Royces Store Bangor, N.Y. 78.

Royces Store Bangor, N.Y. 78.

Image of a fame building housing a home on the left and a store on the right. A woman in a white summer dress poses with a parasol on the steps of the residence, while two men stand awkwardly, looking at the camera, from in the entryway to the store. Two children watch from the driveway at the right. A very early motorcar is visible nearby. This is one of a series of images made in upstate New York state by one of the three Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company photographers assigned to New England or upstate New York. The glass plates would be sent back to Belfast, Maine, and processed into postcards at the printing plant on High Street. It is a warm day, and the Eastern photographer has stopped in this small town just south of the Canadian border to document some local scenes. This side-by side family home and store has caught his eye, so he asks the woman and the proprietors of the shop to come out and pose for the camera. Their presence, and that of the two girls, animates the scene and adds human interest. Royce's Store advertises ice cream (Kirk-Maher Company's Elm City brand) and soda in a large sign in the window to lure customers, but probably caried a variety of goods. Architecturally the building is vernacular Italianate, characterised by a flat roof, bracketed cornice, and, in this case, the porch details.