Buildings

Calvin Coolidge and Civil War Vet at Plymouth, Vermont

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President Calvin Coolidge meets with a Civil War veteran at his family home in Plymouth, Vermont, in August 1924. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The scene in 2014:

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Here, two very different generations meet; an unidentified veteran of the Civil War shakes hands with a president who was born seven years after the war had ended.  However, the Civil War wasn’t actually too far removed from 1924, relatively speaking.  Certainly by then many veterans had passed away, but encountering one in 1924 wasn’t unheard of, either; 1924 was closer to the Civil War than 2015 is to World War II.  In fact, the last confirmed veteran of the war died 32 years later, in 1956, during Eisenhower’s presidency.  I don’t know who this veteran was, or what happened to him, but it is possible that he outlived Coolidge, who died relatively young just nine years later.

Calvin Coolidge at Plymouth, Vermont (3)

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President Calvin Coolidge walking up the steps to the Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth, Vermont.  Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The house in 2014:

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This scene shows Calvin Coolidge walking up the steps of the home that he grew up in, now known as the Coolidge Homestead.  He is accompanied by his wife Grace, his father John, and a few other people who I can’t identify.  Today, the house has been restored to its appearance during Coolidge’s presidency.  It looks like several of the trees are still there as well; the two large trees on the left-hand side of the 2014 photo appear to be the same ones that were there in 1924.

Calvin Coolidge at Plymouth, Vermont (1)

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President Calvin Coolidge checking the temperature on the front porch at his family home in Plymouth, Vermont, in August 1924. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The building in 2014:

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The front porch of the Coolidge Homestead doesn’t look much different from its appearance 90 years ago; it is now a museum and has been restored to its appearance during Coolidge’s presidency.  Here, he is checking the thermometer; according to Leslie Jones’s caption, “It said 80 degrees in the shade.”

Plymouth, Vermont

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The village of Plymouth, Vermont, in August, 1924. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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Plymouth in 2014:

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The first photo was taken when President Calvin Coolidge vacationed in his hometown of Plymouth, Vermont.  The first scene shows many visitors, most of whom were probably there hoping to catch a glimpse of Coolidge.  After all, this was part of his image as president; that he was a humble, down-to-earth New England farmer and a friend of the common man.  Certainly the setting did little to detract from this image; most of the “center” of Plymouth can be seen in this view, with the general store/post office in the foreground, the church visible behind it, and the Coolidge Homestead to the right.

All of these buildings are part of the Calvin Coolidge Homestead District, and each one has some significance to the president.  He lived in the house to the right from age four until he left for high school, he and his family attended the church across the street, and he was born in the back of the post office/general store.  This building was built in the 1850s, and Coolidge’s father owned it from the 1870s until 1917.  During his 1924 visit, Coolidge used the upper room in the store as his “Summer White House.”

Coolidge Homestead, Plymouth, Vermont

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The Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth, Vermont, probably in August 1924.Photo courtesy of Middlebury College Library.

The house in 2020:

 

From the exterior, this Vermont farmhouse doesn’t look like it was once the place where a president took the oath of office, but it was here at 2:47 on the morning of August 3, 1923 that Calvin Coolidge was administered the oath by his father.  Throughout his political career, Coolidge frequently returned to his hometown of Plymouth, Vermont, and it was during one such visit while he was Vice President that President Warren Harding died. This particular photo was evidently taken at some point during Coolidge’s presidency, perhaps during Coolidge’s August 1924 vacation to Plymouth, which was featured in a short 1924 documentary.

Today, not much has changed in Plymouth or at the Coolidge Homestead; the building is now a museum, and it has been restored to its 1923 appearance.  The house, along with the surrounding village, are a National Historic Landmark, and the area has been maintained by the state of Vermont.

Post Office and Library, Bellows Falls, Vermont

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The post office and library in downtown Bellows Falls, Vermont, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The scene in 2018, now the town hall for Rockingham, Vermont:

The building in the first photo served as the post office and library for the town of Rockingham from 1886 until it burned in 1925.  The first photo shows the entrance to the library on the far left of the building, with the post office located in the storefront at the base of the tower.  There are no automobiles in the first photo, but the open-air trolley in the foreground provided public transportation in the village of Bellows Falls.  After the fire, the replacement building opened in 1926, and it has served as the Rockingham Town Hall ever since.