Photograph taken in 1940. My father was about ten years old and the Maurath's lived only a couple miles away. My grandfather and grandmother supported several children through the 1930s and 40s and let me tell you...times were really TIGHT then! Think they are bad now...if only I could tell you how much the late President Lincoln screamed about every penny they spent to keep everyone in the household warm, well-fed and happy...especially during the Great Depression.

Recycling/reselling building materials was nothing new in the Great Depression years and for a couple decades thereafter. I recall my grandfather (the late Harry Maurath) who owned a good-sized two-family house on Centre Street in Brockton how he would go to Saba's (above) for needed parts and advice regarding plumbing problems/repairs/upgrades in his big 1880s house (which I grew up in until 1957).

There were no Home Depot's or Lowes' in those days and if there were, most people in the difficult 1930s-50s could not afford new stuff. So...places like Saba's was *the* place to visit.

Saba's originally was a large two-family house but apparently the owner decided to convert it to a used plumbing and heating supply store probably around 1930. There was lotsa junk around and whatever you needed was at a mere fraction of "new". Saba's also bent gas, steel and copper pipe while you waited for a next-to-nothing cost...especially if you bought the pipe there. Threading was for free and couplings, elbows and other necessities to Get-R-Done by yourself were at bargain prices too (most of that stuff was new).

I believe Saba's stood in existance through the 1960s. I recall it on Montello Street (in the northern end of Brockton). Typically when a vital family proprietor/owner dies off, unfortunately so does the old-school business. Brockton, MA is still known for some of the best plumbing supply distributors in Massachusetts.

Compared to the mega-big-chain hardware stores we know nowadays, nothing holds a candle to the sturdy old stuff made in the good "Ol" USA that Saba's proudly sold. Explicit, personal one-on-one advice/instructions were at no added charge...especially by the old-timers who really got their hands dirty working with plumbing jobs of all descriptions for prior decades.