Main St. Stonington Me. 29a.

Main St. Stonington Me. 29a.

"Main St. Stonington Me. 29a." Image of unpaved Main Street looking west in the heart of town, including several 19th and early 20th century buildings. This view was taken shortly after the construction of D. Jewett Noyes' new building, at right center, marked with an elegant sign: "Noyes Pharmacal Co.". At the far let is Webb Brothers' store, labeled with various signs: "H.W. Johns Asbestos Liquid Paints"; "The Best There is in Paint", "Looks Well / Covers Well / Wears Well," "Supplies / Goodrich Tires", "We Recommend International Tailoring". The tire sign suggests the presence of a number of automobiles on the island by this time. Granite stoops lead into storefronts from the narrow sidewalks. The Post Office occupies a building to the left, marked by its sign. Dr. B. Lake Noyes' mansion dominates the street in the distance. Below it is the former Noyes' pharmacy building. Next door is The Sunset House, the boarding house, with its mansard roof. A new, second story porch has been added to the facade, overhanging the sidewalk. Above the building, a very tall pole with a weathervane projects from a cupola on a building on a hillside beyond. Next is another mansard-roofed building containing The Knights of Pythian Hall on the second story, with its laundry on the street floor. Noyes' new building, which also housed his home, is next, its traditional gable roof fitted with a parapet or false front to give it a modern, commercial look. A well-dressed man and two boys pose in front of the new large plate glass windows with signs boasting "Cigars & Tobacco", and "Confectionary". A large sign leaning up on the side of the structure reads: "Patton's Sun-Proof Paints". The clean lines of the cut granite ledge wall and sidewalk and well-tended lawn to the right project a sense of prosperity and progress. However, Stonington's boomtown days were winding down. The granite quarrying industry would seriously wane in the 1930s, as its product was superceded by the use of steel and concrete in construction.