Main St. Stonington Me. 30.

Main St. Stonington Me. 30.

"Main St. Stonington Me. 30." Image of a row of simple mid-19th century frame buildings with commercial fronts on the south side of Main Street in the center of town. The structures back up to the harbor. The image shows the town during its boom years as a granite quarrying center around the time of its incorporation in 1897. From the left we see part of a hip roofed building with a exterior staircase going up to the second floor. The rest of the buildings stand in a row, their storefront bays and large display windows and painted signs conveying a commercial streetscape. Decorative wooden moldings, brackets, and panels dress some of the otherwise rudimentary storefronts Their upper stories have been variously modified over the years to create more space and also a more updated, commercial appearance. To enliven the scene, the Eastern photographer has posed several women, girls and a man on the wooden sidewalk and standing in a doorway. Wooden packing boxes have been left out on the sidewalk; paper trash litters the unpaved street. At the left end of the row stands Fred E. Webb's store, advertising "Boots, Shoes and Rubbers...Bicycles and Repairing". Next door is the Central Grocery Store, with a carefully stacked triangle of canned goods in the window. The Mansard roof and dormers, a fashionable 1870's trend of updating an older building in commercial towns on the mid-coast -- adds square footage and a wordly note. Next door is the Post Office, housed in a tiny, narrow building with a chalk message board mounted on the wall. A sign reading "Fish Market" is attached linking the front corners of this facade and Charles W. Brimigion's storefront, probably directing the passerby down the alley way to the dock. Above his door is an extraordinary and whimsical three-dimensional wooden trade sign featuring a winged element labeled "Charles W. Brimigion" above a striped shield and banner. [included in the exhibit "Main Streets"]