Photographers Archives - Page 122 of 162

Calvin Coolidge at Plymouth, Vermont (2)

January 23, 2016February 2, 2015 by Derek Strahan

President Calvin Coolidge in the road in front of his family’s house in Plymouth, Vermont, in August 1924. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

The road in 2014:

From this spot, President Coolidge would have been looking at the Union Christian Church, which is across the street from the house that he grew up in. He is standing on Messer Hill Road, and the building beyond him and to the left is a c.1870s shed that served as the workshop for his father’s farm. On the right-hand side is the Plymouth Cheese Factory, which was opened by Coolidge’s father and four other local farmers in 1890. It was later owned by Coolidge’s son John, and today it is owned by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and still operates as a cheese factory.

I don’t know why Coolidge was standing in the middle of the road, but apparently neither did photographer, Leslie Jones of the Boston Herald-Traveler. His caption was “A penny for his thoughts,” although it probably would have taken more than a cent to get Silent Cal talking. Certainly, though, his thoughts could’ve been on his on, Calvin Coolidge, Jr., who had died just a month earlier of blood poisoning following an infected blister. Perhaps this was the reason for the vacation to Plymouth – an opportunity to get away from D.C. and spend time with his father, his wife, and their other son John.

Calvin Coolidge at Plymouth, Vermont (1)

January 23, 2016February 2, 2015 by Derek Strahan

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.

The building in 2014:

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

January 23, 2016February 2, 2015 by Derek Strahan

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

Plymouth in 2014:

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.”

Post Office and Library, Bellows Falls, Vermont

August 16, 2023January 30, 2015 by Derek Strahan

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

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.

Tucker Toll Bridge, Bellows Falls, Vermont (1)

January 23, 2016January 30, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Tucker Toll Bridge over the Connecticut River at Bellows Falls, Vermont, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2014:

As mentioned in this post, Bellows Falls became a major transportation and industrial center in the region during the 19th century because of its location on the Connecticut River. As seen in these photos, the river drops 52 feet in elevation through a narrow gorge, making it an ideal site for hydroelectrically-powered industries, but also a strategic location to build a bridge. Further south, the river was much wider and bridge-building viewed as almost impossible; one man reportedly commented on the idea in Springfield, Mass. around 1800, saying, “Gentlemen, you might as well undertake to bridge the Atlantic Ocean.”

However, here in Bellows Falls the width of the river and the rocky outcroppings meant a shorter bridge and no need to build piers in the river. As a result, the first bridge across any part of the Connecticut River opened on this spot in 1785, connecting New Hampshire and Vermont and facilitating trade from New Hampshire to Montreal and other northern destinations. At the time, Vermont was actually an independent nation, which I suppose technically made the first bridge an international border crossing.

The construction of the bridge was authorized by the state of New Hampshire, who also set the tolls for travelers; in 1804, the tolls ranged from three cents for a person on foot, to 30 cents for a four wheel carriage with four horses. Upon completion, the Massachusetts Spy gave a glowing review of the bridge, writing:

“We hear from Walpole, state of New Hampshire, that Colonel Enoch Hale hath erected a bridge across the Connecticut River on the Great Falls, at his own expense. This bridge is thought to exceed any ever built in America in strength, elegance, and public utility, as it is the direct way from Boston through New Hampshire and Vermont to Canada, and will exceedingly accommodate the public travel to almost any part of the state of Vermont.”

The 1907 book History of the Town of Rockingham Vermont provides this depiction of the bridge, viewed from about the same spot as the two photographs:

This first bridge was uncovered, which meant the wood deck and structure was exposed to the elements, so by 1840 it was in need of replacement. The new bridge, which is the same one in the first photo here, was built directly over the old one, about 15 feet above it, which allowed the old bridge to continue to be used even as its replacement was being built. The 1840 bridge became known as the Tucker Toll Bridge, named after the family who owned it for many years. It remained in the hands of private owners until 1904, when the towns of Rockingham and Walpole purchased it and made it free for travel. This bridge was, in turn, replaced by the current concrete arch bridge in 1930. However, it has deteriorated over the years, and was closed in 2009 because of safety concerns. At this point, it remains to be seen what will happen to the bridge.

Bellows Falls, Vermont

August 17, 2018January 30, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Square at Bellows Falls, Vermont, around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2018:

The village of Bellows Falls is probably best known to baseball fans as the birthplace of Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, but historically it has been a significant settlement along the Connecticut River. As the name implies, it is located at a waterfall on the Connecticut River, where the river passes through a narrow gorge.

The waterfall benefitted the village in several ways; first, the narrow width of the river made it easy to bridge. In fact, the first bridge across the Connecticut River was built here in 1785, which made this a major transportation center, originally for stagecoaches and later for trains; it became a major railroad hub in the 19th century. The falls also attracted many industries to Bellows Falls, and in the 19th century many industries developed along the river, powered by a canal that took advantage of the river’s 52-foot drop in elevation.

This scene shows the center of the village, much of which has changed in the past 108 years. It retains its small-town appearance, but most of the buildings in the first photo have since been destroyed in a succession of fires, the first of which occurred in 1912 and destroyed several of the buildings on the right-hand side. The two buildings just beyond the gabled brick building on the right date to the 1800s, but only the shells of the buildings survived the fire. Closer to the camera on the right is the Hotel Windham, which was built in 1933 to replace the previous building, which burned in 1932. On the left, the old post office and library, with its distinctive tower, burned in 1925, and was replaced with the present building the following year.

The only two surviving buildings on the square that are visible in both photos are the 1875 Centennial Block on the far left-hand side, which was itself damaged by a fire in 1978, and the wood commercial block in the distant center of both photos, which dates to around 1890 and is probably the only building in the 1907 photo that never had a fire.