Fred and George Libbares took over in 1920, before buying the building two years later. I joined family members in a lively conversation one morning at the Keene home of Maria Bradshaw, George's granddaughter. Seated around me were Maria; her mother and father, Anna and Chris Tasoulas; and Anna's brother, Louis Libbares.

Maria: Part of the family came through Ellis Island and lived for a while in New York. My grandfather George went to West Virginia, where his uncle ran a candy shop, and that's how he learned the candy and ice cream making business. That's why he and his brother finally moved here, to start a candy, ice cream and confectionery shop. This is why, to this day, all the Libbareses have quite the sweet tooth. We all love candy.

Anna: My father went to school and learned English when he first came to live with his uncle.

Louis: He used to make the chocolates down in the basement. Down there, on the floor joists, you can still see some of the chocolate residue. They got their fruit from Bardis Brothers wholesale (Keene Fruit Co). I used to wash the glasses and the dishes in the front where they had a soda fountain. They changed it to a restaurant about 1936 (Libbares Spa), but they kept the soda fountain. People would still come in for just ice cream.

Anna: When they started closing the store on Sundays during the war (World War II), we would go into the store and make ice cream sundaes for ourselves.

Maria: The reason they switched, and added beer, was because times were tough and they couldn’t sustain themselves just on ice cream and candy.

Anna: I just remembered Fred's desk. My Uncle Fred had a desk, and it was right in front, by the window, which is on the right if you're looking from the street. He faced out the window. Later they opened the window and served ice cream through it.

Louis: When we finally turned over the business to Teddy Matthews, he gave away that desk. I wish we still had it.

Maria: I remember as a young girl going into the restaurant. At that point, the family didn’t have it anymore. Teddy had it. I remember the ice cream counter, the beautiful marble.

Chris: When Teddy moved out, he took that soda fountain with him. I wish we still had that, too.

(Theodore Matthews opened the Cheshire Restaurant in 1960, and closed it around 1970, later becoming the chef at the Crystal Restaurant in Keene.)

Louis: We all lived in the building. At one time, all the floors were each one apartment. But then they broke it up into smaller apartments.