Class 2000
Curtis Blake & S. Prestley Blake
What native Western Massachusetts man or woman doesn’t remember Friendly’s as being part and parcel of his or her childhood years? Curtis and Prestley Blake’s story is almost the stuff of an American legend: take an idea, start off small, wrap it in quality and hard work, and see it pay off. From a borrowed $300, the Blake brothers founded the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation....on a site just a mile or two from this Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame site. At first, it was just hamburgers and ice cream, not much else. But what great hamburgers and ice cream! Today, you can get a Mexican appetizer or a tuna melt or a full meal, and yes, still that delicious, scrumptious Friendly ice cream, too.
The Blake brothers brought Friendly’s to a point where it became one of the strongest and best known regional restaurant organizations in the country. Eventually, Curtis and Prestley sold their company. But they hardly retired. While they had always been charitable, the Blakes then began working full time to return part of their success to the region they call home: Greater Springfield and Western Massachusetts. A number of buildings in educational institutions bear the Blake name, and numerous charities have benefited from the Blakes’ generosity. Ask someone from our area to name our top local entrepreneurs. The Blake brothers will always be right up there.... near or at the top of the list. We are proud to induct Prestley and Curtis into the first class of the Western Massachusetts Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.