and the installation of the diner, attached late 19# century house and utilities, a low potential exists for locating prehistoric resources on the property. A low potential also exists for locating historic archaeological resources on the property. Archaeological features should exist from construction of a late-nineteenth century house on the property and its attachment to the diner, however, these features are of limited research potential and significance. No information is present indicating the presence or potential for locating outbuildings on the property. (end) 8. Statement of Significance The only diner in Milford, Ted's Diner (1920s) is uncommon in Massachusetts for its comparatively early construction date. Manufactured by Jerry O'Mahony, Inc.
of Elizabeth, New Jersey, the diner is the oldest of about fourteen O'Mahony diners now in Massachusetts. Locally, Ted's Diner is significant for its long presence in Milford's downtown business district, and its very important contribution to the historic character of that area. Ted's Diner also reflects how diner owners expanded their business operations - and their facilities - over time, as well as a trend in the diner industry during the 1950s and 1960s toward creating a restaurant image that promoted family dining. For these reasons, Ted's Diner is of exceptional significance on both the local and state levels. Retaining integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, Ted's Diner meets Criteria A and C and Criteria Consideration G of the National Register at the state and local levels.
Ted's Diner has been an important presence in Milford's downtown business district since the Depression. The precise date of its manufacture and delivery to the present site in Milford has not been established, though diner historian Richard Gutman dates the building to the 1920s. [Gutman, 252] Sanborn fire insurance maps do not show a diner on the site in 1920, but the diner is present by 1931. The earliest listing for a restaurant at this location appears in the Milford directory of 1931, when Anthony J. Dube is listed as operating a restaurant (the present diner) at 67 Main Street. Dube's residence also was 67 Main Street, the house directly behind the diner. By 1936, according to directories, Joseph Corella and Edward F. McDermott operated the Co-Mac Café at this location. The café was a restaurant that also served wines (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 2 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Ted's Diner Milford (Worcester Co.), MA and liquors. Corella, a Milford resident, had previously been an automobile salesman. McDermott does not appear to have resided in Milford at the time he was a proprietor of the café, though an earlier (1931) Milford directory lists an Edward F. McDermott with the occupation of straw-worker. Milford Town Hall is located diagonally across Main Street from Ted's Diner, and the historic retail and business district extends to the west and southwest along State Route 16 (Main Street), an important regional automobile corridor. In 1925, there were eleven eating establishments listed in the Milford directory.
These included inns, restaurants, a tea room, lunchrooms, and one lunch cart, that of Charles A. Dyer of Hayward Place. By 1931, when a restaurant was first listed at the present location of Ted's Diner, there were fifteen other restaurants, spas, lunchrooms, cafeteria, and diners in the town. The diners at that time were the Exchange Diner on Exchange Street, and Trainor's Diner at 17 School Street. Milford assessors' records show that the Trotta family owned the land the diner is on from at least the early 1930s through the 1970s. The origin of the diner's name is unclear, though it was first described in town directories as Ted's Diner in 1942, when Evelyn A. Prescott was listed as the proprietor. She lived in Upton, Massachusetts. After World War II, John Trotta and Anthony Trotta of Milford operated Ted's Diner, according to town directories.
After John Trotta's death in the early 1960s, his widow, Helen, continued to be involved in the diner's operation. At the same time, Anthony P. Trotta was the counterman. Anthony P. Trotta acquired sole title to the property in 1964. Existing records indicate that expansion of the diner operations into the first floor of the adjacent house at 67 Main Street were undertaken during the Trotta family's ownership of the property. The 1931 Sanborn fire insurance map shows the diner and the house as detached buildings at 67 Main Street. By 1958, the Sanborn maps show a narrow, one-story connector between the center of the prefabricated diner's rear wall and the front of the house, with a large kitchen occupying the entire first floor of the dwelling's main block.
The rest of the connection between diner and house, extending from the centrally located kitchen connector to the eastern walls of both diner and house and encompassing one leg of the current L-shaped seating area, appears to have been constructed by ca. 1970. The addition of table seating in a separate section of Ted's Diner, as well as the large, separate kitchen, reflected a trend in the diner industry toward providing a more restaurant-like, family-oriented dining experience. This trend first surfaced in the 1950s and completely transformed the industry in the 1960s. [Gutman] Much of the cooking was removed from the area behind the counter to a separate kitchen, usually at the rear of the prefabricated diner. By drawing families, these diner-restaurants could provide an alternative to, and therefore could better compete with, the booming fast food chains. Jerry O'Mahony, Inc.
of New Jersey was one of the leading diner manufacturers, and according to Gutman, many dining car builders got their start with the company. The company produced "hundreds of diners in numerous styles too diverse to recap." [Gutman, 235-236] Ted's Diner is the oldest of about fourteen O'Mahony diners still in Massachusetts, and these diners reflect the diversity among the O'Mahony models. The others O'Mahonys in Massachusetts were constructed in the 1940s and 1950s, including the Shawmut Diner, 943 Shawmut Avenue, New Bedford (1953), a fine (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8/9 Page 3/1 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Ted's Diner Milford (Worcester Co.), MA example of a stainless steel diner.
Another is Jake's Diner, 114 Alden Road, Fairhaven (ca. 1952), a stainless steel diner reconditioned in 1965, at which point the unusual exterior tilework is believed to have been added. [Gutman interview] In 1974, Ted's Diner was the subject of a watercolor painting by artist John Baeder (b. 1938 in South Bend, Indiana). Baeder was raised in Atlanta and studied art at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. During his early career as art director of a New York-based advertising agency, Baeder began collecting vintage postcards, eventually focusing his collection on roadside views of small-town America, including gas stations, motels, restaurants, and diners. Baeder's early paintings were based on these postcard images. In 1972, after quitting his job in advertising, Baeder had his first art show at the O. K. Harris Gallery in Soho (New York City).
By the time of his second show in 1974, Baeder was painting diners almost exclusively, partly due to a shift in his collecting activities from postcards to the color and black-and-white photographs he took of diners. He was labeled a photorealist painter, though he considers himself a representational landscape painter, representing an image of the landscape that impresses him. [Diners, 103] In addition to Ted's Diner, Baeder's works include several diners in Massachusetts, among them Casey's (1974, watercolor) in Natick; the former Alice in the Hat (1974, watercolor) in Worcester; Stella's (now Main Street Diner, 1975, watercolor) in Woburn; Sisson's (1975, watercolor) in Middleborough; Viv's (later Judy's Diner, 1976, pencil) in Malden; and Day and Night (1977, watercolor) in Palmer.
The large number of his diner paintings led to the publication of his book, Diners (1978, revised and updated 1995). Other books by Baeder include Gas, Food, and Lodging: A Postcard Odyssey through the Great American Roadside (1982) and Sign Language: Street Signs as Folk Art (1996). He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Ted's Diner was purchased by the Town of Milford about 1995 and is still owned by the town. The town acquired the diner property and adjacent property with the intent of replacing existing buildings with a new Fire Department headquarters. (end) 9. Major Bibliographical References Gutman, Richard J. S. American Diner Then and Now. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993. Interview with diner historian Richard Gutman, November 23, 1998. Manning's Milford Directory: 1918-1919, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1942, 1948, 1950, 1964, 1967.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Milford: 1885, 1892, 1897, 1903, 1910, 1920, 1931, 1931 (corrected to 1950), 1931 (corrected to 1958). Town of Milford Building Inspection Department (permits on file start about 1965; earliest permit for Ted's Diner is for two signs and repairs in 1981). Town of Milford Assessors Department (property card and deeds for 67 Main Street). Diner Finder Deluxe: Massachusetts. Watertown, MA: Coffee Cup Publications, 1991. Baeder, John. Diners. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1978. Pryor, William Harlan. "Postcards from the road." Classic Automobile, Fall 1997 (via www.classicautomobile.com). (end) Ied's Diner Name of Property Worcester County, Massachusetts County and State 10.
Geographical Data Acreage of Property - less than one acre UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 291920 4668490 Easting Northing "Zone Easting Northing Verbal Boundary Description Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet. 3. Zone Easting 4. Zone Easting _ See continuation sheet Northing Northing Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title. Kathleen Kelly Broomer, consultant, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization.
Massachusetts Historical Commission date October 2000 street & number_220 Morrissey Boulevard _ telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston state MA _ zip code_02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property. Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name_ Town of Milford street & number.
52 Main Street telephone city or town _ Milford _ state_MA _ zip code 01757 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate roperties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain enefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq. Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O.
Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office o Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503.NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 10 Page 1 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Ted's Diner Milford (Worcester Co.), MA 10. Geographical Data Verbal Boundary Description The boundary of the nominated property is shown on the accompanying detail of the Town of Milford assessors' map. Boundary Justification The boundary includes the parcel that has been historically associated with the diner.
(end) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME : Ted's Diner MULTIPLE NAME: Diners of Massachusetts MPS STATE & COUNTY:MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 10/23/00 11/22/00 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 11/06/00 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 12/07/00 REFERENCE NUMBER: 00001395 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: NLANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: OTHER: N PDIL: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: Y NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: ACCEPT RETURN REJECT DATE ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS : RECOM./CRITERIA AUA AEC REVIEWER attickandlly DISCIPLINE Historian TELEPHONE DATE 11/29/00 DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N PEPSI IEDS DINER D'S -TED'S DINER BOOTHS DINER Ted's Diner 6n maiustreet wilford Diners of hassaclusetts MPS Ploto: 1998 Neg: MHC VIW #W Ted's Diner Cr maiu street milford Diners of massachusetts MPS Proto: 1998 Nºg: MHC Viewsw/ HE LIINTATE The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission October 17,2000 Ms.
Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service Mail Stop 2280, Suite 400 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Ted's Diner, 67 Main Street, Milford, (Worcester), MA THE DINERS OF MASSACHUSETTS MPS The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. The owners of the property were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30 to 45 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely, Betey Frudbey Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Robert Andreola, Milford Historical Commission Salvatore Cimino, Chair, Milford Board of Selectmen John Agoros, 7 Orleans Road, Norwood, MA 02062 Kathleen Kelly Broomer, Preservation Consultant Milford Planning Board 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 - (617) 727-8470 Fax: (617) 727-5128 - TTY: (617) 878-3889 www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc
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