North Windham means traffic lights, shopping, many banks and lots of drive-through, nationally known, eateries.

All of this has come about in a few decades. Before that it was just a small town to drive through on the way to Bridgton or North Conway, N.H.

North Windham was Boody’s store at the corner of Route 302 (called Roosevelt Trail or the Bridgton Road). At Lakeland Dance Hall, Ozzie Miller’s band played old favorites for a huge dance crowd. C-Bar-C Ranch hosted country and western performers like Ken McKenzie, Tony & Juanita, and others.

Today there’s a small shopping center and a popular barbecue-themed restaurant. But yesterday, many very tall trees were strung with colored lights showcasing an outdoor pavilion where you could dance under the moonlight.

In the 1950s, a drive-in theater provided the latest movies and a whole carload of people (no seat belts then) could go to the movies for only a dollar. Cartoons and two full-length movies – that was a deal! Young people got part time jobs washing the car windows of movie goers – and families brought blankets so all the kids could pile out of the car and get comfortable. Today a road (Drive In Lane) is named for this old attraction on Route 302.

In those far-off days, North Windham meant going to Smitty’s to get your radio fixed; it meant picking blueberries alongside the road and long school bus rides on dirt roads to pick up children who lived miles apart.

Today’s North Windham bears little resemblance to the days of old. Back then, long gravel roads ended up at a sawmill – or an old farm – today the roads are much smoother and wind in and around housing developments.

Old-timers who once went to Westbrook or near Portland to get groceries can go just a couple of miles to get what they need. Summer visitors once spent their vacations in camps or cottages all along Route 302, now can select from motels and hotels, and dine-in fine restaurants.

North Windham is now the center for shopping – not just for the town but for much of the Lakes Region. At one time, South Windham was the center of industry and business.

In 1837, one historian addressed the town on its 100th anniversary by declaring, “A hundred years ago this was a dense unbroken wilderness, the home of the wild beast of the forest, but now we behold pleasant and well-cultivated fields and green pastures.”

Today we doubt if he’d recognize his birthplace.