H for Holmes
Earl R. Holmes
Pharmacist, photographer, historian, ham radio operator, and engaged community member Earl Ray Holmes was a Colchester institution during his lifetime.
This life-long Colchester resident was born on July 12, 1894, to Frank and Louise (Wagner) Holmes. He married former Bacon Academy teacher, Alma L. Odin in 1920.
Colchester’s first pharmacy was started by Charles H. Rogers in 1853. Almost twenty years later, Mr. Rogers took on an apprentice, Harley P. Buell who purchased Rogers drug store in 1876, and managed it as Buell Drugs. When Earl Holmes was a young man, he apprenticed with Buell, and by 1918 he became assistant pharmacist, and purchased the business in 1923 after Buell died.
The new E. R. Holmes Drug Store became part of a tradition carried on by these three men that eventually spanned one hundred years. They supplied Colchester residents with medicine and the latest solutions to everyday pains and ills. Over time, dry goods were also sold, and customers could get refreshments at a soda fountain. The drug store was located on South Main Street (next to and south of the present-day Colchester Hayward Fire Museum) and burned two times, only to be rebuilt. Earl retired in 1960, and eventually in the 1970s it was demolished.
During its existence, E. R. Holmes Drug Store was known as a lively town information center. Mr. Holmes was the first ham radio operator to be licensed in Colchester, which enabled him to be the first person in town to receive local, national and worldwide news through his radio. He was often the one who spread the word about important news of the day, both good and bad. Accounts of wars, World Series, politics, and elections were received by Holmes and communicated to Colchester residents.
Holmes was quite innovative for his time, and dazzled local residents when he set up a holiday display comprised of an electric toy train whose lights went on when a passerby touched the window – “the first touch screen” in Colchester.
Earl Holmes was also an historian and accomplished photographer. He had great skill in the fledgling field of both video film and photography, and recorded an intimate portrait of Colchester’s history spanning the early and mid-20th century. He also travelled extensively photographing Niagara Falls, Brooklyn, New York, and several places throughout Connecticut.
After retiring from the drug store, Earl Holmes worked for the post office and continued as a mail carrier until his retirement in 1975. He passed away on February 22, 1977, at 82 years of age.
The Colchester Historical Society is very grateful to Earl Holmes’ great-niece, Laura McIntyre, who in 2010, loaned three albums of original pictures taken circa 1915 -1920 and allowed us to preserve and reprint this wonderful visual history to share with you today.