White Electric Coffee: Liti's Pics and Story (2/2)
Rating:
10.0 (5 votes)Liti: The Name Remains
In 1934, Everett L. Morrison, who in the 1930 census was listed as a laborer in a machine shop, opened his own business in a one-story clapboard building at located 150 Broadway, between a lodging house run by Anna I. Carroll and a vacant building. The façade of this modest structure seemed little more than a cube with windows and a door, but once one entered it became obvious that the place, although small, was not as tiny as it initially appeared to be. Calling his shop the White Electric Company, the entrepreneurial young Morrison sold lawn and garden equipment by Homelite and McCulloch, as well as working as an auto electrician. The White Electric Co. remained in business for at least thirty years.
In the year 2000, former Director of Programs for the Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island Tonya Langford and her husband Jed Arkley opened a coffee shop in the old White Electric building. Unpretentious and friendly, it was a nice addition to the West Broadway neighborhood, located only half a block from the Textron Chamber Academy (high school). The shop soon became a favorite with the Textron teachers, local artists and community members. Whether by plan or whim, the new coffee shop kept the name White Electric and the memory of Everett Morrison’s business re-emerged in the 21st century, taking on a new breath of life as the success of a small business in the 1930s gave birth to another generation of young business hopefuls.
The story almost ended abruptly in 2003 when a landlord-tenant dispute threatened to close the popular coffee shop, but local developers Daniel Cady and James DeRentis, along with neighborhood artists, musicians and community activists came to the rescue. Money was raised and before long White Electric moved to their new location at 711 Westminster St.
The original White Electric building currently houses a new tenant, a salon called Urban Detour Hair Artistry, but the memory of the original White Electric has moved with those who chose to keep the name. The White Electric Coffee Shop remains a place where the spirit, energy and dreams of a community can work together; something to ponder while enjoying the simple pleasure of going out for a cup of coffee.
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