TIMES PAST: Nickel Coffee

Unruffled by recently publicity, proprietor Walter J. Hickey served coffee to customer “Bicycle Bill” Blazer in his Fish Circle restaurant, Hickey’s Diner (located where the Athol Savings Bank park is now), shortly after he announced that coffee would drop from 10 cents to a nickel at his establishment. The announcement was given prominence by the Associated Press as it came on the heels of a Chicago declaration by a restaurant organization that coffee by the cup would never be sold again at five cents, despite a recent drop to below $1 per pound in many brands of ground coffee. That was in February of 1955. Prices for a cup of joe today are 99 cents at Cumberland Farms (any size); $2.29 for an extra large cup at Dunkin’ Donuts, and $1.49 for a large at McDonald’s restaurants. This photo was printed in the Dec. 11, 1993, edition. ADN FILE PHOTO