Hulbert House and Union Block Boonville, N.Y. 37

Hulbert House and Union Block Boonville, N.Y. 37

View across a broad dirt street intersection in the business district of a town on a summer day. Nineteenth century buildings, including a large stone building with a gable roof and a 3-story front porch, line the street, which curves away at the left. The stone structure, which dominates the blockfront, is the Hulbert House, an inn built in 1812 "by Ephraim Owen using (local) Black River limestone. It waqs purchased by Richard Hulbert in 1839, who added a third story and an addition. Hulbert served as Oneida County clerk and in the New York State Legislature. He died in the late 1860s...After that, the inn had several owners until it was eventually purchased by A.J. Garbarino in 1949..." This suggests the front porch was built in 1839 or not long after. A large "Garage" sign advertises parking for the hotel. The building at the far left is a pronouced version of the Second Empire style, perhaps built as a home in the 1860s by a wealthy resident. The long, low brick Union Block is 2.5 stories and houses shops in its storefronts: Marcy the Clothier, The 1868 Barber Shop, E.H. Gerber "Chocolates/Ice Cream/ Soda (Coca Cola logo sign), the Boonville Post Office, and Oldfield's Music / Pianos. A bicycle parked in front of the barber shop is the sole vehicle, but manure on the street indicates recent horse-powered traffic. The utility poles and wires suggest a post-1900 date. 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 New York state. The glass plates would be sent back to Belfast, Maine, and processed into postcards at the plant on High Street.