When one speaks of ‘the Anguillian’ today, he or she would either be generalizing concerning people who are native to the island of Anguilla, or making reference to the weekly newspaper which goes by that name, The Anguillian.
There are a few people, however, who know that the old, dilapidated building that stands in the corner where the lower Valley Road turns off into the North Side road, was also called ‘The Anguillian’. The old rustic structure is currently being demolished, but it was accorded its traditional name long before the idea of the local newspaper was even conceptualized.
Back in the 1930s, and 1940s, life in Anguilla was extremely hard. Staple food products such as flour, sugar, rice and cooking oil were sold mainly at two localities on the island. The most prominent food outlet was known as ‘The Factory’. This site is the elongated building that runs east to west opposite the St. Gerards Catholic Church in Wall Blake. It now houses a real estate office and bears the name Pro Realty Anguilla.
The other staple food provider (shop) was ‘The Anguillian’, where Anguillians would come from all across the island to find the commodities to sustain their families. Both ‘The Factory’ and ‘The Anguillian’ were enterprising businesses of the day, owned by an Anguillian who would have been considered then as the island’s most wealthy businessman, Mr. Joe Owens.
While the ground floor of ‘The Anguillian’ served as a “go to” grocer of sorts, the upper floor provided accommodation as a guesthouse especially for aristocrats and lawyers from the administering power of St. Kitts. It also housed a few of the Kittitian police officers. Police officers were accommodated there as late as 1969 when British paratroopers and engineers invaded the island following the 1967 Anguilla Revolution.
Since the departure of these British servicemen, ‘The Anguillian’ had, for the most part, remained vacant and unattended, and it had been significantly impacted by the ravages of several recent hurricanes.
*So what is becoming of ‘The Anguillian’ now? To find the answer, The Anguillian newspaper spoke with Mr. Elkin Lloyd, whose relatives are now in charge of the property. Elkin is a popular Anguillian contractor, and he was willing to disclose the family’s plans to us.
“Right now what we are doing is that we are getting ready to construct a security wall in order to enclose the property,” he said. “The next step would be to renovate a ground floor apartment that exists on the eastern side of the building for one of my cousins in the US.”
“We will then demolish the rest of the old structure and reconstruct both lower level and upper level apartments in its place,” he explained.
Anguilla has come a mighty long way from the days of the 1930’s and 1940’s when housewives from all over the island depended on ‘The Anguillian’ to supply staple food items which could not be grown on the island.
Today, there is no lack of modern supermarkets and grocers that are in operation all over the island. But back in our primitive years, while Anguillians widely cultivated such crops as peas, corn, yams, cassava and potatoes, items such as flour, sugar and rice could only be obtained through ‘The Anguillian’ and ‘The Factory’ depots.
Looking back in retrospect, we respectfully remember ‘The Anguillian’, in particular for the role it has played in sustaining our forebears.
