The Welfare Building, one of Chelsea’s most prominent landmarks, located at 300 N. Main Street.

The Glazier Welfare Building was built in 1906 to improve the “welfare” of Glazier Stove Company employees, providing a diversion from the local bars. The building housed a swimming pool, a library, a billiards hall, a theater, and a basketball court.  The train tracks ran between the buildings, straight to the door of the stove works.

Many of the buildings in the Glazier complex are still standing, with the exception of one of the stove works buildings; you can see that there’s more open sky between the buildings on the left side of the photograph.   A parking lot was laid over the route of the train tracks, between the clock tower and Welfare buildings.  Photo by Jim Hammel, December 2010.