Iconic A&P Logo Saved

CHATHAM – A bit of Chatham history was dug out of the sidewalk on Main Street last week.

 A tile mosaic of the logo of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company — better known as the A&P supermarkets — was removed from the doorway at 631 Main St. and will be stored until it can be placed at a new home on Stage Harbor.

 The building housed an A&P market from about 1930 to 1959. The Ben Franklin Five and Ten, which subsequently opened in the spot, closed a year ago, and a Lilly Pulitzer clothing store is scheduled to open there in March.

 Preservation of the tile logo, which sat undisturbed under a rubber mat for decades, is the culmination of a months-long effort by several local residents, spearheaded by longtime historical commission member Frank Messina. 

 When the Lilly Pulitzer company proposed changes to the building’s facade earlier this year, neither the historic business district commission nor the zoning board of appeals took steps to request that the logo be preserved. Plans called for enclosing the two existing doorways at the front of the building; the mosaic was located in the entryway on the right side of the building.

 That’s when Messina became involved. He contacted the building’s owners, the Magnusson family, who agreed to help to try to save the mosaic. Finding a location to move the tile logo proved to be more problematic.

 Messina suggested that it could be placed in Chase Park, but town officials were reluctant to place it on municipal property, primarily due to exposure to the elements and ongoing maintenance responsibilities, said Town Manager Jill Goldsmith. 

 Nobody wanted the mosaic ending up somewhere that it would not be viewable by the public, Messina said. He enlisted the help of resident Stephen Daniel and Stage Harbor Marina co-owner Eric Weinberg and reached out to Lilly Pulitzer’s corporate headquarters. The company agreed to contribute toward the estimated $15,000 cost of removing and transporting the tile, as did Daniel and Weinberg. 

 Last Friday, after a construction team had begun gutting the building, Dennis Casto of Hard Core Drilling in Orleans used a large saw to gingerly cut along the outline of the mosaic. When it was lifted from the spot where it had sat for almost 100 years, the logo came out intact, save for a small piece along one edge.

 Messina praised Lilly Pulitzer’s cooperation in the project. A company spokesperson said the clothing chain understands “the importance of honoring and protecting meaningful connections to the past.”

“We are deeply appreciative of the partnership and collaboration to preserve the historic A&P tile logo,” Lilly Pulitzer Senior Vice President Debbie Negri wrote in an email. “Preserving this landmark detail celebrates the history, character, and spirit of the community while ensuring its story continues to be shared for generations to come. We are proud to support efforts that thoughtfully balance progress with preservation, and we are honored to play a part in safeguarding a piece of local history for future generations.”

Messina said he continued to worry that development and renovations along Main Street will erode the town’s historic heritage. Daniel agreed. The project demonstrated “the real importance of trying to keep these little nuggets of our history, especially as it races away from us so fast,” he said.

 The tile mosaic will be kept in a private storage unit for the immediate future. Weinberg intends to incorporate it into a larger mosaic highlighting the history of the town in a new building that is currently being designed for Stage Harbor Marine, Messina said, where it will be visible to the general public.

 “I’m very satisfied,” Messina said of the process that saved a little bit of downtown Chatham’s history.