New Hartford House, New Hartford, Conn. 44.

New Hartford House, New Hartford, Conn. 44.

View across a broad intersection of two commercial buildings in a downtown. A few people populate the sidewalk in front. Early gas-powered vehicles and a horse and buggy are visible at the far left and right. This image is part of a series made by one of the three Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company photographers assigned to cover New England or upstate New York. The quest for images that would be saleable as postcards resulted in the documentation of small towns and small town life at the turn of the 20th century. As the photos were shot, the glass plates were sent back to Belfast, Maine, and processed into postcards at the printing plant on High Street. The scene includes the Victorian New Hartford House Hotel at the left, and an unnamed, early 20th century mixed-use commercial block at the right. The hotel has a corner entrance accentuated by a Gothic tower above. The ground floor has a series of large arched openings containing windows and side entrances. A balcony runs along the length of the building at the second story, scattered with comfortable porch furniture. Three men stand outside on the sidewalk; one has a dog on a leash. At the door of the cafe, two younger men in driver's caps sit on the stoop. The building on the right has three floors, with shops on the ground floor and apartments on the third. Signs for the New Hartford Savings Bank are visible in the second story windows. Upstairs, the apartment windows are curtained; a man looks out one of them. Outside, in front, a white horse hitched to a buggy waits for its human outside E.E, Rogers General Merchandise. Items of clothing hang in the shop's windows.