Then & Now: The Common Grill

From CAHS

The Common Grill has been in the news lately with Craig Common retiring after 30 years in his premier restaurant in downtown Chelsea at 112 South Main Street. Built in 1893, one can identify the style as ”Romanesque” by the large arches on the facade facing the street. The Grill is located in a building that was a department store for a hundred years under three ownerships.

William P. Schenk built and established the W.P. Schenk Department Store, one of the largest in the area at the time. Three clothing stores followed in Schenk’s tradition at the same location - Glick’s, Anderson’s and Dancer’s.

W.P. Schenk. Courtesy of CAHS

When Glick’s owned the store, there was a foot x-ray machine in the shoe department, and youth were fascinated when peering into the machine and seeing their feet illuminated in the 1950s. The store became Anderson’s, followed by Dancer’s until it closed in the early 1990s - a century after Schenk’s began.

The name, The Common Grill, and menu will remain the same under the new ownership of Peas & Carrots Hospitality which is now open for business. Maintaining the same quality may well take the restaurant into a new century!

The Common Grill. Courtesy of Common Grill website.