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Fredericksburg, Virginia, circa 1928. "Merchants' stores and offices, brick row, Commerce and Main Streets. Photograph taken on commission from Mrs. Devore of Chatham." Acetate negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.
Below is the same view from April of 2011.
It's great to see that the block of buildings are still there, still in business, and lookin' good in a human-scaled neighborhood. A good example of why old buildings and neighborhoods should be kept intact and maintained.
There are still a lot all across Europe.
I wonder where the gas storage tanks are located let alone what city official approved that zoning variance?
[Curbside pumps were, back in the day, a common fixture of Main Streets across America. You can see quite a few here on Shorpy. - Dave]
This and the previously posted shack are part of a group of 247 photos by F.B. Johnston of historical architecture in Fredericksburg and Old Falmouth, Virginia, commissioned in 1927 by Helen G. S. Devore (Mrs. Daniel Bedford Devore) as part of a project "to preserve something of the atmosphere of an old Virginia town." The project led to other similar commissions for Johnston, and eventually became part of the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, the negatives for which were purchased by the Library of Congress in 1953.
The early historical preservationists Helen and Daniel DeVore are mostly remembered for their 1920s rescue and renovation of Chatham Manor, now part of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.
This view is looking roughly west up what is now William Street (then Commerce) at Caroline Street (then Main). Many of the structures remain today (as do several that survived the bombardment during the Civil War).
Drugs and seeds!
Really interesting to see the combinations of merchants in such a small space. Looks like the cobbler does electrical work, too.
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