From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
Burbanks Hardware Store, Lagrangeville, N.Y. 49.
Image of a mid 19th century frame commercial building with a front porch, located along a rural road. A boy and dogs are visible on the porch, while a man stands at the right holding his horse which is hitched to a wagon. The Eastern photographer has not only posed his subjects within the larger scene, but this time included his car in the image, at the left. Note the Eastern Illustrated Company name on the box mounted on the back of the vehicle; this is where the glass negatives and other photography equipment were packed. The photographer has framed the front steps with the early motorcar and the horse and wagon, as if a nod to the past and future. The two figures, and also a woman standing in the shadow just inside the doorway, give life to the picture, as do a couple of dogs who sprawl in the warm sun. Signs advertising products and brands abound: "Hardware/Buggies, & Harness" appears in large letters on the building's upper front wall. According to various signs posted, "Burbanks Hardware Store" also carries Plow Boy Tobacco and has a Post Office. Victorian style lettering spells out "Horse Furnishings" and "Ranges" on the windows fronting on the porch. The rural, dirt road identifies this shop as an old, mid-19th century business, an outlier, possibly, which chose not to move into town. This image is part of a series made 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.
