The Worcester office of the Registry of Motor Vehicles moved to a former Big Y supermarket on Southwest Cutoff nearly two years ago.
For almost four decades, learner’s permits, license renewals and other auto-related transactions were handled at the RMV branch in downtown Worcester.
This week’s Then photo — from 1980 — shows the RMV location that preceded the 1984 move to downtown. The registry was in this building for six years. Before the RMV moved in, the building was an an auto dealership, its showroom filled with high-end foreign cars. At one time, a rental business filled the address.
The move to the building was a temporary one. The previous registry building was torn down for a major public project. Officials soon decided to build a new one in downtown, at Main and Madison streets, but a home was needed until it could be built. The old auto dealership was a worthy and symbolic stopgap.
See Monday’s Telegram & Gazette, and telegram.com, for the answer.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Then & Now: Do you know where this is?