Armenians on the Turnpike ... Vahan & Miriam Kojoyian

Armenians on the Turnpike

 Vahan & Miriam Kojoyian

"It is believed that in Turkey between 1913 and 1922, under the successive regimes of the Young Turks and of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), more than 3.5 million Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Christians were massacred in a state-organized and state-sponsored campaign of destruction and genocide, aiming at wiping out from the emerging Turkish Republic its native Christian populations. This Christian Holocaust is viewed as the precursor to the Jewish Holocaust in WWII. To this day, the Turkish government ostensibly denies having committed this genocide.” Courtesy, Professor Israel Charney, President of the IAGS

In the first quarter of the 20thcentury, a second wave of Christian Armenians began immigrating to America and Canada, most to escape the genocide and oppressive conditions against their race that were orchestrated by the extremist Muslims of Turkey on Christians.

Vahan Kojoyian was born in Harput, Armenia, and married Miriam Dumurgian and they immigrated to Watertown from Armenia, then to Westborough. They purchased the farm of Dan and Anna Goolbegian in 1928 where they raised poultry for eggs and were market gardeners. The farm consisted of four parcels of land separated by the Worcester Turnpike. The farmhouse parcel on the north side of the Turnpike consisted of 15 acres, a house, barn, henhouse, brooders, a small greenhouse, a horse, cow and 600 fowl. The Kojoyians sold eggs, live chickens and fresh vegetables from their roadside stand. The Kojoyians had two sons, Sarkis born in 1924 and Avedis in 1927. Resource masslandreecords: 2486-8,9,10.

When the Boston & Worcester Turnpike opened in October 1931, the Kojoyians subdivided a triangular tract of land on the south side opposite the Kojoyian farm on the Turnpike. They then entered into a five-year land lease with George H. Keegan of Shrewsbury. The lessee was permitted for a gas station or the business of selling and storing gas and motor oil, etc. or any other legitimate business but prohibited the sale of farm produce. The lease included an option to buy the land for $3,000. Resource: masslandrecords, 2563-333.

 In October 1932 George and Nellie Keegan opened the first ice cream stand opened on the new Turnpike and named it the Blue Dairy Cottage. In 1933 the business was subleased to Bertha Bonardi of Worcester. During the next several years the stand was known as McCan’s Dairy Ice Cream and featured outdoor movies, pony rides and caged animals. Bob McCarthy, manager in 1936 of McCan’s, moved the business off the pike to the downtown Keating Building. The Gaffney Brothers managed the stand from 1937-40. Resource: masslandrecords, 2567-470, 2585-536, Westborough Chronotype.

 A Brill Diner…On the Turnpike: 

 In 1936 the five-year land lease with George Keegan expired, and the land was cleared to make way for a new business and a new lease was given to Daniel Laverty for 20 years. At that time a reconditioned stainless steel Brill Diner Car, 12x40 feet was purchased by Grant and Lillian Manuel of Northborough for $9,000 and placed on the Kojoyian/Laverty lot. J.G. Brill Co. of Philadelphia was a manufacturer of railroad and street railway trolley cars and from 1927 to 1932 Brill manufactured stainless steel diners. The iconic diners closely resembled the rail cars but with a stainless outer skin, barreled ceilings with monitored roofs, arched windows, decorative interior wood trim and sliding doors. The diner was named Grants Diner. Resource: masslandrecords, 4656-409 and 2675-259

 Photo the Capitol Diner is the last known Brill stainless steel diner in active service and located in Lynn MA.

 For the term of the Laverty lease the diner was subleased to no fewer than five operators. The last recorded operator in 1957 was James Koskinas, dba J.V.Realty, and according to court documents the Brill Diner was removed from the site by 1957.

Photo:

This 1942 photo shows the paper boys of the Worcester T&G and other Westborough High School boys participating in a scrap metal drive in support of the war effort. That’s Sarkis Kojoyian with the tire around his neck and Avedis in the background with his arms raised. Throughout his personal and professional career Sarkis maintained a sense of humor, outgoing personality and work ethic. During the war years the Kojoyians were honored by the U.S. Government for providing food for the war effort.

In 1945 a 20-year land lease to Daniel and Millicent Laverty was renegotiated with the original stipulations that Laverty would retain ownership of any building. The new business was called the Turnpike Grill and became a very popular dinner-dance club. The restaurant was a convenient stop on weekends and after the Westborough Speedway let out. The club had a number of managers as allowed and throughout the coming years was called, Laverty’s Turnpike Grill, Turnpike Club, Laverty’s Key Club and the Belmont Club. The club was so popular that a policeman was hired to maintain order on the weekends.

Photo #3  

In the 1950s Avedis and Sarkis had the aging farmhouse demolished and built a new ranch-style home for their parents. The Kojoyians continued the farm until the late 1960s while Sarkis and his wife Rose Garabedian Kojoyian moved to West St. in 1951 and Avedis and his wife Elizabeth moved to Parkman St. in 1958. Avedis pursued a further education and became a Westborough school teacher.

 In the early 1960s the Westborough Planning Board, foreseeing the advent of a building boom along the Route 9 corridor, rezoned the five miles of highway from a residential/ agriculture classification to Highway Business. This new designation allowed property owners to develop their property within the guidelines established by the town.

 The rezoning of Route 9 allowed the elderly Kojoyians to subdivide their property and offer it for redevelopment. In 1965 Miriam and Vahan sold six acres adjacent to the Assabet River to R.G. Shakour of Worcester, and in 1967 Shakour constructed a 34,500 sq foot warehouse/retail building. 

 In February 1967 Miriam Kojoyian terminated the leases of George Keegan and Daniel Laverty and the lots were cleared of any buildings. Then Miriam deeded the 4.2-acre site on the south side of the Turnpike and adjacent to the Speedway to Sarkis.

Upon the deaths of Vahan and Miriam Kojoyian in 1968 Sarkis was named trustee of Kojoyian Family Trust and Avedis was designated as the executor of the will. Although each son was willed separate parcels of farm land they also purchased adjacent properties to enhance the acreage for development. 

In the early 1970s the Kojoyian home-site property was cleared to make room for the construction of Westborough Toyota and the home of Vahan and Miriam was moved from Route 9 to a vacant lot on South Street by O’Neil Construction.

The Kojoyian properties were subdivided into commercial/retail lots which in the early 1970s were developed. In 1970 Somerville Lumber, today Bernie & Phyls, and in 1971 Westborough Toyota was constructed. J. Homestock Furniture was built in 1973, later Levitz Furniture, today Lowes. The Sears Roebuck building was built in 1972 but demolished in 1988 to make room for the Belmont Center.

Sarkis Kojoyian died in 2009 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was born in Watertown in 1924 and moved to Westborough with his parents in 1927. He went to Westborough Schools, worked the farm and was a construction supervisor.

Sarkis was a well-known and active figure in his community. He served as chairman of the Planning Board, and numerous other boards and committees, including the Municipal Sites and Facilities Committee, in Westboro for many years. He was honored for his long standing contributions to the Westboro Fire Department and a member of the Siloam Masonic Lodge since 1948. Sarkis Kojoyian was an authority on and an avid collector of antique automobiles and was the founder and first president of the Antique Automobile Club of Massachusetts. He donated an antique airplane, and other items of historical significance to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He was also very supportive and active in the Armenian Church and community.

Avedis and his wife Elizabeth moved downtown in 1958. Avedis Kojoyian became a Westborough school teacher and football coach. In 2011 Avedis (Kongie) Kojoyian, class of 1945, was recognized by Westborough Hall of Fame for his 34 year contribution to  coaching football, basketball, baseball and teaching. Avedis was also inducted into the Massachusetts High School Football Hall of Fame after coaching for 28 years at Newton South for football and wrestling. Today Avedis, at 82 years old is beginning his 58th consecutive year as line coach at the James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia High School. Resource: Melanie Kojoyian

Glenn R. Parker