Bank Building, Cincinnatus, N.Y. 54

Bank Building, Cincinnatus, N.Y. 54

Image of an early 20th century commercial building with cut stone steps and porch, a false front brick facade, and a wood frame constructed sides. In front of the porch, on the street is a gas pump and a motor oil pump. The building, identified as "Corning and Haskins" and "Bank of Cincinnatus" by large lettering on its cornice, has an imposing presence facing the the street, aided by its false front parapet. The building houses a modern stove and paint store on one side, and an insurance company and bank on the other. Simpler frame buildings and a private house stand nearby. The two hamlets of Cincinnatus, N.Y. are located on the east bank of the Otselic River in the central part of the state. With the the arrival of a branch line of the Delaware, Lakawanna and Western Railroad in 1898 (perhaps a decade before this photograph was made,) Cincinnatus became a center of milk processing, facilitated by a creamery, an ice cream plant, and a cheese box factory. 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 printing plant on High Street.