Health Services: Dentists, Opticians
Other health services were also available in town.
Dentists
Approximately 10 dentists were listed in the Register and Manual:
- Associated Dentists in 750 Main Street
- Goyton, Edward E. in 14 Pearl Street
- Royce, Charles J. (1) in 781 Main Street
- Segar, Albertus V. in 770 Main Street
- Sullivan, J. Louis (3) in 727 Main Street
- Taylor, D. Everett in 702 Main Street
- Tiesing, Herbert E. F. in 728 Main Street
- Wilcpx, George E. in 18 Church Street
- Myrtle E.
- Moran, Joseph
The census lists only 7 dentists living in Willimantic. One of these lists their workplace as "at home." The number of dentists in the city, especially on Main Street, suggests Willimantic was a dental district - see the map for the concentration on Main Street around Railroad Street.
Opticians
Five people were also listed as opticians:
- Barrows, D. Clifford in 725 Main Street
- Bessette, Olivia A. in 754 Main Street
- Bryant, Leon R. in 829 Main Street
- Smith, H. E. in 684 Main Street
- Tracy, John C. in 688 Main Street
The 1910 census, however, only lists two people as "opticians", a 16 year old and a 23 year old. The people listed above reported their primary occupation as "jeweler," as illustrated in the Chronicle ad. This, combined with the young age of self-reporting opticians, suggests that an optician had less professional connotations in 1910 than it does today. A Google Ngram Viewer search of the terms 'optician' and 'optometrist' suggests that optometry was just beginning to establish itself in the first two decades of the 20th century.