The commercial hub of a town fluctuates over the years. Beginning in the mid- to late-1700s, South Windham village was the location of many kinds of businesses. Windham Hill was next, with stores, small manufacturing and professional offices. In Windham Center, the Hawkes family, one of the founding families of Windham, operated a business beginning in the 1860s when this building was a coat shop, run by Albert Hawkes. Fred S. Hawkes turned it into a grocery store and it operated as such for 109 years. In 1917, a small addition was built to house the telephone equipment, including the switchboard. In the 1950s, high school students flocked to Hawkes for snacks at lunchtime and after school. The old store burned a number of years back and another store is operated in the same place. We imagine Corsetti’s draws high school students to its store, just as Hawkes’ store did, decades ago. Photo from the archives of Windham Historical Society