Calvin Coolidge

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.

Grace Coolidge at home in Northampton Mass

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First Lady Grace Coolidge at her home in Northampton in 1928. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The view in 2014:

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Massasoit Street, where the Coolidges lived from 1906 until 1930, remains largely unchanged – even the concrete slabs on the walkway appear to be the same ones that Mrs. Coolidge stepped on in the 1928 photo.  See also this post and this post for other photos of the Coolidges at their home.

Grace & John Coolidge, Northampton Mass

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First Lady Grace Coolidge and her son John, at their Northampton home in 1928. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The view in 2014:

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According to the caption, this photo was taken during Mrs. Coolidge’s visit to her mother, who was apparently staying in their half of the duplex on Massassoit Street in Northampton while Calvin Coolidge was serving as president and living in slightly different accommodations.  Presidency aside, the Coolidges lived here from 1906 until 1930. Calvin died in 1933 at their new Northampton home, The Beeches, and Grace died in 1957. John Coolidge, however, lived until 2000, when he died at the age of 93.

Calvin & Grace Coolidge at home in Northampton

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Calvin & Grace Coolidge in March 1929, after returning home from Washington DC. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The view in 2014:

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After serving as president from 1923 to 1929, Calvin Coolidge and his wife Grace returned to their home at 21 Massasoit Street in Northampton Mass.  They lived here in the left-hand side of the duplex from 1906 until 1930, and the first photo above shows them after they returned home from Washington DC, following the conclusion of Coolidge’s second term as president.  In 1930, they moved into a much larger and more secluded house, The Beeches, located at 16 Hampton Terrace, where Calvin Coolidge died in 1933.