In 1874 Union Street was built across farmland owned by one of West Springfield’s most prominent residents, Colonel Edward Parsons. Even though this was prime farmland, the presence of the railroad and the creation of Woodbridge Avenue, as Union street was then called, made the land on the west side of the street more valuable as industrial property.
The industrialization of West Springfield’s downtown area resulted in a need for housing for the associated influx of workers. During the last quarter of the 1800s farms, which had been in the same family for two centuries, were subdivided into streets and building lots. Soon homes, markets, cobbler shops, lunchrooms and other businesses were developed on the lots.
The 20th century saw a continued expansion of industry along Union Street. That industrial expansion led to the development of a unique kind of restaurant, the diner, which was at first simply a railroad car that had been taken out of service. Several diners sprung up in West Springfield during the 1900’s including Charles Diner, named for its first owner, Charlie Kantos, who bought the property on which the diner stands in 1946.
Although its exact date of construction is unknown, we do know that the Fodero Dining Car Company of Newark, New Jersey built the diner and that it has been a landmark in town since the early 1940’s. Charles Diner is the last remaining diner in West Springfield.